Posts tagged Catholic Church
A Thought on the Death Penalty
For everyone who thinks the death penalty is just the best thing since lynching, go read Genesis 4:8-16.
Why the President's Contraception Mandate Revision Changes Little
Don’t be afraid to stand up for what we believe in.
Promo for a new series we’re starting at my youth group, called Activate. It’s a four week series on the Social Teaching of the Church. It’s gonna be amazing. For anyone in the Dallas area, consider yourself invited. For everyone else, lift us up in prayer (and try not to get jealous!)
A Wonderful Conversion Story of a British Poet
By the way, this completely stretches the idea that God can use anything to draw us to himself. You’ll know what I mean when you read it! Here is an excerpt:
Yet I still hadn’t fully resolved the issue of denomination, and it obsessed me. On the way home from a visit to London that summer, I tried to find a church to stop in. St Patrick’s in Soho was closed for renovation. Churches around Liverpool Street were being used as art galleries or were only available for private hire. People were drinking out on the streets outside bars, in the early evening heat. I had never felt more hungry. I knew I couldn’t be a Quaker, sitting in a circle, untouched. I knew I couldn’t be a Protestant, pretending a wafer was the body of Christ.
I walked down street after street, feeling, for once, a foreigner in London. There were no churches open. The miracle of finding an open door with a lit candle at the tabernacle was suddenly nothing small. I was already attending Mass in Italy and praying through Communion, often in tears, sometimes simply awed. The most important part of all this, I realized, was being with Christ, was the liturgy itself. I walked for an hour without hope even of a Mass, just wanting to sit by the Blessed Sacrament (I hadn’t yet heard of adoration) but every church was closed, or given over to some other denomination or purpose. Eventually I let myself wind up at Liverpool Street station, in all the bright lights and confusion. I knew I was already Catholic.
The Saints - What Are They Good For?
New post defending Catholic’s relationship with the saints. Click the link above to read the whole thing, but here’s a taste:
I came up with a list of common objections, with a Catholic commentary underneath.
1. They’re dead. No talking to dead people!
Here’s the problem with that line of thought. Jesus died. So don’t talk to him either. Wait, wait, wait. Jesus was resurrected! He’s alive not dead. Well, that’s what we believe about the saints. Through Christ they’re alive again in heaven. Quite thoroughly not dead.
Alright everyone, I’m sure you’ve all seen the Why I Love Jesus But Hate Religion video going around. It’s gotten close to 10 million views in just a couple days, so obviously it hit a nerve with a lot of people. Here is a Catholic response!
the witty pope
Pope John XXIII was once admitted to a hospital called the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. When introduced to the sister who ran the hospital, she said, ”Holy Father, I am the superior of the Holy Spirit.” ”You’re very lucky,” said the pope, “I’m only the Vicar of Christ!”
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Journalist: “How many people work in the Vatican?”
Pope John XXIII: “About half of them.”
———
Now there was a pope with a sense of humor!
That moment when I THINK about praying has got to be the most astonishing and unique experience I could ever have. It is literally in invitation to talk to God. And the invitation comes from him. Nothing else in daily life even comes close to that.
faith and works - catholic edition
Don’t let anyone ever tell you that Catholics believe we are justified by our works. Galatians 3 makes that far too clear that we are not. And, if we did believe that, we wouldn’t have confession! It would simply be well, you screwed up - now you have no hope. Rather, confession - reconciliation with God - is our hope! We know that we cannot earn our salvation, yet the free gift of faith, if truly received performs an act in us. It changes us, continually. We call it conversion. The lifelong process, won at the Cross, begun in us in Baptism, damaged through original and personal sin, yet reconciled in Confession, protected in Confirmation, perfected in the Eucharist, healed in the Anointing of the Sick, and given daily direction in either Marriage or Holy Orders. That is our faith, and the essential work it does.
We believe with our whole hearts that salvation is a gift freely given - grace - but like any true gift, you are always free to reject it. Not much point in saying you can accept Jesus into your heart if you’re not free to let him go too. That constant acceptance of the gift, the deepening of our faith will change us, will perform good works in us (James 2:14-26). We know, as Catholics, that there is an intrinsic link between what we believe and how we act. We could not possibly ‘rely on our works’ or attempt to ‘earn’ our salvation, for we know that to know in your mind that God has forgiven us, and to accept him into our hearts, is to “Put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in the true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Those we call saints are not holy by their own merit, but by God’s. Yet they are holy! They were changed by their faith in God. And that is what we celebrate when we venerate them. They did not simply profess with their lips their belief in the Resurrection of Christ and then forget the ones he loved and the Cross he bore. Their works completed their faith, for the two were one. To become a Christian for them was to become one like the Master in word and deed. Their faith was in the Way and Life, not just the Truth of Christ.
Let your faith in Christ be lived out in your love for your neighbor and consecrated to God in the Sacraments and your daily prayer. Only in God are we made whole to live with him forever. Know it. Live it. Stand up for it in love and truth when other hate on it.
Check out Make A Friar!
Strategy For Priestly Ministry
The night before he was ordained, St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM, made a retreat and wrote this bullet-point plan for his life. While written for the life of a friar, I think the virtues it extolls could very easily be applied to any one of us.
-Be a man, a Christian, a Religious.
-Be a man:
-Don’t blush for your convictions
-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
-Have a sense of duty, fulfill it well, without being concerned whether anyone is watching you. Act instead with a noble ambition.
-Don’t worry about the evil in others.
-Be a Catholic:
-When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognize that you know before whom you kneel.
-Be a Religious:
-A good intention in work is like the number ‘1’ in front of a lot of zeroes.
-Men deprive themselves of great treasures when they work without a good intention.
-As you arise in the morning, so you will be all day long.
There’s a heck of a lot more. Read the rest here!
I Have Come To Speak About God
From Pope Benedict XVI’s address in Berlin, Germany, today:
Even though this journey is an official visit which will reinforce the good relations existing between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Holy See, I have not come here primarily to pursue particular political or economic goals, as other statesmen rightly do, but rather to meet people and to speak about God.
We are witnessing a growing indifference to religion in society, which considers the issue of truth as something of an obstacle in its decision-making, and instead gives priority to utilitarian considerations.
All the same, a binding basis for our coexistence is needed; otherwise people live in a purely individualistic way. Religion is one of these foundations for a successful social life. “Just as religion has need of freedom, so also freedom has need of religion.” These words of the great bishop and social reformer Wilhelm von Ketteler, the second centenary of whose birth is being celebrated this year, remain timely.
Freedom requires a primordial link to a higher instance. The fact that there are values which are not absolutely open to manipulation is the true guarantee of our freedom. The man who feels a duty to truth and goodness will immediately agree with this: freedom develops only in responsibility to a greater good. Such a good exists only for all of us together; therefore I must always be concerned for my neighbours.
In these critical times, we are well aware of the danger of violence and terrorism and the whole culture of death, even the possible catastrophe of a nuclear war. Prayer, sacrifice, and reparation are essential to countering the negative effects of selfishness and sin the world. But we must also reach out in a very concrete way to those in need. Practicing the works of mercy helps us to move out of a self-centeredness which emphasizes and focuses only on ones own personal needs and concerns, and directs us out toward the needs and concerns of others. It is through the daily living of these works of mercy and love that we will heal the ravages of war, of hatred, of violence, and ultimately of sinfulness. If the Kingdom of God is to be built, we must do the works mercy the Lord has taught us. The result will be a world where peace and charity will reign.
Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR
Resist the urge to shrug this off as pious utopian dreaming. This is a two thousand year old, deeply Catholic way of viewing the world. We continue to announce it to the world because it continues to be the only way that works. The non-violent revolutions of the likes of MLKjr and Ghandi (himself inspired by Jesus’ approach in the Gospel of Matthew), bear witness to the truth that it can work. And thus we refuse to capitulate to the world’s way of thinking that says selfishness and hatred and war are acceptable and necessary to solve our problems. Those things are our problems. There is another way. His name is Jesus. And he is Love.
How To Show That Catholicism is the Genuine Form of Christianity
How do you show your family and friends that Catholicism is the authentic version of Christianity? Obviously you don’t want to beat them over the head or get into a argument over doctrines. A debate over the ins-and-outs of transubstantiation usually doesn’t go very far at a cocktail party.
So what is a quick and simple way to discuss the merits of Catholicism?
Perhaps the most effective argument for Catholicism (in casual conversation) is the fact that Catholicism has been validated by public miracles for 2,000 years whereas the other denominations have not. The only way to account for this difference is to look to God who is the author of all miracles.
Did Mohammad or Buddha rise from the dead? No. So that settles the debate about world religions pretty quickly. Christ’s message is validated by his resurrection from the dead.
What about the 36,000 denominations that conflict in both Christian beliefs and morality? Can they all be correct? No.
So next ask, which has a history of public verifiable miracles?
You can start with Martin Luther. Did Luther perform any miracles? Did he make prophecies that came to pass. No, not at all. Yet at the same time period, the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe (a public miracle) did occur to St Juan Diego and millions of Aztecs. Also during this time period, the Catholic missionary Saint Francis Xavier was miraculously preaching to the people of India, Indonesia, etc. in their native tongues without study.
Bring it into the focus: What about the last one hundred years? Do any of the Protestantd enominations have public miracles in the last 100 years? Not that I know of.
Yet look at Catholicism. There have been many public miracles in Catholicism:
Those are just three recent miracles. If we went back in time we would find hundreds more. Eucharistic miracles, Marian miracles, amazing miracles by saints, even miracles in times of war and battle.
When faced with these miracles, a person can only conclude with one of two positions. Either God is actively providing public signs and wonders in favor of the Catholic Church that goes all the way back to Christ and the Apostles, OR the Catholic Church is a master magician in creating false signs for 2000 years. Perhaps a third option is that the Catholic Church is just “lucky” in that natural forces somehow seem to regularly produce events that appear miraculous, and that these events do not randomly occur in Protestant bodies.
So then, what’s the easiest way to make a quick case for Catholicism? Share what you know about Catholic miracles. Perhaps this information might lead someone to investigate the Catholic Faith in a deeper way.
Written by Taylor Marshall
Talk I gave yesterday for my parish’s youth group retreat on the Parable of the Sower & the Seed. This is from the second of four sessions over the weekend, so skip ahead of the ongoing skit to see my talk. You can also view it here if it doesn’t load for some reason. Thanks to everyone here on Tumblr for their input and prayers helping me prepare for it! God Bless!
The Church always seems as though she ought to be sinking, and yet, she is already saved.
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