To Listen to the Voice of God

St. Catherine of Siena, by Baldassare Franceschini (17th century).

We all have a desire to be listened to and taken seriously. There is nothing more frustrating than not being listened to, when someone does not either look at us when we talk to him, or let us finish our sentences. It leaves us feeling unsatisfied and frustrated, and we feel we have not had our point of view heard or considered. One of the consequences of not being listened to is that we will not be understood. If someone does not listen to what we have to say in relation to everyday mundane issues, from ordering something over the telephone, to more serious personal issues, then the issues will remain unresolved. The world is full of daily misunderstandings because, in the majority of instances, people do not listen to what the other person is saying. If they do listen and hear what the other person is saying, it may be interpreted incorrectly. It is easy to hear what we want to hear, and then to selectively ignore what does not fit in with our worldview or personal preference. The desire to be listened to, taken seriously, and understood is innate to us all. It is a universal desire, and it is also what God desires. He has placed his own desire in our hearts so that it can be fulfilled. We are only really able to hear what our neighbor says with the help of God’s grace, which frees us from the chains of sin. Sin clutters our heart and muffles our hearing so that we cannot hear what others say clearly, tainted with our own opinions, desires, and attitudes.

One fruit of listening to our neighbors is following their advice when they have told us our shortcomings and failings. We can then ask for the help we need to overcome these faults and make positive changes in our life. It is the same with God; he wants us to listen to his voice which mysteriously reveals to us our imperfections and weaknesses. He also inspires us to seek, and ask for his help. God’s greatest desire is that we let him become more, and we become less. “He must grow greater, I must grow less” (Jn 3:30).

God desires that we hear his voice above the din of everyday life. We can only begin to do this when we invite him to become the center of our lives through daily prayer. He will speak to us through his revealed word in the Gospels, through our conscience, the inspirations that flood our mind with holy thoughts, and the recurring desires that he places in our heart. We can also sometimes hear the voice of God through our neighbor, who advises us of our faults and imperfections. The self-knowledge we gain from our everyday interactions can bring us to know ourselves more fully in the light of God’s all-encompassing, merciful love. The reality is, however, that because of our sinful nature, we are often not likely to hear the voice of God, but rather a distorted version that fits our own desire for praise and glory. If we are honest, we admit that we do not really want to hear the truth, but rather what affirms our self-image. It is more comfortable to believe that we fully know ourselves. But, while we may fail to listen to God and discern his voice clearly, listening to him is all that really counts. Fortunately, God is infinitely patient and provides us with numerous opportunities to hear his voice.

To truly be able to hear God’s voice, we must repent and allow our souls to be healed of all sin, and attachment to sin. As this is a lifelong process—day by day, and moment by moment—we must respond to God’s grace, and recognize that God is “before” the beginning of our desires to seek his kingdom, as well as their complete fulfilment. In other words, the desire to seek the truth and the will to do what is good is hidden in the depths of our souls before we are consciously aware of it. We naturally think that it is our desire, but it is God’s grace that has placed these desires in our heart. As God breathed our soul into our human nature when we were first conceived, our soul mirrors his qualities of goodness, love, truth, and beauty. We are made in his image and likeness. But we only become like him when we respond to his grace and, so, begin gradually to assimilate his virtue. It is his grace that sustains and strengthens us to bring to fruition what we often attribute to ourselves! As the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes, God’s mercy goes before us in everything we do, follows us as we are healed, and gives us new life in Christ.

Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him, we can do nothing.

The desire to be charitable on all levels, the ability to see the opportunities, and once seen, the strength to be generous, kind, forgiving, and merciful is only possible and sustainable through God’s grace. As the Catechism cites in the passage above, we can do nothing without his help. “Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15: 5). We may have a vague desire to be charitable to others, but will miss the opportunities that are presented to us. To be aware of missed opportunities and our lack of charity is the beginning of our path of love, but we must first experience imperfect love before recognizing what perfect love really looks like.

When we feel we are really being really listened to, it’s as if the person listening to us is experiencing our same sorrow or joy, almost as if he has been in the same situation. The listener will inevitably have had a similar experience, and the recalling of this in his memory enables him to display a real understanding of what we are experiencing. This display of understanding along with attentive listening enables us to feel as if we are really being listened to, and, consequently, understood. Our neighbor, who empathizes with us through their attentive listening and display of understanding, may have shared a similar problem or moment of happiness. They may have shared the same category of problem as ours or, upon hearing it described, even had an identical problem to ours. But our uniqueness means the personal experience of the problem will be different, as only we walk the path and encounter the people in the various situations life places before us. But Christ empathizes with us perfectly, as he holds in his heart the most intimate concern for every soul who has ever been born. The Sacred Heart of Christ longs for us to share all our worries and problems with him. He listens attentively and understands perfectly, anticipating our silent sighs by responding with his consoling grace that will heal our wounded heart.

The Sorrow for Sin

Although our neighbor can empathize with us and, as a result, we feel understood, we are not transformed interiorly by the person listening to us, nor do we become one with him. That is the radical difference between our human neighbor and God. To listen to God’s voice is to share intimately with his divine nature and, so, be transformed interiorly in the depths of our souls. Those who are closest to Christ listen attentively to his voice and share intimately with his experience of joy and sorrow. In the case of the saints’ experience of sorrow, it’s as if they become Christ themselves on the cross, experiencing sorrow for sin, the horror and insult it causes his Father, and the harm it causes to souls. This sorrow is much deeper and permanent than that experienced on a purely human level. It is also not connected solely to a time bound and specific human event. Because of the divinity of Christ, his personal experience within his sacred humanity, while temporary and time bound, transcends time and space. The deep sorrow of the saints is experienced as an expression of Christ again suffering his passion; it is he himself who is suffering within them. The glorified Christ can no longer suffer here on earth. The saints “lend” him their heart, enabling Christ to suffer in and through them to the Father, and so offer a pure act of love. We are all called to share Christ’s sorrow where, to the extent we are one with his heart, we suffer his sorrow for sin. A truly surprising and unexpected fruit of listening to our Lord is to share intimately with his sorrows. We may have a fleeting or temporary experience of this sorrow for sin, but the worries of everyday life and other concerns mean that this will more likely only be experienced briefly.

One of the fruits of listening to God’s voice is that our listening becomes the continual receiving of God’s love in our soul, so that all the wordless desires and intentions we make are inspired, sustained, and mysteriously expressed by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit fills up what our prayers lack, and when we do not know how to pray properly: “… the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words” (Rom 8:26). St. Catherine of Siena in her Dialogue sheds light on the mystery of St. Paul’s words when she describes how the Holy Spirit groans within the soul who is consumed with love, offering to God “the fragrance of holy desire and constant humble prayer.”

There is a weeping of fire, of truly holy longing, and it consumes in love. Such a soul would like to dissolve her very life in weeping in self-contempt and for the salvation of souls, but she seems unable to do it. I tell you, these souls have tears of fire. In this fire, the Holy Spirit weeps in my presence for them and for their neighbours. I mean that my divine charity sets ablaze with its flame the soul who offers me her restless longing without physical tears. These, I tell you, are tears of fire, and this is how the Holy Spirit weeps. Since the soul cannot do it with tears, she offers her desire to weep for love of me. And if you open your mind’s eye, you will see that the Holy Spirit weeps in the person of every one of my servants who offers me the fragrance of holy desire and constant humble prayer. This, it seems, is what the glorious Apostle Paul meant when he said that the Holy Spirit weeps before me, the Father, “with unspeakable groaning” for you.

This extraordinary passage describes how a soul set ablaze interiorly by the Holy Spirit weeps tears of fire in God’s presence. Unable to shed physical tears expressing one’s love for God and souls, the Holy Spirit weeps inside the person offering to the Father the soul’s restless longing and humble prayer.

The Holy Spirit can teach us how sin is an infinite offense against our Father in heaven—who is goodness and love itself—as well as the harm sin causes our soul. Significantly, the spirit of love and truth can teach us the sorrow experienced by Jesus by understanding dimly how our neighbors’ sins also offend God greatly, and how they endanger our neighbors’ salvation. St. Catherine describes how God permits his closest followers to be persecuted, so that the “fire of charity grows in the soul who has compassion for the soul of her abuser.”

Patience is proved in the assaults and weariness I allow my servants, and the fire of charity grows in the soul who has compassion for the soul of her abuser. For she grieves more over the offense done to me and the harm done to the other than over her own hurt. This is how these behave who are very perfect, and so they grow. And this is why I permit all these things. I grant them a stinging hunger for the salvation of souls, so that they knock day and night at the door of my mercy, so much so, that they forget themselves (as I described for you in the state of the perfect). And the more they abandon themselves, the more they find me.

To “knock day and night at the door of my mercy” is to “knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). The great mystery of God’s providence is evident when those closest to Christ are knocking at the door of his mercy so that his graces be showered onto their persecutor. The fire of charity which grows in the souls of those who share most intimately with Christ’s sufferings, enables them to pray with Christ on the cross at Calvary, as he prayed for his persecutors. We, also, are called to pray for those who persecute us: “But I say this to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). Not only are we called to pray for those who persecute us, but also for nonbelievers. We are invited to join our prayers with Jesus, who continually intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, and knock, so that the door of nonbelievers’ souls will be opened by God’s grace, bringing them to repentance and conversion of heart. As Jesus described to St. Faustina, the prayer most pleasing to him is prayer for the conversion of nonbelievers.

Today I heard a voice in my soul: The loss of each soul plunges me into mortal sadness. You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered.

The souls who are very perfect, as described by St. Catherine, share most intimately in the sorrows of Christ. In loving much, they will have great sorrow.

And because they have come to know so much of me, they love me much. And, whoever loves much, will have great sorrow; therefore those whose love grows will know more sorrow.

They share in Christ’s thirst for souls, knocking at the gates of heaven for the salvation of those caught up in deadly sin. The thirst for Christ is lived out perpetually in souls who are transformed through the grace of the Holy Spirit to come closer to resembling the interior life of our Savior. Their sorrow is an otherworldly sorrow, in which the divine spirit has fully transformed not only their sorrow, but the other principal emotions of fear, joy, and hope. With a holy fear and reverence for God, the souls experience sorrow as they grieve only for the offenses committed against God. Their greatest hope is to win souls for our Father in heaven. In their experience of being loved by God and in their knowledge of his immense love for mankind, their joy surpasses all the tribulations and trials the world can send. Their otherworldly joy enables them to love their neighbors as God does, vividly seeing their beauty through contemplating them as unique reflections of their divine creator.

They grieve only for offenses committed against me, for they see how deserving I am of love and service. And they grieve for the harm that comes to souls when they see them walking so blindly through the world’s darkness. For in their loving union with me, they have contemplated and known how ineffably I love my creatures, seeing how they reflect my likeness, and they have fallen in love with my creatures’ beauty for love of me. Therefore, they feel unbearable sorrow when they see them straying from my goodness. These sufferings are so great, that they make every other suffering diminish in them until they regard nothing as being done to themselves.

Here we see how those closest to Christ share most intimately in his sufferings. He fills their hearts with the deep sorrow that he himself experienced at the sight of sinful hearts that have rejected his love. Yet the pain of Christ surpasses that of all the saints. He lives out this pain mystically in his saints, as he fills their hearts not only with his sorrow, but also with the burning desire that he himself experienced for the salvation of souls. The saints set their hope on our heavenly Father, “prodded by burning desire” to cry out to him for souls who are in most need of help. Filled with the Father’s own heavenly desire, they mirror his Son as he cried out on the cross: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they are doing” (Lk 23:34).

Then, prodded by burning desire, they cry out to me in firm hope and with the light of most holy faith, asking my help in such great need. Thus my divine providence sees, at one and the same time, to the help of the world by letting myself be constrained by my servants’ sorrowful, tender, restless longing, and to their own nurturing and growth in this way to greater and more perfect knowledge and union with me.

The journey of listening to the voice of God can be a truly remarkable one. Ultimately, we are all called to imitate the saints who knocked at the door of Christ’s heart; not only for their own spiritual needs, but also significantly for the needs of their brothers and sisters. We are invited by Christ to pray with him and all the angels and saints to the Father for the conversion of nonbelievers and for those who persecute us. The power of prayer in helping all our brothers and sisters who make up God’s family will only be truly understood in heaven.
http://www.hprweb.com/2015/01/to-listen-to-the-voice-of-god/

Why Did God Destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2015/06/why-did-god-destroy-sodom-and-gomorrah.html

 One of those interesting details has surfaced which reminds you that everything is connected.

It is now predicted that the Supreme Court will give its ruling on same sex marriage on June 30.

The Mass readings for that day are Genesis 19.15-29 – the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We should be clear. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was not simply because the city was full of homosexuality.

The violent homosexual rapists were a symptom of a deeper ugliness in Sodom and Gomorrah.

We know from earlier in Genesis that the cities of the plain were lush, rich and luxuriant. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were also warlike and violent.

The violent homosexual rapists of Sodom and Gomorrah were an example of the decadence, lust, luxury, greed and violence of the whole civilization.

The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was, therefore far deeper than a sexual problem. The sexual problem was the symptom of a deep, fetid and stubborn rebellion against God and everything that was natural and simple, innocent, free and good.

St Paul outlines this sick depravity in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,  since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?

Because there was nothing else he could do. His “doing a deal” with Abraham indicates that he had extended his mercy time and again. He waited for them to turn from their destructive ways. He waited for their stubbornness to subside and for them to turn from their culture of death.

They would not.

Did he punish them out of some sort of petty and arbitrary desire for vengeance or the need to punish evil?

I don’t think so. I think God’s judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah were linked in with the path they were already on. They were so wallowing in the culture of death, so immersed in hell that they got what they asked for. They went on the path to hell and destruction and would not turn from that path so they were given hell and destruction.

I think there comes a time when God simply can’t do anything more with humanity because we continue to go our own way and continue to reject every offer of goodness, forgiveness, life and all that is natural and beautiful and innocent and free.

We choose hell and destruction.

God will eventually give us what we have asked for.

The only thing that remains for me to wonder is how far along the road to Sodom is our present society and world?

And how much more patience will God have?

‘Gay Marriage’ Ruling: Evil with a Silver Lining

Matt Barber | Jun 28, 2015

http://townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2015/06/28/gay-marriage-ruling-evil-with-a-silver-lining-n2018343/page/full

Well, that was predictable. On Friday, with its majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, five judicial imperialists perched high atop the U.S. Supreme Court bench called the Supreme Being a liar. They presumed to invent, out of thin air and through judicial fiat, a “constitutional right” to sin-based “gay marriage.” (Father God, as you exact Your perfect justice on America, please have mercy upon Your faithful.)

The horrific nature of this illegitimate decision cannot be overstated. It makes a mockery of the institution of marriage, something of which God alone has the authority to design and define. It represents a level of judicial activism unmatched since Dred Scott, Buck v. Bell or Roe v. Wade.

Man-woman marriage, as He designed it, is the metaphor God uses for the relationship between Christ and His Church. In addition to mocking marriage, this decision mocks God.

Which is by spiritual design.

Satan is laughing himself silly right now. His demonic minions, both above and below, are popping the bubbly and clinking the champagne flutes.

Evil has triumphed.

For now at least.

But not in the end.

Because God will not be mocked.

And victory is His.

Still, on top of being an arrogant affront to Almighty God, this opinion of five unelected and unaccountable justices is also a constitutional disaster. “The Court’s decision fundamentally rewrites the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution to radically redefine the cornerstone institution of marriage, which is older than the Court itself,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.

The decision also drew sharp criticism from the Court’s four dissenting justices. Chief Justice John Roberts, for example, rightly observed that the activist majority opinion hijacks the democratic process and is not based on the rule of law: “[D]o not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it,” wrote Roberts.

Justice Scalia similarly called the ruling a “threat to American democracy.” The “pretentious” and “egotistic” decision, he railed, “robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves.”

But I promised a silver lining, and there is one. One that is sure to infuriate the anti-Christian left. The majority opinion emphasized that this newfangled “right” to “gay marriage” should not be construed to trump religious liberty:

“Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons.”

I’m not naïve. We’ll have to see what this actually means in coming years, but when filtered through any honest reading of the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause, what it means is that Christians cannot be forced to violate their conscience through compulsory participation in, or recognition of, counterfeit “gay weddings” or “marriages.”

Ever.

Of course there’s nothing honest about the five liberals on this court, and Chief Justice Roberts makes that point in his dissent. He expresses skepticism as to the majority’s sincerity: “The majority graciously suggests that religious believers may continue to ‘advocate’ and ‘teach’ their views of marriage,” he writes. “The First Amendment guarantees, however, the freedom to ‘exercise‘ religion. Ominously, that is not a word the majority uses.”

“Hard questions arise when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may be seen to conflict with the new right to same-sex marriage,” he continues. “[W]hen, for example, a religious college provides married student housing only to opposite-sex married couples, or a religious adoption agency declines to place children with same-sex married couples. Indeed, the Solicitor General candidly acknowledged that the tax exemptions of some religious institutions would be in question if they opposed same-sex marriage. There is little doubt that these and similar questions will soon be before this Court.”

Little doubt indeed.

As many of us have long warned, all this “gay marriage” nonsense was never about “marriage equality.” It was, and remains, a spiritual battle camouflaged in the formal attire of judicial and public policy wrangling. It was always about forcing Christ’s faithful followers, under penalty of law, to abandon biblical truth and embrace sexual sin. The goal of “LGBT” activists and secular progressives has long been to pit the government directly against the free exercise of religion – Christianity in particular – and to silence all dissent.

Let me be clear. You will never silence us, and we Christians don’t need liberty crumbs tossed down from some temporal bench on high. Christians, faithful Christians (as opposed to the apostate variety), will not, indeed cannot, have anything whatsoever to do with the wickedness that is “gay marriage,” and we will disobey any man-made law or ruling that presumes to make us do otherwise.

That said, it does provide some consolation to have, in the spirit of Hobby Lobby, this court at least pay lip service, inelegant though it may be, to every American’s God-given constitutional right to freedom of conscience. The one positive thing that came from this ruling is the reaffirmation of First Amendment protections guaranteeing, for instance, that the Christian baker, florist, photographer, et al., cannot be penalized by the government for refusing to participate in sin – for declining to provide goods or services for “gay weddings,” or for otherwise refusing to recognize “gay marriage” for anything other than the evil it represents.

Even so, let us not don our rose-colored glasses. Friday’s ruling comes straight from the pit of Hell. Even with its religious liberty “silver lining,” it has not ended the debate; it has only just launched it. It has opened the floodgates to anti-Christian persecution. Leftist lawsuit abuse against Christian individuals and organizations will now flow hot like the River Styx.

But don’t despair, my brothers and sisters in Christ. For we who are God’s children have already overcome.

Because greater is He Who is in us, than he who is in the world.

And greater is He who created marriage, than he who perverts it.

Bishops Responding to Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

by Catherine Harmon, Catholic World Report

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, released the following statement about the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage:

Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable. Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not settle the question of marriage today. Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail. Today the Court is wrong again. It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.

The unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is inscribed in our bodies as male and female. The protection of this meaning is a critical dimension of the “integral ecology” that Pope Francis has called us to promote. Mandating marriage redefinition across the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support every child’s basic right to be raised, where possible, by his or her married mother and father in a stable home.

Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman. As Catholic bishops, we follow our Lord and will continue to teach and to act according to this truth.

I encourage Catholics to move forward with faith, hope, and love: faith in the unchanging truth about marriage, rooted in the immutable nature of the human person and confirmed by divine revelation; hope that these truths will once again prevail in our society, not only by their logic, but by their great beauty and manifest service to the common good; and love for all our neighbors, even those who hate us or would punish us for our faith and moral convictions.

Lastly, I call upon all people of good will to join us in proclaiming the goodness, truth, and beauty of marriage as rightly understood for millennia, and I ask all in positions of power and authority to respect the God-given freedom to seek, live by, and bear witness to the truth.

Across the US, Catholic bishops have released statements on the historic ruling. Below are links to statements of individual bishops as well as several statewide bishops’ conferences (did we miss your bishop’s statement? Leave a link in the comments and we’ll include it in this post). [Updated]

Archbishop Gregory Aymond, New Orleans

Bishop Michael Burbidge, Raleigh, North Carolina

Archbishop Robert Carlson, St. Louis

Archbishop Charles Chaput, Philadelphia

Archbishop Paul Coakley, Oklahoma City

Bishops of the Colorado Catholic Conference

Bishop Robert Cunningham, Syracuse

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Galveston-Houston

Bishop Kevin Farrell, Dallas

Bishop John Folda, Fargo, North Dakota

Bishop Daniel Flores, Brownsville, Texas

Archbishop José Gomez, Los Angeles

Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Atlanta

Bishop Robert Guglielmone, Charleston

Bishops of Iowa

Bishop Michael Jarrell, Lafayette, Louisiana

Bishop David Kagan, Bismarck, North Dakota

Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Milwaukee

Archbishop William Lori, Baltimore

Bishop Richard Malone, Buffalo

Bishop Robert McElroy, San Diego

Bishop Patrick McGrath, San Jose

Bishops of the Michigan Catholic Conference

Bishop Robert Morlino, Madison

Bishop William Murphy, Rockville Centre, New York

Bishops of the Nebraska Catholic Conference

Bishops of the Catholic Conference of Ohio

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Boston

Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Springfield, Illinois

Bishop Glen John Provost, Lake Charles, Louisiana

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, Albany

Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, Cincinnati

Bishop Edward Slattery, Tulsa

Bishop Joseph Strickland, Tyler, Texas

Bishop Joe Vásquez, Austin

Bishops of the Virginia Catholic Conference

Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Miami

Archbishop John Wester, Santa Fe

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Washington

Bishop David Zubik, Pittsburgh

_________________________________________________

Catherine Harmon catherine.harmon@catholicworldreport.com

Catherine Harmon is managing editor of Catholic World Report.

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Norcia Monks Rebuild the Foundations of Christian Culture - Crisis Magazine

Norcia Monks Rebuild the Foundations of Christian Culture - Crisis Magazine

Five Ways to Seek Grace in our Life

On one occasion the great mystic, prayer-warrior, penitent, as well as a Doctor of the Church, Saint Catherine of Siena was granted a vision into the state of one soul imbued with sanctifying grace. Upon contemplating the beauty of this one soul in God’s grace she fell to her knees.  Enthralled and totally captivated by its beauty she thought it was God Himself! Of all of the gifts that we can receive on earth, as pilgrims travelling towards our eternal home which is heaven, the grace of God is by far the greatest treasure.  It is the pearl of infinite price!

Whereas the worldly and sensual pursue money, fame, power, and pleasure as their ultimate source of happiness (which really is a lie and illusion), God’s true friends pursue ardently and constantly to grow in grace. Another rather simple way to understand the life of grace is simply this: friendship with God.  God desires ardently to be our Friend, the best of Friends; however, He respects our time and freedom to accept Him as our best Friend!

The life of grace all starts in the moment that we receive the Sacrament of Baptism.  The graces that flow from Baptism are extraordinary, almost mind-boggling—how good God really is.  Once the water is poured on the head and the words: “I baptize you, In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, invisible but real miracles occur: an intimate relationship with the Blessed Trinity, the infusion of the theological virtues, moral virtues, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Still of paramount importance is the reality of Grace that permeates and imbues the soul in the moment of Baptism!

With the waters of Baptism we enter into a deep and intimate friendship with the Triune God and we become partakers of His divine nature—we  become sons of God and have as inheritance—if we persevere in grace—heaven forever!  For that reason the saints teach us: grace is the seed of eternal life.

Given that grace in our souls is the greatest gift and presence, we should do all in our power to preserve grace, grow in grace, so as to die in the state of grace. Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church and author of the classic  Glories of Mary, states that the grace of all graces is to die in the state of grace.  This should be our prayer every day for our souls, that of our loved one as well as for the whole world. Indeed Jesus came as universal Savior—to save the whole world through His Paschal mystery—His passion, death and Resurrection from the dead!

Then there are the two worse things in the universe are the following: 1) Committing a mortal sin (this indeed is terrible); 2) Worse still is dying in the state of mortal sin; this, of course results in an eternal separation from God for all eternity! May God save us from the reality of mortal sin.  Nonetheless, if we do have the misfortune of falling into mortal sin, we should never give into despair. On the contrary, we should have a limitless confidence in God’s infinite mercy and have recourse to the wonderful Sacrament of God’s mercy that we call Confession!  The Psalmist reminds us with these encouraging words: “God is slow to anger and rich in kindness.” Saint Paul reiterates the same theme:  “Where sin abounds, the grace of God abounds all the more.”

Ways to Grow in the Grace of God

We should do all in our power to preserve God’s grace in our souls, but also to grow daily in God’s grace.  God’s grace and His intimate Friendship in our soul are worth more than the whole created universe.   The natural realm in which we live can never be compared to the supernatural realm in which we find the concept and reality of grace. As a fish swims in water, as a bird flies in the sky so should we be swimming and flying in the atmosphere of grace! This should be the most ardent desire of our hearts, mind and souls!

1. Prayer.  Every time we pray with humility of heart, purity of intention and a desire to please God we immediately grow in grace.   For that reason we should treasure prayer, our prayer life and the prayer life of others as the highest and greatest of all realities.  Parents who teach their children to pray are the best of parents; parents who are slothful and negligent in the education of their children in the arena of prayer will have to give an account on the day of their judgment! Because of the numerous distractions of daily life, how easy it is for parents—who must be the first educators of their children—to be negligent and sloppy in teaching their children to pray! May God have mercy on us!

2. Charity.  The Word of God teaches us this consoling truth: “Love covers a multitude of sins.” If we can find ways and opportunities that God offers us on a daily basis to practice charity and service or even alms-giving towards others then we have another means to augment grace in our souls. In the movie Little Boy, the little boy was given what the priest called the “Magic list” to accomplish so that his father would return home safe and sound from the World War. The magic list is nothing more than less than the corporal works of mercy listed in (Mt. 25:31-46) “ I was hungry and you gave me to eat; thirsty and you gave me to drink; a foreigner and you welcomed me; sick and in prison and you came to visit me; dead and you provided burial…” Beg the Holy Spirit in prayer which of these He is calling you to carry out in practice in your life so as to increase grace in your soul!

3. Penance.  Jesus stated that some devils can be cast out only through prayer and fasting.  The Lord also reminds us: “Anyone who wants to be my follower must renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me.”  Every time we say “no” to our selfish desires and “yes” to a sacrifice that the Holy Spirit has inspired in our hearts then once again the grace of God rises in our hearts! An added blessing from God when we undertake a life of sacrifice is conquering our bad habits and interior peace of mind, heart and soul!  Let us be generous with a God who loves us so much!

4. Sacraments: The Eucharist. Of course the greatest action in the whole universe is that of receiving the greatest of all Sacraments—The Eucharist!  The Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, is truly and substantially the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Receiving Our Lord with the best of dispositions, in grace, with faith, love, humility and desire for a deeper conversion to His love is an infinite source of grace because this Sacrament is God Himself! For this reason there is no greater action we can do as pilgrims and wayfarers on earth than to receive Jesus with lively faith, frequency and burning love! If you like a simple image, upon receiving Jesus with burning love the gas gauge in your spiritual tank (your soul) shoots up way beyond the full. Beg for the grace to have a daily hunger for the Bread of life so as to constantly skyrocket in grace—to penetrate the high heavens even while on earth! In the Our Father we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” Perhaps Jesus is challenging you to aim at daily Mass and daily Holy Communion so as to surmount the highest mountains in the realm of grace.

5. Our Lady: Hail Mary. On one occasion the German mystic and saint, Saint Gertrude, saw Jesus in heaven.  He was resplendent in glory, but He was doing an intriguing gesture: placing a golden coin on top of a huge mound of other gold coins. The saint was just finishing praying to our Lady the Hail Mary. Jesus responded in this manner. “Gertrude, every time you pray to my mother the Hail Mary with faith and devotion, I am depositing a Golden coin in heaven that will be yours for all eternity.”  If we want to be multi-billionaires in heaven let us love Mary and the prayer that Mary loves so much—Hail Mary.  In the Hail Mary we greet the Queen of Heaven and earth with these beautiful words: “Hail Mary, Full of Grace.” Therefore, let us get into the habit of praying the daily Rosary, with the beautiful prayer Hail Mary.  If done, Our Lady, through her powerful intercession will be storing up for you infinite treasures and an eternal home in heaven! May we love grace, treasure grace, strive to grow in grace and finally die in grace through the intercession of Mary, the “Full of grace.”

Father Ed Broom is an Oblate of the Virgin Mary. He blogs regularly at Fr. Broom's Blog.

Body and Soul

Juicing Delivers the Nutrients!

Juicing Delivers the Nutrients Our Body Needs That Even the Best Raw Diet Can’t Fully Provide

The key to optimal health is to maximize our intake of nutrients from raw foods without putting an excessive burden on our body’s ability to digest those foods while also enabling the body to eliminate toxins.

But how do we do this? First, let’s look at the challenges we face and the potential consequences of a nutrient-starved diet.

Our food isn’t what it used to be.

In biblical times, the food supply provided by God consisted of raw foods rich in nutrients that were grown in organic soil free of chemicals and environmental toxins. People back then didn’t have to think twice about what they put in their bodies. They could nourish themselves and enjoy optimal health.

Throughout the centuries, and especially in recent times, even raw produce has diminished dramatically in nutrient density and quality. For example:

• In 1997, broccoli contained 53% of the calcium it contained in 1979 and 35% of the thiamin (USDA Nutrient Handbooks).
• Donald R. Davis states that “Recent studies of historical nutrient content data for fruits and vegetables spanning 50 to 70 years show apparent median declines of 5% to 40% or more in minerals, vitamins, and protein in groups of foods, especially in vegetables.” (“Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition: What is the Evidence?” HortScience 44:1 February 2009)

Why are our foods continually becoming less nutritious? Today’s commercial farming practices, erosion of topsoil and not allowing the land to rest sufficiently between plantings are the principal culprits.

There is still another challenge.

We need raw foods to supply the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phyto nutrients that are found in nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables that our body needs. However, to compensate for the ever-diminishing quality of nutrients in our produce and to provide enough nutrients to achieve and sustain optimal health, we would need to consume an ever-increasing amount of those raw foods.

The problem is that we’re not cows. They can graze all day because their stomachs can easily digest what they consume. Our digestive system simply can’t handle that much fiber. Moreover, the nutrients are locked into the fiber and most of us do not masticate our raw foods sufficiently to release a high percentage of nutrients. As Dr. H. E. Kirschner, M.D., says in his book, Live Food Juices, “…The power to break down the cellular structure of raw vegetables, and assimilate the precious elements they contain, even in the healthiest individual is only fractional, not more than 35%, and in the less healthy, down to 1%. In the form of juice, these same individuals assimilate up to 92% of these elements.”

So what do we do?

To ward off chronic diseases, illnesses and other conditions, we need to nourish our bodies at the cellular level. Our cells are living organisms that require living food to regenerate at a stable or improved state. Living food contains living enzymes, a marker of our life force. Enzymes help us to digest our food and deliver more nutrients to our cells.

The dense, living nutrients found in raw foods and their juices satisfy our cells’ nutritional needs. The benefits are:

• Abundant energy
• Cells working better
• Organs have the nutrients needed to function optimally

However, as noted above, we can’t get sufficient nutrition from even the best organic fruits and vegetables alone.

The solution is more than 100 years old and better than ever: juicing

In the early 1900s, a few intrepid pioneers who discovered the importance of living foods strived to figure out how to maximize nutrient intake from raw foods. Perhaps most noteworthy was Dr. N. W. Walker who regained his health in about two months instead of the nine months predicted by his doctor. Dr. Walker gave himself an innovative prescription: he grated carrots and drank the juice that he pressed out of the pulp.

Many others discovered the power of juicing including Reverend George Malkmus, founder of Hallelujah Acres (now Hallelujah Diet), who abandoned his unhealthy diet and began eating raw fruits and vegetables and one to two quarts of raw vegetable juices daily. His baseball-sized tumor and colon cancer disappeared, along with other physical problems, and he continues to enjoy robust health and activities at age 81.

Why is juicing so advantageous? With juicing, we ingest only the part of the vegetable that contains the nutrients—the liquid. The nutrients reach cellular level in mere minutes, which increases dramatically the percentage of nutrients reaching our cells.

Here is another way to see how juicing enables us to nourish our bodies with far more nutrients than we could get from eating raw foods:

• It takes a pound of raw vegetables to make eight ounces of vegetable juice, so you get the nutrients from a pound of vegetables and most reach cellular level.
• You wouldn’t want to eat two pounds of carrots every day, but you could drink two eight-ounce glasses of carrot juice. Reverend George Malkmus reports that “At the Gerson Hospital in Mexico they are healing terminal cancers using 8 eight-ounce glasses of carrot juice per day, 4 eight-ounce glasses of green juices from organically grown vegetables, along with a vegetarian diet.”

Which juicers are best?

Hallelujah Diet Research Director Michael Donaldson, PhD, evaluated various juicers. He tested quality of juice based on:

• enzyme activity
• degradation of juice from exposure to air and heat generated during processing
• volume of juice produced

Dr. Donaldson concluded that the highest quality juice was produced using the two-step triturator and press combination. Close second was the twin gear juicer such as Green Star, followed by the mastication Champion Juicer. The two-step process can be accomplished most efficiently and economically with the Champion triturator and manually operated Welles Press. However, most people prefer a less labor-intensive one-step process with the twin-gear Green Star or masticating Champion, especially inasmuch as the quality and volume are only slightly below that of the two-step.

The juice powder alternative

With advances in technology and knowledge, we can now dehydrate fresh living juices or organically grown grasses, vegetables and fruits at a low enough temperature that heat-sensitive nutrients are not destroyed. You can mix these powders with purified water or organic apple juice to gain many of the benefits of juicing, an especially good alternative if you’re somewhere where juicing isn’t possible.

BarleyMax is a juice powder that delivers almost instant energy and is an excellent source of a well-balanced, natural and broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

Final thought

While we strongly recommend adding fresh raw vegetable juices to one’s diet, this doesn’t mean that you should stop eating raw vegetables. After all, fiber in raw vegetables contributes to colon health, promotion of regular bowel movements, avoidance of constipation and elimination of toxins. That’s why the Hallelujah Diet calls for a balance of whole raw foods and freshly extracted raw vegetable juices.

http://www.myhdiet.com/healthnews/juicing-delivers-the-nutrients-our-body-needs-that-even-the-best-raw-diet-cant-fully-provide/?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Juicing+Delivers+the+Nutrients+Our+Body+Needs+That+Even+the+Best+Raw+Diet+Can’t+Fully+Provide&utm_content=Top+News+This+Week+at+Hallelujah+Diet&utm_campaign=Weekly+Recap+20150606

Salvation - HOLY SPIRIT

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
--Pascal, Pensées, #863.

article excerpt-page 3

The reason the world was created was not just to have a world. It was created for man. It was created to invite men to participate in the inner life of God, eternal life. This purpose had a twofold meaning. One was what man would do with or in the world once he appeared there. This is the actual turbulent history of man on this planet. The second was that each member of the human race was invited, from the beginning, to participate in the inner Trinitarian life of God. This invitation was something that was not possible unless a “new life” was infused into each person. Man was invited to be more than his nature was open to. This divine initiative was the purpose of the Redemption from the old sins.

God did not “need” the world. He did not need to create as if He needed something. This is why, from the human point of view, the Holy Spirit is described as a “gift." Not only is the world itself and all in it, including ourselves, a “gift” to us, so also is the effort of God to restore that disorder in the world that was put in it by human sin. In order to participate in this “gift” of “eternal life” offered to each of us, something had to be done about sin. And it had to be done in such a manner that the orders of creation be not overturned. Men remained what they are. What does that mean? It means, in dealing with the human rejection of his order in nature and grace, that God could not take away man’s nature or freedom. He had to operate, as it were, with what He had created.

This restriction is what evidently surrounded the initiative of God to give man another way to reach Him after the failure in Adam and Eve of His first effort. Adam and Eve had used their freedom to reject the initial offer of eternal life. They wanted to create their own way. All subsequent sin, in effect, imitates this claim. In doing so, the first couple suffered the consequences of their own choice. They were subject to death, as they were told. Their acts had consequences. If God the Son became man in the world, He could offer men another way. As it turns out, that the people to whom He was sent also rejected Him. As a result, He died on the Cross. It was this second effort of God to give us the gift of eternal life that we are left with in the Church until the end.

The Trinity indicates that God is, as it were, social in Himself in such a way that He does not need anything. Creation is thus something rising out of love or generosity, not out of justice. But its purpose is serious. The rejection of the divine plan for each of us is a possible choice. This choice is what each human life is ultimately about. It always bears the character of “I will or will not serve." The primary purpose of God is the salvation of each of the persons He created in His image and likeness. It is not some apocalyptic inner-worldly political, economic, or ecological purpose down the ages.sal

The actual world is an arena in which the ultimate destiny of each person is worked out according to his own choices. Those who live in brutal societies are not further away from God’s purpose for them than those who live in prosperous ones when it comes to availability of eternal life. We are not supposed to create brutal societies, of course, even when we do. But people lose their souls both in good and bad societies. No one avoids the basic issue of how does he stand to sin and the redemption that God has offered.

The Trinity, then, is the way God has taught us to understand, as best we can, what He is like in his inner life to which we are invited. Like all invitations, we can refuse the invitation, the gift. But this inner-life of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, is the only explanation for that unsettled sense in each of us that we are made for a purpose, a happiness. We cannot give what we really want to ourselves. But we can receive if we will, as it has been offered to each of us. The precariousness of our world has its roots not in the fragility of our physical existence but in the temptation we all have to be ourselves the cause of our being, of our choosing on our own to “be like gods” as if God did not offer some understanding of Himself far superior to anything we could imagine for ourselves. 

http://www.aleteia.org/en/religion/article/an-invitation-to-happiness-5893082587332608

The True Black Tragedy

Walter E. Williams

5/20/2015 12:01:00 AM - Walter E. Williams

Hustlers and people with little understanding want us to believe that today's black problems are the continuing result of a legacy of slavery, poverty and racial discrimination. The fact is that most of the social pathology seen in poor black neighborhoods is entirely new in black history. Let's look at some of it.

Today the overwhelming majority of black children are raised in single female-headed families. As early as the 1880s, three-quarters of black families were two-parent. In 1925 New York City, 85 percent of black families were two-parent. One study of 19th-century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children had the same mother and father.

Today's black illegitimacy rate of nearly 75 percent is also entirely new. In 1940, black illegitimacy stood at 14 percent. It had risen to 25 percent by 1965, when Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action" and was widely condemned as a racist. By 1980, the black illegitimacy rate had more than doubled, to 56 percent, and it has been growing since. Both during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a man present was rare among blacks.

Much of today's pathology seen among many blacks is an outgrowth of the welfare state that has made self-destructive behavior less costly for the individual. Having children without the benefit of marriage is less burdensome if the mother receives housing subsidies, welfare payments and food stamps. Plus, the social stigma associated with unwed motherhood has vanished. Female-headed households, whether black or white, are a ticket for dependency and all of its associated problems. Ignored in all discussions is the fact that the poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits since 1994.

Black youth unemployment in some cities is over 50 percent. But high black youth unemployment is also new. In 1948, the unemployment rate for black teens was slightly less than that of their white counterparts -- 9.4 percent compared with 10.2. During that same period, black youths were either just as active in the labor force or more so than white youths. Since the 1960s, both the labor force participation rate and the employment rate of black youths have fallen to what they are today. Why? Are employers more racially discriminatory today than yesteryear? Were black youths of yesteryear more skilled than whites of yesteryear? The answer to both questions is a big fat no.

The minimum wage law and other labor regulations have cut off the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Put yourself in the place of an employer, and ask: If I must pay $7.25 an hour -- plus mandated fringes, such as Social Security and workers' compensation -- would it pay me to hire a worker who is so unfortunate as to possess skills that enable him to produce only $5 worth of value per hour? Most employers view that as a losing economic proposition. Thus, the minimum wage law discriminates against the employment of low-skilled workers, who are most often youths -- particularly black youths.

The little bit of money a teenager can earn through after-school, weekend and summer employment is not nearly so important as the other things he gains from early work experiences. He acquires skills and develops good work habits, such as being prompt, following orders and respecting supervisors. In addition, there are the self-respect and pride that a youngster gains from being financially semi-independent. All of these gains from early work experiences are important for any teen but are even more important for black teens. If black teens are going to learn anything that will make them a more valuable employee in the future, they aren't going to learn it from their rotten schools, their dysfunctional families or their crime-ridden neighborhoods. They must learn it on the job.

The bulk of today's problems for many blacks are a result of politicians and civil rights organizations using government in the name of helping blacks when in fact they are serving the purposes of powerful interest groups.

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2015/05/20/the-true-black-tragedy-n2000459/page/full

   Walter E. Williams 

Born in Philadelphia in 1936, Walter E. Williams holds a bachelor's degree in economics from California State University (1965) and a master's degree (1967) and doctorate (1972) in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

In 1980, he joined the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and is currently the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics. He has also served on the faculties of Los Angeles City College (1967-69), California State University (1967-1971) and Temple University (1973-1980). From 1963 to 1967, he was a group supervisor of juvenile delinquents for the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

More than 50 of his publications have appeared in scholarly journals such as Economic Inquiry, American Economic Review and Social Science Quarterly and popular publications such as Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. He has made many TV and radio appearances on such programs as Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose," William F. Buckley's "Firing Line," "Face The Nation," "Nightline" and "Crossfire."

He is also the author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.'

In 1981, he began writing his weekly column called "A Minority View" for Heritage Features Syndicate. And in 1991, he joined Creators Syndicate as part of its friendly takeover of Heritage Features.

Williams sits on many advisory boards, including the Review Board of Economics Studies for the National Science Foundation, the Research Foundation, the National Tax Limitation Committee, the Taxpayer's Foundation and the Hoover Institution.

The awards and honors Williams have received are many. These include the National Fellow at the Hoover Institute of War, Revolution, and Peace; the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship; the National Service Award from the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies; and the George Washington Medal of Honor from the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation. In 1984-1985, he received the Faculty Member of the Year Award from the George Mason University Alumni. He is also a member of the American Economic Association, the Mont Pelerin Society and is a Distinguished Scholar of the Heritage Foundation.

Williams participates in many debates and conferences, is a frequent public speaker and often gives testimony before both houses of Congress.

The Francis Effect - by Fr. Clovis - Rome - May 2014

The Francis Effect - By Fr. Clovis in Rome - May 2014

A stunningly brilliant analysis of the current crisis in the Church, with a 100% Catholic response, by Fr. Linus Clovis of St. Lucia.

Lift the City - a Catholic Eucharistic flash mob