We need to take advantage of every opportunity that we have to grow in holiness. There are always ample influences working on us every second to get us away from God and the holy way of life. Advent is one of those times that God has put into our Catholic faith to again, give us …
Source: Advent Cleaning To Have A Clean Heart Full Of Grace To Welcome Jesus
SAN FRANCISCO – A landmark report released today by Common Sense Media finds that teenagers (ages 13-18) use an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day and that tweens (ages 8-12) use an average of six hours a day, not including time spent using media for school or homework.
Despite the significant amount of time teens and tweens spend with media, not all young people use media in the same way. The study, Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens,found that race, class and gender all play a role in how kids are likely to consume media. The report identifies a significant digital equality gap between low-income kids who are far less likely to have access to computers, tablets and smartphones than their wealthier peers. However, those low-income kids who do have access are more likely to spend more time on their devices than kids from more affluent families.
Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens also finds major differences in media preferences between boys and girls. For example, teen boys average 56 minutes a day playing video games, compared to girls’ 7 minutes and teen girls spend 40 minutes more a day than boys on social media (1:32 vs. 52 minutes).
While many of the newer entertainment media formats like online videos, mobile gaming and social media have become quite popular, watching TV and listening to music continue to be the media activities tweens and teens enjoy the most and do most often. But in many cases, “old” media are being consumed in “new” ways. In fact, mobile devices now account for 41% of all screen time among tweens, and 46% among teens.
“Our world is changing and kids are spending a lot of time with media — and they are doing it in a variety of ways and on many platforms,” said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. “The census really sheds light on how different media use is for different kids – from boys to girls, low income to more affluent, and kids from all ethnic backgrounds. There are a lot of ways media use can be educational and beneficial for our kids, from learning apps and web sites to creating content. The media use census provides parents, educators and the media industry with an excellent overview of what kids are doing today and how we can make the most of the media and technology in their lives.”
Other key findings:
“The diversity of media use patterns among youth is astounding,” said report author Vicky Rideout, senior consultant to Common Sense Media, “but it’s interesting to see that through it all TV and music continue to be the media of choice – and that social networking lags significantly behind.”
The study finds that devices are finding their way into study time for teens and tweens. Notably, at least half of teens say they often or sometimes watch TV (51%), use social networking (50%), text (60%) and listen to music (76%) while doing homework.
“As a parent and an educator, there’s clearly more work to be done around the issue of multi-tasking,” said Steyer. “Nearly two-thirds of teens today tell us they don’t think watching TV or texting while doing homework makes any difference to their ability to study and learn, even though there’s more and more research to the contrary.”
The Common Sense Media Use Census is part of a multiyear research effort directed by Vicky Rideout, a senior adviser to Common Sense Media, head of VJR Consulting, and director of more than 30 previous studies on children, media, and health. For analysis and full results of theCommon Sense Census, visit www.commonsensemedia.org/census. Find highlights in the censusinfographic and video.
Methodology: This report is based on a nationally representative survey of 2,658 8- to 18-year-olds, conducted in February/March 2015. The study is the first of its kind to document the proportion of digital screen time devoted to passive consumption, interactive content, communication, or creation. It also includes a Media Usage Typology, describing the widely different media usage profiles among tweens and teens, such as Social Networkers, Readers, and Gamers. The study covers TV/movies, online videos, gaming (computer, video, and mobile), social media, Internet use, music, and reading. The survey was administered by GfK, using their KnowledgePanel©, a probability-based Web panel designed to be representative of the United States.
About Common Sense Media
Common Sense is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families and educators thrive in a world of media and technology. We rate, educate, and advocate on behalf of kids, families and schools. Common Sense offers the world’s largest and most trusted library of age-based ratings and reviews of all types of content targeted at kids, and our research-based curriculum and tools are used in over 80,000 U.S. schools. For more information, go to:www.commonsense.org.
If you are watching pornography or are addicted to it please get help. It is a mortal sin and destroying your life, your soul and your family. Find a Catholic Priest and go from there. We recommend contacting and consulting with a Catholic psychologist named Dr. Peter Kleponis and his seven step recovery plan.
You can get out from under the dark cloud of porn using all the tools the Catholic Church has to offer. God created the Church for you to help you overcome these type of sins.
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http://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/11/21/pornography-our-greatest-ongoing-spiritual-threat/
Pornography: Our Greatest Ongoing Spiritual Threat
The bishops of the United States gathered together last week for their annual meeting in Baltimore. One of the issues that they chose to address this year concerns what is perhaps the greatest ongoing threat to the spiritual and physical health of the Catholics in United States. It breaks up marriages, kills the state of grace, and in many cases destroys the possibility of vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life. It is a plague and its name is: pornography.
Pornography brings huge profits to those who make and market it commercially. Much of this kind of pornography issues from Los Angeles and unfortunately has spread not only throughout our nation but throughout the world, lending credence to those like Islamic extremists who denounce the West’s decadence. Although pornography is overwhelmingly marketed to and viewed by men, a substantial number of women also sample it out of curiosity and generally are disgusted by it (although a small number fall into the trap of using it themselves).
I write as a priest who hears thousands of confessions every year. When I was first ordained, the pornography that people confessed to using usually arrived at the person’s door in the form of magazines delivered to the house. Nowadays, virtually all pornography comes online, easily available to whoever wants to use it. The men addicted to it in this country number in the millions, and live in a fantasy world degrading to themselves and, in many cases, to their wives and girlfriends.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us as Christians to be on guard against pornography. We are not only to avoid seeking it out and using it, but also to reject any image or thought that we may accidentally encounter – for example, when we innocently go to a movie that surprises us with an explicit sex scene.
What can be done? Perhaps the bishops will have some “micro” recommendations for individuals to adopt as well as “macro” recommendations for society-wide approaches. Pornography, of course, like other categories of sin, is nothing new and probably will exist until the end of time. However, the extent of the problem, the difficulty of avoiding contamination, and the threat it poses to the innocence of children is an unprecedented byproduct of our era’s technological progress and moral regression. It is a good sign that the Church in the United States is wrestling with this deadly product that kills souls by the millions here and abroad.
All Catholic families that want to bring up children with a healthy love of the goodness of sexuality, motherhood, and marriage should do everything possible to make their own homes pornography-free. In addition, all Catholic institutions of learning at every level should not neglect their duty to preach the beauty of chastity to their students, helping them to understand that the gravity of the abuse of sex is a consequence of its signal importance for God and for mankind: The attraction of male and female for one another, properly directed, allows human beings to participate in God’s plan of conceiving, bearing, and rearing human life. Part of God’s plan for peopling the heavenly realms with saved souls is the beauty of pure love and the holy marriages that come from such love.
I look forward to seeing how our bishops will handle this topic in the future. Using pornography not only harms the soul but also turns the user into a criminal, stealing something that does not belong to him. Consuming pornography causes many people to become addicted to it, and similar to other addictions, this one generally goads the addict into continually upping the dose and frequency to attain the same effect. It is no surprise, therefore, that pornography use can in some cases lead to rape, child abuse, and molestation.
Because consumption of pornography is often addictive as well as a sin, the addict of this deadly disease of the soul should not only confess this sin, but also seek professional help that can support their efforts to become porn-free.
As far as general methods go, we combat this kind of sin as we combat others. We begin by confessing our sins, and then, in the state of grace, we can receive the strengthening presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Devotion to the Blessed Mother is also a great help in combating impurity of all kinds. We should also take care to avoid the occasion of sin by putting a filter on our laptop or phone to prevent our accessing porn. Another aid is to never use a computer unless there is someone in the same room with you.
These are just a few ideas offered for those enmeshed in this kind of sinful behavior. Above all, as we approach the Year of Mercy announced by Pope Francis and beginning on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, repentant consumers of pornography, like any and all other sinners, should never despair of God’s mercy and forgiveness. They should never lose hope of the possibility of successfully freeing themselves from this enslavement, with the continuing help of God’s grace.
Joachim married Anna, a most excellent and praiseworthy woman. Once there had lived another Anna who overcame physical sterility through prayer and a promise to God, and then gave birth to Samuel. In a similar way, our Anne received from God the Mother of God through a vow and heartfelt petition; for she would not …
https://americaneedsfatima.org/Our-Blessed-Mother/novena-to-our-lady-of-the-miraculous-medal.html
Opening Prayer:
O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, ask thy Son on my behalf for everything my soul and all mankind needs so that thy Reign be established on earth. My most earnest request is that thou mayest triumph in me and in all souls and implant thy Reign on earth. Amen.
First Day
The First Apparition
During the night of July 18-19, 1830, the Most Holy Virgin appeared for the first time to Saint Catherine Labouré, who had been awakened and led from the dormitory to the chapel by her guardian angel.
In the sanctuary, Saint Catherine later wrote:
“I heard something like the rustling of a silk dress, coming from the side of the tribune, close to Saint Joseph’s picture. She alighted on the steps of the altar on the Gospel side, in an arm chair like Saint Anne’s… As I looked up at Our Lady I flung myself close to her, falling on my knees on the altar steps, my hands resting in her knees. That was the sweetest moment of my life.”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, look on my soul with mercy, obtain for me a spirit of prayer that leads me always to have recourse to thee. Obtain for me the graces that I implore of thee and, above all, inspire me to pray for the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
Protection of Mary in times of trial
“The times are very evil, misfortunes are going to befall France, the throne will be overthrown, the whole world will be overwhelmed with misfortunes of every kind.” The Holy Virgin looked very distressed as she said this. “But come to the foot of this altar. Here graces will be bestowed on anyone, great or small, who asks for them with confidence and fervor… A moment will come of such great danger that all will seem lost. But I shall be with you.”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, amidst the great desolation in the world and the Church, obtain for me the graces I ask of thee and inspire me, above all, to request the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
The Cross will be despised
“The Cross will be despised and hurled to the ground, blood will run in the streets, the Side of Our Lord will be opened again. The archbishop will be stripped of his garments.” Here the Holy Virgin, her face filled with sadness, could no longer speak. “My child, the whole world will be plunged in sorrow,” she said to me.
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, obtain for me the grace to live in union with thee, with thy Divine Son and the Church at this crucial moment in history, as tragic as the Passion, when all humanity is about to choose sides for or against Christ! Obtain for me the graces I implore, especially the grace of requesting that which thou most wants to grant me.
Mary crushes the head of the serpent
At 5:30 on the evening of November 27, 1830, as Saint Catherine was praying in the chapel, the Holy Virgin appeared to her for the second time, standing as high as Saint Joseph’s picture to the right of the main altar.
“Her face was so beautiful that it would be impossible for me to describe it. Her robe was white as the glow of dawn… Her head was covered with a white veil that extended to her feet which rested on a half sphere, with her heel crushing the head of a serpent.”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, be my protection against the assaults of the infernal enemy. Obtain for me the graces I am asking of thee and, above all, inspire me to request the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
The Virgin of the globe
The Holy Virgin holds a globe in her hands representing the whole world, and each person in particular, and offers it to God, imploring His mercy.
She wears rings on her fingers, bearing precious stones that shed rays, one more beautiful than the next, symbolizing the graces that the Holy Virgin pours out on those who ask for them.
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, obtain for me the graces I am asking of thee and inspire me, above all, to request the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
The invocation on the medal
During the second apparition, Our Blessed Mother explained to Saint Catherine “how pleased she is when people pray to her and how generous she is with them; how she gives special graces to those who ask; and what a great joy she takes in granting them.”
At that point “a frame formed around Our Lady, like an oval, bearing the following words in gold letters: ‘O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.’”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, obtain for me the graces I am asking of thee and inspire me, above all, to request the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
Revelation of the medal
Then a voice was heard, saying, “Have a medal struck after this model. Those who wear it, blessed, around their neck will receive great graces. The graces will be abundant for those who wear it with confidence.”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, obtain for me the graces that I ask of thee and inspire me, above all, to pray for the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
The hearts of Jesus and Mary
After contemplating the picture on the medal, Saint Catherine saw it turn to display the back. There she saw an “M,” the monogram of Mary, surmounted by a small cross and, below it, the hearts of Jesus and Mary, the first surrounded with thorns and the latter pierced with a sword.
Twelve stars surrounded the hearts and the monogram.
Let us pray: O Immaculate Heart of Mary, make my heart like unto thine. Obtain for me the graces I am asking of thee and, above all, inspire me to ask of thee the graces thou most wants to grant me.
Mary will be proclaimed
Queen of the Universe Confirming the predictions of Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Saint Catherine says that the Most Holy Virgin will be proclaimed Queen of the Universe: “Oh! how beautiful it will be to hear: Mary is the Queen of the Universe. The children and everyone will cry with joy and rapture.
That will be a lasting era of peace and happiness. She will be displayed on standards and paraded all over the world.”
Let us pray: O Most Holy Virgin, O my Mother, obtain for me the graces I am asking of thee and inspire me, above all, to pray for the graces that thou most wants to grant me.
In 1830, during the apparitions in the chapel on Rue du Bac in Paris, the Holy Virgin presented the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Labouré: “Those who wear it, blessed, around their neck will receive great graces. The graces will be abundant for those who wear it with confidence.”
At the time of Saint Catherine Labouré’s death, the distribution of the medal in the world had surpassed the one billion mark. The innumerable conversions, cures and cases of extraordinary protection, quickly lead to its being called the “Miraculous Medal.”
Wearing and disseminating the Miraculous Medal means placing oneself under the protection of the Most Holy Virgin. It means placing oneself under the sign of the Immaculate and taking a stand in face of the troubles and indifference affecting the modern world.
“The whole world will be overwhelmed by misfortunes of all kinds… All will seem lost, but I shall be with you,” the Holy Virgin promised Saint Catherine, who repeated this prophecy till the end of her life. The rays coming from Our Lady’s hands symbolize the graces she obtains for everyone who prays to her with confidence.
From her childhood St. Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, king of Hungary, began to fear God; and she grew in holiness as she grew in age. When she was married to Ludwig, Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, she devoted herself no less to the service of God than to the welfare of her husband. She was …
Solutio Problematis Omnes (aka "The Catholic Linker") 