"The truth is the truth even if nobody believes it, and error is error even if every everyone believes it."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895 - 1979)
"A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right and evil doesn't become good, just because it is accepted by a majority."
~RICK WARREN
“What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.” Mother Teresa In the Heart of the World
St Catherine of Siena, a 14th century mystic and Doctor of the Church, usually expressed herself in simple images so everyone would understand her. She used the image of a candle in describing the dispositions necessary to receive Holy Communion. Its gentle, warm glow is an image rich with meaning for Catholics, because Christ is the “Light” of the world and every Tabernacle and Adoration Chapel has a lighted candle next to Jesus.Catherine points out that the wick must penetrate the core of the entire candle or it will not burn correctly or completely. It will stop where the wick stops, or become deformed if the wick is not straight. So, too, our faith must be straight, steady, consistent, permeating our entire lives. The wick of faith penetrates the candle so it can burn with the fire of love. Sins are like water thrown on the flame. Instead of a rich warm glow, there is a hiss, smoke and death. The flame needs to be dried by the fire of true contrition and confession of sin. Conversion returns the warmth of faith, love and desire. Catherine offers us a further way to remember the qualities needed for a fruitful Holy Communion. Conversion purifies us so we can see the Blessed Sacrament with the eyes of faith, receive it with the hands of love and taste it with the spiritual sense of holy desire. People who love the Eucharist and attend Mass and Adoration frequently realize that only the Holy Spirit can stir up our desire for Jesus. For those of us who do not experience this spiritual hunger, it is never too late to turn to the Spirit in prayer. (from AD2000)
''Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth.''
Roberto Clemente
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
Robert Jastrow-God and the Astronomers
"What matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless." St. John Paul II
+++++++++++++++++++++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
"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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)