Three Reasons I Love Catholicism

I discovered a link-up where bloggers are invited to write about their three favorite aspects of Catholicism and I just love that idea!  The hardest part is limiting it to only three reasons because I could probably come up with thousands of them.  The host of the link-up is Micaela at California to Korea.  Thanks for the great idea, Micaela!  Here's my attempt to limit my love for this amazing, beautiful, fabulous, awesome, marvelous (I could go on and on) Catholic faith of ours.  Visit Micaela for more thoughts from other bloggers and feel free to join in with your own list of three reasons why you love being Catholic.

1)  Most likely number one on every Catholic's list is the EUCHARIST.  My source, substance and greatest desire is to dine daily on the Bread of Heaven, His most Sacred Heart in the form of food, full of love and freely given to me,  from which all graces flow.  It is the one thing about Catholicism that I love the most and for which I am most grateful.  I just can't live without the Precious Body and Blood of my Lord.  On the night of the Last Supper when He instituted this gift, Jesus was well aware that this soul-sustaining food was the only necessary thing that can carry us through each and every day of life straight to the gates of heaven.  So with gratitude I receive the Body and the Blood of my Lord each morning and then, well nourished, I carry Him out into the world in which I live to share Him with others through the words and actions of my day.  This prayer of thanksgiving from the Handmaids of the Precious Blood prayer book sums my feelings up so nicely:

Offering of Holy Communion as Viaticum

O my God, if I am to die today or suddenly at any time, I wish to receive this Communion as my Viaticum.  I desire that my last food may be the Body and Blood of my Savior and Redeemer; my last words, Jesus, Mary and Joseph; my last affection, an act of pure love of God and of perfect contrition for my sins; my last consolation, to die in Your holy grace and in Your holy love.  Amen.

2)  In my life I have been greatly blessed to have the love and friendship of so many holy priests who selflessly share their lives for the good of others.  So the HOLY PRIESTHOOD is definitely at the top of my list of favorite things about the Catholic Church.  It is only the priest who can take the simple elements of bread and wine and have them transformed into the living Body and Blood of my Lord within their very hands.  It is only the priest who can patiently listen to my monotonous litany of sins and then absolve me, freeing me to enjoy the state of grace within my soul until, in my weakness, I stumble into sin once again.  It is only the priest who serves not only as my earthly father, but as my mother, my brother, my teacher and my most treasured friend as well.  It is to him that I can take all of my joys and sorrows knowing that he will keep them in confidence and then will pray both with and for me, always having the sanctity of my soul as his highest priority.  It is my greatest honor and joy to love and to pray for the priests who have touched my life and who care for my soul.  Pray with me?

Prayer for Priests by Fr. William Doyle, SJ

O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests. It is both their glory and their duty to become victims, to be burnt up for souls, to live without ordinary joys, to be often the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.

The words they say every day at the altar, "This is my Body, this is my Blood," grant them to apply to themselves: "I am no longer myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified. I am, like the bread and wine, a substance no longer itself, but by consecration another."

O my God, I burn with desire for the sanctification of Thy priests. I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee were hands whose touch is gentle and pleasing to Thee, that all the mouths uttering such sublime words at the altar should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay at the level of their lofty functions, let every man find them simple and great, like the Holy Eucharist, accessible to all yet above the rest of men. O my God, grant them to carry with them from the Mass of today, a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow, and grant them, ladened themselves with gifts, to share these abundantly with their fellow men. Amen.

3)  There is no one on earth who understands us like our earthly mother and so there is no one in heaven who understands us better than our heavenly mother, either.  My  BLESSED MOTHER MARY is crucial to my peace of mind and soul, so she is definitely one of my top three favorite parts about being Catholic.  She said "yes" to God, she allowed the Holy Spirit to penetrate her soul and she carried my Lord within her very womb.  She loves me, she understands me, she prays for me.  She asks, "I am not here; I who am your mother?  Are you not under the shadow of my protection?" She takes my concerns to her Son and begs Him to have mercy and clemency upon my soul.  She asks Him to give me all that I need to be joyful and holy.  She models the perfection of holiness for me so that I can follow her beautiful example.  How blessed we are as Catholics to have a Holy Mother who loves each and every one of us so much!  So we honor her with this prayer:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.  Amen.