ASK A PRIEST – CAN ATHEISTS GO TO HEAVEN?

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

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ASK A PRIEST – CAN ATHEISTS GO TO HEAVEN?

reposted from http://www.xt3.com

I’m not sure I understand the remarks Pope Francis recently made about Athiests being redeemed as long as they’re good people and do good things. Doesn’t the bible clearly state that only those who believe in Christ have redemption?

Answer:

There is nothing new in what the Pope said. The Church has always taught that Christ redeemed the whole of humanity through his sacrifice on the Cross. Christ died for all. If you look at theCatechism it says:

“605 At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God’s love excludes no one: “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”410 He affirms that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many”; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us.411 The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.”412”

If you look at what the Pope said he merely affirmed what is in the Catechism.

Whether or not we accept this gift of our redemption then depends on our own decisions. The Church accepts that those who are not formal members can still acheive salvation, even though it is more difficult without the help of the sacraments and the guidance of Church teaching.

If you look at the last section of paragraph 19 of the Vatican II document Guadium et Spes it says that in some cases the lack of faith can in some cases be due to external factors that make it difficult for some to believe.

“Moreover, atheism results not rarely from a violent protest against the evil in this world, or from the absolute character with which certain human values are unduly invested, and which thereby already accords them the stature of God. Modern civilization itself often complicates the approach to God not for any essential reason but because it is so heavily engrossed in earthly affairs.

Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and try to dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of their consciences, and hence are not free of blame; yet believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion.”

Christ is indeed the only mediator and the Church is the means to salvation, but for those outside the Church salvation is still possible. This was explained in a document published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Jesus. First, it affirms the role of Christ and the Church.

“20. From what has been stated above, some points follow that are necessary for theological reflection as it explores the relationship of the Church and the other religions to salvation.

Above all else, it must be firmly believed that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door”.77 This doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); “it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation”.78″

Then, it explains how some can be saved even though they are not in the Church.

“For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, “salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit”;81 it has a relationship with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.82”

The pope didn’t go into much detail, but you need to take into account that his words came during the Gospel reflection at daily mass. He is giving these reflections as part of the mass and they are not formal declarations of Church teaching, with all the footnotes and doctrinal explanations, merely a brief exhortation based on the readings of the day.

Further Reading:

Click here for an explanation by Fr. Lombardi about the Pope’s daily homilies.

The Parable of the Lost Son – Part Two

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Confession, Prayer, Reconciliation, Renewal

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God-moments, Golden Boy, Jason Gray, Parable of the Prodigal Son, Prayer, Reconciliation, Self-mercy

My last posting was about showing mercy to yourself and it was labeled Part One because I felt what I had to say was too long for one post. My plan was to simply wait a week and post the remainder of it as Part Two. But, things changed. In the last week I have had some very thought provoking and inspiring conversation with a close friend who helped me work through some issues and, as a result of his caring and insight, I felt it necessary to revise what I had previously written. It’s a little longer than I would have liked but I hope it’s worth your time to read it.

It seems this parable of Jesus’ won’t leave me alone. I think that’s probably a sign I need it. The author of Advent’s Little Blue Book, which I referenced in Part One, decided to write in the Lenten season’s Little Black Book on March 11, 2013 more about this parable. This time he took a different approach. He wrote:

“Jesus composed the parable of the prodigal son because of complaints from the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus was welcoming sinners and eating with them. Jesus was too easy on sinners, they said. He celebrated with them. His forgiveness was instantaneous; his spirit was warmth and joy. It was okay for the Pharisees and scribes to let sinners reform….but they wanted them to crawl back. Let them learn a lesson. Let them stew for a while. It’s no time for celebration – this is serious, grim business. So Jesus put together a story in which the elder son ends up telling the father that he was too easy on the younger son.”

“To appreciate the impact of Jesus’ parable, I need to see that Jesus is arguing about me. That’s me the Pharisees and scribes are talking about – a sinner who is constantly forgiven and loved by God. Someone is complaining that I have sinned before, and that my repentance is far from perfect. Jesus knows my motives aren’t always perfect. That’s why he told the parable of the Prodigal Son. It describes my relationship with God in real life terms.”

In Part One, I asked whether you have ever done something that has left you shaking your head because, in hindsight, you realized it was either morally or ethically wrong, something that was way out of character for you but you did it anyway even though you knew it was wrong, or something that you have been trying not to do but it just happens without you thinking about it and you don’t yet know how to keep yourself from doing it? In Jason Gray’s song The Golden Boy and the Prodigal, the last verse of which I quoted in Part One, he alludes to this situation this time in the first verse of the song¹:

There are two sides to every person, like the two sides of a dime

Heads or tails it depends upon who’s watching at the time.

Though I hate to say it mine is no exception,

One part is the Prodigal, the other part deception.

I love those first two lines. That’s me. For example, if you asked a family member, a friend or two, and a couple co-workers what type of person I am, I’m sure you would get several different opinions. Another example would be that I can keep a promise to someone else but often fail to keep promises to myself. Generally, I’d say the person most people see in me is the Golden Boy, or the deception, and the person I see when I look in the mirror is the Prodigal. And that’s what bothers me.

Let me give you an example. I’ve been trying to lose a little weight. Well, a lot of weight actually but a little is a starting point. I’ve told the people at my main office in Ohio of my intentions, I guess you could say they are pseudo accountability partners for me, and when I eat lunch there I’m usually pretty good about what I eat. But, when I’m away from that office I find it easy to slip-slide and pig out without anyone the wiser. A couple weeks before my baptism into the Church I was at our office in Indiana and I gave a presentation to a group of employees. It was a stressful presentation and it ran up to lunch time. They ordered pizza in for lunch and I ate most of a large pizza on my own before I hit the road. As I was on my way out of town I passed a Dairy Queen and had an immediate urge for a Blizzard. The marquee said the special was mint brownie chip. A small wasn’t good enough so I got a medium sized one, instead. It was darn good, too. Then, about ten miles down the road it hit me what I had just done! It was like I was on auto pilot or something. The stress from the meeting drove the cravings and they drove the overindulgence. Not until I relaxed was I cognizant of what had just taken place. I found a section of road with a wide shoulder, I pulled over and I commenced giving myself a mental beating that was sure to have made the devil proud. I had been praying every day for help and strength to get past the temptations and I promised myself and God that I would do better. Up until this point I had been doing pretty well. But this day I fell, and fell hard. I sat there in my car, consumed with remorse, praying for forgiveness, and I promised again that I would do better. I was making myself “crawl back” just like the Pharisees would have me do. And, unlike I suggested in Part One, I obviously had forgotten everything I had learned about showing mercy to myself.

In my pre-Catholic life things would happen every now and then that I would call coincidence. But, in my new life I find myself looking for those instances and, because of that, they seem to happen much more frequently and with such clarity that I no longer believe them to be coincidences. I believe they happen on purpose and I call them God-moments: those times when God shows Himself in some unexpected way. What would happen next was just one of those moments.

I collected myself and I put the car in drive, waited for the traffic to clear and I pulled back on the road. I turned the car stereo on. Now, I hadn’t listened to the stereo since sometime the previous day and wasn’t even sure what was in the CD player. But, the very first words to come out of the speakers were these²:

Too long have I lived in the shadows of shame

Believing that there was no way I could change

But the one who is making everything new

Doesn’t see me the way that I do

I am not who I was, I am being remade

I am new

I am chosen and holy and I’m dearly loved

I am new

Forgiven beloved, hidden in Christ

Made in the image of the Giver of Life

Righteous and holy, reborn and remade

Accepted and worthy, this is my new name

“The one who is making everything new doesn’t see me the way that I do…”. Now, if that isn’t God talking to me with the very words I needed to hear at the very moment when I needed Him the most, I don’t know what is. God wasn’t making me crawl back and he didn’t give me more time than I needed to stew on it, either. Just like Jesus said. And I didn’t waste any time in finding a place to pull back over and bow my head in prayer to offer my thanks to God for his love.

So, fast forward to this week and I was telling my friend about the stress I’ve been under lately, how I’ve not been living up to the promises I had made to myself, how I’m kicking myself over it, and about the dry spell in God-moments I’d been having. I told him I wasn’t sure what it would feel like to be in such good grace that I would feel an overpowering contentment from God’s love. My friend told me, “God loves you man. God loves the good and bad about you. No one is perfect. God knows that, we are not perfect. We all fall short and all sin…over and over again. But, God is there always to guide us. Look to God to help you, to change you, to better you as a person. God loves you as you are, no matter what. He knows you better than anyone and knows your sins. The instant you confess your sins they are forgiven. From there, let it go. Let God help you work on yourself to be a better you.” It was like my friend had just read that passage in the Little Black Book from March 11, and was paraphrasing it back to me.

So, I took a moment to pray for God to help me feel His love. And it was then that I remembered that instance in the car when those song lyrics played and reassured me of His love. I had forgotten that moment, that feeling. My friend’s caring and faithful counsel brought it back to me. It also reminded me of the need to show mercy to myself. Plus, I hadn’t had a good God-moment in weeks and here I was getting a load of them dumped on me all at once. Again, just what I needed to get me out of my funk. I thank God for His love and the love of good friends.

Good night and God bless.

The Parable of the Lost Son – Part One

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections, Prayer, Scripture

≈ 2 Comments

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Parable of the Prodigal Son, Self-forgiveness, Self-mercy

Well, it’s been awhile since my last post, one month ago today actually. Business has picked up as well as being busy trying to stay caught up with Mother Nature. Spring is my least favorite season mainly because it’s like a sneaky old cat that’s lurking out there waiting to pounce on you. You know it’s going to happen but you’re not quite sure when, and when she does, you’re never quite ready for it. I have a large yard with many trees and flower beds and trying to squeeze in a little gardening when I get home from work between the rains in the evening is a real crap shoot sometimes. I’m struggling to keep up!

I’ve found that while my mind and actions are bent towards taking advantage of every break in the weather to take care of things around the house and at work, I’ve let my spiritual life get the short end of the stick. I haven’t prayed quite as much as I ought to, I’ve been less optimistic than usual, I’m not quite as “at peace” with everything, and I seem to notice the negative things that happen instead of the good God moments which I know are there but I’m too wrapped up in other stuff to notice them for what they are. I’ve also noticed when I get this way I have a tendency to do things sometimes which aren’t quite up to my moral or ethical standards, things that leave me shaking my head after I’ve done them because they are out of character for me, and things that I’ve been trying not to do but they just happen and I don’t yet know how to keep myself from doing them. It drives me crazy. I like to think of myself as a good boy who does the right things. Does this ever happen to you? I was ruing about this to a friend the other day and he said, “Don’t beat yourself up about it, you’re not perfect, you’re a Christian.”

I didn’t pay much attention to these kinds of frustrations before I became Catholic. They happened and I didn’t think much of them. It was part of life. But, I now recognize them as being counter to the way God would prefer me to lead my life. And, I feel a little guilty about it. Not long ago a good friend of mine in Louisiana, who also converted to Catholicism, asked whether or not I had started feeling guilty yet. I had to ask what she meant. With tongue-in-cheek humor she explained that since I now have a more intimate understanding of right and wrong principles and behavior, and since I am more in-tune with myself as a sinner and not quite as perfect as I thought I was, I should begin feeling guilty about my behavior – not because it has become worse than it was but because my reality around that behavior has changed. I’ve thought a lot about what she said and I think she’s almost right. I think the word “guilty” needs to be changed to something like “enlightened awareness”. “Guilty” has a negative connotation to it whereas “enlightened awareness” is a touch rosier and optimistic. Like most people, I respond more favorably to positive stimuli than I do to the negative brand. And if, as Christians, we constantly want to move closer to Christ by trying to become better people, then we can use all the positive affirmation we can get. But, regardless if it’s guilt or enlightened awareness, I nevertheless kick myself when I fail to live up to my expectations.

I was pondering this the other evening while I was watching my grass grow after an afternoon rain and I became acutely aware of my recent sins and out of character transgressions in their various states of ugliness. I realized that the more I get into my faith the more of them I see. Not big things, thank goodness, but lots of little things. I’m sure they have always been there, and, if the truth be told, probably a lot worse than they are now. Sometimes they pop up one at a time but occasionally they seem to come in droves. I am starting to get used to it but for a while there I was in panic mode. I can see how, if not looked at in the right light, I could easily feel guilty about them.

One thing that has helped me get through these bouts of self-inflicted mental beatings has been an understanding of Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). I had read this scripture passage a couple times but I never really read it until January during Advent. On January 10, 2013 the author of the Little Blue Book referenced this passage when he wrote about how Jesus came for everyone, all sinners, the rebellious and the spendthrifts, and even the “losers, nerds, and ….people with bad attitudes”. As I recall those words I find I fall frequently into at least the last category. The author finished by saying, “But, Jesus came for me. My job is to believe it.” Well, as someone whose faith is still in its infancy, and who is still getting used to praying for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for his sins, that caught my attention.

At the same time I was trying to comprehend all this back in January, I was also listening to a song on a new CD I had purchased. The song is The Golden Boy and the Prodigal by Jason Gray (if you haven’t figured it out yet, I really like this guy’s music!) The premise of the song is that there is a little of the Golden Boy who can do no wrong, as well as a little Prodigal Son who can do no right, in each of us, and our human nature tends to cause us to be proud of the former and ashamed of the latter. The last verse of his song goes:

So take a good look in the mirror, can you tell me who you see?

The one who Jesus died for or the one you’d rather be?

Can you find it in your heart to show mercy to the one,

The Father loved so much that he gave His only Son?

When I looked at the reflection from the Little Blue Book together with these powerful lyrics, I understood that no matter how down on myself I get, God is still there for me. I understood it’s simply not good enough to pray for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness; I need to also have faith that He will answer my prayers. And, then, when I do believe, when I’ve shown true remorse and at the same time shown true gratitude for His divine mercy, I need to heed Jason Gray’s advice for complete healing and forgive and show mercy to myself, as well. For me, that might be easier said than done. If you have any hints on how to do this effectively, please let me know.

Good night and God bless.

Pope: ‘If we annoy people, blessed be the Lord’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by richbrewers in Vatican

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Pope: ‘If we annoy people, blessed be the Lord’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Vatican City, May 16, 2013 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pope told Christians it is better to be “annoying” and “a nuisance” than lukewarm in proclaiming Jesus Christ.

“If we annoy people, blessed be the Lord,” said Pope Francis during his morning Mass at the Vatican on May 16.

“We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us all this apostolic fervor and to give us the grace to be annoying when things are too quiet in the Church,” he said at the chapel of the Saint Martha residence, where he lives.

He celebrated the Mass alongside Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Mario Toso, the president and the secretary of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace.

Council staff and employees from Vatican Radio were among those attending the Eucharistic celebration.

The Pope preached on today’s first reading from Acts 22 and contrasted “backseat Christians” with those who have apostolic zeal.

“There are those who are well mannered, who do everything well, but are unable to bring people to the Church through proclamation and apostolic zeal,” he stated.

The pontiff said apostolic zeal “implies an element of madness,” which he labeled as “healthy” and “spiritual.”

He added that it “can only be understood in an atmosphere of love” and that it is not an “enthusiasm for power and possession.”

Pope Francis also dwelt on St. Paul’s actions in the reading from Acts.

“Paul, in preaching of the Lord, was a nuisance, but he had deep within him that most Christian of attitudes, apostolic zeal,” he stated.

“He was not a man of compromise, no!” he exclaimed. “The truth, forward! The proclamation of Jesus Christ, forward!”

The Pope noted that St. Paul’s fate was one “with many crosses, but he keeps going, he looks to the Lord and keeps going.”

“He is a man who, with his preaching, his work, his attitude irritates others, because testifying to Jesus Christ and the proclamation of Jesus Christ makes us uncomfortable.

“It threatens our comfort zones, even Christian comfort zones, right?” he asked the congregation. “It irritates us.”

Pope Francis underscored that the Lord “always wants us to move forward, forward, forward, not to take refuge in a quiet life or in cozy structures.”

Saint Paul’s apostolic zeal, he observed, comes from knowing Jesus Christ.

Paul did not find and encounter Jesus Christ with an intellectual or scientific knowledge, but with “that first knowledge of the heart and of a personal encounter.”

According to the Pope, St. Paul was a “fiery” individual who was always in trouble, “not in trouble for troubles’ sake, but for Jesus” because “proclaiming Jesus is the consequence.”

“The Church has so much need of this, not only in distant lands, in the young churches, among people who do not know Jesus Christ, but here in the cities, in our cities, they need this proclamation of Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis stressed.

“So let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace of apostolic zeal, let’s be Christians with apostolic zeal, onwards, as the Lord says to Paul, take courage!” he exclaimed.

Pope warns against lukewarm faith with personal story :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by richbrewers in Vatican

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Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 08:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In keeping with his style, Pope Francis cautioned about the dangers of a lukewarm faith by telling a childhood story on the importance of believing in the physical resurrection of Jesus.

“I remember, excuse me, a personal story,” he said during his daily morning Mass on May 3.

“As a child, every Good Friday my grandmother took us to the Procession of Candles and at the end of the procession the recumbent Christ came and my grandmother made us kneel down,” he recalled.

“She told us ‘children, look, he is dead, but tomorrow he will be risen!’” he said.

Pope Francis concelebrated the morning Mass with Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and other priests.

Around 35 Swiss Guards and their commander Daniel Rudolf Anrig were among the approximately 50 guests invited to attend the Mass.

The Pope explained that his grandmother’s remarks were the vehicle that allowed his “faith in Christ, crucified and risen” to enter his heart.

“In the history of the Church there have been many, many people who have wanted to blur this strong certainty and speak of a spiritual resurrection,” remarked the Pope.

But this view is wrong because “Christ is alive,” he insisted.

In contrast with this deep faith is a lukewarm one that results in only “the courage to get involved in our small things, in our jealousies, our envy, our careerism and in selfishly going forward,” he noted.

“But this is not good for the Church, the Church must be courageous!” he exclaimed.

“Lukewarm Christians, without courage … that hurts the Church so much because this tepid atmosphere draws you inside,” the Holy Father warned.

The consequence of this is that problems “arise among us, we no longer have the horizon or courage to pray towards heaven or the courage to proclaim the Gospel,” he stated.

Pope Francis pointed to prayer as the antidote to this kind of timidity.

“We all have to be courageous in prayer, in challenging Jesus!”

“Jesus, to put it in stronger terms, challenges us to prayer and says ‘whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son,’” he said.

The pontiff noted that “this is really powerful” and that “we must have the courage to go to Jesus and ask him to do it.”

“Do we have this courage in prayer or do we pray a little, when we can, spending a bit of time in prayer?” he asked the congregation.

The Swiss Guard will swear in 35 new recruits on May 6 at the Vatican and the Holy Father offered those at the Mass a special greeting, telling them that their service is “a beautiful testimony of fidelity to the Church” and “love for the Pope.”

The Anti-Beatitudes

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections

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Tags

Beatitude, Matthew 5:3

Last Monday my wife and I took our high school daughter to St. Louis, Missouri, for a campus tour of St. Louis University, a Jesuit university. The day began with all prospective students and parents meeting for an introduction in the student center. Before the presentation began I noticed several paintings on the walls depicting various people in abstract form. I was curious about them so, at a break, I looked at them more closely. There were eight paintings in all and I found them all to be very interesting. As I reached the end of the row there was a framed explanation of their subject matter and a blurb about the artist (unfortunately I do not remember the artist’s name)(* – See 4/28/13 note in comment below). Each painting was of someone representing an “Anti-Beatitude”, or in other words, the opposite of one of the Beatitudes.

I was intrigued by this because I have used a similar type of thought process to demonstrate the ridiculousness of various ideas to my children and to employees. When teaching my children about principles and virtues I would often explain the goodness of a principle by examining the opposite of that principle. For example, I would show them how honesty is a good principle because the opposite of honesty – lying, deceit, and thievery – is a bad thing. Even crooks who may regularly practice these anti-principles know they are bad things because of their reactions when they are on the wrong end of them. Likewise, I would use this method of looking at the opposite of that which is accepted ethical business practice to show employees the absurdity of unethical behavior. But, I had never before seen this idea put into visual form.

I wondered, “What would ‘Anti-Beatitudes’ look like in written form?” I thought this might be a good tool for teaching children about the real Beatitudes. So, with a thesaurus in hand and using a little imagination, it wasn’t too hard to come up with something to show how ludicrous these appear compared to our Christian morals. For comparison’s sake, I have listed below the actual Beatitudes first to help illustrate the preposterousness of their conjured-up opposites that follow:

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5 : 3-11)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men insult you, and persecute you, and, speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you for my sake.

The Anti-Beatitudes

Blessed are the proud and self-sufficient who believe they are the center of the earth, for theirs are the kingdoms of the world.
Blessed are the content and those who fail to see the suffering of others, for they shall know not of their ignorance.
Blessed are the arrogant, and the harsh in attitude, for they shall control the happiness of the less fortunate.
Blessed are they who gather expensive things undeservedly and flaunt them in the face of others, for they shall be filled with feelings of superiority.
Blessed are the bullies, the unforgiving, and those who force grievance, for they shall cause destruction and keep score.
Blessed are the perverted, the adulterers, and the lustful, for they shall be esteemed by Satan for growing his kingdom.
Blessed are the warmongers, the agitators and the vengeful, for they shall be the children of Satan.
Blessed are they who do evil but fail to get caught, for they shall be considered heroes.
Blessed are the liars, the gossipers, and those who make fun of others to cause them harm and embarrassment, for they shall have confidence and be placed ahead of others.

I was certainly not prepared for my fright when I noticed upon completion of this list how I, and just about everyone else I know, at one point or another in our lives, fit perfectly into most of these descriptions. Some of the trickery I’ve used on others to make a point backfired on me and hit me squarely in the side of the head. To put it bluntly, it was a shameful and embarrassing, but honest, realization. I think I will keep this list handy and, from this point forward, pull it out and dust it off from time to time and use it like a litmus paper to check my self-acidity, and as a tool to prepare for reconciliation. I’m feeling fortunate that my sins were forgiven through my recent baptism or else I would probably be packing supper and a midnight snack for both Father and me when I make my first real trip to the confessional!

(The post The Anti-Beatitudes first appeared on Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

No room for self-promoters in God’s kingdom, Pope says

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by richbrewers in Uncategorized

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VATICAN CITY, April 22 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Pope Francis warned that some people, even in the Church, are “social climbers” that try to promote themselves, instead of seeking to glorify Christ.

“These social climbers exist even in the Christian communities, no? Those people who are looking out for themselves … and consciously or unconsciously pretend to enter but are thieves and robbers,” he said at an April 22 Mass for Vatican press office and Vatican Radio employees.

“Why? Why steal the glory from Jesus? They want glory for themselves and this is what (Jesus) said to the Pharisees: ‘You seek for each other’s approval,’” the Pope responded.

The result of this approach is that the faith becomes “something of a ‘commercial’ religion,” he reflected.

“I give glory to you and you give glory to me. But these people did not enter through the true gate. The (true) gate is Jesus and those who do not enter by this gate are mistaken.”

Christians can know which way or gate is Jesus’ by looking for the marks of the Beatitudes, he said.

There are many paths that we can follow, he explained, some perhaps more advantageous than others in getting ahead, but they are “misleading, they are not real; they are false. The only path is Jesus. ”

“Some of you may say, ‘Father, you’re a fundamentalist!’” Pope Francis recalled.

“No, simply put, this is what Jesus said: ‘I am the gate,’ ‘I am the path.’ … It is a beautiful gate, a gate of love, it is a gate that does not deceive, it is not false. It always tells the truth, but with tenderness and love.”

But, he noted, “we still have … the source of original sin within us, is not it so? We still desire to possess the key to interpreting everything, the key and the power to find our own path, whatever it is, to find our own gate, whatever it is.”

“And this is the temptation to look for other gates or other windows to enter the Kingdom of God.

We can only enter by the gate whose name is Jesus,” he emphasized, reminding the congregation that any other path of entering is for ‘thieves and robbers.’

“He is simple, the Lord. His words are not complex. He is simple.”

Pope Francis concluded by encouraging every to ask for “the grace to always knock on that gate.”

“Sometimes it’s closed: we are sad, we feel desolation, we have problems with knocking, with knocking at that gate. Do not go looking for other gates that seem easier, more comfortable, more at hand. Always the same one: Jesus. Jesus never disappoints, Jesus does not deceive, Jesus is not a thief, not a robber. He gave his life for me. Each of us must say this: ‘And you who gave your life for me, please, open, that I may enter.’”

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White House: No comment on case against abortion provider Kermit Gosnell

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by richbrewers in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

PHILADELPHIA – Over five weeks of testimony, Philadelphia prosecutors have painted Dr. Kermit Gosnell as an eccentric, detached boss who relied on untrained staff to perform abortions at his outdated, inner-city clinic.
Trial witnesses have described an abortion clinic, and perhaps a man, growing increasingly chaotic over the years.
One woman who died after a 2009 abortion had gone to several clinics near her Virginia home, starting when she was about 15 weeks pregnant. But each time, she was referred elsewhere, until she arrived at Gosnell’s clinic in her 19th week. Bhutanese refugee Karnamaya Mongar, 41, died of a Demerol overdose the next day.
Gosnell’s “nursing” staff included several women who were trained at a career school to be medical assistants, but were quickly shown how to perform ultrasounds and give anesthesia. To make the latter job easier, a 15-year-old worker used markers to draw up a color-coded chart that showed which drug cocktails should be given to which patients. Sometimes, it depended on how much they could pay, witnesses have said.
Prosecutors have filled the courtroom with Gosnell’s office equipment, including a seemingly ancient ultrasound machine, a busted defibrillator and a ripped, aging examining table.
The 546 exhibits also include dozens of patient files, one of which was handled with latex gloves because of a still-odorous stain. And an FBI agent recalled Gosnell, on the night of the 2010 law enforcement raid, eating dinner while they interviewed him.
“He was still wearing his bloody latex gloves. They had some holes in them,” Agent Jason Huff testified.
At the time of the raid, Gosnell had 47 fetuses stored in the freezer, authorities said, apparently because of a billing dispute with his medical waste company. The recovered bodies gave investigators a wealth of evidence to test, and prosecutors said in opening statements they could prove that at least seven babies were born alive.
Unlicensed doctor Stephen Massof and other staff members testified that Gosnell taught them to “snip” babies in the top of the spine after the abortion procedure.
“If you cut off the brain, the body will die. It’s that simple,” Massof testified.
Massof has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder.
“I trusted him. I believed he knew what he was talking about,” said Massof, a Caribbean medical school graduate who could not get a U.S. residency. “I should have Googled.”
Medical assistant Kareema Cross said she saw babies move even after their spines were severed. McMahon disputed that account.
McMahon is also expected to challenge prosecutors’ claims that the autopsies of two of the recovered fetuses show they had taken a breath. The Philadelphia medical examiner stopped short of confirming that when he testified.
And only two of the 47 were arguably past the 24-week limit for abortions in Pennsylvania, McMahon has noted, attacking charges that Gosnell routinely performed illegal, late abortions.
Eight clinic employees have pleaded guilty in the case. The only remaining co-defendant, medical school graduate Eileen O’Neill, is fighting racketeering and false-billing charges, for allegedly billing as a licensed doctor.

72 Members of Congress Demand Media Coverage of Gosnell Trial
Some 72 members of Congress have signed on to a letter demanding that the mainstream media provide coverage of the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell.

Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Steve Scalise (R-LA) were joined by 70 of their House colleagues late Wednesday demanding national broadcast news channels ABC, NBC, and CBS stop blacking out coverage on high-profile abortion controversies.

Their letters specifically reference two instances where the media has covered up the story of Planned Parenthood lobbying in support of infanticide in the Florida State Legislature and in the ongoing murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia. By many accounts, the Gosnell murder trial has become one of the most notorious cases of patient abuse of mothers and children in our nation’s history, they said.

“The broadcasters’ blackout of the Planned Parenthood infanticide lobbying scandal and the Gosnell ‘House of Horrors’ murder trial are the biggest and most politically-motivated media cover-ups in our nation’s history,” said Blackburn. “Censorship and media bias allows the corrupt abortion industry to profit at the expense of innocent women and children. The mainstream media has a responsibility to report the truth, not turn a blind eye to the biggest civil rights issue of our time.”

“If someone went into a hospital and shot seven babies and a mother with an AK-47, the media coverage surrounding the trial would rival a natural disaster,” Scalise said. “Yet seven babies and a mother are dead at the hands of an abortion doctor using a scalpel, and the mainstream media’s silence on this story is deafening. By failing to cover this story and turning their backs on the culture of abortion in this country, the media has failed in their duty to provide unbiased coverage of this horrific tragedy.”

The Breath of God

20 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections, Prayer

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Tags

Breath of God, Gospel of John, HolySpirit, Ruah

A while back a friend and I were lamenting about how hard it is when you pray to concentrate on clearing your mind of all the thoughts that are itching to be silently said and, instead, listening to the voice of God. And then, even when you’ve figured out how to turn off your internal voice, it’s difficult to maintain that concentration with the often disturbing ambient noise around you. My friend said he sometimes puts his hands over his ears to muffle the sounds and it helps him concentrate on the sound of his breathing.

“Whoa, wait a minute”, I thought, “The sound of his breathing?” There were bells going off here! At some point in the past year during my crash course in Catholicism and the formation of my faith, I had heard or read something that had to do with the voice of God or the name of God, and some connection with breathing or the wind blowing….or something along those lines. I racked my brain to remember what it was. I searched on-line to no avail and had about convinced myself I had dreamed it all when, with a smidgen of help from our good Deacon, I had a breakthrough. What I had been trying to think of was the Hebrew word “Ruah” which is translated into English as “The Breath (or Whisper) of God”. But, in Hebrew “The Breath of God” is synonymous with “The Holy Spirit”. In other words, the Jews considered the Holy Spirit to be the Breath of God.

Then, at Easter, I was thumbing through the Gospel of John and I stumbled upon John 20:22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

I am an engineer and, as such, I tend to be a linear thinker. It wasn’t hard for me to connect the dots in this thought process. Considering the fact that, as Catholics, we believe the Holy Trinity lives within us, the connection I was trying to make, and which I quite triumphantly suggested to my friend, was that while he is listening and concentrating on his own breathing as a focusing technique so as to better hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to him, maybe, just maybe, they are one and the same thing in that ultimate moment when true reverence is reached, and, perhaps, through that calmness, a translation occurs.

Think about it. I, for one, am going to give it a try.

Confession: Why Bother?

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Confession, Prayer, Reconciliation

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Biblical Submission, Confession, Ephesians 5, Reconciliation, servant leadership

Psalm 25:11 “For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.”

Throughout late 2010 and into all of 2011, I worked to become a better spiritual leader to Elissa and my three daughters. However, I struggled with the guilt of my past sins and prayed for guidance frequently. The answer, of course, was in front of me every Saturday afternoon before 5:30 mass but I tried not to see it. In December of 2011, God finally got through my thick skull that I needed to reconcile with Him by confessing my sins to Him through the sacrament of reconciliation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The confession of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission, man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.”

The problem was that I hadn’t been to confession in over 30 years and couldn’t even remember what to do. I had to look up the rules on-line and re-memorize an act of contrition. It seemed simple enough: Walk in, say hello Father it has been 30 years since my last confession. He’ll then ask me to state my sins. I figured that might take awhile for me. After that, he might ask me questions for clarification and then ask me to make an act of contrition, give me penance, and say a prayer of absolution. Why was it so hard for me to step into the confessional?

During Advent of 2011, I finally worked up the nerve to go. I did not tell Elissa in advance just in case I chickened out. I went to 7 a.m. mass downtown at the cathedral, spoke with the priest after mass, and confessed the worst of my past. When I was done, I felt a wave of relief and lightness in my soul that I had never felt before. Elissa and I had always joked that if I ever went, the poor priest’s head would explode with all my sins. I sent a simple text to Elissa “The priest’s head didn’t explode.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 “You should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

Reconciliation brought me great relief and a renewed desire to grow in my faith. It brought me closer to God, and made me want to amend my life in several ways.

Reconciliation made me want to grow in my faith. I signed up for a Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) weekend in April 2012. Hearing the stories of the men during my receiving weekend moved me deeply. I realized that I was not alone in my troubles and that there was hope for a sinner like me. I attended reconciliation that weekend and felt a new sense of peace. I also did something I never thought I would do, join a CRHP giving team. Those six months were a blessing in my life as I came to know, love, and respect all the men on my giving team. Those blessings continued in March of 2013 when I joined several other men in Morristown, Tennessee to present CRHP for the very first time to 19 men at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Reconciliation made me want to be a better husband to Elissa. To help with that, Elissa and I attended a marriage encounter weekend in May 2012. If you have not gone to one, I highly recommend it. We learned so much about each other, improved our communication, and renewed our commitment to each other. During that weekend, we promised each other that we would try couples prayer. Neither of us had much experience with spontaneous prayers said aloud. I am happy to say that we have prayed together for a year now and it continues to bring us closer to each other and to God.

Reconciliation made me want to be a better father to my girls. Dr. Meg Meeker, in her book, “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters” wrote, “Our daughters need the support that only fathers can provide—and if you are willing to guide your daughter, to stand between her and a toxic culture, to take her to a healthier place, your rewards will be unmatched…The only way you will alienate your daughter in the long-term is by losing her respect, failing to lead, or failing to protect her. If you don’t provide for her needs, she will find someone else who will.”

In the summer of 2012, I started date night with Daddy for the girls. Each month, one of my daughters picks an activity for just the two of us. I have taken them to baseball games, fancy dinners at the Golden Lamb, and putt-putt golfing at the Web on Cincinnati-Dayton Road. What we do together isn’t really the point. What is important to the girls is that they get one-on-one time with their father. I do this to try to demonstrate what love is to my girls so that as they get older they do not seek love from others in inappropriate ways.

Reconciliation made me want to be an active participant at our parish. I did that by becoming a lector last year. It has helped me focus on God’s word and set a leadership example to my wife and daughters. One benefit I got from lectoring is that on August 26, 2012, I got to read Ephesians 5 to the congregation. God spoke to me in August 2010 through that passage, urging me to serve my family by leading them to Him. I read it from the heart because it has had such a strong and lasting impact on my marriage.

I am still a sinner, always will be, but with the sacrament of reconciliation and God’s grace, I can now confidently, and without hypocrisy, lead my family in our spiritual life. I thank Him every day for another opportunity to do His will.

If you have avoided this sacrament, I encourage you to step out in faith and step into the confessional. You will not regret it.