Worth Revisiting - Help Me Understand

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan (Theology Is A Verb) for hosting Worth Revisiting.

Be sure to stop there every Wednesday. You will enjoy your visits.

Here is my contribution:

Help Me Understand! Should Not the Salvation of Souls Be Our Primary Concern? 

[Originally published July 3, 2012 - We may have dodged a bullet temporarily. But sadly, nothing much has changed since I first posted this.]

I understand that in a democratic society, the Catholic Church and its members must try to shape social and political policies and to have their voices heard on the pressing moral issues of the day. There is no doubt that an increasing number of recent actions (beyond the HHS contraception and sterilzation mandates) taken by the Obama administration pose real and imminent threats to our God given and constitutionally recognized fundamental right - freedom of religion. Freedom loving people of all religious persuasions and those of no religious affiliation must stand up and defend this fundamental principle – one which no man, no government, no nation has the right to restrict.

 

Nonetheless, I am at a loss to understand how political strategizing and judicial skirmishes, no matter how well-intentioned and necessary they both may be, should take precedence over the Church’s primary duty - the sanctification and salvation of souls. 

 

The Catholic Church has a duty to preach Christ’s Truths in their completeness, not just the more palatable and less controversial ones, to all peoples, not just those who identify themselves as Catholic. The fact that many if not a majority of Americans, Catholic and non-Catholic, may not believe abortion, contraception, sex outside a sacramental marriage, sterilization and in-vitro fertilization are intrinsically evil acts – neither changes those Truths nor exempts the Church from explaining and teaching those Truths to everyone. Jesus charged us to “make disciples of all nations” did He not?

Eucharistic Reflection -Become Altogether Beautiful, Pure and Good

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

"As mountain hares become white in winter because they neither see nor eat anything but snow, so by adoring and feeding on beauty, purity and goodness itself in the

Eucharist, you will become altogether beautiful, pure and good."

(St. Francis de Sales from Introduction to the Devout Life)

Fall In Love Again - I Thirst For Your Love

There is a crisis in the Church - I Thirst for Your Love is trying to do something it!

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 23, 2017

Photo©Michael Seagriff

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time

Father Federico Suarez

"If there are so many Christians who today live aimlessly with little depth, and hemmed in on all sides by narrow horizons, it is due, above all, to their lack of any clear idea of why they, personally exist...What elevates a man and truly gives him a personality of his own is the consciousness of his vocation, the consciousness of his own specific task in the universe."

(From Mary of Nazareth)

Worth Revisiting - Just Eat The Pork Under Protest!

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan (Theology Is A Verb) for hosting Worth Revisiting. 

Be sure to stop there every Wednesday. You will enjoy your visits.

Here is my contribution:

 

Just Eat The Pork Under Protest! 

(Originally posted on June 30, 2013)

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament (2 Maccabees 6:18-31) is Eleazar, a ninety year old Jewish scribe, a “teacher of the Law.” He was ordered to eat pork in violation of the Mosaic Law or be killed. He preferred death rather than offend God.

Eucharistic Reflection - Food For Your Salvation and Nourishment In This Life

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Dearest daughter, contemplate the marvelous state of the soul who receives this bread of life, this food of angels, as she ought. When she receives this Sacrament she lives in Me and I in her. Just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish, so am I in the soul and the soul in Me, the sea of peace. Grace lives in such a soul because, having received this bread of life in grace, she lives in grace. When this appearance of bread has been consumed, I leave behind the imprint of My grace, just as a seal that is pressed into warm wax leaves its imprint when it is lifted off. 

Monday Musings - It Is Good For Souls

As our parish journeys through its fifteenth year of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, I marvel at, and give God thanks for, the hundreds of faithful Adorers who have spent time in His Presence over the years. It is hard to believe that sixty-seven of them have passed on into eternity. 

Many of their names and faces pop into my consciousness from time to time – a reminder of the impact their lives and examples have had on me and countless others. With each passing year, I become increasingly aware of my own approaching death – at a time and under circumstances fully and solely in God’s hands.

Although modern sensitivities discourage reflection on our immortality as a morbid and useless effort, nothing could be further from the truth, as you will glean from these words of Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. from his book, The Way of God:

“So it is wise for me always to remember that I must die and that I ought always to be ready. This reminds me of a story told about a certain nobleman in Italy who had led a bad life until he was ripe in years and who then was touched by the grace of God and resolved to make a good confession of the sins of his whole life and begin anew. 

(Image source: Trappist Caskets)

He thought that only the Pope himself could forgive him his many sins. Of course, he was not right in thinking so, for any priest with the necessary faculties could have forgiven his sins. But he went to the Pope in Rome anyway, so this rather odd story says. He made a good confession, was sorry, and promised to do better. The Holy Father gave him absolution and then, because he really had many big sins, told him that as penance he should fast for six months. But the man said that he had a weak stomach and could hardly do that; if the Holy Father, would not mind he would rather have some other penance. 

So he was told to go to Mass every day for six months. Then he said that because he was a business man he would find it very hard to do that, since he had so many affairs to attend to. So the Pope asked him to read a chapter of the New Testament every night. But he said that he had poor eyes and got a bad headache from reading at night. He begged the Pope to give him something else, if he would be so kind. 

So the Holy Father gave him a beautiful gold ring, a signet ring, on which were engraved the words…"Remember you must die." The Pope said: "Wear this ring as long as you live and read the words written on it every morning and think of them earnestly for a while." He promised that he would. And he did. 

The result was that he fasted and prayed much, went to Mass every day, and read the Bible every night. That is the way it is with the thought of death. It is a thought that is good for souls.”

May none of us presume on God’s mercy. May all of us ask for it. 

And may the souls of all our faithfully departed Adorers through the mercy of God rest in peace!

The Most Foolish Fight

Assuming you are fighting against a properly formed one:

Worth Revisiting - The New Evangelization Is Not So New

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan (Theology Is A Verb) for hosting Worth Revisiting.

Be sure to stop by every Wednesday. You will enjoy your visits.

Here is my contribution this week:

Monday Musings - The New Evangelization Is Not So New 

(Originally published on October 18, 2013 in a slightly different version)

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

The call to evangelize has been an essential part of our Catholic nature and fiber since the time our blessed Lord walked this earth. He told His apostles to “go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

 He did not then, nor does He now, teach that one Church is as good as another. Jesus has called all of us to be members of His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

Over the ensuing centuries, we Catholics have frequently failed to heed His command, even in current times mistakenly and tragically acting like this was no longer our mission. 

In the early days of Christ’s  Church, it was risky business to be Catholic – persecutions, lions, crucifixions, martyrs come to mind. Yet one by one, the early Christians willingly and courageously shed their blood, surrendering their earthly lives for the eternal one promised them by Jesus Christ.  

Eucharistic Reflection - The Most Powerful Thing We Can Do On This Earth

"The most powerful thing we can do on this earth with our time is to spend it in Eucharistic Adoration. Nothing can do more to change the world, to bring about peace,  to convert hearts, , to make reparation for the many evils committed. 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Spending time in prayer may seem, on the outside, to be a passive thing; however, it is anything but! Our world is in desperate need  of hope, of renewal, of a "turning back" to the things of God. By visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we take up the best weapon for the battles of our age and contribute to the healing of our culture."

(From Manual for Eucharistic Adoration)

Monday Musings - You Are Being Watched

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Contemporary commentators often report that there is not much difference between the manner in which the majority of Catholics act with respect to such issues, for example, as the active homosexual life style, abortion, cohabitation, contraception, euthanasia, and fetal stem cell research, and how the rest of the non-Catholic population acts.

How tragic! 

Has it been the poor example of Catholics that have led others astray? Or have Catholics simply abandoned their faith in order to fit in? An affirmative answer to either of these questions is a damning admission.

Alas, we have forgotten who we are, whom we are called to be,  how we are to live our lives, and where we are going.

May these words of Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. stir us to be “every inch a Catholic”. The salvation of our souls and the souls of all those with whom we interact hinges in our doing so:

“In the Gospel it is said of Jesus that ‘they watched Him.’ Now, I am a follower of Christ; and I may be sure that the more Christ-like I am, the more nearly I imitate the Savior, the more closely am I watched by those around me. 

My superiors and those of my household watch me. When I go out into the world all those with whom I come in contact watch me. Catholics watch me. Non-Catholics  watch me still more when they know that I am a Catholic, in order to see how a Catholic behaves, whether he really lives up to the holy teachings of his Church, whether he practices what he preaches, so to speak. 

My guardian angel watches me right along; he never for a moment takes from me his eyes, so full of concern for my welfare. Neither does the devil let me out of sight for a minute. But, above all, God's all-seeing eye watches me. 

I must play my part well; I am being watched. I am a Catholic and I must be every inch a Catholic, loyal to my God, to my Church."

(From The Way to God)