+++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.+++++++++++++++
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes


Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness

Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.

The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48




What I Believe

Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Visitation Catholic Church

Visitation Catholic Church

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Covenant of Marriage


In His covenant with Israel, God said, “You will be my people and I will be your God.”  A covenant is a personal bond, not merely a promise or a contract.  The breaking of the covenant bond by one person does not end the covenant for the other.  The covenant bond between God and Israel and the indissolubility is best seen in the relationship between Hosea and his wife.  Hosea represents the faithfulness of God and his wife represents Israel.  The Church sees marriage as a covenant.  Marriage is not merely and exchange of promises or a contract between two people.   It is a binding of two people.  This means the Church cannot dissolve a marriage in divorce.  It can only declare that the marriage never existed.  The covenant of marriage cannot be broken by the unfaithfulness of one or both to the vows.  The covenant is greater than the vows.  This is why the Church takes great pains before marriage to the disposition of the parties involved.  Thus the Church usually requires a waiting (cooling off) period and counseling to ensure that the couples have no insurmountable issues that would later cause them to separate.  Marriage assumes that each of the couple is fully free to enter into the covenant.  Annulment is granted when the Church finds an impediment to that free assent, whether it be physical (age, pregnancy, etc.) or psychological (neglected “child” looking to be loved for example).  When an annulment is granted, the Church is saying that the marriage covenant never took place; this does not involve any civil legalities.

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