"The Fine Tuning of the Universe" by Gerald Schroeder

We must be armed to discuss our faith with many unbelievers.
One thing I come upon, in print and on the internet, is the constant thought by many that science has disproved the 'need' for God.
Here is an interesting article showing how our universe is hard to explain as a simple random event.

From

The Fine Tuning of the Universe

an article by Gerald Schroeder

"According to growing numbers of scientists, the laws and constants of nature are so "finely-tuned," and so many "coincidences" have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence.
In fact, this "fine-tuning" is so pronounced, and the "coincidences" are so numerous, many scientists have come to espouse The Anthropic Principle, which contends that the universe was brought into existence intentionally for the sake of producing mankind. Even those who do not accept The Anthropic Principle admit to the "fine-tuning" and conclude that the universe is "too contrived" to be a chance event."

God be with you!

(Image from http://thomasfortenberry.net/?attachment_id=9318)

Why protestants should pray the 'Hail Mary'

From James 5:16  --  "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

Who could be more righteous that the very person that God knew from the beginning of time that He would use to become a human being?  For such an honour God would not simply choose any old 'good person'.  Remember, God did not simply appear in Mary's womb.  The Holy Spirit fertilized one of Mary's eggs before it arrived in her womb.  That is the only way that God could truly sacrifice His own divine life for mankind.  From the early Church fathers  we know that the early Christians learned that Mary was in heaven with her Lord and son, in body and soul, not merely rotting in the earth. 

Now look at this simple prayer:

"Hail Mary, full of grace.  The Lord is with Thee."  (Luke 1:28)--  Those are the biblical words of the archangel Gabriel as he greeted Mary

"Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (Jesus)(Luke 1:42).   Again, right out of the bible, these are the very words of St. Anne, the mother of St. John the Baptist.

So far in this prayer we have reminded ourselves just why it is that Mary's prayer for us can be 'powerful and effective'.

And who is Mary?  She is the mother of Jesus.  Who is Jesus?  Jesus is the Second person of the Holy Trinity.  Jesus is God, and Mary is His earthly mother.  To call Mary the 'mother of God' is important because in doing so we affirm that Jesus is God.

So next we simply ask Mary to pray for us, just as we would ask any good Christian to pray for us:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death"

Amen.

If you ignore any anti-Catholic thoughts, what is there to object to in this prayer.

Remember, the first recorded miracle of Jesus occurred after Mary asked his help after being approached by others at the wedding party in Cana.  Why should Jesus stop listening to her now?

Death with dignity, Catholic style.

Please have a look at this video.  At the end is attached a preview of a movie which shows Catholics dying with true dignity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nZ1BDnXVM7o

Purgatory -- suffering in purgatory.

As the Church Militant, let us always remember to pray for the holy souls in purgatory.

Lately I have been thinking of our brethren on their way to heaven.  I do not know the nature of their sufferings, but I have an inkling as to part of it.

Firstly, why purgatory?
In order to enter heaven we must be pure.  Purgatory purifies us.
When we die we are bound to our eternal destinies.  God, in His infinite mercy, may even allow the most sinful of us to make a final decision as to where we would like to spend all of eternity.  He will not force us, but I am guessing that He will give us a clearer vision of our choice.  He will not send us to hell.  We freely choose heaven or hell.
If we choose heaven we must be purified.
Christ paid the ultimate price that we cannot pay due to our very nature as mere creatures.  He paid that price once with His death on the cross.
But Divine Justice demands that we must take ownership of our sins and accept the punishment for them.  This punishment may come to us while still alive on this earth.  Whatever we have not paid the 'fine' for must be paid after death ... thus purgatory.  
Purgatory is a time for us to be cleansed.  Some of us need only to wipe the stains off our fingers before being pure for heaven.  Others require a long hot bath with lots of painful scrubbing.

This brings me to my thoughts about some of the nature of our sufferings.
When we die and have truly chosen heaven we know that we are being denied the 'beatific vision'  --  seeing God 'face to face'.  To be destined for heaven means that, above all else, we desire to be in God's presence and truly 'see' Him in all His glory.  
For the Church Militant, we have access to God Himself in the Holy Eucharist.  The God of the universe, in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, appears on the altar in every Catholic Mass by the power of the Holy Ghost working through a validly ordained priest.  We can receive God Himself on our tongues if we are living in a state of grace.  This, too, is denied to the holy souls in purgatory

Please remember to pray for these holy souls, especially this November 11th, Rememberance Day.

- Reg.

Again: Thoughts on how important we are in God's creation.

God has created us to be very important.

• He made us in His image.
• He gave us free will so we can choose to obey and love Him or not to.
• When our first parents sinned He promised to send a saviour (Genesis 3:15).
• The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Word of God, did not simply appear on earth in human form. God protected Mary from original sin so that the Holy Spirit could fertilize one of her ova with Jesus, and therefore Jesus was completely without sin. Imagine that -- God prepared a human girl to be His earthly mother. God thinks so highly of us that He accepts a human being as His Mother. Not a foster mother but a biological mother.
• Jesus suffered and died for us. God thinks so highly of us that He took our sins upon His sinless self and allowed Himself to be mocked and killed.
• God thinks so highly of us that he raised Jesus from the dead and He appeared in His resurrected and glorified human body to His disciples. Having instructed the disciples and prepared them for the institution of the Church He ascended into heaven -- body and soul.
• We are so important to God that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity sits at the right hand of God the Father with a human body!
• The importance of all men and women is further proved by the fact that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. God then crowned Mary, a human being, as the Queen of Heaven. We are more than mere slaves.
• Remember this: Jesus initially spoke of us as servants. Later we are called His friends. Finally, he declares that He is our Brother. God is 'wholly other', but through Jesus, He is also our brother.
• God comes to us all the time. We receive His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity at each Mass.
• The Third Person of the Holy Trinity has not only visited us throughout time, He also came into mere mortals on the day of Pentecost. He enters each one of us at Baptism and Confirmation.

We must always glorify and adore God. He is far different than us. He is perfect, all loving, all knowing, all merciful, and also just.
Therefore we strive to be perfect, just as God is perfect. In that way we are fanatics. But never think of yourself as a mere slave.

Dominus tecum, Reg.

Human Exceptionalism -- What God Has Done For Us Out of His Love

Just look at what God has done:

 

He created an entire universe out of nothing. He created time itself. All creatures come from His immense love.

 

And yet, out of all His creation, He created us, and only us, in His image.

 

He loves us so much that He wants our love in return. So that we can love Him He gave us the choice to follow Him or to follow our own desires. Unfortunately in the Garden of Eden we chose ourselves over our God.

 

God therefore picked the Jewish people to prepare a way for His coming. (He knew all this would happen beforehand, but that's not important here.)

 

God has so much love for us that He sent His angel Gabriel to earth to announce to the Virgin Mary that she was to become the Mother of God. The Holy Ghost used Mary's genetic material so that the Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, could become both God and Man. He did not simply appear on earth in a human guise, out of His great Love He actually became one of us! He loves us so very much that, for our salvation, He even became a human being.

 

His love led Him to walk this earth and prepare His Church, "the Body of Christ", and to finally suffer and die for our sins. Now that's a lot of love!

 

God loves us so very much that He sent His Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost. That same Holy Spirit has been passed down to us by apostolic succession. And we receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism, and again at Confirmation. What/who is this Holy Spirit? The Third Person of the Holy Trinity! That's right. God has so much love for us that He is willing to live inside each one of us, if only we allow Him.

 

We receive God almighty onto our tongues at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Once again God comes into us, this time physically, out of His sheer love for us.

 

When the God-Man Jesus ascended into heaven He ascended with His human body. God actually dwells in heaven with a human body. He must love us more than we can imagine.

 

He also loved His dear mother so much that her body was assumed into heaven along with her soul.

 

And God loves us so much that He is populating heaven with us. He created angels, but only humans partake in His Body and Blood. Only humans were made in His image. 

 

Yes indeed God loves us without end. We need to learn to love Him in return.

 

http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2013/04/15/traditional-church-architecture-tells-it-all/

 

The Harm of Homosexual Practice: A Link

Greetings!

I found this to be very informative: 

The Harm of Homosexual Practice: A Medical and Moral Argument

 

And yet a 15 year old girl in a 'Catholic' high school thinks like this:

“I think it will make others realize more that it’s OK to be who you are, it’s OK to be gay, to be bisexual, transgender, whatever you are,” said Adriana Unis. “I feel more accepted now. … I can be in a Catholic school and still be myself.”

See 

And so it begins…

 

 

Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. -- May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust down to hell Satin and all the wicked spirits, who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen.