Faith is Personal but not Private

Jesus recognized the importance of a Christian community.  This is why he established a Church.  When we struggle or are suffering receiving support from our brothers and sisters in Christ is essential.  They help us carry the burden.  It is important to remember that although faith is personal, it should never be private.

The Holy Father recently stated:

"Certainly, the act of faith is an eminently personal act", he told the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. "It is something which happens in the most intimate depths of my being and causes a change of direction, a personal conversion. ... But the fact that I believe is not the result of solitary reflection, ... it is the fruit of a relationship, a dialogue ... with Jesus which causes me to emerge from my 'I' ... and to open myself to the love of God the Father. It is like a rebirth in which I discover that I am united not only to Jesus but also to all those who have walked and continue to walk along His path. And this new birth, which begins with Baptism, continues throughout the course of a person's life.

"I cannot construct my personal faith in a private dialogue with Jesus", the Pope added, "because faith is given to me by God through a believing community which is the Church. And faith makes me part of a multitude of believers bound by a communion which is not merely sociological, but rooted in the eternal love of God. ... The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this very clearly: 'Believing is an ecclesial act. The Church's faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers'".

Read the rest here

Good to be Old

Aging and becoming old doesn't necessarily have to a a source of suffering.  Age can be a beautiful thing, even when our bodies break down.  Certainly there is pain associated with physical illness, but we are more than a body.  Character of the heart (born by suffering) and a calm disposition are "precious in the sight of God".

Read what the pope says about age

We Catholics to Blame

At the beatification ceremony .. Pope Pius X .. who would of course be canonized a saint

as well .. said the following.  It’s worth listening to and meditating on deeply.
 

"In our time more than ever before, the chief strength of the wicked, lies in the cowardice

and weakness of good men...All the strength of Satan’s reign is due to the

easy-going weakness of Catholics.

Oh! if I might ask the Divine Redeemer, as the prophet Zachary did in spirit: What

are those wounds in the midst of Thy hands? The answer would not be doubtful:

With these was I wounded in the house of them that loved Me. I was wounded by My

friends, who did nothing to defend Me, and who, on every occasion, made themselves

the accomplices of My adversaries.

And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries."

 

What too many Catholics fail to grasp about the faith is this – IT is the bulwark against

evil in the world and it alone. When it is failing at its task .. evil advances.

And when evil advances .. the enemy of the human race is able to seduce souls into Hell.

If this simple basic foundational jumping off starting off point of the faith is not

understood .. then none of the rest makes sense or CAN make sense.

In order to grasp this foundational point .. a person MUST believe and understand in

Hell, sin, and Satan. If they don’t, then all other preaching should just stop.

If we want to vercome evil and suffering we must become faithful

Christians, obedient to the teachings of the Church.



Not Just Rules

Christianity is more than simply a set of rules to follow.  It is also a relationship.  Through an intimate encounter with the Divine, human suffering becomes far more bearable.

Recently the Holy Father spoke on this subject:

Far from being just a moral or ethical code, Christianity is "an experience of love; it's welcoming the person of Jesus," Pope Benedict XVI said. 

"Many people today have a limited concept of what the Christian faith is because they identify it with a mere system of beliefs and values and not with the truth of a God revealing himself in history, eager to communicate with humanity one-on-one in a relationship of love," he said.

Faith "isn't an illusion, escapism, a comfortable safe haven or sentimentalism," rather it is something that engages one's whole life and it proclaims the Gospel with courage, the pope said Nov. 14 during his weekly general audience.
United with God, people of faith are "not afraid of showing their beliefs in everyday life," and they are open to dialogue "that expresses deep friendship for the journey of every person."

Read the rest here

Overcoming Demons

Evil begets suffering.  The saints realized this.  St. John Cassian spent his life in spiritual combat.  Spending time amongst the monks of Egypt who followed in the footsteps of St. Antony the Great, St. John Cassian wrote down his conversations with them, recording their spiritual wisdom and spreading it evangelically amongst the Latin West (these writings are known as the Conferences). In addition, he wrote a treatise on the monastic life known as the Institutes. 

In this treatise, St. John Cassian outlines with a kind of battle-hardened wisdom the eight chief vices that cause us to fall into sin. 

Here is his remedy:

Gluttony - "To eat moderately and reasonably is to keep the body in health, not to deprive it of holiness."

Unchastity - "We should therefore try to achieve not only bodily control, but also contrition of heart with frequent prayers of repentance, so that with the dew of the Holy Spirit we may extinguish the furnace of the flesh, kindled daily by the king of Babylon with the bellows of desire. In addition, a great weapon has been given us in the form of sacred vigils; for just as the watch we keep over our thoughts by day brings us holiness at night, so vigil at night brings purity to the soul by day."

Avarice - Cassian here speaks of renouncing the world and becoming a monk, admonishing monks to not slip back into desiring what they "already renounced". He also recommends that we "remember the hour of our death, so that our Lord does not come unexpectedly and, finding our conscience soiled with avarice, say to us what God says to the rich man in the Gospel: 'You fool, this night your soul will be required of you: who then will be the owner of what you have stored up?' (Luke 12:20)"

Anger - "Self-reform and peace are not achieved through the patience which others show us, but through our long-suffering towards our neighbour."

Dejection - "The only form of dejection we should cultivate is the sorrow which goes with repentance for sin and is accompanied by hope in God."

Listlessness - "'...patience, prayer, and manual labor.'"

Self-Esteem - "The person who wants to engage fully in spiritual combat... should not do anything with a view to being praised by other people,but who should seek God's reward only."

Pride - "...perfection in holiness can only be achieved through humility. Humility, in received turn, can be achieved only through faith, fear of God, gentleness, and the shedding of all possessions."

Mass in Heaven

The New Testament is based on the Old Testament and the Old anticipates the New.  Moses had twelve tribes, Jesus twelve disciples.  Moses turned water into blood. Jesus turned water into wine.  Jesus can be seen as the new Moses of the new covenant of the new law. 

The last sign Moses performed before the Exodus was Passover. Jesus transformed the Last Supper into the New Passover.  One had to eat the Lamb at Passover to ensure safety for the firstborn.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He sacrificed himself in the new Passover - in the Eucharist.  The Passover of the Old Testament is fulfilled in the Eucharist.

The Mass is revealed in the Apocalypse.  In the Book of Revelation Jesus is called the Lamb of God 28 times in 22 chapters.  The only thing in Revelation on every page is the Liturgy. White robes, songs, prayers.  Every page of every chapter the Heavenly Liturgy corresponds to the Earthly Mass. The Rite of Communion is the Marriage feast of the Lamb.

Heavenly Liturgy and Earthly Mass are one in the same.  Liturgy in Heaven, however, is far more glorious than can be described.  We can go to Heaven here on Earth. That is where we are in Mass.

Align your sufferings with His by attending Mass.

Is there Mass in heaven?

Torture

St. Isaac Jogues suffered more than mere death as a martyr, just like Christ he was tortured for the faith.  As such, Isaac was an inspiration for those of us who suffer.

His suffering came as a result of spiritual warfare.  He faced the demons with the faith and determination of St. Paul but with the help of Christ on the cross defeated them.

"How often on the stately trees of the forests did I carve the most sacred name of Jesus, so that, seeing it, the demons might fly, who tremble when they hear it!" said Saint Jogues in 1643. "How often, too, did I strip off the bark to form the most Holy Cross of the Lord, so that the foe might fly before it; and that by it, Thou, O Lord, my King, 'might reign in the midst of thy enemies' (Psalms 109:2), the enemies of thy Cross (Philippians 3:18), the disbeliever and the pagan who dwell in that land, and the demons who rule so fearfully there!"

Another saint

Genuine Healing

Greg Griffin a former occultist and now Christian has some powerful insight on healing, "Many people come to faith in Christ and think some magic wand will be waved over them, and all will be okay. But genuine healing doesn't work that way. When I came out of the occult then truly found Jesus at age forty, I experienced a season of trials, brokenness, crushing, and remolding by God. I went through some of the most painful times I've ever had in my life. But I found this truth along the way: Satan likes to hurt us; he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. But when God breaks us, it is for our own good! God has to get all the dross and evil out of us (purgation). The process is not pleasant, to be sure, but He only allows us to go through that kind of difficulty because He knows it will bless us."

Potholes in life are there to bless us

 

Purgatory

God has made you a promise. But what if it is not yet fulfilled and you were to die today without the divine perfection you are promised yet completed? I can only say for myself that, if I were to die today, as far as I know I am not aware of mortal sin. But I am also aware of not being perfect. I am not even close to being humanly perfect, let alone having the perfection of the heavenly Father!

But Jesus made me a promise: You must be prefect as the heavenly Father is perfect. And the last time I checked, Jesus is a promise keeper!. St. Paul says, May God who has begun a good work in you bring it to completion. Hence, If I were to die today, Jesus would need to complete a work that he has begun in me. By God’s grace, I have come a mighty long way. But I have a long way to go. God is very holy and his perfection is beyond imagining.

Because of God's mercy and grace, we can use our present day suffering (here on earth) to perfect ourselves and (in union with the work of Christ) merit salvation for others,  Our sufferings need not go to waste.

Purgatory

All Souls

Being able to pray for souls in purgatory in order to achieve the fullness of salvation is very healing.  We can offer up our own sufferings (in union with Christ) for the sake of our loved ones who have died. 

The pope urged people to "believe more strongly in eternal life and feel in true communion with our departed loved ones," who will be commemorated on the feast of All Souls, Nov. 2.

"May the intercession of all the saints lead us and our departed loved ones to our everlasting home in heaven."

All Souls