A GRAIN OF WHEAT

I just read an article, you can read it here http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9037ITO1&show_artic le=1, that says Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion intend to receive communion at the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. In the article Jose Serrano, D-NY says “There’s a time for celebrating who we are as Catholics, and this is one of those times.”Who we are as Catholics? The last time I checked, the Catholic Church still considers abortion morally evil. These pro-abortion people are, in my mind, not Catholic at all. They fly the banner of Catholicism when it is convenient, but they don’t even hide the fact that they condone an act that is so morally reprehensible that those who commit it are certain to go to hell if they do not repent.

I’m sick and tired of people tying to make the Church fit into their misguided beliefs. I know I talk about this all the time, but I can’t wait for the hippie generation to pass away so we can get the Church in America back on track. Our goal should be to guide people to holiness, not affirm them in their sin. Let me lay it out for you in case you forgot: Contraception is evil. Premarital sex is evil. Abortion is evil. Homosexual acts are evil. The Church has spoken on these issues. Don’t expect this to change.

I know that a lot of these older folks think that Vatican II did something that it didn’t. They tend to take liberty with the documents of Vatican II and infer that the Church is shifting to a more “modern” theology. The Church has been the same from the beginning. What worked in the past works now. The only thing that is different today is that people seem to embrace Satan instead of rebuking him.

I tell you, it would just make my day if the priests giving communion refused to give it to these very vocal politicians. God willing.

Americans are spoiled. American Catholics are tragically spoiled. Apparently the teachings of the Church do not apply in America. Allow me to elaborate. Americans think that everything requires a vote or an approval by the majority. Of course we think this way because we have been taught to be proud of our democratic process, but we must draw the line somewhere. If we are to demand our view on certain matters to become the official position of the Church simply because we want it to be so, then we will cause great scandal for our beloved Church. We cannot vote on Church policy or teachings because these things come from God and I don’t think that we can overrule God on anything.

I think the problem is that most Americans refuse to be told what to do. They refuse to be obedient because obedience, in their mind, is counter to freedom. So let me lay it out for all of the people too proud to follow Church teaching: God demands that we be obedient. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done..” is not a hollow request. Every time we pray the Our Father we are asking that God do His will in our lives. Even Christ begged for God to do His own will. I don’t recall the part in the Gospels where Jesus took a vote from the disciples to affirm that He should be crucified. God does His will through His Church and it is our duty to shut up and do what we are told. Does that make you feel bad? Does it make you feel low? Good. Humility is an important step to holiness.

I really hope that Pope Benedict XVI will get the American Bishops in line. I know that sounds bad, and I really love my Bishop (Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge), but American Catholics need to learn how to be Catholic first and American second. The simple fact is that America was founded by men and the Church was founded by Christ. Which one do you want to serve?

Now I’m not being unpatriotic. I certainly love my country, but I refuse to let anyone undermine the Church with the cry for “freedom”. If you don’t understand how to use freedom, then freedom will take you straight to hell. With the increasing number of dissidents of the Church, we should be very alarmed and we should work to correct any errors that we see being spread among the faithful.

Today is Good Friday, the most somber day of the year. Today our Lord will be tried, beaten, and crucified. Stop playing on the internet and go to confession. Stay awake! In two day He will rise again!!!

I have a friend from Jordan who is Muslim. He is a great guy and on his last trip home he bought me a gift- a miniature of a Mosque. Is it ok to keep this? Sounds dumb, but I’m not sure. I appreciate the gift, but I’m not sure what to do.

and I don’t feel like writing today.

I’m the kind of guy who believes in miracles, and not the kind that are normal occurences. I’m the kind of guy who believes in crying statues, bleeding Hosts, and the stigmata. I’m the kind of guy who believes in gaurdian angels, and I keep mine busy. I’m the kind of guy who believes that Moses really did see a burning bush; An angel really did appear to Mary to announce the coming of the Messiah; Zeccheriah really saw an angel in the Temple; Bernadette Soubiroux really did see the Blessed Mother; Saint Francis really did see the crucifix speak to him.

Why does no one believe in miracles anymore? Have we grown too modern and skeptical to believe? I think that most of us are far too intelligent to believe such fantasy. The modern world wants to categorize and explain everything, but that is not within our ability. We are ignorant beings created by God, so how can we explain the mystery of the Holy Spirit? We have grown too proud to believe that God can manipulate the physical world. He created it. He can and does perform miracles. Get over it.

Now do I think that every stain on the wall or pattern in a sandwich that looks like Mary is a miracle? No. That kind of stuff is only a miracle for online auction companies. But I do think that God performs very real miracles, whether we are too proud to admit it or not. There is not enough human intelligence in the world to stop God from performing miracles. Miracles are a gift, and while believing in them is not necessary for salvation, they give us just a small glimpse of the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to stop trying to rationalize everything and just have faith.

 -God bless.

I have been reading about Saint Francis of Assisi lately and I must say that something about the humble saint has really struck a chord deep within me. I never knew much about the little man from Assisi, a man who preaches to birds and kisses lepers, except that he was fond of animals. I think that is how most people know him: the lover of animals. That is a real shame, I think, because there was so much more to him. I never knew what a treasure we have in Saint Francis. I’ll lay out just a few of those.

Saint Francis’ commitment to follow Christ was, by our standards, extreme. He went from being the son of a wealthy merchant to not knowing, or even worrying about, where he would get his next meal. He took Jesus’ call to poverty very seriously. And there are too many examples which show just how commited he was to following Christ. He would beg for food going door to door and even if he was given something, he would only accept scraps. He also did the most vile thing imaginable in that time: he consorted with lepers. He traded in his expensive clothes for a simple brown habit tied with a rope around his waist.

Francis was also a peacemaker, which for that time was very odd. The Church was at war with the Muslims. And what did Francis do? He mounted a missionary expedition to the front lines of the fighting where he managed to gain entrance to the palace of the Sultan of Egypt, Melek-el-Kamil, and preach the Gospel to the Sultan. This, you understand, was so counter to the typical attitude of Christians. Christians during that time period did not even think it was a sin to kill Muslims, and here was Francis, with no sword, no spear, no horse, preaching the Gospel to the enemy in order to save them.

Francis knew something that we still can’t figure out: every single thing in existence is created by God. We are all related. True, the Church offers salvation, but we shouldn’t horde it for ourselves. Francis understood that the only way to serve God is to love all of His creation. We should reach out in love and try to bring our brothers and sisters into the fold of the Lord. It is amazing to me that Francis attracted so many people without sacrificing any of his beliefs. How often do we sacrifice our beliefs in order to be accepted? Francis only cared about the things of God.

There is too much information about Saint Francis to put into one blog. I just wanted to point out some of the characteristics of this great Saint. To have his focus on the Lord would be a blessing indeed. Saint Francis teaches us not to let worldly things interfere with our love of God. But how often do they interfere? Too often, that much is certain. Francis saw the world so differently than we do. He saw that nothing was his, or mine, or yours. Everything belongs to God. That realization made it possible, and I dare say necessary, for him to become detached from material things so that he could focus only on God.

 Saint Francis’ Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Amen.

I am so tired of people who have the “nowadays” faith. You know what I mean. “Nowadays contraception is very practical” or “Nowadays divorce is a fact of life”. Is the faith of long ago no longer the faith of the people? Have we abandoned all sense of faith? Do we no longer believe that the covenants we make with God are indeed binding and that failure on our part to maintain these covenants will result in some very dire consequences? We are so modern and practical that we have effectively thought our way out of having faith.

Poor justification for our actions is a result of the modern tendency to make everything relative. Often when we hear of relative morality we think of very drastic examples, such as the “If it feels good, do it” crowd. But we commit the same folly almost daily. How many women say that the Church is wrong about birth control because birth control wasn’t very common when the teaching was put forth (not true, birth control has been around for a very long time)? Or how many people say that these days it is good to live with your future spouse so that you can see if you are compatible? We want to view Church teachings through the prism of modernity, but these teachings are eternal and universal. God is not subject to the rules of time, and neither are his expectations of us.

It is time that we return to the simple faith that we are meant to have. We must be like children. Sound familiar? We need to be innocent and trust that God’s Word has provided all that we need to know for salvation. We must not inject our own opinions into Church teachings. The Law of God has not changed over time, so why do we feel compelled to try and change it? There are no “penumbras” with God’s Law. It is what it is. If only we could be like children and walk with love and obedience.

-God bless.

Nothing to write on the small group discussion from yesterday. I didn’t go because we couldn’t get a sitter for our son. My wife went, but she hasn’t yet filled me in on everything. But there is always next week.

Alright, my small discussion group session certainly did not unfold as I thought it would. The topic, which is meant to make the Lenten season more real, is called “Lenten Longing”, which I suppose means the longing for God that one experiences in the “desert”. I really like this topic because I think that it naturally leads one to closer self-examination and scrutiny. Ultimately, time in the spiritual desert should bring one to realize that one is utterly dependent on God for everything. This is a very deep and serious topic, yet the discussion was very superficial and not even close to the heart of the matter.

Most people in the group, I think, really misunderstood what is meant by the “desert”. Most of the people who offered some form of conversation seemed to equate the spiritual desert with a physical dilemma. For example, if I were to say “I had a very hard time at work. No one was taking my suggestions seriously and this was the desert for me” you would be inclined to correct me, or just roll your eyes. The desert is a very real place where you come face to face with yourself as you really are and it is usually not dependent on outside forces. It diminishes the reality of Christ being tempted in the desert if we are to call our trivial misfortunes a “desert experience”. In fact, I would venture to say that a person who has experienced the agony, harshness, solitude and blessing of the spiritual desert would never equate such trivial, worldly happenings with the eye opening experience of seeing yourself as you really are; as God sees you.

Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that a severe physical occurrence cannot produce an utter dependence on God. I’m simply saying that those experiences are not in and of themselves what we call “desert” experiences. The desert, although very real for Christ, is a spiritual experience for us. We need to move past this over-concern for our materialistic pursuits and see what really matters. We need to see that our utter dependence on God is very, very real. Every breath we take is a gift, and that is not just some sentimental thought. The fact that we continue to exist is a constant gift from God, because he hasn’t just given us life once, it is a constant gift.

I don’t want to seem like I’m splitting hairs, but I think that it is important for us to understand the significance of the desert experience. The whole point of this class is to grow closer to God, to grow stronger in faith, and to deepen our spirituality. In order to do these things, we have to move from the surface to a deeper level of understanding. And trust me, I understand nothing. I am not a theologian or a spiritual master, but I do think that there is more to trusting God and loving God than worrying about who was mean to me.