"As I have traveled throughout the Diocese of Knoxville, I have noticed that in some of our parishes additional prayers, including the Prayer to St. Michael, the “Prayer of St. Francis,” a Prayer to the Holy Spirit, and others have been added regularly to the liturgy—recited together, sometimes before the entrance hymn, or immediately after the dismissal.

Recently at a gathering of our priests I spoke to these customs that have become part of some of our parishes, many of which are indeed beloved by our people. Having reflected on the importance of celebrating the liturgy in accordance with the mind of the Church, I do not think it appropriate to add additional prayers associated with the celebration of the Mass itself. Therefore, I have asked our priests to catechize the people of God as we move away from additional prayers recited together immediately before, during, and immediately after Mass."

https://etcatholic.org/2026/10/st-michael-the-archangel-pray-for-us/

A picture I took at the Washington DC of a shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Unfortunately, majority of liberal kids in the Philippines were just larping thinking that Modern Secular Ideologies (e.g. Abortion, Gay Marriage, etc...) are better for society instead of actually learning the theology of Christianity. They are also jumping to conclusions (e.g. BS Lifestyle because of Colonialism, Behind because of Religion, Science is the Truth, etc...).

They are poisoned by social media and most of them are just becoming an atheist because of Reddit, Tiktok, Twitter, etc...

I am a Filipino and this is very unfortunate.

I am losing my mind and my hope for the Philippines is decreasing.

Edit: Whatever. I am going to try to ban every single every subreddit by providing proof.

Edit2: Majority of them got abused by heretical "Christians" and blame all Christians. It is very unfortunate that they are not even studying actual theology or philosophy and instead rely fully on Social Media as a major source of information. Yes, it is good for testimonial evidence but it is not for good for every other evidence. I am going to do something later on in my life. God Bless!

So, I started going a new parish recently, and went to confession at this parish for first time. Right next to the confessional, there is an adoration chapel where people can do adoration itself and your penance, and I had never actually been to adoration yet because my old parish didn't have it at times where I was available due to work.

Now, I have poor eyesight at night. I have bad astigmatism which makes lights stretch and everything blurry. But I prayed, and did my penance in front of the Eucharist (which by itself was already interesting), but I got out of the building, and I could see perfectly. I didn't even need my glasses driving home at night for the first time in years.

For years I had just passed over Adoration as just an add-on, but I think I may start going now regularly. Just thought I'd share this story, since I don't have any Catholic friends. God bless everybody.

“The Corner” is made entirely on a budget from thrift and antique store obtained holy imagery and is always expanding (except one Byzantine icon from a vendor at a local Greek food festival) here is were my study and prayer in done(very few get to see “The Corner”)

O glorious Saint Michael the Archangel,
Prince of the Heavenly Host,
Defender of the Faithful,
and mighty warrior of the Most High,
clothe me in your armor,
that I may stand firm in faith,
walk courageously in righteousness,
and remain faithful to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Upon my heart, place your dō (cuirass),
that my soul may be guarded against evil, my heart protected from hatred and despair, and my love remain steadfast in Christ.
Upon my head, place your kabuto (helmet),
that my mind may be shielded from temptation, my thoughts guided by divine wisdom, and my judgment strengthened by truth and may the maedate (helmet’s crest) bear witness to the truth of Christ’s love and ministry, to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the strength of all things sustained by the love of God.
Upon my shoulders, place your sode (shoulder guards), that I may bear my burdens with courage,
carry my crosses with humility, and never falter beneath the weight of my duties as Simon of Cyrene helped Christ in the Via Crucis.
Upon my arms and hands, place your kote (armored sleeves and gauntlets), that my hands may never become instruments of sin, but instead serve the weak, comfort the suffering, defend the innocent, and perform works pleasing to Almighty God.
Around my waist, place your kusazuri (armored skirt), that my passions may be governed by virtue,
my desires purified by grace, and my body preserved in chastity and temperance.
Upon my thighs, place your haidate (thigh guards), that I may stand steadfast in spiritual battle, resist the snares of the enemy, and never surrender my faith.
Upon my legs, place your suneate (greaves), that my steps may be protected from danger,
my strength renewed when I stumble,
and my journey directed toward the Kingdom of Heaven.
Upon my feet, place your tabi and waraji (socks and sandals), that I may never stray from the path of righteousness, never walk willingly into sin, and always follow the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
And against every evil in my path, raise your blessed katana (sword), O glorious Prince of the Heavenly Host! Let its heavenly brilliance drive away the darkness, its righteous strength defend me against the wickedness of the devil, and its holy victory remind me that no power of darkness can overcome the light of Christ.

Saint Michael, mighty defender of God’s people,
teach me the courage of a warrior,
the discipline of a faithful servant,
the humility of a Christian,
and the unwavering loyalty of one who serves the King of Kings.
When I am afraid, strengthen me.
When I am tempted, defend me.
When I am wounded, comfort me.
When I fall, help me rise again.
When I am victorious, keep me humble.
And when my earthly battles are finished,
may you, glorious Archangel,
lead me into the presence of Almighty God,
where every sword shall be laid down,
every tear shall be wiped away,
and eternal peace shall reign.
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Quis ut Deus? Who is like God?
Amen.

Update thanks to [u/sariaru](u/sariaru): This is the work of Daniel Mitsui, who does lots of artwork in a Ukiyo-e style. You can find his prints here: https://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/religious_giclee.html#japanese

This is swiątynia opatrznosci Bożej which is church located in Wilanów district of Warsaw(Polish people of this sub will definitely know the place from the famous dino supermarket).Even though I dont live in the area,I still love going to this church because of priests.This church has a pretty interesting style.Due to the shape of it's dome it has earned the nickname of lemon.The church is also really huge.Anyways God bless and lmk what you think about this church

Last week, on Friday, I got married!

My wife and I met as complete atheists in 2021. Both of us are baptised Catholics and I strongly believe the grace of that sacrament pulled us back to mother church.

We came to Jesus together, abstained for 2 years whilst we discerned Catholicism. I proposed this February.

I also need to say to you all, marriage has literally been miraculous. God has blessed us both immeasurably since our wedding day, it’s been so clear that God is smiling upon our union. You guys, marriage is absolutley a spiritual reality. All the platitudes and commonly known concepts like ’one flesh’ are absolutely real and 100% fall short of fully describing.

So any men out there who are discerning proposal, DO IT!!

God bless

There are these two Mormon young girls (19 and 20) who frequently visiti our house twice a week. My family and I are Catholic, but we respect other religions, and we have nothing against them.

However, I sometimes find their visits a bit inconvenient, especially because they tend to come in the evening. Last night, for example, they visited us at around 8:30 PM, and as usual, they shared passages from their Bible with us until around 9 PM.

I know this might sound like I'm trying to push them away, but I don't think visiting twice a week, especially at that time of the evening, is appropriate for our household. Some of my family members have just come home from work and are already tired, so they need time to rest.

I think you understand where I'm coming from, right? I want to know how we can politely decline their visits without sounding rude or disrespectful.

For context, we have already told them that we regularly attend church every Sunday and that they won't be able to persuade us to change our religion. However, I can't help but feel that their visits are actually a form of religious persuasion, since they keep sharing their beliefs with us.

We respect their faith, but we also want them to understand and respect our beliefs, personal time, and boundaries.

I’m a father of two beautiful girls, and my youngest is only six weeks old.

For the past several weeks, she’s been suffering from episodes of excruciating pain. She would scream uncontrollably for hours, arch her back, become stiff as a board, and often refuse to eat. My wife and I were absolutely exhausted and heartbroken watching our little girl suffer.

I’m a paramedic, so naturally, I’ve spent countless hours trying to find a medical explanation. We’ve tried just about everything, but nothing seemed to help.

Throughout all of this, I’ve been praying constantly to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, asking the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph for their intercession. I begged for my daughter’s suffering to end and for my wife to finally have some peace.

Yesterday was our worst day yet. Our daughter screamed for nearly 10 hours, barely ate, and we ended up in the ER. We discovered she’d gained only two ounces in 10 days, and she was admitted to hospital.

Then today, something extraordinary happened.
It was like someone flipped a switch.
For the first time in weeks, she was happy. She was smiling, feeding beautifully, looking around, and peacefully falling asleep. Not a single one of her horrific screaming episodes all day.
I spent the entire day waiting for things to go wrong again. But they never did.

What’s even more astonishing is that not a single doctor or nurse has been able to give us a clear, definitive explanation for why she’s suddenly doing so well. We’ve discussed reflux, feeding problems, and other possible causes, but nobody has been able to explain this dramatic turnaround.

On my drive home tonight, I was still trying to figure it out medically. Was it the formula? Reflux? Something else?
And then it suddenly hit me.

What if the answer I’ve been desperately searching for was an answer to my prayers?

I’ve been so consumed with trying to find a scientific explanation that I hadn’t even stopped to consider that possibility.
Maybe God has been working through the people caring for her. Maybe this is His way of answering the prayers I’ve been making night after night.

All I know is that I’ve spent weeks begging God to take away my little girl’s suffering, and today, for the first time in what feels like forever, I saw her genuinely happy, comfortable, and at peace.
And tonight, I can’t help but feel that my prayers have been heard.
Please keep my daughter in your prayers that this continues.

Jesus, I trust in You.

Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Filipinos are usually extroverted in nature; there's this spirit of community, and bonding over shared experiences and beliefs.

And after a Catholic Mass, every families mind their own business after; they'd go home or go to malls but interacting with other Mass goers? Not a chance.

During high school, especially in secular school where you meet different students who practice other faiths, they're eager to invite you to their church because you became their friend. Maybe they found out that you're a Catholic and found your faith as boring, or idol worshipping (whatever their pastor taught them)— and not proclaiming your faith with on the spot praying, dancing, singing at concerts, and crying uncontrollably when the "Holy Spirit" comes upon their service. Maybe they see you have no idea about your relationship with the Lord. Cathecism became non-existent lately in schools and you just follow whatever your lukewarm family does every Sundays.

And you did go to their service; wow, it was indeed, "fun". You were welcomed. You see how different the service was compared to the solemnity of your church. Everyone even the kids and senior citizens became so emotional as the band play. Everyone mingled with each other after the service. Even if they didn't know you, you never felt you were an outsider.

And soon, the churchgoers from that denomination get to know you; where you're from, what's your family like, how's life back at home; you felt like you belonged and be seen. You then see fellow youth having their own groups and bond with them even outside Sundays. The elders are concerned with you and you can easily approach them, which in turn taught you how great their denomination was and taught you how wrong Catholicism is. How rosaries were called "vain repetition", how you "worship Mary" and saints, on how gory and dark Holy Week is because you keep reminiscing Jesus' death (search Semana Santa in the Philippines for more information), and many more.

"Born Again? It's not the religion but the relationship we have with the Lord," they said. And you soon fight over your family because they remained to stay in church despite "how pagan" it was. You sought the lively worshiping and Bible study with people at your age. And reading and hearing testimonies on social media made you feel seen. Like there's a missing piece in your life that you didn't feel inside the Catholic church.

And you convert. Because you finally have the relationship they kept saying they found with the Lord. Because you felt belonged like a community and mingled with everyone, young or old. Because the Holy Spirit found you in your knees crying inconsolably during service as the lights went low and the band lowered their pace.

And it felt like "home". You weren't comfortable with the Mass feeling like a ritual, where Bible verses weren't actually disected, and everyone minding their own businesses after the Mass.

--

This is just my observation with Protestant friends as I grow up; they're still deep in their faith with their same friends inside their church. I also observed reading people's threads on social media despite them being Catholic they wanted to try Born Again/Christian (Protestant is what they mean) services because of how "fun" it looks like.

TL;DR: Pregnancy of unknown location, suspected molar, diagnostic D&C after consulting the NCBC. Pathology showed no pregnancy in the uterus, and rising hCG means it's ectopic. Now facing the methotrexate vs. surgery decision as a Catholic, and grieving.

Long form: My husband and I were overjoyed when we found out I was pregnant. About a week later, I had severe cramping on one side and mild bleeding, so I went to the ER to be safe. My hCG was only 272, too early to see anything on ultrasound. They did find what they thought was a corpus luteum on my left side but couldn't rule out an ectopic. With mild pain and no sign of internal bleeding, the only option was repeat bloodwork and monitoring.

For almost two weeks, I had my hCG drawn every 48 hours. My numbers rose within the accepted range, though on the low side, and I wasn't sure of my dates. I still had mild cramping and bleeding, but I convinced myself it happens in normal pregnancies sometimes. When my hCG passed 2,800, my OB sent me for another ultrasound. I was hoping it would finally show the baby in my uterus and take away the "pregnancy of unknown location" label.

At 5w5d at the earliest (6w3d at the latest), there was no gestational sac. The suspected corpus luteum was still there, but smaller. There were also several cyst-like spots in my uterus that made my doctors suspect a molar pregnancy, even though my numbers were low. Since I was still within the window where a sac might appear, we repeated the bloodwork and ultrasound 48 hours later. At that point, my hCG had risen only 30%, which meant the pregnancy was not viable. That news was unbearable, and it still didn't tell us where the pregnancy was.

My doctor recommended a D&C to find out whether there was a failed pregnancy in my uterus. I scheduled it for the next day and then had a crisis of conscience. I called the National Catholic Bioethics Center hotline. The ethicist was helpful in pointing me to the role of intent: if I could have moral certainty that the pregnancy had already failed, the purpose of the D&C was not to end a pregnancy, and it would not be illicit. He did push back on the idea that my doctors could be worried about a molar and an ectopic pregnancy at the same time (🙄) and we didn't have time to talk about methotrexate.

To be morally certain, I asked my OB for one more ultrasound. My hCG was over 3,700, I was at least 6 weeks (probably 6w5d), and above 3,500, if nothing is seen, nothing will be. The same picture showed up: the corpus luteum and the cysts the tech said looked molar. A molar pregnancy can only be diagnosed by examining tissue, so I went ahead with the D&C. I was devastated, but I believed I was following both sound medical advice and the Church's teaching on one of the hardest issues in our faith.

Today my pathology came back. There was no pregnancy in my uterus at all, and my hCG has risen to over 5,400. It's an ectopic, and I'm now waiting for methotrexate. As far as I know, the Church has no definitive teaching on methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy. I could ask for exploratory surgery on the area of the suspected corpus luteum and possibly have my tube removed, but it might not even be the location. And waiting carries a real risk of rupture. I have a 15-month-old at home.

I feel let down by this whole process, even though I reached out to everyone I could think of for guidance. I'm sharing this in the hope that it helps someone who finds themselves in the same unimaginable situation. I feel like I've lost this baby so many times, and now I really have.

Prayers for our family are appreciated.

For nearly a year now I’ve been feeling called to the Divine Mercy.

It started at daily Mass when I sat down the image of The Divine Mercy stood out to me at the altar. Then during the elevation of the Host when the priest says “Behold the Lamb of God” for a moment or two it seemed as if Our Lord stood out from the picture. It wasn’t completely clear and defined, but almost his grace stepping out in a sense, like an outline. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it.

It caught my attention and I realised that Our Lord was calling me towards His Divine Mercy.

About 4 days later my mom got really really sick ranging from seizures too cancer scares and intestinal failure. This happened for about 7 months, and it has been the most difficult time of my life, but it felt as if His Divine Mercy was something he drew my attention to, to help me through this.

The more I looked into His Divine Mercy and contemplated it, the more I realised he was calling me to trust that He was merciful, especially because I struggle with that due to a long history of abuse from male authority’s.

Finally, during Saint Therese’s novena I asked her to send me a red rose to confirm when this nightmare would end and things would go back to normal.

Then the other day, I got accepted for Engineering. Which was one of my biggest worries throughout this year as I took a gap year. So I decided to go to daily Mass after a long time of only weekly Mass.

So I found myself yet again with the same Image of his Divine Mercy, same chapel and everything. I sat quietly and looked at it, because after everything I still didn’t know how to trust Him. I finally admitted I couldn’t trust Him alone and that I couldn’t do anything alone and just said the phrase “Jesus I trust in you” letting Him take care of the rest.

Then my attention was drawn to the statue above the alter of Christ raising his hand, but it was almost as if He was pointing at the ceiling, so I looked up.

There it was

A painting with a single red rose.

In that moment I knew it was my confirmation that things were finally over and would start getting better.

And it ended where it began, in the same chapel. The only difference is this time I gave my Trust to Jesus, after finally surrendering. Just like He was teaching me to do from the beginning.

Just thought I should share this

Hi everyone! We are the only English speaking Catholic Community in Costa Rica. If you're visiting, come join us for Holy Mass every Sunday at 3pm. Even though you might be travelling, whenever you come to receive the Eucharist at Holy Mass, you are home!