St. John Bosco

If you have time do a little reading on St. John Bosco. Today is the feast of this great saint.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02689d.htm
He is an inspiration to all of us. He gave himself completely to God. I think of him when I here the commandment to love God with all your strength. We speak of athletes who "leave it all on the field." St. John Bosco is a man who left it all on the field of life. The only regret for the one who loves is the part of himself that he doesn't give away. St. John emptied himself for God and for his neighbor.

You just can't win

One day someone tells me that all priests care about is money. How can you ask a young family to increase their giving to support the parish. "The priest asked us for money when we had none
. . . that's the reason I don't go to Church."
The next day someone tells me that we need to get rid of those schoolkids whose families don't support the parish. "Those people are a bunch of freeloaders . . . that's why I don't go give to the Church."

The Church is too easy on divorce. Marriage used to be sacred. Now you can just get an annulment and everything is fine.
The Church is too tough on those whose marriage have failed. Why does the Church makes people go through the difficulty and anxiety of an annulment. People make mistakes, get over it, don't make them jump through hoops to move on with their life.

I failed to publish a post yesterday.
It was the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).
St. Thomas is one of 33 doctors of the Church. He is the greatest theologian of the Church. If you have a question about the faith he probably has an answer for it. His parents planned for him to be the Abbot of Monte Cassino, a famous monastery in Italy. While a young man he entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). His companions called him the Dumb Ox because he would never speak. They turned out to be wrong.
If you have some time you should read a little biography of his at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm.

A little quote: "Nothing so likens you to God, as to forgive him who has injured you."

Creator and Creature

It is important to remember that nothing is the source of its own existence except for God. God is Being. Every created thing receives its being from Being (God). For a rock or a plant or an animal this is no big deal, but for we humans this is an important thing to think about. Because life is a struggle and we have to fight in order to survive we often think of ourselves as being self-sufficient. No one is going to put food on the table, so I must do it myself.

In the midst of this struggle we must not lose sight of the reality that we receive our being and our life from God. Even the atheist must recognize that he receives his life from his parents and his food from the environment (mother nature). Just as we receive life on the natural level so do we also receive life as a gift on the supernatural level.

With our freedom we must choose to live of this new life. This new life is the life of the baptized, the life of the children of God. A fruit of this life will be our interaction with the world.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

Baptism

Can we lose sanctifying grace? Yes!

This is lost when we commit a mortal sin.
It necessary to confess mortal sins in the sacrament of confession in order to regain sanctifying grace.

Baptism

What do we receive in Baptism?
1. Forgiveness of sin. Original sin for all those who receive it. Personal sins for all those who receive baptism after reaching the age of reason.
2. Indelible mark on the soul. The soul is forever marked in a special way. Because of this baptism cannot be repeated.
3. Membership in the Church. Baptism is the first sacrament of initiation. It makes a person a living member of the Body of Christ. The baptized person does not live in isolation, but he lives in communion with all the members of the Church. The Church is a communion of love.
4. Baptism gives us new life in Christ. The baptized person is not merely a creature, but an adopted son or daughter of God. The baptized person receives the divine life of God. This life in us is called sanctifying grace which consists of 3 parts.
a. Enables us to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him
b. Gives us the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
c. Allows us to grow in goodness through the moral virtues
The whole Christian life has its roots in baptism

Human Life

In Genesis 1:27 we are taught that we are made in the image and likeness of our creator.
In Matthew 5 we are taught to love our enemies.
As our Lord died on the cross he forgave those who were responsible for his death.
Christianity has always taught that human life is sacred. In the early second century we read in the Didache that abortion is a gravely evil act.

Each day the world moves further away from the Christian understanding of the person. Who will continue to teach that the human person has an inherent dignity? Only those with an explicit Christian faith have any reason to believe that all life is sacred. If you reject the Christian faith then you reject the foundation on which human dignity stands.

Roe v Wade

Right now thousands of people are making their way to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Mass. This Mass is held every year on the night before the Right to Life March in Washington D. C. Almost 100 bishops, 500 priests and 10,000 lay people will be at Mass to pray for an end to the evil of abortion. We should all join in prayer with them and with the 100,000 people who will march tomorrow in front of the Supreme Court building.
Saying yes to life begins in our homes and families. Honor the life of your neighbor and then he or she will be more willing to honor the lives of the people they know.

Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Day of Fasting
All Catholics are called upon to pray and fast for an end to abortion on Tuesday, January 22. The US Bishops have proclaimed this as a national day of fasting. A person should have a serious medical reason not to fast.

Theological Virtues

The theological virtues are faith, hope and love.
These virtues are infused, meaning that they are freely given by God, as opposed to acquired virtues, which we gain by practice and hard work. The acquired virtues are many. The main ones are the cardinal virtues: Prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

Sanctifying Grace

Can we lose sanctifying grace? Yes.

We lose this grace when we commit a mortal sin.
If you are aware of having commited a mortal sin you should confess this sin as soon as possible in the sacrament of reconciliation.
You should not receive Holy Communion until you have confessed your mortal sins.

Baptism

There are 4 major gifts in baptism.
1. Forgiveness of sin. Original sin for everyone that receives it. actual sin for those who are baptized with the use of reason.
2. Membership in the Church. Baptism incorporates the person into the Body of Christ.
3. Indelible mark on the soul. The soul is forever marked. This cannot be removed. Even those who fall away from the faith still have this and will be judged as a Christian.
4. Sanctifying grace. This is God's life dwelling within us. It is also described as God's love, new life, and victory over death. Those who undergo the death and resurrection of baptism have no need to fear the death of the body.
Sanctifying grace has three major parts
- Theological virtues - Faith, Hope, Charity
- Holy Spirit
- Ability to grow in goodness and perfection

Does this Lent seem early to you?

It should.
This is the earliest date for Ash Wednesday since 1856.

Ash Wednesday

It is only 23 days until Ash Wednesday.

We count down the days until Christmas. We should count down the days until Lent. What are we going to give to the Lord for Lent?

“Christ is a divine judge with a human heart,
a judge who wants to give life.
Only unrepentant attachment to evil
can prevent him from offering this gift,
for which he did not hesitate to face death. ”
Pope John Paul II

4 Pillars of Discipleship

1. Know the faith - creed
2. Celebrate the faith - sacraments
3. Live the faith - 10 commandments
4. Prayer - develop friendship and intimacy with God through prayer.

Politics

As a priest I cannot publicly support any particular candidate.
No candidate is officialy able to represent all the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Besides, in Kansas, we don't get to choose our nominees.

I am interested in Ron Paul.
He is the only candidate who is both firmly pro-life and against our military incursions around the world.
He is worth looking into if you have not heard of him.
Ron Paul is different than any other candidate from both parties.

Quote of the day

"Yelling is usually a sign that a parent has no strategy."
--Thomas Phelan, clinical psychologist

Purity

Here is part of a homily from Fr. Cantalamessa
"... there is a tendency to minimize sins against purity to the advantage (often only in theory) of attention to our neighbour. It is an illusion to believe that we can put authentic service to our brothers – which always demands sacrifice, altruism, forgetfulness of self and generosity – together with a disordered personal life, entirely directed toward gratifying ourselves and our own passions. We end up, inevitably, instrumentalizing our brothers, just as we instrumentalize our own bodies and the other sex. He who does not know how to say no to himself does not know how to say yes to his brothers."

History

Here is a nice little story about the history of the Catholic Church in the USA.

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/01/romish-chapel-at-275.html

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here are the intercessions from today's vespers.
They are good prayers as well as teachings about what we should desire.

To Christ, Emmanuel, whom the Virgin conceived and brought forth, let us give praise and pray to him: Son of the Virgin, hear us.

You gave Mary the joy of motherhood,
- give all parents true joy in their children.
King of peace, your kingdom is one of justice and peace,
- help us to seek the paths of peace.
You came to make the human race the holy people of God,
- bring all nations to acknowledge the unifying bond of your love.
By your birth you strengthened family ties,
- help families to come to a greater love for one another.
You desired to be born into the days of time,
- grant that our departed brothers and sisters may be born into the day of eternity.

Our Father . . .