The Catholic Church has a long history of recognizing "the victim soul".
Homosexual? Maybe you can help send souls to heaven
Watch this for a genuinely Catholic look at homosexuality.
The Catholic Church has a long history of recognizing "the victim soul".
[ If the video doesn't load you can also find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sILSapUUc#t=15 ]
The Catholic Church has a long history of recognizing "the victim soul".
Abortion as a "woman's rights" issue?
Abortion is a question of woman's rights?
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6F8iwED6jEheXRjbU_2_P_aHqifld-noWDoEfQ_p7yKzRZnfGjLrPHuS6nJ9Fhre8N11ANXdOyE1E3uW6iPfuO-6bVJweImbj0qnB6ZZrG5yGc8CaJYh0cZO-TvFsw-CTN1mjcGM2Eg/s1600/fetus-facepalm_www-zaaap_-net_.jpg
Of the many serious problems I see with the 'pro-choice' arguments, this is one of the silliest ideas. But it is being drummed into us year after year. Abortion is a HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.
The mother carries the baby, but the father and the baby are also involved.
How can we, as a civilized society, ever condone the taking of an innocent life if there is the remotest chance that that life is a the life of a human person?
Every abortion results in a death. It makes no difference whether or not it takes place in a hospital or a back alley. At least one life is lost.
If you consider yourself pro-choice how can you be 100% certain that the life of the fetus is not the life of a human person. I mean 100%.
Here in Canada in a criminal trial guilt must be proved 'beyond a reasonable doubt' for a conviction. (Even if convicted there is no death penalty.) If it can not be proven 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that a fetus, at any stage of development, is not a human person, how can a mother pass a death sentence?
People can find reasons to doubt the fetus's humanity and and come to believe their person-hood to be unlikely, but that idea can never be proved absolutely.
Think about our development. There are only two major events in our lives. Birth is not one of the two.
First we are conceived. Then there follows years of development and decay until our natural death.
The person conceived during sexual intercourse is the exact same person that will die, say, 80 years and nine months later.
Pregnancy. Many people are affected. The mother carrying the life in her womb is most heavily affected.
Abortion. Many people are affected. The mother going through the ordeal (which is NOT "health car") is heavily affected, but the only person loosing a life (if the procedure goes as planned) is the life inside the mother.
How does the pro-choice movement make any logical sense to anyone? It sure is a mystery to me. Logically it is nonsense. But politically it gets votes. Do people like to be 'pro-choice' so that they can be 'modern' and think like the rest of the crowd? That's the only way that I can see this mess staying around for so many decades.
Salvation "outside" the Catholic Church.
Just a quick post before I'm off to work.
I was just reading Father Z's blog, "What does the Prayer Really Say?", on the topic of
One of the greatest advantages of being Catholic: we have the maximum amount of light as we pass through this world. Unfortunately most of us don't bother to turn the light up very brightly, or we sometimes turn away from what the light shows us. That is called "sin".
Let's learn all we can about the Faith that has been passed down through Apostolic Succession and preserved by the Catholic Church. Especially when we have the resources of the Internet and the ability to check things out with our priests and with priests with an online presence.
Dominus vobiscum, Reg.
I was just reading Father Z's blog, "What does the Prayer Really Say?", on the topic of
Pope Francis on the possibility of salvation for atheists
I find analogies to be of great assistance in coming to understand and explain various concepts. That's why I love Jesus' parables. After Fr. Z's post I came across this comment by Father Martin Fox:
Suppose you stand at the threshold of a room. You know there is another door to the room–you must cross the room to the other door–that other door is “Salvation” and that room is “life.”
To be Catholic is to have the maximum light in the room. All the alternatives involve far less light–or, if you don’t mind a change in the metaphor, to have far fewer helps.
The point is, that even with the fullest light, there is no guarantee you will make it. On the other hand, even with a little light, you can make it. Yet having more light is a good thing.
One of the greatest advantages of being Catholic: we have the maximum amount of light as we pass through this world. Unfortunately most of us don't bother to turn the light up very brightly, or we sometimes turn away from what the light shows us. That is called "sin".
Let's learn all we can about the Faith that has been passed down through Apostolic Succession and preserved by the Catholic Church. Especially when we have the resources of the Internet and the ability to check things out with our priests and with priests with an online presence.
Dominus vobiscum, Reg.
The Season of Pentecost has begun ... Come Holy Ghost!
Veni Sancte Spiritus
VENI, Sancte Spiritus,
et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium. Veni, pater pauperum, veni, dator munerum veni, lumen cordium. Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animae, dulce refrigerium. In labore requies, in aestu temperies in fletu solatium. O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium. Sine tuo numine, nihil est in homine, nihil est innoxium. Lava quod est sordidum, riga quod est aridum, sana quod est saucium. Flecte quod est rigidum, fove quod est frigidum, rege quod est devium. Da tuis fidelibus, in te confidentibus, sacrum septenarium. Da virtutis meritum, da salutis exitum, da perenne gaudium, Amen, Alleluia. |
COME, Holy Ghost,
send down those beams, which sweetly flow in silent streams from Thy bright throne above. O come, Thou Father of the poor; O come, Thou source of all our store, come, fill our hearts with love. O Thou, of comforters the best, O Thou, the soul's delightful guest, the pilgrim's sweet relief. Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet refreshment in the noonday heat; and solace in our grief. O blessed Light of life Thou art; fill with Thy light the inmost heart of those who hope in Thee. Without Thy Godhead nothing can, have any price or worth in man, nothing can harmless be. Lord, wash our sinful stains away, refresh from heaven our barren clay, our wounds and bruises heal. To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow, warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow, our wandering feet recall. Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord, whose only hope is Thy sure word, the sevenfold gifts of grace. Grant us in life Thy grace that we, in peace may die and ever be, in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia. |
44 Years of State-approved Baby Killing in Canada!
May God have mercy on us.
We are becoming a very perverse and lost people. Our lack of respect for, and value of, human life is horrendous. Let us continually pray for the end of abortion around the globe. Here in Canada occasionally there are a few glimmers of hope, but it seems hopeless. There is no federal party that will respect ALL Canadians. Our trust must be in the Lord our God.
We are becoming a very perverse and lost people. Our lack of respect for, and value of, human life is horrendous. Let us continually pray for the end of abortion around the globe. Here in Canada occasionally there are a few glimmers of hope, but it seems hopeless. There is no federal party that will respect ALL Canadians. Our trust must be in the Lord our God.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/End_Abortion.htmPrayer to End Abortion
Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all,
Through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Why love God?
Why love God? Because He loved us first and even became one of us to give all and die as a mortal.
Image from http://uploads0.wikipaintings.org/images/jacopo-bellini/the-crucifixion.jpg
I must say, the longer I am a Catholic the more I am "blown away" (as said 'back in the day'...) by what our Lord has done for us, especially through the Church He established.
God condescended to become a humble man, born of a virgin, and mixed with us sinners.
In 1996, at the age of 38, I came home to the Catholic Church. I grew up as an Anglican and in university I had a lot of contact with evangelical Christians. What I began to realize was that Jesus did not leave us a bible. He established a Church. He left the deposit of faith with his Church.
This Church is a Church that teaches with Divine Authority. There is no 'wiggle room' in the Church established by God!
His Church wrote the books of the New Testament and eventually, through the Holy Spirit, compiled the Canon of Scripture.
The early Christians had the Jewish scriptures and the oral teachings of the Apostles. The written teachings and the oral teachings/traditions are what the Holy Spirit uses to communicate Truth to the Body of Christ. Never scripture alone. That idea is a somewhat 'modern' invention, largely thanks to a former disobedient priest named Martin Luther.
Since we have both the Scriptures and Tradition the Holy Spirit has taught us more.
We now know that God crowned a mere human as the Queen of heaven.
Oh how God loves us!!!
God gave the power to his Apostles and their successors to forgive sins.
When I assist at Mass I witness a genuine miracle. A time where God intervenes with nature. Mere bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the actions and words of the successors of the Apostles, become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Saviour. We are "re-present" and the one sacrifice that Jesus made for us at Calvary.
The saints learned to hate sin ... to prefer death to committing even one mortal sin.
Let us remember daily to direct all our thoughts, words and actions heavenward.
To start your day you can use the 'morning offering' that I've been using for years:
God be with you!
Dominus vobiscum, Reg.
I must say, the longer I am a Catholic the more I am "blown away" (as said 'back in the day'...) by what our Lord has done for us, especially through the Church He established.
Not only did he create the entire universe and time itself, he chose to become one of us for our salvation. God has never been an angel. He has never been any of the other heavenly hosts. But he became a human being, and after his death his human body was glorified and ascended into heaven. The Word of God has a human body in heaven.
Can you imagine that? God himself thinks so highly of us, who he created in his image, that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity sits on his throne with his crucified then glorified human body!
Although sinless, he took our sins upon him and suffered and died for us. He died for us sinners. Wow.
In 1996, at the age of 38, I came home to the Catholic Church. I grew up as an Anglican and in university I had a lot of contact with evangelical Christians. What I began to realize was that Jesus did not leave us a bible. He established a Church. He left the deposit of faith with his Church.
This Church is a Church that teaches with Divine Authority. There is no 'wiggle room' in the Church established by God!
His Church wrote the books of the New Testament and eventually, through the Holy Spirit, compiled the Canon of Scripture.
The early Christians had the Jewish scriptures and the oral teachings of the Apostles. The written teachings and the oral teachings/traditions are what the Holy Spirit uses to communicate Truth to the Body of Christ. Never scripture alone. That idea is a somewhat 'modern' invention, largely thanks to a former disobedient priest named Martin Luther.
Since we have both the Scriptures and Tradition the Holy Spirit has taught us more.
We now know that God crowned a mere human as the Queen of heaven.
Oh how God loves us!!!
Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmM7-6ffKfgmG7h-DF_wi_F0S7q-uko_D1iSfHN-phPQbRKabw0Yeoh6jBaix7nhk5wPDFbriVz0k0Gz48eb4ff4UJOCCrMFVUGopkiwcrkN-4xr8Cuv2y1bVk-DLYzsNzEFTmOPi0Ls/s1600/CoronationMary.jpg
Through Apostolic succession, this Church, the Body of Christ, has as its earthly head the successor of Peter, the Pope. Jesus did not leave us alone. Through the succession of his Apostles the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is still offered every day on all Catholic and Orthodox altars. Jesus is still present in his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity here on earth.God gave the power to his Apostles and their successors to forgive sins.
When I assist at Mass I witness a genuine miracle. A time where God intervenes with nature. Mere bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the actions and words of the successors of the Apostles, become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Saviour. We are "re-present" and the one sacrifice that Jesus made for us at Calvary.
Image from my computer; originally from somewhere on the Internet ...
We have so much to be thankful for. So many reasons to love God with all our hearts, souls, and with all our actions.The saints learned to hate sin ... to prefer death to committing even one mortal sin.
Let us remember daily to direct all our thoughts, words and actions heavenward.
To start your day you can use the 'morning offering' that I've been using for years:
Most Holy and adorable Trinity, One God in three Persons, I adore You with the most profound humility. I praise you and give you thanks for the favours you have bestowed on me.[One of the things I love about this prayer is the line "May Your Divine Love animate them".]
Your goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day.
Behold, O Lord, I offer you my whole being, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day.
Give them, O Lord, Your blessing. May Your Divine Love animate them, and may they tend to the greater honour and glory of your Holy Name.
God be with you!
Dominus vobiscum, Reg.
Ascension Thursday
Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzNc1PRGQc2YnkfiA6S-ItRblc7LutJscOfewBbb0us7UvAm-Va-JnqB2f6IAnETzfUVs51uNGpq-J1Rp8wA1p9QkUhWBzgDwtvyp-6N0ziDx6FUrYhOskZcPtfd0xvmfev7ZBVb9wZeO/s1600/ascension_of_jesus.jpg
Scott P. Richert has a good overview of this great feast:
Ascension of Our Lord
From Mr. Richert's post:
The Ascension of Our Lord, which occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, is the final act of our redemption that Christ began on Good Friday. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of His apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven (Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11).
And:
History:
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Christ's bodily Ascension foreshadows our own entrance into Heaven not simply as souls, after our death, but as glorified bodies, after the resurrection of the dead at the Final Judgment. In redeeming mankind, Christ not only offered salvation to our souls but began the restoration of the material world itself to the glory that God intended before Adam's fall.
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