Caring Catholic Convert

Sandbox Catholicism: Did Mary Have Other Children?

2012-08-01T11:29:00.001-07:00

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The Mystery of Father John Corapi

2012-07-31T22:45:00.002-07:00

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Why Catholics Do That -- Praying to Saints

2012-07-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

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The Scientology Connection

2012-07-04T19:19:00.001-07:00

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Scriptural Evidence Against the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

2012-05-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/_3ifyyz5nerxrm/hub/Scriptural-Evidence-Against-the-Pre-Tribulation-Rapture?done” target=“_blank”>Click here for article

Raj Patel -- End Time Prophecy?

2012-05-09T23:27:00.003-07:00

Could Raj Patel Be the Antichrist in the Book of Revelation?

Those Amazing Levitating Saints!

2012-04-12T19:21:00.003-07:00

Levitating saints and Catholic holy people have been documented throughout the centuries. Here are a few: Those Amazing Levitating Saints!

In Defense of My Faith Series -- Defending the Deuterocanon – Part One

2012-03-26T20:15:00.006-07:00

Without intending to be an anti-Protestant fault-finder, I want to share with Protestants some historical facts that I have learned since my conversion to Catholicism three years ago.

As a Nondenominational Evangelical Protestant Christian for over 30 years, I firmly and unquestionably believed all the things that I was taught about the Bible. But when I became a Catholic, I discovered that the Protestants – namely, Martin Luther -- had removed 7 books from the Old Testament. Luther also removed 4 books from the New Testament that were later reinstated in the New Testament by the Protestants -- after Luther.

This intrigued me. Why would Martin Luther remove 13 books from the Bible that had been made official by the Church in 382 and reiterated at church councils in 393, 397, 405 419, 787 and 1442? And, in response to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, the Church, again, reiterated the canonicity and inspired content of these 13 books at the Council of Trent in 1546.

Books in Question:

The 7 Old Testament books in question (the “Deuterocanonical” books) were:

1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Wisdom, Baruch, Tobit, Judith, and sections of Daniel and Esther.

The 4 New Testament books that were removed from the Bible and then put back after Luther were:

Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation.

Bible Translation:

Protestants and Catholics also differ on the correct translation of the Old Testament. The Protestants use the Hebrew version of the Old Testament that the Jews made official in 90 A.D. at the Council of Javneh. This Hebrew translation of the Old Testament threw out the 4 Gospels and the other portions of the New Testament. It also got rid of the 7 books of the Old Testament that Martin Luther later removed from his Reformation Bible.

Needless to say, the Church disregarded the results of Javneh because they did not believe that a Jewish counsel was binding on the followers of Christ. The Church also disregarded the results of Javneh because it rejected those books and documents that were foundational for the Christian Church.

The Septuagint:

The last reason that the Church rejected Javneh’s changes was because Jesus and his apostles used an earlier edition of the Bible – the Septuagint. This was the Greek translation and Bible that the apostles used in everyday life.

The Christian acceptance of the deuterocanonical books was logical because the deuterocanonicals were also included in the Septuagint, the Greek edition of the Old Testament which the apostles used to evangelize the world. Two-thirds of the Old Testament quotations in the New are from the Septuagint. Yet the apostles nowhere told their converts to avoid seven books of it. Like the Jews all over the world who used the Septuagint, the early Christians accepted the books they found in it. They knew that the apostles would not mislead them and endanger their souls by putting false scriptures in their hands—especially without warning all the early Christians about those books.

The New Testament contains roughly 300 quotes from the Old Testament. Two-thirds of them came from the Septuagint. Jesus quoted from the Septuagint. Nowhere did he say that the books that he was quoting from were invalid.

Some of the Deuterocanonical Books Cited in the New Testament:

St. Matthew:

6:14 cites Ecclus. 28:2, 3 & 5
7:12 cites Tobit 4:16
18:15 cites Ecclus. 19:13
25:36 cites Ecclus. 7:39
27:39-42 cites Wisdom 2:18

St. Luke:

6:24 cites Ecclus. 31:8
12:16 cites Ecclus. 11:19
14:12 cites Tobit 4:7
17:3 cites Ecclus. 19:13
18:1 cites Ecclus. 18:22

St. John:

6:36 cites Ecclus. 24:29
10:22 cites 1 Mach. 4:56 & 59

Acts of the Apostles:

10:34 cites Ecclus. 35:15

St. Paul's Letter to the Romans:

1:20-32 cites Wisdom 13 - 14
2:4 cites Wisdom 9:24
2:11 cites Wisdom 6:8; Ecclus 35:15
9:21 cites Wisdom 15:7
11:34 cites Wisdom 9:13
12:19 cites Ecclus. 28:1; 2:3
13:1 cites Wisdom 6:4 1

Corinthians:

2:16 cites Wisdom 9:13 & Isaiah 40:13)
10:26 cites Ecclus. 17:31 (& Psalms 23)
15:32 cites Wisdom 2:6 (& Isaiah 22:13)

Ephesians:

6:13-17 cites Wisdom 5:8-20

Hebrews:

1:3 cites Wisdom 7:26
11:35 cites 2 Mach. 6:18, 7:42

James:

1:19 cites Sirach 5:13

The Missing Books:

I want to get back to the books that Martin Luther removed from the Old and New Testament during the Protestant Reformation. The reason that they were removed was because they teach Catholic Apostolic doctrines that the Protestant Reformers chose to reject.

The New Testament book of James didn’t line up with Luther’s doctrine of salvation by faith alone. Another example was the Catholic practice of praying for the dead to deliver them from the consequences of their sins (2 Macc 12:41-45) – purgatory. Luther chose to reject the historic teaching of purgatory which dates before the time of Christ, as 2 Maccabees indicates. Luther also removed Hebrews from the New Testament because it cites 2 Maccabees.

Protestant Justification for Removing Books from the Bible:

To justify this rejection of books that had been in the Bible since before the days of the apostles (for the Septuagint was written before the apostles), the early Protestants cited as their chief reason the fact that the Jews of their day did not honor these books, going back to the council of Javneh in A.D. 90. But the Reformers were aware of only European Jews; they were unaware of African Jews, such as the Ethiopian Jews who accept the deuterocanonicals as part of their Bible. They glossed over the references to the deuterocanonicals in the New Testament, as well as its use of the Septuagint. They ignored the fact that there were multiple canons of the Jewish Scriptures circulating in First Century, appealing to a post-Christian Jewish council which has no authority over Christians as evidence that "The Jews don't except these books.” In short, they went to enormous lengths to rationalize their rejection of these books of the Bible.

There are many other Protestant claims for justifying the ultimate removal of the 7 deuterocanonical books from their Bible. But, this is enough for now.

The Catholic Church in its apostolic wisdom has preserved the canon of scripture since the First Century. None of Luther’s reasoning on this subject holds water. The Catholic Bible was referred to by the early Church and the Church Fathers. Even the few who questioned it ultimately accepted it as inspired scripture – because it was . . .

More to come. . . .

Once Saved Always Saved?

2012-03-23T12:27:00.006-07:00

Belief in Jesus and living a Christian life are both essential for salvation. The “once saved, always saved” or unconditional eternal security was not a doctrine that was taught by the ancient church, nor for that manner, by any well-known theologian before John Calvin. This doctrine is, in fact, completely foreign in the history of Christianity.

The American Revivalism Movement in the late 1800s and 1900s brought the first wave of American fundamentalists into being, with their central "eternal security," "once-saved-always-saved," "born again" doctrine.

Since the First Century, the Catholic Church has taught that baptism was performed for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:38). That is the "water" and "spirit" that is referred to in Jesus' discourse to Nicodemus in John 3:4.
First Peter 3:20 also says that we are saved by baptism.

Take a look at the Old Testament:

In Ezekiel 36:25-27, it says, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses...a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you...and I will put My spirit within you..." Here, in the Old Testament, we have a foreshadowing of New Testament baptism.

Now, let's see if the New Testament corresponds to what we just read in Ezekiel. Acts 2:38, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

I was a fundamentalist nondenominational Christian for over two decades. I believed in eternal security, with no reservation. But after converting to Catholicism and studying the Church fathers and early Christians in the light of scripture, I believe that the eternal security doctrine of the Reformation is in error. Just like the Arian Heresy, Gnosticism and Donatism, and all the other man-made doctrines that have permeated Christian teaching at times through the centuries, the "eternal security" teaching will eventually take its place with the other heretical teachings.

The sad truth is that many people will see Hell because of it.

Please read the excerpted article from John Martignoni, Catholic Apologist.

The Dark Soul of Mother Teresa of Calcutta

2012-03-21T19:24:00.005-07:00

How often do Christians feel that God has abandoned them or may be nothing more than a fantasy? If these believers are honest with themselves, they have to admit that the temptation for unbelief or feeling abandoned by God is -- at times -- common to everyone.

Teresa as a Young Woman

In investigating Mother Teresa's life and its cause for sainthood, the inner, contemplative life of Mother Teresa revealed her humanity and vulnerability. In letters to her spiritual advisers, she wrote of a loneliness and desolation in her relationship with God that began in 1948, soon after she began working with the poorest of the poor and the dying in the streets of Calcutta. This was the precursor to her founding the Missionary Sisters of Charity two years later in 1950. Doubt, loneliness and feelings of abandonment lasted until her death in 1997, and was known only by her spiritual advisers.

Young Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was first a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Loreto where she worked as a teacher in the convent school. She enjoyed her work.

Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Loreto

In 1942, at the end of her yearly retreat, Mother Teresa made a vow to give herself "utterly and unreservedly" to Christ -- to give God everything that He may ask, not refusing Him anything.
On September 10, 1946, while traveling by train from Calcutta to a religious retreat house in another city, Mother Teresa realized that she was being called to serve Jesus in the poorest of the poor. She also received locutions and visions where Jesus asked her to form the Missionaries of Charity and recruit Indian nuns.

Jesus told her the following:“I want Indian nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying, and the little children. . . .” The chief motivation behind the Sisters of Charity was not to engage in social work but -- instead -- to adore Jesus Christ in the littlest and weakest of His children and to win them to Christ.

Teresa received this call-within-a-call when she was 31 years old.

Shortly after beginning her work as a Sister of Charity, Mother Teresa's visions and locutions of Jesus stopped, and she entered into the "dark night" of her soul. This, though, runs contrary to how the world perceived her.

Instead, they viewed Mother Teresa as an extraordinary woman with a high religious calling in union with Christ as she extended herself daily to the people in the streets, living among them, caring for their leprosy, and helping them through agonizing deaths. She seemed to exude an uncontainable inner joy. But this was not the case.

Instead, in her letters to her spiritual advisers and counselors, she wrote about her doubts, loneliness and feelings of abandonment by God. She felt that He wasn't there, that heaven was empty, and expressed strong feelings that her own life amounted to nothing, that God didn't want her, that God was not really God -- that He didn't exist at all.

In essence, when she began working within her highest calling, she no longer felt an emotional, physical or spiritual connection with the faith that she had dedicated her entire life to.

What makes Mother Teresa truly a candidate for sainthood was the way she responded to her bitter, negative feelings. Instead of running away from her calling and abandoning it, she kept her vow to Jesus. Mother Teresa converted her feelings of abandonment by God to absolute abandonment to God. On the outside, she kept her promise to be an apostle of joy by manifesting optimism, joy and faith to those around her. She stayed true to her vow to Jesus and allowed God to purify and refine her with the dark night of her soul. Mother Teresa always kept smiling.

We can all learn from Mother Teresa's sufferings. When we feel tempted to give up on God, redirect our lives and escape our difficulties, we can look to Mother Teresa as an example of abandonment to God by faith, instead of by feelings. This is what we have all been called to do. Those of us who carry our crosses daily -- even in the midst of doubt and inner turmoil -- will reap great rewards in heaven.

Helpful Links:

Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Is there Such a Thing as Eternal Security?

2012-03-19T13:33:00.011-07:00

Most of the fundamentalist arm of the Protestant church believes in the doctrine of Eternal Security.

This means that at a certain point in his life, a person realizes that God is real, confesses that he is a sinner, admits his need for a savior, accepts Jesus Christ as his personal lord and savior, and allows Jesus to personally come into his life. This one-time experience and act of faith and surrender is a beautiful concept. But is being a Christian really that easy?

Preachers like Charles Stanley, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Marilyn Hicky, Benny Hinn, and a huge number of others, all claim that, in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be born again. But just as St. Paul said in 1 Thes. 5:20-21, “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.”

So let’s try to prove this thing:

Reverend Stanley said in one of his television broadcasts, “we who teach the word of God must make sure we are absolutely correct in our teaching”. So, we are prudent to ask Charles Stanley the standard he uses to prove his teachings. Of course, Reverend Stanley will tell us that the Word of God is his absolute standard in everything he teaches, be it eternal security, Bible interpretation, the “Born Again” doctrine or anything else. But is Stanley’s interpretation infallible?

I, personally, have never heard Charles Stanley and the rest of the eternal security teachers refer to the Fathers of the Church – except to say that they “prayed incorrectly” when asking God for a healing.

I step aside to accommodate the impending lightning bolt:

These Fundamentalist Christians rely on their denomination’s interpretation of the scriptures unquestioningly. But where did the denominational and nondenominational churches learn their Biblical interpretation? I will tell you: They learned it from those who taught it to them. What was their authority, and the authority of the person who taught them, and the authority of the person who taught the person who taught them, and so on . . . ? I can tell you one thing for certain. They did not learn belief, practice or procedure from the context of the Church Fathers.

The Church Fathers:

The Church Fathers were the first pastors in the first and second centuries – some who even knew the apostles personally. These men who received the Gospel from the mouths and the pens of the Church Fathers were infinitely closer in proximity and truth than, say, the Southern Baptist Conference is.

The real truth is that the first Christians DID NOT TEACH ETERNAL SECURITY. Even Protestant Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther would creak in their crypts if they heard today’s Fundamentalist preaching. Men like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland would have been branded as heretics and excommunicated posthaste.

The teaching of Eternal Security was borne out of the American Revivalism movement – not from the early Church, the Protestant Reformation in the1500 and 1600s, the 1,500-year period prior to Martin Luther or at any other time in the history of Christianity.

Let’s look at a few examples of this twisted teaching and see what we can learn:

The Bible states that we have to believe before we become a Christian. But John 3:16 and the Nicodemus “born again” exchange with Jesus and many other passages are also balanced with other scriptures. Taking a "bleeding" scripture or two, attaching a modern interpretation to it and making those into a doctrine that amounts to life or death is unscholarly, ignorance-driven eschatology at best.

What about the hard stuff like overcoming to the end?

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” (Revelation 3:5)

If one were to proceed down the Fundamentalist path, one would think that the Holy Spirit did not show believers how to be “saved” until the Fundamentalist’s gospel was borne.

This whole Fundamentalist gospel is a new invention - a tradition of men - and should be viewed with great suspicion, especially since our souls and eternal destinies, and those of our loved ones, are at stake.

Steve Ray in his Defenders of the Catholic Faith writings said the following:

“What about the word overcome? Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines “overcome” as used in the Bible “of Christians, that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions. . . ). Fundamentalists, on the other hand, believe anyone who is “born again” by praying the sinner’s prayer is automatically an overcomer. This does great violence to the whole text as I’m sure you recognize. It assumes that you overcome by saying the “sinner’s prayer” and has nothing to do with resisting sin and living the required holy life before God (e.g, Heb 12:14).

But look at the other places in Revelation where St. John uses the word overcome:

Revelation 2:7 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Revelation 2:11 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

Revelation 2:17 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

Revelation 2:26 “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.”

Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

Revelation 21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

With a casual reading of these contextual verses containing the word overcome, does it sound like a teaching of “easy believism,” of “say a prayer and you’ll slide through the pearly gates”? How can Stanley use a verse with the word overcome in it to sanction his “Eternal Security” view of salvation? He can’t. Especially when Paul says in Colossians 1:22-23, According to Paul’s exhortation: what if you don’t continue? And what if you aren’t grounded and settled? And if you are moved away, what then? Why didn’t Charles Stanley bring Paul’s conditional verse to our remembrance in his sermon? So, who are the overcomers? Would you be surprised to know that no one in the early Church agreed with Charles Stanley?"

“In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”

It goes on and on. John tells us that those who overcome and have kept their robes undefiled “are worthy.”

I have one more point to show you:

Charles Stanley says that those who are “born again” are not to worry about the Great White Throne Judgment. Really?

Here is another quote from Ray:

“Stanley says those who pray the sinner’s prayer have no concern for this great judgment for they will avoid it. Oh yeah? Who is it that is judged at the Great White Throne Judgment - only unbelievers? Stanley takes the position that it is only for those involved in the second resurrection. Those in the first resurrection are all those who “believe in Christ” and they are immune from the judgment of death. But who is it that is part of the first resurrection? All believers? No! Martyrs! Read this:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand year” (Rev 20:4-6).

Why do you think it was so “easy” for Christians in the early centuries (e. g. Ignatius of Antioch in 106 AD) to give themselves so willingly to martyrdom? They saw it as the quickest “way to God,” a way that conferred special honor, which is clearly justified in John’s prophecy. That’s what this passage in Revelation says. It is NOT referring to all Christians.

Who is then left to take part in the “second” resurrection?

Everyone else, and everyone else will be judged based on their works as John makes abundantly clear by emphasizing it TWICE within two verses.

. . . And the amount of faith or trust you had at conversion, or have now, will not be the matter adjudicated. Everywhere in the New Testament where the judgment is discussed, works are the criteria for judgment.

Consider the words of Jesus:

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29).

The author of the Commentary we just read, Leon Morris, goes on to say, “John proceeds to inform us that the dead were judged according to what was written, according to their works. It is common New Testament teaching that judgment is on the basis of works.”

Where does Stanley come up with his stuff? I’ll tell you. He gets it from unfounded, novel, Americanized, Fundamentalist tradition which never existed before the last few hundred years. The whole Rapture idea came from a “prophetic word” during an ecstatic trance from a woman in Scotland in the mid 1800’s. It was picked up by J. N. D. Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, and popularized in America through the Scofield Reference Bible.

Why did the Holy Spirit hide this truth from the apostles and all believers for 1900 years? The sorry thing is, it is a false doctrine and is going to be deadly for a lot of people, especially those who have been warned and will have no excuse.”

Do Catholics Worship Mary?

2012-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

Excerpted from an article by Stephen Ray:

Is Mary being worshiped as a God or equal to Jesus? Is this Catholic or Protestant teaching?

When people ask you the question, “Why do Catholics worship Mary as God?” there is a fallacy built into the question and this fallacy should be dealt with first, before any other issue. The worship of Mary as God is not Catholic teaching, but Protestant teaching about the Catholic Church. In other words they misrepresent the teachings of the Church and then they disagree with their own misrepresentations.

It doesn’t say in the Bible, Catholics worship Mary as God. There is no Catholic Council that deified Mary as God and so where does it come from? It is purely a product of anti-Catholic teaching. Yes, it is a Protestant tradition and no it didn’t come from Martin Luther. It came from some of the later Protestant traditions. I can disagree with Luther on a number of things, but there is one thing I very much admire about Luther. He had an extremely high regard for Mary that most Protestants today are totally unaware of.

Here is one of Luther’s statements: “If our Lady were to enter Jerusalem today in a golden coach drawn by 4,000 horses it would not be an honor to great enough for she who bore in her womb our Savior” (Protestantism and our Lady, Fr. George Rutler).

I once had someone come up to me and literally yell at me saying; “Why do you Catholics put Mary on such a high pedestal?” I retorted back, “Oh, you mean where the Catholic Church makes Mary equal to God or even greater then God, is that what you mean?” And he said, “yes!” I then told him that never in its two thousand year history has the Church ever deified Mary or made her equal to God. He stood there looking at me and then walked away. He later came back, and to his credit, he apologized.

Why didn’t he have any response for me? The problem is this; he can’t just recite anti-Catholic literature. He has to use Catholic sources. I gave him two thousand years of history to find a Church Council that shows where the Catholic Church deified Mary, and it doesn’t exist. [In fact, the Church denounces as idolatry any person or thing worshiped except God alone and denounces any deification of Mary].

We honor (dulia) the saints; we give a greater honor (hyperdulia) to Mary and the greatest honor (latria) and glory go to Jesus. The deification of Mary is Protestant teaching (or misrepresentation) about the Catholic Church, not to be confused with real Catholic teaching.

And yes I do disagree with groups who deliberately misrepresent the Church. I am always amazed by the lack of intellectual honesty on the part of the anti-Catholics. If a person really has a case against the Church, why wouldn’t they first represent the Church honestly and then disagree with it?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2012-03-17T08:32:00.002-07:00

"May the sun always shine on your windowpane,

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain,

May the hand of a friend always be near you,

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you!"

. . . Irish Blessing

Examination of Conscience?

2012-01-29T23:37:00.000-08:00

I have been attending a “Life in the Spirit" Seminar. I love it because it is all about learning to incorporate Christ into every aspect of our lives. (Who doesn’t need that?)

My problem is that I am essentially lazy and mis-prioritized. (Is that a word?) Anyway, I need to begin building some better, more consistant spiritual habits into my everyday life.

Lately, if or when I feel depressed or crummy, I stop and try to identify why I am having those feelings. Nine times out of ten, it is because I haven’t connected with God -- AT ALL -- and it is no small wonder that I'm feeling blue.

Francis, my group leader at Life in the Spirit, e-mailed us a great article about a list of 7 things that we can do each day to cultivate an awareness of God in every aspect of our lives. So far, I haven’t attempted anything, except to say the Rosary while I am drying my hair in the morning. The problem is that I get distracted and forget that I was reciting my Rosary, and then at 7:00 p.m., realize that I never finished it and can’t even remember which decade I was on. How am I supposed to grow spiritually, if I can’t even finish a Rosary?

I do listen to CD’s on Catholic subjects like Our Lady of Fatima, the pillars of our Catholic faith – things like that. . . CDs help.

Here is the link for the list that our leader gave us, "The Seven Daily Habits of Holy Apostolic People" by Father John McCloskey:

http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/sevenhabits.html

Even if I did ONE of the exercises on the list, it would be a step in the direction of progress.

I’m giving up e-bay for Lent. Don’t laugh – it’s true. I can spend all day trolling the jewelry section, coveting all the diamond rings that I can’t afford. A ridiculous waste of time.

I’m negative today because the son of my mom’s neighbor passed away a few days ago. I was pondering it and realized that his life had been a gift. He’d had two heart transplants and was in his fifties when he passed away. He had been living a good, full life. Nevertheless, it is always sad when someone passes on. I pray for his eternal soul. He has a 13-year-old son and there is no mother in the picture. Please pray for him.
Enough babbling for one day! I'll put on my "Little Merry Sunshine" hat tomorrow and practice a little gratitude for my life and all of its MANY blessings. . .

Regards,Jenna (or Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T01:25:00.000-08:00

God, thank you for a new year.

May everyone in our family be willing

to begin anew with a clean slate.

We know that you are always ready to forgive us.

Help us to be willing to forgive ourselves

and to forgive one another.

As we begin a new year,
remind us of our truest values
and our deepest desires.

Help us to live in the goodness
that comes from doing
what you want us to do.

Help us to put aside anxiety
about the future and the past,

so that we might live in peace
with you now, one day at a time.

(From Loyola Press, a Jesuit Ministry's New Year's Prayer)

Stomping Out Christmas

2011-12-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Please Click on the Link Below:

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/hub/Stomping-Out-Christmas

Morning Offering

2011-12-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

I found the most beautiful morning prayer in an old St. Joseph's Missal that I recently purchased. Its copyright date is 1963. . .

"Lord God Almighty, Who have brought us to the beginning of this day, defend us during this day by your power, that we may not fall into sin but that all our words, thoughts and deeds may always proceed and be directed toward that which is just in Your sight."

Why the Latin Mass?

2011-11-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

Please Click on the Link Below:

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/hub/Why-the-Latin-Mass

All Saints Day -- November 1st

2011-10-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Please Click on the Link Below:

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/hub/All-Saints-Day-November-1st

Carrying Our Crosses

2011-10-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was watching television, I found myself wishing for the easy life and opulence that was reflected in the program I was watching. Because television symbolizes real life; doesn’t ? Perhaps real life in Fantasyland, but not in the world that you or I live in! But, yet, we escape into a television program and often finding ourselves wanting to have lives like those that we are watching. Even “reality” shows are ions away from real life.

Real life in this world is about jobs we dislike, children who don’t do their homework, houses that we are too tired to clean, and unfinished business, dirty laundry and cars that need tune-ups and oil changes. We deal with less-than-perfect marriages, two-faced co-workers, traffic tickets, layoffs, high food prices, viruses, questionable mammogram results, ailing elderly parents, lumps in our gravy. Let’s face it. Real life is messy.

A couple of Sundays ago, when the homily was about purgatory, our priest told us that – we wouldn’t need to worry so much about winding up with a long stint in Purgatory – if we would only just learn to carry our crosses. After meditating on this for a while, I understood what the priest meant.

God allows us to endure difficult times on earth. (Remember, “In the world you shall have tribulation. . .”?) But there is more. The rest of that verse goes, “but be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world.” If we can just carry our crosses for a little while, beautiful things can happen. We can offer up our travails, uniting them with Christ’s suffering. We know, as Catholics, that though we may not understand why a loved one was taken from us too soon, we know that their suffering and ours, united with Christ’s suffering, can move great mountains in prayer. This means that every single cross that we carry, be it a bad marriage, a sick child or even just “too much month left over at the end of the money,” our difficulties have multiple purposes. We can carry our crosses, offer them up and bring about glorious results both here and in the hereafter.

God, help me to align my problems, my disappointments, my worries and my fears with the cross that you so willingly carried for me.” A-men.

I Remember My Dad

2011-10-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Please Click on the Link Below:

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/hub/The-Anniversary-of-My-Dad-Passing

The Media's Obsession with Obesity

2011-10-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Media's Obsession with Obesity

The Catholic Visionaries at Medjugorje

2011-10-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Please Click on the Link Below:

http://www.helium.com/items/2171046-medjugorje-visionaries-seers

Catholicism: What it means to offer something up

2011-10-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Please click on the link below:

http://www.helium.com/items/2186454-offer-up-suffering-suffer-offer-up

The Dark Soul of Mother Teresa

2011-09-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Click on this link:

http://jennapope.hubpages.com/hub/The-Dark-Soul-of-Mother-Teresa