CATHOLICSM: with Fr. Robert Barron

As Fr. Barron states "...the story of Catholicism has been told by many."  Mostly by people that don't like it to much.  Here the CHURCH tells it's own story on it's own terms.  This spectatular sereies will be the treasure of the Church ... at least for the first half... if not all of the 21st. Century.  If you are a Catholic who loves the chruch you will love this sereies.  IF you are a Catholic who has fallen away, this series will inspire you to once again take a look at your faith.  IF you are against the Catholic Church at least be objective enough to watch and so that we may tell you our story from our own perspective.  Like Fr. Barron said... so many have told the story and NOW we would like the opportunity to tell it ourselves.

This 10 Epeside Serries is coming to DVD and 4 of the Epesides will be on TV.  EWTN will be showing them on the Following Dates and Times.


11/16/11 U.S./Canada/Europe 8:00 PM EST EWTN

11/17/11 U.S./Canada/Europe 11:00 PM EST EWTN

11/18/11 U.S./Canada/Europe 10:00 PM EST EWTN

11/19/11 U.S./Canada/Europe 1:00 PM EST EWTN






Until next time,
God Bless and Keep You.
BloggerBill

Pope Benedict XVI delivers HISTORIC speach to German Parliament durring HISTORIC VISIT

Pope BendictXVI addresesd the German Parliament today delivering a speach that every citizen of every country of western civilization needs to read!  What he identifies to parlimant can be applied to every governing body in the western world; and to every citizen as well.  Please take the time to read his speach and share it with your politicains, ESPECIALLY if they are Catholic.  I DO NOT THINK THERE IS A SOUL IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION THAT COULD TRULY AND HONESTLY DISAGREE WITH WHAT HE HAS TO SAY.  Below is the text of his speach published on the internet.

Pope's Address to German Parliament

by Edward Pentin Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:30 AM Comments (1)

Mr President of the Federal Republic,

Mr President of the Bundestag,

Madam Chancellor,

Mr President of the Bundesrat,

Ladies and Gentlemen Members of the House,

It is an honour and a joy for me to speak before this distinguished house, before the Parliament of my native Germany, that meets here as a democratically elected representation of the people, in order to work for the good of the Federal Republic of Germany. I should like to thank the President of the Bundestag both for his invitation to deliver this address and for the kind words of greeting and appreciation with which he has welcomed me. At this moment I turn to you, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, not least as your fellow-countryman who for all his life has been conscious of close links to his origins, and has followed the affairs of his native Germany with keen interest. But the invitation to give this address was extended to me as Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, who bears the highest responsibility for Catholic Christianity. In issuing this invitation you are acknowledging the role that the Holy See plays as a partner within the community of peoples and states. Setting out from this international responsibility that I hold, I should like to propose to you some thoughts on the foundations of a free state of law.

Allow me to begin my reflections on the foundations of law [Recht] with a brief story from sacred Scripture. In the First Book of the Kings, it is recounted that God invited the young King Solomon, on his accession to the throne, to make a request. What will the young ruler ask for at this important moment? Success – wealth – long life – destruction of his enemies? He chooses none of these things. Instead, he asks for a listening heart so that he may govern God’s people, and discern between good and evil (cf. 1 Kg 3:9). Through this story, the Bible wants to tell us what should ultimately matter for a politician. His fundamental criterion and the motivation for his work as a politician must not be success, and certainly not material gain. Politics must be a striving for justice, and hence it has to establish the fundamental preconditions for peace. Naturally a politician will seek success, as this is what opens up for him the possibility of effective political action. Yet success is subordinated to the criterion of justice, to the will to do what is right, and to the understanding of what is right. Success can also be seductive and thus can open up the path towards the falsification of what is right, towards the destruction of justice. “Without justice – what else is the State but a great band of robbers?”, as Saint Augustine once said. We Germans know from our own experience that these words are no empty spectre. We have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed it, so that the State became an instrument for destroying right – a highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss. To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains the fundamental task of the politician. At a moment in history when man has acquired previously inconceivable power, this task takes on a particular urgency. Man can destroy the world. He can manipulate himself. He can, so to speak, make human beings and he can deny them their humanity. How do we recognize what is right? How can we discern between good and evil, between what is truly right and what may appear right? Even now, Solomon’s request remains the decisive issue facing politicians and politics today.

For most of the matters that need to be regulated by law, the support of the majority can serve as a sufficient criterion. Yet it is evident that for the fundamental issues of law, in which the dignity of man and of humanity is at stake, the majority principle is not enough: everyone in a position of responsibility must personally seek out the criteria to be followed when framing laws. In the third century, the great theologian Origen provided the following explanation for the resistance of Christians to certain legal systems: “Suppose that a man were living among the Scythians, whose laws are contrary to the divine law, and was compelled to live among them ... such a man for the sake of the true law, though illegal among the Scythians, would rightly form associations with like-minded people contrary to the laws of the Scythians.” 2

This conviction was what motivated resistance movements to act against the Nazi regime and other totalitarian regimes, thereby doing a great service to justice and to humanity as a whole. For these people, it was indisputably evident that the law in force was actually unlawful. Yet when it comes to the decisions of a democratic politician, the question of what now corresponds to the law of truth, what is actually right and may be enacted as law, is less obvious. In terms of the underlying anthropological issues, what is right and may be given the force of law is in no way simply self-evident today. The question of how to recognize what is truly right and thus to serve justice when framing laws has never been simple, and today in view of the vast extent of our knowledge and our capacity, it has become still harder.

How do we recognize what is right? In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: decisions regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity. Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed body of law to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation. Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law – and to the harmony of objective and subjective reason, which naturally presupposes that both spheres are rooted in the creative reason of God. Christian theologians thereby aligned themselves with a philosophical and juridical movement that began to take shape in the second century B.C. In the first half of that century, the social natural law developed by the Stoic philosophers came into contact with leading teachers of Roman Law.3 Through this encounter, the juridical culture of the West was born, which was and is of key significance for the juridical culture of mankind. This pre-Christian marriage between law and philosophy opened up the path that led via the Christian Middle Ages and the juridical developments of the Age of Enlightenment all the way to the Declaration of Human Rights and to our German Basic Law of 1949, with which our nation committed itself to “inviolable and inalienable human rights as the foundation of every human community, and of peace and justice in the world”.

For the development of law and for the development of humanity, it was highly significant that Christian theologians aligned themselves against the religious law associated with polytheism and on the side of philosophy, and that they acknowledged reason and nature in their interrelation as the universally valid source of law. This step had already been taken by Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans, when he said: “When Gentiles who have not the Law [the Torah of Israel] do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves ... they show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness ...” (Rom 2:14f.). Here we see the two fundamental concepts of nature and conscience, where conscience is nothing other than Solomon’s listening heart, reason that is open to the language of being. If this seemed to offer a clear explanation of the foundations of legislation up to the time of the Enlightenment, up to the time of the Declaration on Human Rights after the Second World War and the framing of our Basic Law, there has been a dramatic shift in the situation in the last half-century. The idea of natural law is today viewed as a specifically Catholic doctrine, not worth bringing into the discussion in a non-Catholic environment, so that one feels almost ashamed even to mention the term. Let me outline briefly how this situation arose. Fundamentally it is because of the idea that an unbridgeable gulf exists between “is” and “ought”. An “ought” can never follow from an “is”, because the two are situated on completely different planes. The reason for this is that in the meantime, the positivist understanding of nature and reason has come to be almost universally accepted. If nature – in the words of Hans Kelsen – is viewed as “an aggregate of objective data linked together in terms of cause and effect”, then indeed no ethical indication of any kind can be derived from it.4 A positivist conception of nature as purely functional, in the way that the natural sciences explain it, is incapable of producing any bridge to ethics and law, but once again yields only functional answers. The same also applies to reason, according to the positivist understanding that is widely held to be the only genuinely scientific one. Anything that is not verifiable or falsifiable, according to this understanding, does not belong to the realm of reason strictly understood. Hence ethics and religion must be assigned to the subjective field, and they remain extraneous to the realm of reason in the strict sense of the word. Where positivist reason dominates the field to the exclusion of all else – and that is broadly the case in our public mindset – then the classical sources of knowledge for ethics and law are excluded. This is a dramatic situation which affects everyone, and on which a public debate is necessary. Indeed, an essential goal of this address is to issue an urgent invitation to launch one.

The positivist approach to nature and reason, the positivist world view in general, is a most important dimension of human knowledge and capacity that we may in no way dispense with. But in and of itself it is not a sufficient culture corresponding to the full breadth of the human condition. Where positivist reason considers itself the only sufficient culture and banishes all other cultural realities to the status of subcultures, it diminishes man, indeed it threatens his humanity. I say this with Europe specifically in mind, where there are concerted efforts to recognize only positivism as a common culture and a common basis for law-making, so that all the other insights and values of our culture are reduced to the level of subculture, with the result that Europe vis-à-vis other world cultures is left in a state of culturelessness and at the same time extremist and radical movements emerge to fill the vacuum. In its self-proclaimed exclusivity, the positivist reason which recognizes nothing beyond mere functionality resembles a concrete bunker with no windows, in which we ourselves provide lighting and atmospheric conditions, being no longer willing to obtain either from God’s wide world. And yet we cannot hide from ourselves the fact that even in this artificial world, we are still covertly drawing upon God’s raw materials, which we refashion into our own products. The windows must be flung open again, we must see the wide world, the sky and the earth once more and learn to make proper use of all this.

But how are we to do this? How do we find our way out into the wide world, into the big picture? How can reason rediscover its true greatness, without being sidetracked into irrationality? How can nature reassert itself in its true depth, with all its demands, with all its directives? I would like to recall one of the developments in recent political history, hoping that I will neither be misunderstood, nor provoke too many one-sided polemics. I would say that the emergence of the ecological movement in German politics since the 1970s, while it has not exactly flung open the windows, nevertheless was and continues to be a cry for fresh air which must not be ignored or pushed aside, just because too much of it is seen to be irrational. Young people had come to realize that something is wrong in our relationship with nature, that matter is not just raw material for us to shape at will, but that the earth has a dignity of its own and that we must follow its directives. In saying this, I am clearly not promoting any particular political party – nothing could be further from my mind. If something is wrong in our relationship with reality, then we must all reflect seriously on the whole situation and we are all prompted to question the very foundations of our culture. Allow me to dwell a little longer on this point. The importance of ecology is no longer disputed. We must listen to the language of nature and we must answer accordingly. Yet I would like to underline a further point that is still largely disregarded, today as in the past: there is also an ecology of man. Man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he listens to his nature, respects it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself. In this way, and in no other, is true human freedom fulfilled.

Let us come back to the fundamental concepts of nature and reason, from which we set out. The great proponent of legal positivism, Kelsen, at the age of 84 – in 1965 – abandoned the dualism of “is” and “ought”. He had said that norms can only come from the will. Nature therefore could only contain norms if a will had put them there. But this would presuppose a Creator God, whose will had entered into nature. “Any attempt to discuss the truth of this belief is utterly futile”, he observed.5 Is it really? – I find myself asking. Is it really pointless to wonder whether the objective reason that manifests itself in nature does not presuppose a creative reason, a Creator Spiritus?

At this point Europe’s cultural heritage ought to come to our assistance. The conviction that there is a Creator God is what gave rise to the idea of human rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity in every single person and the awareness of people’s responsibility for their actions. Our cultural memory is shaped by these rational insights. To ignore it or dismiss it as a thing of the past would be to dismember our culture totally and to rob it of its completeness. The culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe. In the awareness of man’s responsibility before God and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable dignity of every single human person, it has established criteria of law: it is these criteria that we are called to defend at this moment in our history.

As he assumed the mantle of office, the young King Solomon was invited to make a request. How would it be if we, the law-makers of today, were invited to make a request? What would we ask for? I think that, even today, there is ultimately nothing else we could wish for but a listening heart – the capacity to discern between good and evil, and thus to establish true law, to serve justice and peace. Thank you for your attention!

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/popes-speech-to-german-parliament/#ixzz1YhWx4nAw

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI addressed the 

Laborers in the Vineyard.

The Gospel reading for this past Sunday was from the 20^th Chapter of Matthew.  It was the telling of the UNFAIR labor practices of the landowner who paid some people much more than he did others, who worked longer hours.   He showed mercy on those who, although they did not work as long a day as some of the others; He gave them the same reward –‘pay’.  I say thank GOD for the mercy of the ‘Landowner’.  Here’s why…

You see, I am one of those people in the 'vineyard' who went astray, and didn’t get to the vineyard until later in the ‘day’.  I took the wrong turn and didn't get to the vineyard to find work right away.  My family prayed that I’d find my way back there, because I had been there once before.  They knew that I was a 'decent guy’ but it wasn't until MUCH later that I actually found my way back to the vineyard and was able to receive 'gainful employment' there.  When I finish my work in the vineyard as do the rest of my fellow workers... I sure do hope that the landowner is good to me.  I hope that he takes into consideration that I’ve done my best while outside of His vineyard.  I got confused and lost, and was working elsewhere.  Do you know what I mean? 

You see, my fellow workers ... if we look at the vineyard as the kingdom of heaven... it isn't really about the ‘money’ we are going to get paid... it is about gaining access to the 'eternal vineyard' when we ‘retire’.  That is TRULY what we are all looking for, isn’t it?  In the end, we are either 'in' or 'out'.  I just pray the landowner won’t ‘dock’ me for losing my way.  After all, I tried to do the same work elsewhere, just not according to the specifications, policies, and procedures he had in his vineyard.  I am just happy I finally found my way back to his.   Although I made it to his vineyard latter than I should have... I hope he takes my honest efforts elsewhere, into consideration.  When it comes to the end of my ‘day’ in the vineyard, I hope he lets me retire in his ‘eternal vineyard’.  I know I didn’t spend as much time laboring in THIS vineyard as some of you, but I WAS working hard in another vineyard to supply wine to the rest of the world.  I hope he is merciful and allows me access in the end.

My friends… it’s all about God’s Grace.  I give thanks and praise to Almighty God that HE is the landowner and not one of the other workers who have been employed there for decades.  Me is a merciful Landowner and should someone work much less time in the vineyard than I … I want THEM to be able to retire right along with me.  I am mindful of a brother who HATES ALL WINE and wants nothing to do with it.  Hopefully… he’ll come around in time for the Landowner to employ him as well.  What do you think?

Until Next time… May God Bless and Keep you and yours.

BloggerBill.

Quote for Today.

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."   --Bl. John Paul the Great

Quote for Today:

"The sickness of a family member, friend or neighbor is a call to Christians to demonstrate true compassion, that gentle and persevering sharing in another’s pain."  ---Pope John Paul II

CHANGE and MORE CHANGE?

As a Catholic Returning to the Church after 25 years in the Evangelical Church, I find myself ‘missing’ the reverence I had experienced as a young Catholic.  So many changes and experiments have been tried in so many dioceses across the United States.  There has been the use of crystal rather than gold for patens and chalices.  There were modern music experiments, removal of kneelers, moving of the tabernacle to less obvious places or to small adoration chapels completely.  I have not seen ALL of these changes here in my own dioceses, but have witnessed them as I travel around the State and the south of the US.

One of the first things I noticed with my return was the number of people who no longer genuflect or even bow before the tabernacle prior to entering the pew or passing by the front center, naïve of the church.  I have witnessed a few parents doing it, but their children walking right past them to hurry into the pew before them.  IT seems the only people who reverence the Alter and tabernacle these days are our Priests and Deacons, and of course the white and gray haired members.  Why don’t we ALL follow their example?

There has been much debate about this in the American Church and I do not think it is will end anytime soon.  I expect it will continue to come up especially when people see the changes coming to the Mass this fall with the New Roman Missal.  I applaud the changes, but I must admit I wish there were more changes coming with it.  I would consider it a ‘missed opportunity’ to NOT simultaneously implement additional changes that many Faithful Catholics long to see.  With the New Roman Missal, it would be a PERFECT opportunity to restore the reception of the holy EUCHARIST on the tongue and kneeling.  SO many of us receive it as if it is a ‘lunch line’ and especially the young people who probably have little or no idea what ‘reverence’ is.  Re-establishing the practice would highlight the importance, reverence and respect that so many seem to be missing in their experience.  It would re-establish for us a ‘teaching moment’ for all times.  Children will ask, "WHY do we kneel?"  Why on the Tongue?  Do YOU know why?

I had mentioned in a previous blog that the Church in the US has a kind of ‘variance’ in receiving communion.  Pope Benedict presently and rightly administers the sacrament of the Eucharist to communicants who are kneeling and on the Tongue.  In the US, our Bishops voted and sought for a variance several decades ago.  Although the OFFICIAL CHURCH teaching and practice is that we should all receive it kneeling and on the tongue.  IN the US, with the coming new Roman Missal we will find changes in the liturgy that re-establish original intentions and wording that the Church in her practices has changed.  In hindsight, it was a mistake to make some of these changes and therefore ‘corrections’ and tweaking… if you will… are restoring original meaning and intentions.  Again, I wish that we could restore the practice of receiving our Lord at the Eucharist while kneeling and on the tongue at the same time so that we have complete continuity with the rest of the Catholic Church and especially our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.    

What do you think?  I would be interested to hear some of your thoughts.

Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes: Fact or Fiction?

I came across this blog that Discusses whether the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes was simply 'sharing of the crowd' or a 'MIRACLE' of Jesus'.  It is worth your attention.

http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2011/07/multiplication-of-loaves-what-if-it.html

Quote for Today.

"Finally, true freedom is not advanced in the permissive society, which confuses freedom with license to do anything whatever and which in the name of freedom proclaims a kind of general amorality (immorality). It is a caricature of freedom to claim that people are free to organize their lives with no reference to moral values, and to say that society does not have to ensure the protection and advancement of ethical values. Such an attitude is destructive of freedom and peace." 
                                                                                                    –Blessed Pope John Paul II

NEVER DISCUSS RELIGION, POLITICS, OR MONEY! REALLY?

I went to the Yearly “Gatherin’ at the River” this past week and I had a great time seeing my extended family and so many friends.  I saw a cousin that I have not seen in almost 25 years.  IT is WONDERFUL to be able to get together with so many of my family members.  At the Gatherin’, there were more than 75 people for dinner.  MOREOVER, there were 20 to 30 there for several days afterwards.  I thank God for my sister Mary who hosts this yearly gatherin’ with the warmest and most welcoming smile.  She truly has the gift of hospitality!  Thank you too, for all the ‘helpers’: cooks, bakers, kettle washers, and cleanup crew.   “Many Hands Make Light Work!” WE are truly a FAMILY BLESSED!

Getting together with so many people can be very interesting sometimes.  There may be a spat or brief argument, but it is quickly squashed.  In addition, sometimes there is some LIVELY discussion going on that NOT everyone is excited about.  You know what I mean… when people start talking politics, investments, and the most TABOO subject of all… RELIGON.  MANY of MY generation feel that you should NEVER talk about these subjects, because we need to be tolerant and accepting of other opinions.  However, in the process my generation has also lost the ART of CONVERSATION… REAL CONVERSATION.  You see, because we have been taught that; we no longer practice it and as a result do not keep up to date on issues of politics, history and most important our faith or religion.  We have a tendency to leave that to the Politicians, (yeah… like they are doing a great job with that in Washington?!) priest, and financial planners.  WE no longer do our own homework … but rely on these people to do ALL our ‘thinking’ for us.  IN the process… we become uninformed, we are unable to THINK critically, forget history, forget what it means to be a Democrat or Republican, and we forget the important tenants of our FAITH.  There is REAL TRUTH in… “You don’t use it? YOU LOSE IT!”

Last year in 2010, I don’t remember exactly; I was having a discussion with one of my relatives about religion.  THERE WERE SEVERAL people SQUIRMING in their seats… or shall I say CRINGING!  I was debating religion with a young man who didn’t agree with me.  YES, we both were a little heated… but stopped and said… WAIT a MINUTE… let us listen one at a time.  However, before we said that… one of my older relatives told me to stop talking about this “… you don’t talk about Politics and Religion, because we don’t want any arguments!”  He was emphatic.  I immediately said… “WAIT a minute… if we don’t ‘TALK’ about this stuff HOW are we going to LEARN (especially the younger people)?”

The problem with this mentality of NOT talking about these… the most important subjects of the human experience… we SHIRK our responsibilities as parents by not PASSING on our ‘life experience’.  Our kids learn from TEACHERS, and FRIENDS, and “ACTIVISTS”, at the bar, the street, school, and ESPECIALLY on COLLEGE CAMPUSES!  WHEN do they hear about REAL LIFE APPLICATION from US?  I am not saying that as adults we are always right.  In fact, when I talk and debate with the younger generation, I find some VERY interesting OBSERVATIONS.  THEY ARE NOT STUPID!  Misguided… maybe. J  THEY have a lot to SAY… but have only heard it from the sources I have mentioned.  THEY NEED TO HEAR it from US as well.  THEY need to know why we as adults think the way we do and they need to hear about history and life from the source itself… not from some history or sociology professor who has a liberal agenda and wants to teach their own version of HISTORY, philosophy, religion, and political agendas.

As Parents, we often have been so busy at work and making money so that we can send our kids to college to get the best education and opportunities, so that they have the tools they need to live a full and productive life.  We send them there, often with our money, to have them 'BRAINWASHED' into thinking like a 'progressive adult' and then when they get out of college we wonder WHO THE HECK IS THIS KID?   WE forget about the simple things.  EVEN I AM guilty of not giving my kids what they needed the most.  MY TIME, MY PHILOSOPHY, my LIFE experience, MY HISTORY.  THESE are the things that books can’t teach.  It is our UNWRITTEN WORDS… the SPOKEN word…that we need to give more of.  LIFE in RELATIONSHIPS… communications on the more than 'normal' or ‘surface level.'  IT’s NOT easy, it can get hot at times and IT takes a lot of work.  Maybe that is why we don’t want to talk about politics and religion…because we either don’t remember, don’t stay current, or are just plain to busy or TIRED to try.  As a result, we are NOT TALKING to our kids about what is REALLY important and IMPORTANT to US.  FOLKS… this is the ONLY way we can hand down the important things in life… the OBJECTIVE TRUTHS that we all hold dear.  WE must start anew, before it gets any later.  IF we do not build these relationships and foster them, sharpen our debating skills by studying and keeping current… they will find the information they need to go forward from someone else.  Who will that someone be?    IF your kids are saying like mine have…  “DAD, you don’t have a clue, I’m not going to listen to you.”; “YOU just are too old fashioned and you are not ‘relative’ or ‘relevant’ anymore.”; “I learned it at college and I’m out in the world every day, why do I need to listen to you anymore.  I have my own opinions” And, they will finish by saying, “You aren’t saying anything that makes sense (cause you haven’t kept up) and I know better than you now.”  Folks, this happens every day and everywhere… somewhere.

Therefore, my friends the next time you are talking with your children and they reveal that they no longer believe in God.  BEFORE you fall over from those words, because you just do not understand where your kids were in Church every week… SHARPEN UP your skills.  PRAY for the Holy Spirit to help you. In addition, TALK, NO DEBATE your (adult) children … treating them as the equals that they are.  GUIDE them.  IF YOU DO NOT… CNN, ABC, FOX, MSNBC, and CBS with all their TV PERSONALITIES will all be there, along with the Teachers and College Professors doing the job for YOU.

Until Next time, May God Bless and Keep you.

Bill

Where do you get your NEWS from?

It has been awhile since I have blogged.  I have been busy and outside as much as I can, now that winter and our rainy Spring is over.  It is now one of the first days of summer and like everyone else I am looking forward getting together with Family and Friends.  In my family each year we look forward to the "Gatherin' at the River"... the St. Lawrence River that is.  Each year on, or very close to July Fourth, my Mom, my 7 brothers and sisters, their Families, and their families, Friends and others get together at my sister's summer Home on the St. Lawrence River near Clayton, NY.  For those of you not familiar with that area; it is the Thousand Islands Region and only about 8 miles from the 'Thousand Islands Bridge'.  In early June my sister Mary usually asks me to send out the yearly NEWS BULLETIN about the 'Gatherin'  Most people get it by email, others by snail mail, and yet others by the good old fashioned 'word of mouth' ... I like the personal touch myself.  Unfortunately many people are not real good about returning RSVPs, so i wonder... did they get the news?  I KNOW i sent it to them!  I know Ido my best to make sure to TELL them what's happening! Did they think it was junk mail?  Did they just not want to bother?  HOW do they get their other news?  DO they expect me to call their local TV and radio stations to send them a personal LIVE invitation?  Oh well... hopefully the 'word of mouth' thing still works well enough.  They all know that I send these 'invites' out!  Its been happenin' for YEARS! Are they just taking it for granted and not listening or reading my 'bulletins' any longer?

I'm beginning to feel like the Catholic Church.  No one is listening to me any more.  For so long, for CENTURIES, the Church has been the voice for Human Rights, social justice, Faith , and morality.  Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case any more.  NOW we let CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC and the rest of our politically charged MEDIA to be the 'go to guys' for ALL of our Information.  No longer do we look to the Church for direction or context ... we look to the pundants, Politicians, and OUR FAVORITE TV NEWs 'PERSONALITIES' for what ever we think is relative.  The key word there, is RELATIVE.  WHERE do you get your news from?  DO you watch only a certain Channel for ALL your news,  Do you ever watch or read opposing Views or Networks?  Most of us TRY to do that -ocassionally.  We read and watch the 'republican slanted', or the liberal slanted, or the Democratic slanted, or the Conservative slanted, papers, magazines, and news shows.  BUT, do you every look to news sources with the view from YOUR 'Church's Slant'?  IF NOT, WHY NOT?  I would say 95% or more do not- EVER! Do you think I'm right?  Do you as a Catholic know what 'Zenit' is?  How about CNS? How about 'The World Over Live'?  Do you know what your own Diocesan Newspaper is called?  The Diocese of Ogdensburg's paper is called 'The North Country Catholic'.

Right now in NY State our Legislature is debating, scheming, discussing, lobbying, and ordering it's members to consider legalizing Same Sex Marriage as a Gay Right or Human Rights Issue.  I just heard it WILL be coming up for a Vote, probably tomorrow.  I am sure you have heard.... it's been on EVERY NEWS channel!  MOST, if not ALL those channels, except ETWN, not only support Legalizing Gay Marriage... they are SILENCING anyone who might oppose it!  What these Network Media stations are not telling you is the slurs, the insults, the lies and yes... even the Death threats that Senators opposing this legislation are receiving right along with any MINISTER, Priest, Bishop, or Cardinal that might also speak out against it.  They are told that they as 'Chruch' should not FORCE their VIEWS on the rest of society.  YET, they do not recognize that 75 to 80% of New Yorkers do NOT support this legislation AT ALL!  They don't tell us this for one reason only.  They want to JAM their views down the throats of every New Yorker that holds the same definition of Marriage as all of humanity has for the past 6 thousand years or more.  Even the Natural laws of our great universe defines, supports and AFFIRMS that male and female are the building block of society.  Male and Female coming together as one to create a FAMILY.  NOT a man and man, not a woman and woman.  The Church has taught ONLY what has been known in the hearts and minds of EVERY HUMAN that ever Lived.  Marriage is between one man and one woman. ONLY with this combination can we build the BEST home for the CHILDREN of society. IT is this ONE COMBINATION of  HUMANs and ONLY this combination that is capable of creating a FAMILY which is the first, and most basic unit of our Society! If you believe in God... our FIRST CHURCH.

Tell me, have you every heard words like this on ANY one of the Network TV Channels? (other than EWTN's "World Over Live" news program?)  This explanation or Blog that i have written here, about Same Sex Marriage is VERY basic.  THERE will be COUNTLESS RAMIFICATIONS should this legislation be enacted.  Have you REALLY done your homework on this SUBJECT?  OR have you just been listening to what your FRIENDS say, YOUR TEACHERS, YOUR FAVORITE NEWS ENTERTAINMENT PERSONALITY, or Network has told you.  WHAT are your sources?  WHO is behind them?  WHO are their SPONSORS?  WHY do they sponsor them?  WHAT other programing does that Network have?  What do they 'preach' on their stations.  EVERYONE has an ANGLE... EVERYONE!  EVEN the CHURCH!  UNFORTUNATELY... they, the CHURCH, doesn't have the best connections in the MEDIA here in the USA.  And EWTN... well, lets face it.  Only People like me, that are labeled 'holy rollers' watch shows like 'The World Over Live', because I WANT TO KNOW ALL POINTS OF VIEW.  And guess what... EWTN and the COUNTLESS... CATHOLIC NEWS OUTLETS On the INTERNET and in PRINT are MUCH MORE OBJECTIVE and FACTUAL than FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC will ever be!  IF you have never looked at the World, the US, your State, or you City through the lens of a Christian news source... you are NOT WELL INFORMED.  IF you CLAIM to be a CHRISTIAN... then you need to BE one!  EVERY network and media station knows all the important 'CHRUCH NEWS' websites and they watch them closely!  DO YOU?!  They watch them so they can counter them and marginalize them, or just plain lie to you about them, so they can convince you of their veiw on subject to meet their own politically charged agendas.  IF you have never looked at 'Zenit' or CNS (Catholic News Service) or the countless other CHRISTIAN NEWS sites... you are NOT well informed.  I CHALLENGE you to take the time... FREQUENTLY... to look at your Church's newspapers and Media Outlets.  YOU WILL see a different twist on almost EVERY GIVEN SUBJECT... but it will be the MOST PLAIN, OBJECTIVE, and SENSIBLE news you'll ever read. PLEASE give it some thought won't you?  Pray about it as well?

I would be AMISS, if I did not caution you about SOME of the Christian Websites out there.  Some are "a little TOO out there"...even for me.  :-)  So, please check out your own Church's websites... IF you are NY Catholic... that would be Zenit, the USCCB, NYSCC, CNS, EWTN, Catholic Online, ...  ALL the big ones.  Go to your church's website and read around to see who they use as news sources.  Check out their 'Links Page'.  Chances are... you will find the better ones referenced.  FINALLY... SUBSCRIBE to your own Diocese's NEWSPAPER... IF you are a NORTHERN NY CATHOLIC... that would be the North Country Catholic at: http://northcountrycatholic.org/  Don't just visit and use their website! SUBSCRIBE AND SUPPORT YOUR Church's PAPER.

Till Next time, May God Bless you and Keep you,
Blogger Bill.

LIBERAL CATHOLICS = PROTESTANTS

I have recently been seeing and hearing far too many Catholics who are constantly gripping about Rome and its antiquated approach to the modern age.  So often in their ‘new’ and ‘enlightened’ way of thinking, liberal Catholics believe the Church and Our faith need to conform to the current human condition of our modern society.  They believe the Church’s Magisterium are backward and out of touch.  Yet, these same people who feel they are far more educated and enlightened by their personal opinions and knowledge are blinded to the fact that the Church has been around for 2000 years and is still the oldest most successful organization on the face of the earth.  There is only one REASON for that!  THAT cannot happen without the ability to change what is needed, and KEEP what is important! This fact alone confirms that the Magisterium and the Pope know what they are doing is right.  DON’T MESS WITH SUCCESS!

So here, I would like to address my fellow Catholics who do nothing but complain about Rome and the Magisterium.  Please understand that the Church is still here because Christ commissioned her to Preach, Keep and Protect the Christian Faith.  HE promised to keep the ‘evil one’ from overcoming it.  He also promised to send the Holy Spirit as Her permanent Guide.  I ask you my fellow liberal Catholics, who should I as a faithful catholic, follow?  YOU and your ‘withering grass-like’ whims and fancies or the  TRUE and TIME-TESTED Apostolic Faith directed by the Magisterium who HAS the Holy Spirit as their Personal Guide?  YOUR enlightened brains SHOULD tell you that it is a NO-BRAINER!  I will follow Pope Benedict XVI and the rest of the Magisterium in all matters of Faith and Morals.  Although I know, I have, and may again fail to do so, I CONTINUALLY THANK GOD for his faithfulness to OUR CHURCH and her Magisterium.  Without their guidance and direction, we would be much worse off than we find ourselves today.  The ‘enemy’ has been working OVERTIME, trying to destroy us from within.

I know that as Catholics we should be patient with our brothers and sisters of the faith.  However, many of us have been hinting and coaxing them to get in step with Rome for years.  NOW, it’s time to either NOT SPARE THE ROD, LEST WE CONTINUE TO SPOIL THE CHILDREN, or tell them to MOVE ON to their own denomination just as ‘Luther’ did.  I still pray that all may be one, but for now… if you do not LIKE the Heat in this kitchen, DON'T LET the DOOR HIT YOU IN THE BEHIND on YOUR WAY OUT!  IT is time for ALL CATHOLICS who support Rome and the Magisterium to stand up and be counted.  CLEAN out the CHURCH and get ALL the heretics out!  They do not want to listen and are just RUINING the CATHOLIC FAITH for the rest of us here in the USA.  Pray for ‘conversion’ and get BACK in line with Rome, or move on!

When they leave as I once did, they will see and discover the ERRORS of their ways.  I am SURE the Church will be there to welcome them back with open arms.  Let them go and see why so many of us (and me PERSONALLY) realize why the Roman Catholic Church is TRULY the ONE PLACE where you will find the FULLNESS of FAITH, as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit intended!  AS those who crucified our Lord; those who oppose and persecute 'Rome' don’t know what they are doing!  THEY do not understand the JEWEL they have in the ROMAN Catholic Faith.

SUPPORT MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

I believe that genuine marriage matters, and that my elected representatives should be working to strengthen marriage for the well-being of children and society. Authentic marriage and the nuclear family are the fundamental building blocks of our civilization.

Instead of Legislating the natural law that affirms and confirms that marriage is between a man and a woman, I would rather elected officials put our money and efforts and TIME into supporting and legislating to encourage men and woman to be married and to discourage them from just living together. The FAMILY in this country is in trouble! HISTORY has demonstrated repeatedly that when the family in a society is not supported and upheld... that civilization dies!

Additionally, I know that the State and the Federal Government have always supported marriage, because it is the building block of society. HOWEVER, neither the state nor the federal government INVENTED or LEGISLATED "Marriage” into existence! MARRAIGE and FAMILY cannot and should not be REDEFINED BY ANY BODY OF LAW OR COURT! IT IS NOT within the rights or JURISDICTION of any STATE or ANY NATION to do so! IN short ... you MUST NOT, SHOULD NOT, MAY NOT redefine marriage for all of humanity!

IF laws need to be changed so that people living together extended periods and wish to have legal permission to insure, visit in the hospital, etc… then change those laws. DO NOT Redefine the oldest institution known to man! If same sex marriage is legalized, where will it stop? I recently read that a man wanted to marry his DOG! WILL we next grant marriage to the likes of that too!

Quote for Today.

“If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful, and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed.” – Pope Benedict XVI

Quote for Today

"We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."
--St. Teresa of Avila

"Being Catholic is Smart" from RealCatholicTV.com by Michael Voris

This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

Happy Mother’s Day.

I wish to Thank God for my mother, M. Jeanette O’Brien.  At 81 years old she is still in good health and has a sharper mind than that of my own.  She lives with me now, and I cherish everyday that I have with her.  I am lucky to be able to spend this kind of quality time with her, as there are so many of us who don’t have such opportunities.  We have a lot of fun and we get along very well except for the occasional ‘fork’ she pokes me with as she threatens, “I’m gonna let some ‘hot air’ out‘a you!”  She makes me laugh every day.  Occasionally I may have to get vindication and or vengeance!

Happy Mother’s Day MOM!  God Bless you this day and ALWAYS! 
I Love You!

HOW SHOULD CATHOLICS FEEL?

One week after Easter, the Octave of Easter, the same day as the Beatification of John Paul II, and finally on DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY, the most wanted man in the world was killed in a raid In Pakistan.  Osama Bin Laden is dead.  One thing for sure he won’t be resurrecting right away.  There is a lot of bitterness, hatred, and cheering going on around the country and the world because this man has finally received ‘justice’; the justice of man that is.  Don’t get me wrong; I probably will not lose any sleep tonight when I go to bed, just because this man is no longer with us.  And, I too, feel the tug, to stand up and give a modest cheer, but I cannot bring myself to do so.  As Catholics, How should we ‘feel’ about this situation? 

Christ came to save the sinner.  He said that the ‘well’ do not need a doctor only the ‘sick’ do. I would put Bin Laden in the ‘sick’ category, for sure!  Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for them.  Have you ever prayed for Bin Laden?  I do confess that I have.  Anyway, although I am quite patriotic, I find it very hard to celebrate the demise of any man; even one who seems to be so EVIL.  I cannot say that I would be able to celebrate, because of the fact, that we are probably sending this man to the final judgment seat of Christ. 

I do confess it is very hard to sort out, even for myself.  Therefore, I guess I will error on the side of caution and not join in the celebration of his death.  I will pray that Al Qaida will fall apart in his absence, and terrorism of this nature, will once again die down for a millennium or two.

Until Next time May God Bless and Keep You.

BloggerBill

Qoute for the Day

"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."

                                                                          --Pope John Paul II

The Missing 'Cup'

This is the most somber Holy Day of the Year, Good Friday. At the Ninth hour much of Christendom will pause to commemorate the Hour at which our Lord Jesus Christ gave His own Life so that we might be reconciled to God the Father and share in the Eternal Life of the Trinity. One of my favorite Theologians in the United States is Dr. Scott Hahn. He is a brilliant theologian, writer, and speaker. If you have never listened to his talk on “the Fourth Cup” you are missing one of the best blow by blows, detailing the Lord’s Last Supper, Passion, and Death. He is able to look at Scripture and give all us regular Catholics in the pews, a down to earth explanation of what transpired some 2000 years ago. As a former Protestant Evangelical that has returned to the Church, I was absolutely amazed at what I did not see in Scripture as I read the Gospel accounts over and over and over these past 25 years.

In the Traditional Jewish Passover Meal, there are 4 cups of wine that are drunk, each with their own significance. However, the night Jesus instituted the New Covenant of the Passover in His Body and Blood; he did not drink the Fourth Cup. At the end of the Passover Celebration, normally they would sing a song called the ‘Great Hallel’ and drink the last cup ending the celebration. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus and his Disciples sang the hymn, but then left the upper room and went to the Garden to pray without drinking that last cup. SO at first glance, and as many of us regarded the Passover meal was over and done with; but was it? Was the New Covenant Passover complete at the end of that Meal? I am hesitant to give you then answer. You see, once I was disillusioned with the Protestant church and began to doubt the “once saved always saved” theology, I also began to question other doctrines as well. One of the largest differences comes to us in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist. MOST Protestants (not all), believe that the Lord’s Supper is just a Remembrance, a Memorial, a snapshot of the past. They believe it is more of a commemoration of the Meal, not a sacrifice that contains the REAL PRESENCE of our Lord Jesus Christ. We Catholics do believe that Jesus is Present in the consecrated Bread and Wine. Jesus is present to us… the same Jesus who was present at the Last Supper is being made present when the priest at mass calls upon the Holy Spirit to come down upon them. It in fact becomes the SAME Sacrifice that Jesus presented some 2000 years ago. He told us that he would NEVER LEAVE us. He has made this sacrifice to span both time and space so that HE is present to EVERY person who becomes a member of His Church; to nurish and feed us.

In Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, Jesus tells everyone gathered, “I am the Bread of Life, that comes down from Heaven." He went on to tell them that if they did not eat his flesh and drink his blood, they would have no life in them. (Please read the bread of Life Discourse in the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel) Many present said they could not take that kind of talk. They said to themselves… HOW are we to eat his flesh… this is hard to take. As a result, many of his disciples left and no longer believed in him. Today, many Protestants think Jesus was speaking figuratively and did not mean we had to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They point to the fact that at the Last supper he only told us to do this in ‘remembrance of Me’… as a memorial and since it was a memorial… it was only symbolic. However, if Jesus only meant it symbolically, he would have called those disciples back and told them so. He did not. He even went further and asked the Apostles if they wanted to leave as well. They declined, saying that He was the son of God, and where else could they go? He was the one with the words of eternal life. The fact that Jesus did not correct them and given that he told them this 8 times… demonstrates that he meant what he was saying.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

Whenever Jesus was teaching the crowds in the form of a parable or figuratively, later he would explain the meaning to the disciples… here he does NOT do that here. He meant that we were to eat his flesh and drink his blood. That is why at the Last Supper, when he said to the Apostles… “This is my body…” and “this is my blood…” they knew what He meant and they didn’t have to ask for clarification. My friends, JESUS is PRESENT under the appearance of bread and wine in the consecrated Eucharist. He is physically present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The early Christians believed it and so did the Christians at the Reformation. It was not until at or after the reformation that Protestants denied it. Luther himself and many of the reformers believed in it… even Henry the eighth did as well. That is why today Anglicans believe it.

In his talk about the 4^th cup, Scott Hahn reveals to us that the Passover meal that Jesus transformed into the NEW covenant of his Body and Blood, the Eucharist; in fact was not over until he was hanging on the Cross and said, “I thirst.” Then the soldiers gave him common wine from a sponge on a hyssop branch, and then he said, “IT IS FINISHED”… Protestants believe that Jesus finished the role he came to earth for. He finished and completed the mission of salvation and reconciled man with God Almighty. INDEED He did! Then he said. “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Then He died. It was done. But lets look back, do you remember what Christ said at the Last Supper? He said he would not drink of the fruit of the vine until he came in glory. He was offered common wine more than once on the way to the cross but he refused it. It wasn’t until God allowed him to “be lifted up from the earth…”, and hung on the Cross-that “he would draw all men unto me” (himself). The Father Glorified the Son at the Crucifixion. Jesus took the “last cup” of the Passover Meal while upon the Cross. Then he said “I Thirst” so that the scriptures would be fulfilled. He drank from the 'cup of blood', from a sponge on a hyssop branch…. The same branch that the Israelites used at the first Passover in Egypt when the sprinkled the blood upon the door posts and mantels so that they would be passed over when the Angel of Death ‘passed-over’ all of Egypt taking the first-born of every house. At His drinking of that wine from that sponge on a Hyssop branch, Jesus finished His mission and became the Passover Lamb for us all! Now, we too, can have death pass over us as we enter into Eternal Life. Thanks be to God!

May I ask you one question? What did the Israelites do with the Passover lamb? I’ll tell you…. They ATE It's FLESH! That is what Jesus meant for us to do as well. HE said… “Give us this day our daily bread” and in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel…He said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” At the last supper He instituted the Eucharist so that he would be made present to us until the end of the Age; in the Eucharist where He would feed us and nourish us and give us the grace we need while on our journey to Eternal Life. EVERY time we share in His body and blood at the Eucharistic Meal, we proclaim his death until he comes again. Each time we take the Eucharist, we are having a personal encounter with the living Lord. We are personally welcoming Him into us, to change us so we become more like Him, as he unites us to Himself, God the Father, The Holy Spirit, and to one another; all Sharing in the Eternal Love of the Trinity.

I don’t know about you, but all I can say is…. WOW! Isn’t this AWESOME! Since I have discovered what the bible truly claims about the Eucharist… I am so OVERJOYED, so BLOWN AWAY! Whenever I humbly step forward I cannot help but bow before My Lord and My God as I graciously receive His Body and Blood present under the appearance of bread and wine at the Holy Sacrament of the Altar -The Eucharist. No wonder the Church calls the Eucharist the Sum and Summit of our Faith! All Praise and Glory be to God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Amen? AMEN!

If you are interested, you can purchase a downloadable MP3 for $2 of Dr. Scott Hahn’s “the Fourth Cup” at the website of Lighthouse Catholic Media. Here is the link:

http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/the-fourth-cup

Until next time, May you and your families have a MOST BLESSED EASTER.

BloggerBill

Reverence in the Church and at Holy Communion

You all know that I have only just recently returned to the Catholic Church after 25 years in the Evangelical Church.  When I left the Church so many years ago… we (Catholics) were turning away from some traditions (with small t) and norms in the Mass.  Some of these changes were a very good thing, in my book, others I wondered and was quite puzzled about; I was a bit confused over them.

First, the Priest has turned around to enhance the idea that we are all gathering AROUND the ‘table of the Lord’.  We are drawn into the ‘conversation’ and Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  No longer is it just for the Priest and God, but now we are actually invited into the most Holy Sacrifice - more intimately.  THIS is TRULY a good thing!  One of the other good things was the language of the Mass.  As a child I had NO idea what was going on in the mass when it was in Latin, I never took Latin, so it was always foreign to me!  I am sure that I was not alone.  My older sister tells me that the missals contained both Latin and English on opposing pages.  I wouldn’t know.  Being one of eight children, my parents couldn’t afford missals for all of us.  Once the language went to English, I remember being IMMEDIATELY drawn into the Mass, and when the New Alter was turned around, I could not only hear in English but witness and participate with my own eyes, my ears, my heart, soul and spirit more FULLY in the Liturgy.

However, other changes puzzled me.  For example, ‘reverence’.  We no longer knelt when receiving Holy Communion.  Additionally, we were now receiving the Blessed Sacrament … the Eucharist in the Hand, then picking it up with our own fingers, and putting it in our mouth. I thought, wow, is the Eucharist no longer thought to be HOLY?  Again, I am sure that I was not alone.   I always liked receiving it on the tongue but I thought we should conform and be ‘progressive.’  Who am I to make the rules?  At first people bowed and/or genuflected before receiving standing in the hand, but that became less and less.  Receiving Communion started to become mundane and … seemed to me to be ‘cafeteria’ style communion.  Upon, returning after 25 years, I see more evidence of change. VERY few people genuflect or profoundly bow (if physically unable to genuflect) before entering the pew.  Nor do they genuflect when leaving or turning their back to the tabernacle where Jesus is present – Body, Blood, Soul, Spirit and Divinity in the Eucharist.  This truly made me sad.  I am especially sad when parents genuflect, but their children walk right by them as they do and slide into the pew.  They are not ‘training them in the way they should grow.’  Do not get me wrong… it is not everyone who does this… but it is becoming the norm.  I am sure; once the future gray heads replace the gray heads in the church today, I bet no one will be genuflecting at all.  This I do not think is good.  We are losing the sense of Holiness that was missing in the protestant churches I attended.

I DO NOT bring up this topic of reverence to start a movement and insist that everyone start Kneeling and receiving on the tongue; nor do I INSISTS you train your kids how I think you should.  I bring this up to create an awareness of what the SACRED TEACHING of the Church is - universally.  I have been told many times in the past that standing for Communion was the ‘new norm’.  Well, that is really just in the USA.  MOST of the rest of the Catholics in the world still receives Kneeling and on the Tongue.   I was astonished.  One of the reasons I was given for not kneeling to receive the Eucharist  and receiving in the hand, was that, In the Eucharist; we are transformed, made like Christ when we receive communion.  Therefore, we are all united in Christ and Christ is in us, Furthermore we, are all bringing Christ’s presence to all we meet.  I was given this reason, as to why we do not need to kneel, bow, or receive on the tongue.  It sounded ‘good’ but I was never comfortable with that stance.  For me, I know that Christ is IN ME.  AS I receive the Eucharist who is WHOLELY and COMPLETELY JESUS CHRIST PRESENT in the visible form of the Bread and Wine.  He changes me and makes me more Christ like.  Unlike a regular piece of bread that I eat where I take it in and make it a part of me… it is the opposite with Christ in the Eucharist.  As I take HIM in to me at communion, HE changes me… into HIM, not the other way around.  This makes me think that having reverence present in the Eucharist is just as much an obligation as it was in the 1950’s.  Even though Christ comes into me, and gives me the grace to be more CHRSIT-LIKE and welcomes me into communion with the TRINITY, I in fact still am the mortal person named ‘Bill’.  The EUCHARIST present in the Tabernacles of the World and right in my church is 100% JESUS CHRIST.  Therefore, when I face or come into the church that holds the tabernacle that holds the EUCHARIST, that Holds MY LORD AND MY GOD, I feel blessed and in AWE of Him so I will bow as I come into his presence, before sitting down.  I will bow before I turn my back to him, and I will bow to him before I leave and take Him in myself, after Holy Communion when I am sent forth at the end of Mass. 

May I suggest to you that below are two links of videos that I came across reinforcing my understanding of faith and the church’s teaching on these subjects.  I am glad the Church continues to hold high, her reverence for Christ Presence in the Eucharist.  I ask you as we are coming to changes in the Mass this Dec. 2011, should we consider some more Returning to the Primary Norms of the Mass found in the UNIVERSAL CATHOLIC CHRUCH.  I often wonder… did these changes contribute to the loss of so many Catholics like myself over the past 25-30 years?  Do we need to take a second look, admit our error, and return to the Norms of the Roman Rite currently being demonstrated in Rome today?  Again… I am NOT a revolutionist…  I just miss the reverence of the Churches of my youth that created an atmosphere at church that was DIFFERENT from any other place I visited.  This is a place where we come to be transformed… made HOLY… Set ASIDE… from the fancy-free and mundane nature of our society.  When I was in the Evangelical Church… there was no mystery, not reverence… no real sense of Holiness or of being set apart.  Upon my return, I still find that Holiness missing.  Think about it, wont’ you?  Pray about it?  Talk about it and give it some thought.

Here are the video blogs about the Eucharist and how it should be received and what ‘permissions’ have been granted in its distribution.  The first is form Cardinal Arenzie… a BRILLIANT CATHOLIC priest who is the Prefect of the Liturgy and Sacraments for Pope Benedict XVI.  Please review them… there are additional links on these sites to study and explore on this and many other subjects.

Cardinal Arinze on Eucharist on Tongue and Kneeling and Standing in the Hand.  Cardinal Arinze is the Apostolic Prefect for the Sacraments and Liturgy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap1KL2D5ae4&NR=1

The Vortex: ‘Kneel Before God” http://www.realcatholictv.com/free/index.php?vidID=vort-2011-04-19  

RE-POST of: The Sacrament of Reconciliation: Do You Dread It?

It is HOLY WEEK... Have you done the Lenten Requirement?  I re-post this Blog because it is not to late for ANYONE to go to CONFESSION and make this EASTER the BEST ONE IN YEARS!! 

Earlier i posted...
 ...This Lent the bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, Bishop Terry R. LaValley has asked that parish priests set aside March 26, 2011 as a day for the Sacrament of Reconciliation /Penance. He has asked them to schedule additional time for the faithful to fulfill their yearly minimum requirement. As Catholics, we are required to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once per year during the season of Lent.

Are you AFRAID to go to Confession? Are you SCARED what the priest might THINK about you? Well, I would like to share with you, my experience of going to “confession” for the first time in OVER 25 YEARS. I was born and raised Catholic but by the time I was 26, I had left the Church and joined a protestant evangelical church. Shamefully, I actually tried to get other Catholics to go with me; but that is another story for a later time. I must also admit that over the years I often confessed that I would NEVER, EVER, EVER, go back to the Catholic Church. Did I say ‘never’? Well, we have all heard that before… “Never say never.”… Right? After about 15 years in the protestant church, I began to have doubts about their beliefs and slowly attended church less and less until I just stopped going altogether. Then I had some life changing and dramatic events in my life. As you might expect, I looked to the only place that I knew I could find hope and help. I turned to God.

Although this process took a year or so, I ultimately found myself at
the doors of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg. BOY was I scared! I was shaking so, as I opened that door and went in. NO, the roof did not cave in… but I did look up to make sure. It was Saturday and I learned that confessions were being heard at this time. I approached the confessional; still shaking with my heart racing I entered the box. I was surprised when I saw that I had the option of sitting right in front of the priest. “OH NO! I’m DEAD!” I thought. “I gotta look him in the eye? OH GOD! WHAT have I done!?” I almost turned around and walked out I was so scared. “What is this man going to THINK of me when I tell him that I tried to lead Catholics away from the Church!?” Then, into my head popped… “JUST DO IT”… like Nike says, “JUST DO IT!” And I did. I sat down RIGHT in front of him.

He was reading a book and as he set it down, he lifted his eyes to me
with a wide and sincere smile. I immediately turned my eyes to the floor. I
just could not look at him. He extended his hand and I looked up at his eyes as we shook hands. I then introduced myself. Then I froze! I couldn’t speak. MY lips and mouth were like a parched desert! “HOW am I going to get through this?!” I thought. He sensed my anxiety and said in a soft voice, “It’s OK, just relax. Take a deep breath and relax.” I tried, but was not very successful. I tried to speak and uttered a few words stumbling over them. Then I finally got it out… “Bless me father for I have sinned, it has been over 25 years since my last confession...” He said with a great big smile… “WELLLLLLL….” (At that instant I thought, ‘OH GOD… here it comes!")…. WEL-COMMMME Back!” I was pleasantly surprised and so relieved. This priest was not like Monsignor Tierney whom I once feared as a child. Maybe this isn’t going to be as hard as I thought. I must say that as I began to share of my thoughts, my words and deeds of the last quarter century… he listened so intently. He was sincere, genuinely concerned, loving, and encouraged me as we talked. He made me feel so comfortable, and he even helped me with the prayers. He was truly lifting me up. The Love I felt was amazing. "This is what Church should be like" I thought to myself. After he shared the story of the prodigal son and we discussed it briefly. He then prayed the words of absolution and my eyes welled up with tears of joy. The BURDEN off my shoulders was enough to make me want to SOAR! It was then I remembered one of the best things about confession… the RELIEF of Guilt and the JOY of being reconciled to God and his Church. Once again, I was assured that I was once again in ‘right relationship” with my God. I saw Father chuckle, as he noticed me let out a HUGE sigh of relief. As I got up to leave, Father LaValley said to me. “Welcome home, we're SO glad to have you back.” I exited the confessional with tears in my eyes. I now go to confession at least once per month, whether I really need to or not. I sit before the Blessed Sacrament before I go, and pray, collecting my thoughts, and reviewing my sins ... as well as my sins of omission.


I was in that confessional no more than 5 minutes and I didn’t have to pay a dime. Going to confession regularly keeps me in right relationship with God, his Church, and especially with MYSELF! Now I go and CELEBRATE the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly. The Sacrament is SOOOO precious to me ... "Priceless"! I think today, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is nothing like i remember. Sometimes I actually look forward to going. There is GENUS in CATHOLICISM! -- People just don't know what they are missing! It may be the best kept secret in the CHRUCH!!!

Please check your parish bulletin for the times when the Sacrament of
reconciliation is celebrated. During Lent I am sure you will find Penance Services, Parish Missions, Stations of the Cross, as well as extended times for confessions. I encourage you …. Please go and celebrate this wonderful Sacrament, and do it often. Jesus misses each one of us who are not in right relationship with him. He wants us ALL to be the VERY BEST person that we can be, and he wants to give us the grace to do so. One more thing... don’t worry about being embarrassed about your shortcomings. I have heard several priests say… “There is nothing that you might tell me that I haven’t heard many times before. You just aren’t that original!” I am also sure that over time those coming into the confessional are just like people you might meet at work. You know the face, but you don’t remember every detail of the conversations you’ve ever had with them. They all seem to just blend into obscurity. I truly beleive that God give his priests an additional special gift. The gift to forget the sins of many... including mine. Thank you Lord for the thought you put into the Sacraments... There is GENIUS in CATHOLOCISM! ( I know... i'm repeating myself again.)

Go and celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation this week. You KNOW that you will be glad you did. In addition, going to confession may just make THIS celebration of the Feast of Easter the best you’ve had in years!

Until next time,
May God Bless and Keep You.

Quote for Today

 “May we never risk the life of our souls by being resentful or by bearing grudges.”           

                            

                                     -St. Gregory of Nyssa