Would you know?

Our Blessed Lord Jesus, the only Living and True Second Person of the Holy Trinity, came to deliver mankind from sin. He does not allow us to be comfortable; he is not always allowing us to be in sorrow and pain, and he is often calling us to overcome our human understanding by learning and understanding God's Holy Will for our lives. We need to know that we may learn this Holy Will by learning through the means that Jesus established for us: namely, the Holy Catholic Church.

Certainly, many will object asking "how can this be since Jesus' Church with so many sinners in it?" And yet, when we understand that salvation from sin, each of our salvation, depends on our Freewill, then we can begin to realize how this makes sense. We each have the freewill to accept or reject the Truth, the only Truth, established by Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, that Truth is One, whole and complete. It is not dependent on the people who have been given stewardship of the Catholic Church. How do we know that? Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman once said, "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." In other words, when you look at the history of the Church, and every Catholic should, then we should see quite clearly that their have always been scandals, sinners, and Saints all wrapped up in Holy Mother Church. And yet, in spite of it all, Official Church teaching has never changed. It has never faltered on matters of belief and morals. Certainly, there have been some imprudent and sometimes scandalous policies enacted by Church leaders, and even the Popes. Nevertheless, the official body of teaching has never changed or been added to from what was understood and lived even in the earliest centuries.

Some of our unbelieving contemporaries would perhaps put this up to coincidence or iron-fisted popes or whatever. For us as believing Catholics, we must understand that this is through the promise of what Jesus himself noted when He Sent the Holy Spirit, with the Father, upon the Apostles in order to establish His Holy Church.

Last week at Mass we had a very shocking reading, in which Jesus taught us:

"See that you not be deceived,for many will come in my name, saying,'I am he,’ and 'The time has come.’ Do not follow them! "

Jesus understood well our human nature, after all he created it! Nevertheless, there are various people, even today, who continue to make the claim that they have become or are, the "Lord Jesus Christ" who has returned. Take for example this guy (its a half hour video, so you might keep reading then come back):



Sadly, this is not the only pretender out there. Consider this dude:

And finally, there is another dude who is now claiming "Jesus status", though it seems he has been doing so since "aliens" apparently came to visit him (back when he was known as "Rael?"). This man is named "Lord Rayel", and he is claiming the ability "judge the nations" and, of course, he must have an outrageous "british like accent". I won't give you a link beyond the one to his Youtube channel, as I find his claims too ridiculous. (Remember, we are told already in the bible that a Demon can appear as an Angel of light (see 2Cor 11:14)."

The point here is that many people have and are still making claims to have the power of God, and to even be our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, when he returns, the world of this age will close. Life will not be the same as we are living now, with its struggle with sin - AND YES THERE IS STILL SIN, JUST AS MUCH AS THERE IS STILL HELL! We must consider where do we put our personal faith. Can we believe, in spite of humanity's sinfulness, that Jesus would be faithful to never allow the "the gates of hell (Mt. 16:19)" to prevail against his Holy Catholic Church which he established and promised to be with until the end of time (see Mt 28:19-20). Or is any human's claim a reason to believe in his own claim. Even if his teaching "tickles one's ears," does that mean that man bears the Truth? Even St. Paul warned against this: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!"

As we come to the end of the Liturgical Year this week, remember that we celebrate the Solemn Feast of Christ the King. Why? Because God is not God of the dead, but of the Living. Jesus Christ, our King, reigns even now. We must allow him, by our spiritual choice and service, to undo what our first parents Adam & Eve did by disobeying God. Nevertheless, He will not force us in his Mercy & Love. Many will likely still come before the end of this world to claim by their humanity the divinity which they will not be able to stand before when the Just Judge finally reveals himself. As servants of Jesus Christ, the Only and True King not just of Israel, or the Church, but of the Universe, let each of us not lose hope, but stand firm, for our salvation is coming - whether in our lives or in the life of the world. May we wait joyfully and in hope for the True Return of Jesus Christ.

Which one is yours?

Consider this: Where is Notre Dame's? Where is your Faith?

Seriously... SERIOUSLY!?!?! Is this what we have forgotten...

There are a great many things wrong with the world. However, what is wrong in the world should not be in the Holy Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church is a divine institution entrusted to humanity. It is comprised of people who are fallible, though she herself is without defect because of the promise of the Holy Spirit. That being said, we as Catholics must be informed. "Informed?" you say, "About the sinfulness in the Church???" No!!! My point here is that we must be informed about why the Church is important in our lives. Only then can we understand the humanity in which the Church acts, and in which the Holy Spirit seeks to work - including you and I.

And, unfortunately, we must understand when men choose to work against the mission and teachings of the Church, and the destruction they cause in doing this. Only when we come to know how vital is the Catholic Church to the mission of Christ in the world, that all of his disciples "may be one, as [He] and the Father are one," then - and only then - will we have the love for God to help reform His Holy Bride. Faithful Catholics, it seems to me, are in one of two positions as the Bride of Christ - either 1) continuing to exercise and beautify ourselves for His return, or 2) making a destructive mess of ourselves (as a Church) so that we can fashion ourselves to be beautiful as we see beauty, and not as Christ has revealed how we can beautiful for him. Yes, humanity can be beautiful in the way we respond to God. But, at times, one wonders whether the "destroyers" within the Church even know what they are doing to the Mystical Body of Christ. Every baptized Christian is called to act in the Mercy and Mind of Christ. Yet, how can we come to reports like this:



This is very much along the lines of the report done by Michael Voris for Churchmilitant.TV about the CCHD, which can be found here. I am not one to leave the Church, nor to whine about such things (nor I hope are you, dear reader), rather, as this post aims to demonstrate, I hope to love the Church enough to help educate about the errors that go on, which ought not to.

It is love that compels us as Catholics, or at least it should. Nevertheless, there seems to be a rebellious and anti-catholic spirit that continues to manifest itself in various events and actions around the world. For example: sadly, one should be informed that, for one Diocese, public opinion seems to outweigh the need to Pray AND ACT for the Defense of Human Life:
For discussion's sake, can anyone else come to another conclusion?!? Read this document linked to that video and PLEASE inform me.

Jesus left two final tasks for the Church, well really four sub-tasks: 1) Go forth & Baptize all nations. 2) Teach them to observe all that i have commanded you. Notice, 1) Go, 2) Baptize, 3) Teach & 4) Observe. Inherent in the fourth sub-mission is to be faithful to both the Baptism we receive and, when we make that Apostolic Mission our own, AS WE SHOULD, to be observant of all that we have learned ourselves. This is where things like ignoring the Church's constant teaching on Hell, or Contraception, or Abortion, or the necessity of utilizing the Sacrament of Confession does not help to beautify the Church, but seeks to destroy the "veil" and "dress" which the Lord has left for us, as His bride. In my humble (yet educated) opinion, ignoring these teachings is tantamount to stomping on the ring which he has placed on the finger of the Church. Yes, it is that serious!

The point of this post is not to "destroy", but to inspire awareness that all is not well "Right here in River City!" We Catholics need to be informed of the things going wrong in the Church, and when we are, then the love we have for Him who has established this beautiful bride should encourage and challenge us to do our best to mend her "accoutrements" and her "actions" by what we do in our lives. We can not be those that destroy the faith and love of others for the Church. We must be the Saints that are the face of the Church in the world! As St Teresa of Avila pleaded for us to understand:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

The question, then, that we are left with is: Will we allow ourselves not just to be placed in his service, but rather will we SEEK OUT how to help in EVERY way possible that we can?

Nevertheless, we can not utilize evil or deceptive means to make the Church more beautiful. And to demonstrate that, as well as for a little "entertaining deceptiveness" (which may arguably be the only place where it can be acceptable), I leave you with the Music Man (one of my favorite musicals):

Character.....its not as hard as it looks...

Its interesting in a world where Syria has almost blown up into war that many argue it began with our President's comments regarding what would happen if Syria used chemical weapons. He said this:

On the one hand, I think it is interesting that President Obama saw necessary to give an ultimatum to Asad and his opponents, which could and may draw America into the conflict. On the other hand, and since this is not meant to be a political post, I do find it interesting that President Obama was consistent in his comments once those weapons had been utilized.

If nothing else, and here is the point of my post, one can say that at least he was consistent in what he said. Often times in our world it is very easy to give up on being consistent with what one has said. I think that often as modern people we think, "Well, who cares, really?" Thankfully, there are some who continue to understand that our integrity as human beings is what makes us distinctly more human.

For us Christians, this is particularly what we call "virtue." In virtue, we become more real and more who we are supposed to be in God's grace. Of course, it is not always easy, but in love many things are possible. Which leads me to a new advertisement by Guinness - yes, Guinness the Brewery. In a new ad, they are extolling what used to be known as manhood. Today, for many modern men, sexual conquest or a pragmatic approach to people seems to be prevalent. We know this from the number of abortions that overflow in our world today. Something like 11 every hour in the world!? Thankfully, the human spirit yearns to find real humanity, to become what we are supposed to be in this life. And I think I, and you if you are fan and of age, can certainly enjoy a Guinness with more gusto knowing that they are also promoting men to become virtuous, even if inadvertently:

Is there realy a Crisis in the Church?

There is so much to discuss in this program. There are two hours of material, there is a very real consideration of the state of the Church in America that is worth the time, if you are a serious Catholic who loves and is concerned for the Church.

Discussion in the comments would be VERY VERY welcomed.

An Important Distinction!!!

I kind of expected it...

Sickness.  Its not all it is cracked up to be.

I know people who enjoy the time of being at home in bed... "languishing" under the covers while they recuperate.  I, unfortunately, have been numbered among such poor souls for the last few days... except that I have been at work here at the parish. I contracted some kind of low grade headache that has been hanging around for almost a week now. 

Not that I am complaining, mind you.  Especially when people are getting into head on car crashes in Missouri!  If you haven't heard that has been a big manhunt for a priest who mysteriously appeared "out of nowhere" to offer the Anointing of the Sick for a young lady who had been in a car accident.  Initial reports made it sound more mysterious than real:
Check it out the video here, because I couldn't get it to stop auto-playing on my page :(

But it turns out that this may have not have been as mysterious as some had hoped!  In fact, over at the National Catholic Register website, people were hoping it was a Saintly priest from heaven who appeared to reveal God's mercy (see the comments at this link).  It turns out, the answer is much move obvious than some had hoped, and that in fact it was an average ordinary priest of God. 

What i find so interesting, though, is that even in that article one finds a very strange reaction: 

While some had hoped for supernatural intervention, it seems an entirely human conclusion has come to fruition. Still, the faithful would argue that God’s hand was in this gesture, regardless of the channel that was used to help usher in calm at the scene.

Really?  An "entirely human conclusion"?  One the one hand they are right in their meaning of the channel of God's grace, but on the other GOD'S GRACE has come into the world!!!  It is quite interesting to me that the Catholic Church is so common place to people that no one thinks it is strange that a man walks around in black clothes and dabs people with oil!  REALLY??  There is a reason this human being has done this!  He is not merely imagining that he is doing good deeds.  In fact, the news reports noted that the young lady was strengthened when the Holy Oils were administered.  The Emergency responders also noted that they were more at peace. 

What I am getting at here is that if you are a Catholic, we SHOULD NOT be comfortable with God's grace which is so generously offered to world.  We can not be complacent at the amazing hands of a Priest, who though he is only a "channel" of God's grace, it is GOD'S GRACE that we want to remember is entering into the world.  A real and direct power and reminder of His Truth and Strength that we can receive in the Sacraments.  The world and the media are happy enough to have found the "mystery priest" but they completely ignore that the power of the priesthood of Jesus Christ has and continues to act in the world!  AND THAT IS STILL NEWS!!!

The Church... is like a basketball team?

We have Totus Tuus going on this week at our Parish, and as usual it is an amazing feat of Catechesis, fun, and Worship of the Only Living and True God. However, as is often the case, we do have a few kids that aren't quite getting it.  Typical, really, and I am not concerned, as God has his hand upon all of us and guides us as we are ready.  Nevertheless, today one young boy was found in the bathroom all alone and would not come out.  I was summoned and went in to talk to him.  A smallish boy of around 7 dressed all in basketball shorts and t-shirt, I found him in a stall just sitting on top of the tank of the toilet.  He was sort of holding his knees and seemed quite sad.

I questioned him to make sure he was okay, and then asked what had happened.  It turned out he had been made fun of by some of the kids, later I found it out it was because he did not have a good guess for hangman.  Well, I asked him if he wanted to come out, but he said no.  Then I said okay, when you want to come out, then you can.  And I walked out of the bathroom and chatted with a team member and a few teen volunteers.  About a half hour later, he finally began very tentatively peeking out and looking if anyone was paying attention - he preferred to leave his "cave" on his own terms.  He went to a corner of the gym and sat down.  I noticed him and walked over and sat down beside him.  we chatted a little about what had happened, and then I asked him if he wanted to play basketball as we waited for the other kids to come in or until mass began at 11:15.  We played basketball, until a group of other kids about his age came in.  Then a game spontaneously was organized.  Unfortunately, this young boy would not pass, nor would not let anyone take a shot, except himself whenever he got the ball. 

After the game, I headed to the Church to prepare for Mass.  It wasn't until after the readings that I noticed that he was two rows directly in front of me.  This same young boy was messing around with the books, and not standing when he was supposed to stand.  When it came time for the consecration, he would not kneel.  There was a volunteer teen next to him, who was trying to encourage him but with little success.  I decided to step up and speak to him directly, about his playing with the books and not following proper decorum during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

After Mass, I was praying for this boy and I had a sort of epiphany of how to explain the mass to him analogusly: The Catholic Church is like a basketball team!  Now, what we do all week is "practice" our Faith.  We seek to be charitable, to be kind, to be forgiving because of our Coach - Jesus.  But Mass, that is "The Game" you need to be in and fully involved.  We can't just stand around, we need to be in and attentive - focused.  We need our proper uniform (which, contrary to popular belief, is NOT shorts and a t-shirt) that is dress-up clothes.    At mass, if we aren't focused, like playing with the books or flopping around or not doing our proper things, then we will not get it!  We will not have the experience we ought! What if someone walked out of the big game?  The whole dynamic would fall apart, and this is why people find mass boring!  They are not invested, they are not focused on what is happening.  Finally, who are in the bleachers?  Well obviously it is the Saints and Angels who gather around us to encourage us to draw nearer to the Coach, to hear his cousel, so that the game can be won (which it will, but we must do our part in it!).

To me this summarizes a lot about what Mass is and i think it can be a good sports analogy explanation of why Church is important and we need to go to Mass.  The Catholic Faith is not merely something we do for one hour, we must practice we must prepare our hearts for the sacrifice of Jesus and our ability to unify with it at Mass. 

What is "marriage" anyway?!?

Amongst my circle of friends a while back, a very interesting article was being passed around, namely this: http://mattfradd.com/2012/06/14/catholic-gay-and-feeling-fine/

The article goes on to explain how "Gay Marriage" is not even possible - that is right, IMPOSSIBLE.  Well, in the commentary that ensued on Facebook, one commentor noted that it seemed to him that this is a large part of the misunderstanding. No one denies, I hope, that two people can love each other, care for one another, live in an intense friendship with one another. But that does not constitute marriage.  Two people can engage in a sexual act or acts together, but that it not marriage either. Marriage is both for the complete union of the spouses, but also for the procreation of children of our species. The physical, spiritual, emotional complementarity that allows for this unity in which this procreation and union can even happen (regardless of whether it actually takes place or not) is precisely what marriage is about.

For those of us that hold to the Traditional understanding of marriage, it is only in the martial union of a man and a woman that children receive their right to these two complementary parents. These two parents certainly should grow in a union which is all those things I said above, but it doesn't always happen. Nevertheless, when two people of the same sex "love" one another, they can not enter into the same type of union because they do not have the ability to be complementary spiritually, emotionally and physically. They may connect on one or two of those, but that does not respect nor honor the entirety of the gift of service of a male husband and a female wife to one another that is supposed to take place in Marriage.

If we take it to the next step, the Catholic element, then the practice (not the desire or tendency, as some call it) of homosexual acts become sinful, just as adultery, pre-marital sex, even masturbation are all sinful, because they remove the ability to practice the fullness of the human love that one owes only to their spouse (i.e. the physical element). Now, certainly, not all people will appreciate or agree with any of this. But this is why the aforementioned author believes as he does. But, as well, to his point, a Father who truly loves us all - namely God, does not think the way we think. We may wish many things for our friends that are bad for them, to wit, "sand sandwiches", "sand pie", etc. it doesn't make those things healthy or nourishing and could in fact cause frustration and even illness.

In a similar way, so-called "Homosexual marriage" is like taking away the king or queen in a game of chess and replacing it with the same piece that remains (i.e. two kings or two queens). They will both move in the same directions, same manners, because they are the same. That would be really fun (as a game I mean), but it would no longer be Chess. In the same way, Marriage is no longer marriage with same-sex people. You can call it many things, but it is not Marriage. This, it seems to me, is why people are discussing "re-defining marriage."  If marriage were something man could define and establish, then there might be something to this - which, incidentally is why there has been increased buzz about the Catholic Church getting out of the "marriage business" (so to speak) all together.  That is, only needing to offer the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and not concerning itself with the state's recognition of Marriage.  This might not be a bad idea.  Nevertheless, marriage or at least true Holy Matrimony is not defined by man's law.  It is defined by the God who is the "Lord and Giver of Life," since the Office of Holy Motherhood (as Holy Matrimony, could be retranslated as from the Latin cognate) comes as a gift to mankind in the Sacraments.  While it is natural to mankind to want to marry, it is only in the Baptized Union of Christian Man & Wife that mankind finds the fulfillment of that desire because it is blessed by God. 

Marriage is a ceremony declaring that a Holy Matrimony has been entered into, but if one removes the Office of Holy Motherhood - emphasis on the "holy", then I think it is arguable that a "marriage" is impossible.  Time will tell what will become of our world and our country because of this redefinition in progress, but in the world's recent past "redefining" things has not always ended well....

Busyness is God's business

WOW!  One never expects life to be so busy,  it just sort of sneaks up on you.  Of course, we all have responsibilities, but sometimes they seem quite overwhelming.  Thankfully, as so many Saints have noted, "God will not give us more than we can handle."

For this reason, however, I have not had a chance to get to this blog with so much frequency... ok... at all, really.  But, thankfully, this has happened because of many things that have been happening here at the Parish. As well, my wife has recently been notified by God (and a doctor) that we are having twins!  Nevertheless, I was particularly inspired by this short video that came out today:

So... I am back.

What has been happening at the parish, you ask?  Well, for one, we have just completed a number of classes for Notre Dame's Summer of The Year of Faith.  We looked at 8 amazing Saints that had come from various and wildly sinful backgrounds.  We saw the Mercy of God works even in the darkest places that man puts himself.  We saw dispelled 7 Myths about the Catholic Church and Science, and saw that science necessitates our understanding that there is more to life than our material world.  We saw various movies that helped us to consider lives of some great Saints  who have gone before us and Monks who take their faith most seriously.  We are also preparing for the arrival of the Denver Catholic Biblical School here at Notre Dame.  As well, in just less than two weeks the Totus Tuus Summer Catechetical Program is about to arrive here at Notre Dame.  All of these things take time, and organizational work.  However, the time has come, as I watched the video above about our present Holy Father (and noting that he is about to publish his First Encyclical letter to the Catholic Church), it seems I should challenge myself to be more active on this blog. 

If you happen to read this, please comment!  We all need a little encouragement, and I am no exception.  Having studied the "Catholic Thing" for a while, I think it would be good for me to keep on posting thoughts on things Catholic in our 21st century.  It just takes finding the time to do it....