Monday, December 31, 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

St. Thomas Becket pray for us!

.

The Bidens and Pelosis of our world so need these words aimed at them, so that they might turn from evil, and embrace the Truth of Christ their actions and laws have rejected.
.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

to be continued ???

.
Jesus
 .
didn't give us a 
New Religion
.
 Luther did!

and than Zwingli did

and than Calvin

and than Munster

and than Joseph Smith

and than Jim Jones

and than Fred Phelps

and than the guy 
who just rented
that old  7/11
 down the street
after he received
"a word from God"

.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Let them come

If infant baptism means nothing,
as some Protestants believe,
than the child merely gets a little wet.

If it instead is as important
as nearly ALL Christians believed for 1500 years
(and most still do),
than it is beyond negligent
for any Christian parent
to not let their child 
partake of this sacrament.

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them;
for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:14).
.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Our Lady of Guadalupe for atheists

.
Tom Quiner has a wonderful post on Our Lady, and more to the point, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, over at his Quiner's Diner. I highly reccomend y'all take a virtual stroll over and check it out.

"Science raises more questions than it answers.
How come the fabric survives?
Don’t know.
How in the world was the thing painted?
Don’t know.
How could an artist have painted microscopic reflections in the irises of Mary’s eyes?
He couldn’t, it is impossible.
How could a dumb peasant have done any of this along with accurately depicting the constellations?
Maybe he didn’t.
Maybe it is just another mystery of our faith."
.

The Art of God


Friday, November 30, 2012

Given to be Given

Pondering Mother Teresa's long "dark night of the soul",
and the lack of joy she told her confessor of,
I realized that Mother was so busy
giving away all the joy God gave her,
that she never thought
to save any
for herself
that is a Saint!
.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Stand

.
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
We would have never gotten away with what we did
if you (the Church) had been united, purposeful and strong".
Dr. Bernard Nathanson - Ex-Abortionist / Pro-life Catholic

.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A Lil' Perspective

 .
"Material concerns and one sided values are never sufficient to fill the hearts and minds of a human person. A life reduced to the sole dimension of possessions, of consumer goods, of temporal concerns will never let you discover and enjoy the full richness of your humanity.

It is only in Jesus that you will fully understand who you are".

John Paul the Great
.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Who is the Teacher?

.
When someone goes against 
the official teaching 
of the 
Catholic Church, 
they are actually 
going against 
Christ

"for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
but my Father which is in heaven."
.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Tonight : Dawn Eden on EWTN

.

Dawn Eden, the person who had the most influence on my creating this here blog, will be sharing her conversion story on the Journey Home tonight. The writer will also be talking about her new book
"My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints"

I gots popcorn, if anyone wants to tune in at 8PM up here in Myersville (o:
.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Less was soo much More

 .
When I was born,
 .
Married couples
 
didn't always have two cars
or an oversize house 
.
 they didn't have a TV in every room
nor did they have iPads, iPhones, or iPods

they didn't dine out several times a week
or have gym memberships

they didn't have guys' nights
or girls' weekends

but,
unlike today,
 
they did have
  
Children!

lots and lots
of Children!

>

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Redefining Marriage . . .Again


Our state voted for so-called "gay marriage",
and a part of me thought it was a bit odd
that my Protestant brethren were complaining
about the state going against Christ and redifining marriage,
considering they kind of got the ball rolling with
"Divorce"
.
'

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Seeing the Positive in a World Gone Mad


On a positive note,
last night's election results have made me,
for the first time,
almost glad
I have a terminal illness (O:
.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

Happy Year of Faith

.
If you are only faithful to your spouse
for an hour and a half a week,
is it really a marriage?

If that describes your "faith" life,
than use all the Church has to offer
to become a better "bride"
for so deserving a Bridegroom

.

It's not "them, it's "U.S."

Republican or Democrat,
in the end
we are a country that supports the evil,
and unless we change that,
we deserve to fade away into history.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

My Great Sin, or Why Ayn Rand love is an Evil

.
After a recent discussion with a bromide filled atheist, one of her comments reminded me of one of the great evils my own atheism caused. She said "I don't need God, I'm happy with who I am", and I remembered a time, years ago, when I foolishly thought that too.

My mother had a life that would rival Job's, and I now pray daily that she is with our mutual Mother basking in the Beatific Vision.

Sadly, about twenty years ago I did not have that compassionate insight, only a pseudo intellectual philosophy born of the writing of the last Century's great fool, Ayn Rand. While Rand is more often right than wrong when discussing some of our world's economic and political follies, she of course was a true idiot when it came to the idea of "selfish love", which she now knows was a huge oxymoron. The truth of love is the Cross, of caring so much for another that you not only will painfully take nails in your hands, but will gladly offer to do so if it will benefit the other. Without sacrifice what she called love is really at best mere fondness, at worst a form of narcissism.

At 28 I did not know this, and armed with my sick "virtue of selfishness" went to once again visit my mother who needed help with her rent. This oh so troubled woman, was not only deaf since childhood, but had suffered many emotional and physical difficulties in her life (which I pray count much towards her time in purgatory, but that I won't go into here). She would not have ever won "Mother of the Year", but I wouldn't have won "son of the year" either. Abandoning us when I was eleven, I honestly didn't really ever know her, except as I got older, and only when my sister would call because of this or that problem my mom had gotten herself into.

One this particular day, she was being threatened with eviction, and I went to see what I could do, but only because I loved my sister and she had asked. I went back and forth with my mother and the rental office, and things did get straightened out, but not after this self serving boy became extremely frustrated. My mom, this frail and frightened woman, said to me something very telling "you act as if you don't love me!"
In full Ayn Rand "everybody must earn love" pretentiousness I said "but I don't"

While I have committed many evils in my life, that I said this to this poor daughter of God, will remain my greatest sin . . .and one I committed against not only her, not only to my God, but to my very soul.

A few months later I moved to DC, and would not see the woman that gave me birth until after my conversion, and after she had developed Alzheimer's. As a new Christian I started visiting her every Sunday after church, but she never knew who I was, never recognized the man she bore.

See, I would never be able to undo my words to her, never say "I love you mom", and have her understand. My foolish childhood philosophy of "earned love" had cost me the chance to tell my own mother she was loved . . .and as Jesus reminds us, even the Pharisees could did that.

While I pray she knows how sorry I am, and how much I love her, I will go to my grave knowing my last statement to my mother was that I did not love her.

That is why it matters that we have, and can give, the unconditional love of Christ.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012

Christ fully lived out

.
Officer Patrick O'Rourke's wife speaks with 7 Action News about her husband


Today, Amy O'Rourke will put bury the body of her beloved husband Patrick.
This interview with her just days after he was shot and killed, where she talks of Christ and forgivness, is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen . . . this is truly Christ lived out!

Please keep this family in your prayers

Thursday, August 23, 2012

St. Rose

How wonderful a world it would be if the time modern folks spent at the gym, the nail or hair salon, or the mall clothes shopping was instead spent in prayer.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Explaing the Thousands of Protestant Denominations

.
“He has wrought victory with his arm
 and he has scattered the proud 
with the opinion of their heart.”

PS: Non-Denominational is still a denomination (O:
  .

Friday, August 17, 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Monday, August 13, 2012

Paraphrasing Luther on the Folly of Sola Scriptura

.
Oh God what has he done,
there our now as many "churches"
as there are empty 7/11s


No Passing Trend


"The Catholic Church never suits the particular mood of any age, because it was made for all ages. A Catholic knows that if the Church married the mood of any age in which it lived, it would be a widow in the next age. The mark of the true Church is that it will never get on well with the passing moods of the world: "I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Mary the Dawn

.
Mary the Dawn, 
Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the Gate, 
Christ the Heav’nly Way!
Mary the Root, 
Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the Grape, 
Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the Wheat-sheaf, 
Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the Rose-Tree, 
Christ the Rose Blood-red!
Mary the Font, 
Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the Chalice, 
Christ the Saving Blood!
Mary the Temple, 
Christ the Temple’s Lord;
Mary the Shrine, 
Christ the God adored!
Mary the Beacon, 
Christ the Haven’s Rest;
Mary the Mirror, 
Christ the Vision Blest!
Mary the Mother, 
Christ the Mother’s Son.
Both ever blest while endless ages run.
Amen.
.

Friday, August 10, 2012

At what price your Volvo or BMW?


"Downie kids get murdered in the womb by the bushel
to “prevent a life of suffering”.

“Lives of suffering” is generally Boomer code for
“lives of inconvenience to Boomers”

.

Chick-Fil-A Day = Unity

Two things last week's blockbuster Chick-fil-a Day showed us
1) that folks are sick of clueless media types calling sincere folks "haters"
2) and that a united Christendom can change the world!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Medjugorje visions lack spiritual depth

.
[Father Mitch] Pacwa said there is no chance for the visions to get approval while they're still going on, and it's a long shot even after they stop.

One quirk that emerged was when two of the Medjugorje visionaries said the Virgin Mary endorsed a book, "The Poem of the Man-God," that had been condemned by the Vatican. The fanciful 1940s biography of Jesus by Maria Valtorta contains details like a dancing girl brushing up against Jesus, Joseph giving young Jesus an anachronistic tool kit with screwdrivers and the Virgin Mary making statements such as "man disgusts me," Pacwa said.

"The book had been condemned by the church in 1959 because it said a lot of silly things that contradicted what was in the gospels," Pacwa said. "The church rejected it. Any vision must be judged by revelation that exists in the gospels. You can't say anything you want."

What may be the unraveling of the Medjugorje visions is the lack of any spiritual depth to the messages, Pacwa said.

"That is a much more pointed critique," he said.

The writings of Sister Faustina, now a saint, describe visions from Jesus. "As you kept reading, a new depth of spiritual life began to show itself," Pacwa said. "You can see definite growth over the years in her spiritual messages. I don't see that with the messages of Medjugorje. They tend to be the same thing over and over again. Something I would look for is a growth in spiritual depth. I haven't sensed it."

Pacwa said Vatican theologians will take all that into account and that Medjugorje in the end may be denied church approval.

"I don't have a sense this is going to go swimmingly. I am very impressed with a number of the positive things I have experienced there. I have a lot of respect for the good things that have occurred. But I'm not going to be naive about some of the problems. It has to be dealt with, with full integrity".
.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Humility to Unity

.
"I can't help but think that 
if everyone calling themselves a Christian 
would humbly beg Christ to remove all their pride, 
than we would see more Protestants
becoming Catholic, 
and see more Catholics
actually being Christian"
.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Why We May Fight the HHS Mandate

.
"The entire and sole point of the HHS Mandate 
is to make open and naked war against the Church 
and punish her for her beliefs about sexual morality.
The Church has a duty 
to resist such an act of war 
against her teaching."
 Mark Shea
  - - - read more here
.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

It's a Bird, it's a Plane . . it's a Fast?

.
I think the called it a Fast, 
because our sacrifices 
give added speed 
to our Prayers
.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

RePost : Offer it Up

.
As I seem to have thrown my back out again, I thought I would re-post this from 2010, as at least a reminder to myself that my suffering can be a blessing to others if I remember to not only accept, but to "Offer it up" as well. . . . of course any prayers for quick healing are more than welcome.

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his body, which is the church"
Col 1:24
.
Once upon a time not so young D'art was engaged, and through the process, and calling off of the wedding, learned that people can be hurtful, spiteful, can lie, can steal, can disrespect and betray . . . generally do everything that my own sins did to Christ.

I can honestly say that if I took all the wrongs done to me before, and multiplied them by 100, it would still come short to what happened back then. Even until this past winter I was still suffering from battle fatigue, not being able to really talk , and definitely not trust, anyone . . .and my fathers death and my own similar health diagnosis, I confess, made me not so trusting of God either.

Knowing change had to be made, the plan for coming to this lil' glimpse of paradise on the Chesapeake and starting a business was formed. Moving here was both stressful and a lil scarey, especially as my previous future wife had depleted most of my savings, but I knew it was a good choice to be free of the "me first" mentality of city life.

Less than a month after the move, my boss had me work at our warehouse in Virginia, and with in a few hours someone asked me for a small, but heavy, box of Glass . . ."POP!" . . not only goes the weasel but my back too. I worked through the day hoping it was just a minor thing, but than we had the blizzard a day later, and shoveling a couple feet of snow turned my back from bad to worse.

Two herniated Discs = Pain, pain, and a lil' more pain.

As I prayed for the strength to endure, and learn, from this, that still small voice kept saying "Offer it up for -------, suffer for -------"

"What, you want me to offer my sufferings up for her?" I thought "but you know what she did, and than did at Dad's funeral . . .for her?????????"

"yes, for her" was the answer, and it slowly, obediently, became my answer too

When the pain drove me to the ground
" I suffer for --------"
When I couldn't sleep from lack of any position even mildly comfortable
" for ------ I offer to you Father"
When tears ran down my face as I tried to drive to work
"Lord, for ------- receive my sufferings"

This lasted for three months . . . .three long, and painful months, but ended the same day Lent ended. My back was much better, but silly me, I prayed to our Lady to let me keep a lil' of the pain, so I can remember the gift of this suffering. She faithfully answered my prayer, and everyday I wake with a lil' reminder of what Christ did for me, and asks me to do for others.

Most of the anger and resentment towards the sad lil' girl hiding in a woman's business suit has passed, with a touch of bittersweet being the faint feelings of love I first had on the day we met, and now I continue to ask our Lady daily to pray for her, in the hopes we both get to sing together, all tears then dried, with Her and the Son forever.

So, next time someone really attacks you, attack them back
. . . with love, with prayer, and by "Offering it Up"
No, it ain't easy,
but neither was hanging on a cross.

.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

More Killings during Batman

 .
Just in :
Yesterday approximately 4,000 innocents were
mercilessly burned alive
and/or violently ripped apart
while their clueless fellow Americans
were watching the new Batman flick.

Sadly, it will happen again today
 . . . even sadder still, most folks don't care.
.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Jeremiah 20

.
You seduced me, LORD, and I let myself be seduced;

you were too strong for me, and you prevailed.

All day long I am an object of laughter;

everyone mocks me.

Whenever I speak, I must cry out,

violence and outrage I proclaim;

The word of the LORD has brought me

reproach and derision all day long.

I say I will not mention Him,

I will no longer speak in His name.

But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart,

imprisoned in my bones;

I grow weary holding back,

I cannot!
.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Don't Paint my Apple, Mac

.
"An Apple is still an Apple,

regardless of how many times you call it an Orange,
regardless of how many people
or late-night talking heads call it an Orange,
regardless of how many same-fruit laws are passed,
regardless of how many people are jailed or lose their jobs
for their traditional view that it is after all an Apple,
regardless how many narrow-minded Politicians or bigoted Presidents
distort scripture while spray painting it Orange.

An Apple is still just an Apple"
.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Margaret Channels Adolf

.
"Our failure to segregate morons who are increasing and multiplying
... demonstrates our foolhardy and extravagant sentimentalism ...
[Philanthropists] encourage the healthier and more normal sections of the
world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of
others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead
weight of human waste.

Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the
stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world,
it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant ... "We are paying
for, and even submitting to, the dictates of an ever-increasing,
unceasingly spawning class of human beings 
who never should have been born
at all."

Margaret Sanger.- The Pivot of Civilization , 1922

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Weather it out

.

Protestant Theology 
is kinda like 
Baltimore weather

If ya don't like it, 
just wait 15 minutes
(O;

.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

G.K. Virtue


"As the word "unreasonable" is open to misunderstanding, the matter may be more accurately put by saying that each one of these Christian or mystical virtues involves a paradox in its own nature, and that this is not true of any of the typically pagan or rationalist virtues.

Justice consists in finding out a certain thing due to a certain man and giving it to him.

Temperance consists in finding out the proper limit of a particular indulgence and adhering to that.

But charity means pardoning what is unpardonable, 
or it is no virtue at all.

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, 
or it is no virtue at all.

And faith means believing the incredible, 
or it is no virtue at all".

Gilbert Keith Chesterton
v

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Mormons, Evangelicals, and Hollywood

.
"For if someone comes to you and preaches 
a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, 
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, 
or a different gospel from the one you accepted, 
you put up with it easily enough" 
2 Corinthians 11:4
.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Monday, April 16, 2012

Upon this . . .

.
Odd thing,
I keep reading the Bible
but can't seem to find that passage
where Christ pronounces :

"Upon this BOOK I will build my Church"

. . .maybe I should look at a Lutheran Bible (O:
.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Similar but different

.
Catholics and Protestants are very similar
except
Catholicism forms it's views from Christ's teachings,
whereas
Protestantism forms Christ's teachings to fit it's views.

.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Free fromTrend

.
"The Catholic Church
is the only thing which saves a man
from the degrading slavery
of being a child of his age."
G. K. Chesterton

.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Thanks Barack!

.
Nothing has more strongly convinced me
that I am in the right Church
more than
our government's attack upon it!

.

Dear V.P. Biden

.
'Not to oppose error is to approve it;
and not to defend truth is to suppress it;
and indeed to neglect to confound evil men,
when we can do it,
is no less a sin
than to encourage them.'
Pope St. Felix III
.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Obamacare : Subsidising the Rich

.
“At a time when the economy is in trouble and the American taxpayer provides 46 percent of Planned Parenthood’s income,” said Rob Gasper, senior researcher at ALL and co-author of the report, “it is incredible that the top eight people at PP’s headquarters—who provide no actual healthcare and never see a single client—make an average of $269,541 a year.”

Lifesite article on another fact PP doesn't want you to know and the media doesn't seem to care
.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

File Under :Luther's Legacy

.
Russ Rentler delivers the "fruit" of Sola Scripture in his
Christian Unity Banjo Opus


.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Dear Barbara ,

.
"Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.

A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying".
.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Lord and Savior

.
I am confident someone wiser than I has said this before but, meditating on "Lord and Saviour" this morning I pondered the relation to faith and works.
Through Faith we know Christ is our Savior
Through Works we show Christ is our Lord.

.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Obama : Null and Void

.Breaking News : Grand Emperor Obama, sighting that most Catholic drivers exceed the speed limit from time to time, has declared the all speed limits to be - like his morality - null and void.
.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Wanderlust No More

.
Have you ever gazed dreamily at a picture of Italy or Hawaii and been left with a deep hunger for the place?
That is one of the very reasons we have statues of Christ in our church, to place that same hunger in our hearts to be where He is

. . . and we have the Crucifix to remind us of the cost of admission.
.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Understanding Sebelius, Pelosi, and other CINOs

.
"It is not as though God's word had failed.
For not all who are descended from Israel
are Israel
."
Romans 9:6

Nor all who claim to be Catholic
are in any way actually Catholic

.
.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

Religion of the Worldly

.
Faith Without Works
is Dead

Faith Without Reason
is Protestant

.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

God Control :How Protestants failed Christ #43

.
"A couple who claims to completely trust God,
but uses artificial Birth Control
is really saying
they trust the Creator
in everything but Creation"

.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

First they came for the Catholics

.
"First they came for the Socialists, and I
did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did
not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was
no one left to speak for me."

Chuck Colson and Timothy George quoting German pastor Martin Niemoeller, reflecting on the Nazi terror, in an article in Christianity Today on our Fascist President's latest attach on religious liberty.
more here
.

Where is your Trust?

.
No airline would allow someone to board one of their airplanes wearing a parachute, yet almost every Protestant denomination allows their congregation to use artificial birth control.

Is it not sad that they trust Southwest more than we trust God?
.

Friday, February 10, 2012

President Golum


Like your Freedom, these commemorative Presidential keepsakes will only be available for a limited time.
.

Dear President Obama

.

.Well I won't back down
No I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin me down
gonna stand my ground
... and I won't back down

.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

When Obama was only 7

.
"Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficul...ty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife."
Pope Paul 6th - Humanae Vitae -1968
.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Coming soon to a wall near you


One of the odd blessings of having a terminal illness is the knowledge that I won't be in jail too long after I start plastering these around the DC area (O:

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

File Under : If I won the Lottery

.

But for now, I'll just make do with T-shirts

.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Follow the Leader

or "Obama Contracepts Catholics while America Drowns"
.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Understanding Jefferson Bethke is wrong . . .

.
. . . is not just a Catholic thing.

One of my favorite musicians, Justin McRoberts, writes in his blog "Why I don't hate religion"

"Yet I would suggest that the thing to do in response to poorly practiced religion is to work at practicing it well and helping others to do the same".

read it here
.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Theology will not be Youtubed

"Obey your leaders,
and submit to them,
for they have care of your souls."
Hebrews 13:17
.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Two Doors

.
The Church has two doors
The Entrance is marked : Truth
The Exit is Marked : Opinion

.

Faith and Reason vs. Hollister Brand Christianity

.
Not all of our Protestant brethren fall for the moral relative pseudo Christianity of wannabe Old Navy models. The Supertones have always had extremely challenging lyrics, and I pray daily that their main song writer, and all of the band, finally come to know the fullness of Truth in Christ's church.

"Faith and reason are like two wings
on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth;
and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—
in a word, to know himself
—so that, by knowing and loving God,
men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves"
Blessed John Paul II

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Sola CBS


Caffeinated thought for the Day :
If Protestants truly believed in the
Bible Alone,
than shouldn't "Christian" bookstores
only be stocked with Bibles? (O:
.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hope for Christians Embracing Bethkeism

.
Watching early video of Bryan Kempler on "Politically Incorrect" balanced with his recent conversion, reminds me that there is hope for the innocent young people being lied to by the Bethke's of this world (who themselves have been lied to . . .and that hope and forgiveness is still available). . . .heck, even a butthead like me was given the grace to see the truth over the lie.
"the Church is the Church is the Church" BK
.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Laziness of Jefferson Bethke Non-Religion Religion

.
"The less you believe,
the less you have to defend"

Al Kresta - Surprised by Truth
Catholic convert on why as a Protestant his church
didn't bother with dogma or doctrine
.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

so goes the Nation

.
A more political Protestant friend noticed
"You worry more about Pro-life
than you do the economy"
I replied " Of course,
'cause God doesn't care if our money burns,
but hates that our children do".
.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Variation on a Theme

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To Say the
Opposite
of Life

is Choice
makes as much sense
as saying
the Opposite
of Death

is Peanut Butter
(O:
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Pro-Life Troops : Stand!!!



STAND!
There's a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you're going anywhere
Stand!
For the things you know are right
It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand!
There's a midget standing tall
And a giant beside him about to fall
Stand!
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Friday, January 20, 2012

Luther Bethke Luther

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Jefferson Bethke's Kardasian-like popularity helps us understand how a monk of average intelligence and misguided passion could be turned into the prideful celebrity who had to invent Sola Scriptura rather than admit that he was wrong and had led others astray.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Bridegroom and the Bride

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Saying you
"Love Jesus, but Hate Religion"
is like saying you
"Love Your Wife, But Hate Marriage"
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Understanding Jefferson Bethke

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"For the time will come
when people
will not put up with
sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them
a great number of teachers
to say
what their itching ears
want to hear".
2 Timothy 4:3
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

With and Without You : My Story

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PART I: Without


"God is Good",

those were the words a chubby ten year old wrote on the movable chalkboard during Vacation Bible School at Kenwood Presbyterian Church in the summer of 1973 (Kenwood Pres is mostly known in the area, if at all, as the church Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" used to attend with his parents). Yes, as a little kid I actually loved what I understood was God, even praying nightly the "Now I lay me down to sleep" my mom had taught me, with an added "and please God let my mother hear again and make Colleen normal"

See my sister has Downs syndrome, and it wasn't yet un P.C. to want her to be "normal", even if now I understand her lack of that mysterious attribute to be one of the greatest gifts God ever gave me (although I can't wait to see her on that day we both gets our new bodies).

My mother, besides being deaf, also had been in a catatonic coma for about a year when I was 6, and was never the same after, suffering many bouts of anxiety and depression. This latter part was the cause of a lot of drama and it wasn't unusual for the neighbors to hear her and my dad arguing, with silly me in the middle trying to stop the fighting, and catching a few punches and slaps along the way. Watching too many Errol Flynn movies, I always tried to be the great protector for my mom and lil' sisters . . . I failed more often than not.

A few days after I entered 7th grade I came home from school to find my dad oddly home already, and he sat me down to tell me mom wouldn't be living with us anymore. As an adult I can see how this affected me, but as a kid I was just happy to know the fighting would finally be over . . . or so I thought. It wasn't until a few weeks later when our beloved 11 year old collie "Lady" died, that I remember finally crying.

I was always an emotional youngen, as well as an emotional eater, so I started to pile on the pounds as watching tv in my dark room began to be my recreational activity of choice. Supposedly I was/am a rather a smart individual as well, with an IQ oddly around 165 ( unlike Steve Jobs, my IQ has never translated into $$$). In that same year my mom left, my over IQ'd brain that would cause my father to find me on the bathroom floor one day with me giving the excuse "I ate too many doughnuts".

This wasn't entirely a lie, did I mention I was a fatty?, but it was that earlier I had been having the "who created God, and who created God's creator, etc." thought, and it confused and scarred me so much I started to feel physical pain. As no answer came to me for that question, I than decided I was an atheist. Other thoughts such as "Why would God make my Mother deaf or my sister retarded" and "Why would He make my Father hit me so much" soon solidified that decision.

I would not enter another church for about 10-20 years. I also only mentioned my father's occasional violence so that I can show later how our mutual loving Father would bring healing and forgiveness, and a love so deep for my dad that I never knew possible.

In High School, TV in the dark bedroom was replaced by listening to depressing records in our dark basement, and recovering from my heart's attack - overeating turned to anorexia. I must point out that it really wasn't fear of death that inspired my weight lose, but something far worse to a teenager, the fact that everyone was dating but me (although I wouldn't actually kiss a girl until just before HS graduation).

It was also in High School we found out about my IQ, but I preferred bad grades to good since a "D" or an "E" meant attention from my father, and a slap or an insult is still better than the indifference of an "A" or "B".

Being unhappy and planning for the day I would finally die became my religion, and I attempted first suicide at 19 after discovering my first girlfriend aborted our child who was conceived the night I lost my virginity.

The next attempt would come a few years later, but mainly due to my inability to see any future or purpose for my life, or anyone's life for that matter. Actually, I don't really understand why every atheist doesn't walk of into the woods alone with a shot gun . . .but I'm glad they don't.

I also decided I was Pro-life in High School, but not mainly because I saw how just plain stupid it was that a child should die just so people can have 5 minutes (or less) of what they think is fun. The "it's my body" argument was just as illogical to me, because this wasn't an arm or a leg, but a separate entity living inside, but not really part, of the woman's body. I was also friends with a nice Pro-life Catholic girl who during research for an article, had been told by 3 separate Planned Parenthoods that she was pregnant, which was kinda odd because she was still a virgin.

Also shortly before graduation my best friend had become a "born again" Christian, and I had picked up a book called "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.

Nothing had ever awakened me before as this novel, and not entirely in a good way. I saw in myself a few of the traits of her hero Howard Roark, but mostly I related to Peter Keating, the poor fool in the book who's ideas and values were based on not what was true but what society of the moment said. This was a sucker punch to my trendy John Lennon given liberal views, and would cause to to forever more look at things "objectively" . . . which much to my fellow Randites chagrin, would in time lead me to the one who is objective Truth.

The microscope of reason and logic would show me the folly of atheism; the prideful arrogance at the core of Protestantism; and finally the fullness of Truth in Christ's church . . .but, I'm getting ahead of myself (O:

So, after taking a year off to earn money as a day laborer, I entered College with a new vision of the world, and as a new vision to the world, for I had lost a lot of weight, and what I kept was muscle. Suddenly I had lost that thing that made girls run screaming in my school days. It now seemed my lap was the best seat at lunch time for young women, and my bag and art supply cabinet a place to find random "call me" notes. A high school teacher of mine even asked me out?

This silly stuff I mention because it is part of a duality lesson God is starting to teach me, as He truly was, and would, continually have me walking a mile in the shoes of another. . .well, except they were mine.

A liberal to a conservative, a fat kid to a buff long haired rocker, an atheist to . . . .

My friend Vic, who had become a Christian, never ever preached to me, but whether he knew it or not, was the first person who ever WAS Christ to me . . .and many times. I still remember him holding my hand, a thing us "guys" just didn't do, on the night he let me weep hysterically after I had found out about the abortion. He is one of the very best people our God has ever put in my life, and it makes me weep again now in the knowledge that somehow, somewhere, he lost his faith.

While I had this new Randite religion, I also never preached it to him, as I was aware of one very important thing - that the day I became an atheist was also a day of sadness. I knew that I did not wish to kill that hope in my friend, as I had in myself.

We were both music people, and he would continue to play in area and national acts, and I would start my DJ'ing at an infamous Hair metal club in Baltimore, as well also running sound for bands (ever heard of a band called U2?). So we drifted apart, as he toured more, and my self imposed exiles during various bouts of depression worsened.

When I wasn't feeling hopeless, I was dating and falling in love with lots of nice gals. Oddly I had a rule during a first date that the young lady would have to hear and agree on my view on abortion, if there was to be a second date. Yep, I was a Long Haired Libertarian atheist Pro-lifer who wouldn't date a girl unless she was Pro-life too . . .so o.k., maybe I didn't have a lot of second dates (O:

Continuing also to work construction during this time as now a Brick layer, I was asked by a local kid if he could labor for us during the summer. Tim is one of the smartest, and basically around great guys I had ever met, and even as a teen had sense of what was "good" that most folks will sadly never grasp. It was he who would first use logic and reason to try to change my view on God, in part by using Ockham's razor (the simplest answer is often the correct answer) to show that it makes MORE sense that this complicated world was created than to accept it "just happened". Still an atheist, but those words never left my noggin'

Granted, it was that I saw Jesus in Tim, more than anything he ever spoke.

O.k., So more years of on and off depression, of falling in and out of love, of touring with bands, and just basically existing. During this time I did become somewhat good at debate, and my favorite party trick was to argue any liberal around, hopefully to the point of tears. I had become kind of an intellectual bully, and is one of the reasons I rarely talk politics since becoming a Christian.

Not long after I turned 30 I met an amazing woman, who yes had to hear my anti-abortion speech prior to the first kiss., and although we never married, would be together for almost nine years.

She would witness me at my most depressed, my most hopeless, all the while gifting me with unconditional love. As I was someone who had been abandoned by his mother, God knew I had to witness an earthly form of unconditional love before I would ever be able to receive His.

During our time together my brother had become a Promise Keeper, and was suddenly a guy I actually liked to be in the same room with. Wishing to bond more with him, despite his living 3 states away, I started to "learn" about Christian things. I even bought the first Jars of Clay cd, as well as attended with my brother the Promise Keeper Rally on the Mall in DC (it's worth stating that though I was still an atheist, I had to admit I felt something very powerful that day). I also remembering feeling a touch of sadness that there were no Catholics at the event (or at least that I knew of), and that somewhere inside my slowly defrosting heart, God was teaching me he desired unity.

At this time another lil' Jesus entered my life. David worked part time with me, and over hearing me mention the Rally on the Mall, came over to talk. I cut him off when he started the "Jesus talk", explaining I was still an atheist, but was just a little more open than before.

Next day at work I find a little note stuck in a book by that Children's author C.S. Lewis. The note read "you seem to respect logic a lot, me too, I think you'll like this, your friend, David" and the book was of course "Mere Christianity".

I read it that weekend, butt clenched waiting to be preached at, but only found logic and reason. This book read like an Ayn Rand essay, but with charm and wit, and dare I say, a soul!

See that was the thing I always knew about the Rand stuff, that it was logical, but also very empty. I knew at my very core, that if it was true, life had absolutely no meaning. Rand was wrong!

While I could agree with Lewis, I wasn't ready to sing with Bob Dylan "I've been saved!" just yet.

The woman I mentioned, who I now lived with, started finding more things for me to read, and for us to talk about. She was not a Christian, but very much a lil' Christ too, for she saw the hope in my eyes when I read or pondered these wacky new Christian ideas, and wanted only for me to know joy.

I worked across the street from a Catholic church, St Anns in DC, that was advertising RCIA, but more as a "want to learn about the Church". So I signed up and started attending the class. Father David W. Beaubien and Deacon Robert Whitaker taught the class, and were both converts to Catholicism, which for whatever reason I respected more than if they had been cradle papists (I would later have the much undeserved honor of helping Deacon Whitaker bring others into the Church through RCIA, and would learn from this humble saint of a man how to truly serve and sacrifice as Christ would).

One day I admitted to Fr. Beaubien that I still didn't know what I believed and he so perfectly replied
" But you are walking in the right direction, just keep walking".
Not judgmental or preachy, but so loving and affirming, as if Jesus himself had uttered those very words . . . and me thinks he did.

Oh, if this is where you think I become Catholic, ya might want to skip a head a bit, although in a few years it will be in this very church that at Easter Vigil I will take the name "Rose"

On Good Friday, as I was getting ready for work, Pat Robertson asked through the TV
"if anyone wanted to know Jesus" and I did, and I got on my knees before the magic box and repeated the "sinners prayer". No blinding light, no rush of tears, I just finished putting on my tie and went off to work. The only strange feeling came when I felt oddly envious as my girlfriend went up to receive the Eucharist, but I couldn't . . .yet.

She had been raised Catholic, and although she didn't know she was suppose to go to confession first after being away so long, did receive most Sundays when we went to "church". I wouldn't find out for some time that she also, while alone on that very day, had said the same prayer. My girlfriend had now become my "sister", and while we would never marry, she would remain always my sister (God has since given her a wonderful husband and an adorable lil' son).

Part II: With

O.K. so now I am a Christian

cue crickets chirping

Now what?

I did admit that I was in love with "my idea of" Jesus,
I did start each day with the Bible
We started listening to Christian music, and going to Christian concerts
We even did the Protestant Church-hop for a while

Something wasn't right . . .oh yeah, you're living in sin, 'causing another to sin, but calling yerself a Christian
Granted, I had attempted our taking a vow of chastity while living together . . .yeah, like that works

During this time I was also praying "Lord, what would you have me be? a Protestant or a Catholic"
Almost every time I prayed that I would hear a still small voice say "you will be Catholic, but not yet"
As if the parables weren't hard enough to understand, this is the answer I am getting?

With our living together, and my awareness of it being wrong in God's eyes, I started to get depressed again. It was also in part because it was hard to work at a job where my faith was mocked, or more to the point, where my love was mocked.

This went on for some time and while she loved me, my history of depression didn't inspire her to want me as a husband either. We just stayed stagnant for a very long time until she, in her ever loving way, realized I needed us apart if I was to grow in Christ and in His joy.

So after much sadness and anger, we parted (but would remain friends, and the rosary that her mother gave me is the very one I will use again tonight).

Moving closer to home I church hopped a lot, not truly knowing what I was actually looking for. I settled on a rather innocuous mega-church near work that I had been attending on Saturdays, while "trying out" neighboring churches. I soon learned it was best to come fifteen minutes late to avoid the Praise and Worship music, as I wanted to be fed not rocked by musical "vain and repetitious prayer".
I attended small group and never missed a Sunday.
I was finally becoming joy filled in my faith, in my life.
But the more I read the Bible,
the more I noticed how un-biblical the pastors' talks were.

While this non-denominational denomination talked a lot about Jesus, it's building didn't have a cross or image of Christ anywhere in it.
Sure, they might put a "fish" on their Volvos, and let their kids have Hollister written on their shirts or "Pink" on their butts, but a cross would be idolatry.
Oh, and we applauded for the "rockstars" leading worship, although once I was greatly impressed when a worship leader said not to clap for them but Him (pointing upward)
. . .but this only happened once.
We would occasionally also have "communion", which I always disliked, as I knew in my heart it was fake, and seemed out of place in this warehouse. It was especially telling how the pastor would always over enunciate the word "remembrance", lest anyone know anything important (or Catholic) was happening.
This was something I have noticed at every Protestant church I have been to as well.

On Easter when they had scenes from the Passion showing on their mega flat screen, I started to realize that this church and it ideas were a fabrication, a fantasy, a movie of the week version of Christianity. I absolutely love the movie "the Passion", but felt a slide-show during a service cheapened both the film and our "worship".

The "church" had actually organized groups to see the film in the theater, but maybe because I was already unconsciously Catholic, I chose to see it alone, as a sort of pilgrimage. I still remember how I felt afterward, of sitting in my car laughing uncontrollably. Not that I found anything funny, but I suddenly felt a joy so overwhelming, a joy that comes from seeing all that Christ did because He loved me . . . .He knew me completely, every sin and mistake, every cruel selfish act, and somehow still said "Michael, for you my child!"
with every lash "Michael, I love you!"

I had been attending the annual March for Life in DC since my early 20s, even as an atheist, but I couldn't find any of theses "Christians" who wanted to attend with me, or had ever attended previously?

One quick note, I did meet individuals who were very much lil' Jesus', but it was the emptiness of the church's pseudo teachings and it's boardroom like focus on "43 kids were saved last weekend" that was showing me this wasn't Christianity (in their acceptance of the silly "once-saved" that I had always known wasn't Biblical, it was rare to count how many of those kids were still "saved" a year later, a "catch and release" style of ministry that was good only for the "stock holders").

This Church loved "Jesus", but I was starting to realize that we worshiped different Jesuses (although I wasn't even sure yet what that meant). Their Jesus could be molded into any thing current trend dictated, but I wanted Christ to mold me!

I also somehow found my self at a new job, working in a Christian company. I didn't know it was owned by a Christian, but he knew I was a Christian when he hired me. As it was located closer to DC, I started looking for a place down in that area.

I found an English basement near Rock Creek Park where the landlord proclaimed "we're all Catholics who live upstairs, and so I am sorry but no overnite guests".
I smiled and said, "where do I sign?".

One of the gals living upstairs was a bright Grad student who always seemed to bump into me in the laundry room, which would lead to hour long discussions on faith and history, and where once she proclaimed "yeah, you're already Catholic, you just don't know it"

I came to really enjoy these talks, and when I heard she was moving out I became a bit sad. Hanging out with my old girlfriend one day, and talking about this young lady who was moving, she knew me well enough to say" wow, you're in love with her" and she made me promise to ask her out.

Oddly, I didn't want to "date" her, 'cause when I thought and prayed over it I realized I wanted to "marry" her.

I finally had become the person who could love, thanks be to God, and I wanted her to be the earthly recipient of that love. She on the other hand hadn't given me a second thought, so when I did profess my undying love for her she kinda looked like a deer in dem headlights (even if I was the one who felt like I had been shot when I left with a "no")

Thankfully she called the next day to explain that it was nice that I was crazy about her, but that I never actually asked her out, so I did, and she said yes!?!

Almost immediately during our courtship she pronounced "I don't think I could marry a non-Catholic"
That night I prayed and heard that yes, it was time for me to enter His church.

I started RCIA the next Sunday , with one of Paula's friends as my sponsor. Of any of the people I saw Christ in it was this man. He was a dad with five kids (one with special needs) who worked three jobs so that his wonderful wife could raise their brood at home. Although He worked way too much, and had very little, he would stop to pray with or for anyone, and offer anything he had to another (after first knowing his family was provided for). He did all this and always had a smile . . .sometimes a tired smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Paula was the perfect gift from God in more ways than mere beauty, which she had in abundance inside and out. Her parents had been missionaries, so this was no Cultural Catholic before me. She had also been a teacher and was studying medieval history in Grad school, so my education began.

She taught me of adoration, that she took me to every Saturday
She taught me of dignity for every individual, especially in the charitable way she spoke of the unfaithful man whom she was once married.
She taught me the rosary, and helped me recite it at my mother's hospital bed
She taught me of Luther the antisemitic monk who wrote sermons about his bowel movements
She taught me of tradition and religion and virtue
She taught me of redemptive suffering, and of "offering it up"
She taught me of saints, some whom would be my friends
She taught me of hard things like sacrifice and chastity
She even taught me I looked better in short hair,
for wanting to truly give her something I had given no other,
under the scissors I went (O:
She taught me conversion was daily, instead of a one time thing
She taught me to truly forgive,
and helped me start to spend time with my dad
(and thanks to this I would be his best man when he remarried)
She also gave me the "Miraculous medal" that I would not take off until a few years later, and only so I could hide it in my Dad's pocket just before they sealed his coffin
(I wanted to make sure our Lady could find him, and take him to her Son)
She taught me that I could love
She taught me friendship as I cried the night my mother died
She smiled when I told her how I thanked Jesus for giving me His mother in replacement for mine
She guided me before my first confession and was with me when I was received into the church
She also may have giggled with my nephew when Monsignor Mosbey called me Rose at my confirmation

Sadly, the thing she also taught me was that she was not to be my wife.

She truly was the love of my life, because through Christ I finally COULD love,
and thankfully she also taught me that to love is to desire the best for "the other", so a few years down the road would find me praying daily for her and Jimmy as they began dating, and rejoicing (alone) on the day they were wed. She had, with God's grace, truly taught me love!

Yes, I now still pray for her,
and that she will now be fat . . .with child that is. (O:

Can I really complain, she gave me the real love of my life, God's most Holy Church.

So did I convert to Catholicism for a girl? no, but for True Love, yes!

Baby Catholic - Michael "Rose" only eight hours old

Part III : Prologue (because conversion is daily)

Duality
/Empathy


For whatever reason, and only in hindsight, I can see the Master's hands as he gave me so many glimpses into "the other". We are called to compassion regardless of how much we relate to another, but empathy is one of the gifts of God become flesh, of truly knowing our pains and struggles (and showing us they can be overcome and offer it up for others), and another aspect of Christ to emulate.

He gave me many hats, some I out grew, and some He burned away

I was chubster who was mocked, and a rocker who was chased
I was a liberal, a conservative, and ?
I was a poor kid who ate hot dogs 5 days a week,
now I live in a beach house and hot dogs are forbidden (O:
I was an atheist, a Protestant, and now a Catholic
A pro-lifer responsible for an abortion
I was suicidal, I am filled by His life
I am thankful oh Lord for all, for I was without,
and now and forever,
I am With

God is Good!

PS : A lil' update, it seems Jimmy and Paula are also now parents . . . Praise God!!!
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