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."