I have things weighing down on me today, so the pictures will be random and a non thing... but I admit it is hard to not include them... Maybe it would be better to not have them but just get to it... we will see...
Our National Catholic Register arrived yesterday see
NCREGISTER.COM
There was an article about Archbishop Nienstedt in it, and of course it has to do with the issue of homosexuality that has become a huge thing since they put out the DVD - "One Man One Woman, Marriage and the Common Good." I just sat down and watched it for the 3rd time to have it fresh in my memory, and to discover the name of the group that is there to support and help those with homosexual tendencies!
This is hard and sad for me to write today.... Archbishop was invited up to St Johns to do mass on Sept 26th, and there were protesters at mass that wore rainbow pins, buttons and sashes -"In responce, the Archbishop of St Paul and Mpls upheld Church teaching, just as his predecessor Archbishop Harry Flynn did, by denying homosexual activists Communion and choosing to bless them instead."
That is huge! I was just talking to my daughter, Nancy, on the phone and she was shocked and thought that it was because of their homosexuality that they were denied Communion, but, no, it was because there is a Church law that is in place "to deny Eucharist to those who use Communion as a time for a political statement or protest." It was a hard stand, but he had no choice! He had to be as a parent - out of the archbishop's love and concern for their welfare - he had to stand firm in the Truth and practice Tough Love in the role of our teacher and yes parent in this situation!
The article also mentions that as soon as the Archbishop left campus that another priest had mass and gave them Communion! To me this is like a lenient parent that encourages the bad behavior of their child by not being able to say "no" and mean it! It is like the parent that enables the child that is using drugs or alcohol, by continuing to keep them in the home and caring for them when instead they should practice "tough love" and put them out to hit bottom and realize that this is not doing anything but leading to their death! How often when the Church takes a firm stand to support the Truth or protect those things that we believe - like the reality of Christ's presence in the Eucharist and you need to believe and be Catholic to receive Him... is there anger and criticism from those that are left out! My feeling is.. if you want to receive - you need to believe that it is Jesus, and if you believe that why would you be anything but Catholic? Tough love!
The article goes on to the sad state of ST Johns and what they call a "hive of dissent?" "Former graduates say that the abbey and university have long been home not only to speakers who promote dissent from Church teaching, but also open faculty support for homosexual lifestyles." It goes on to say that they have "Coming Out Week" and "Proud Week!" I am afraid that this doesn't surprise me.. I have been well aware of this sad state of affairs there since long before I married and came down to Marshall!
Two fish in the clouds!I had a friend nurse that I worked with at HCMC before I was married, who had been a brother at ST John's and left... He was a practicing homosexual and shared some sad things he had encountered there... WE kept in touch, after I married and my heart broke when another nurse friend wrote me at Christmas in 1993 to tell me that Bill had died of AIDES on November 3rd! Bill had shared with me how he had prowled the gay bars and bathhouses, and it was so heart wrenching to get inside of the desperate and sad "need" that he had for love! What is the answer?
I remembered hearing on the DVD on preserving marriage that a group had been formed in line with the Church - COURAGE! http://www.couragerc.net/index.htm I looked it up and it looks to be wonderful in the support that it offers to those that we know are fellow sons and daughters of God and to be loved and respected!
The Five Goals
The following five goals of Courage were created by the members themselves, when Courage was founded. The goals are read at the start of each meeting and each member is called to practice them in daily life.
1.Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. (Chastity)
2.Dedicate ones life to Christ through service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. (Prayer and Dedication)
3.Foster a spirit of fellowship in which all may share thoughts and experiences, and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone. (Fellowship)
4.Be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but necessary in a chaste Christian life and in doing so provide encouragement to one another in forming and sustaining them. (Support)
5.Live lives that may serve as good examples to others. (Good Example/Role Model)
It was heatening to go to this site and realize the depth that people are being called to with this as part of themselves! They are called to take such a deep and yes hard calling in loving and serving their God! With this part of themselves - being homosexual - they are being called to a deep life connected to our Loving and Forgiving Lord with a life of chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship and support as well as bieng a good example and role model! How wonderful that the Catholic Church has started this group to help them on this special journey they are being called to! One thing that I am discovering so powerfully in all of my grappling with the Truth... that you cannot be a shopping cart Catholic.. you cannot pick and choose what you believe and don't believe! The Church has put so much behind everything they teach us to "help men and women live a Holy Life!" That is the bottom line... the Church Fathers, the Pope and all the Magisterium put countless time into studying first of all what our Lord told us and taught us and what the Bible teaches us... and it does not mince words that it is wrong for two men or two women to engage in homosexual acts! How is that something that can be protested or debated?
"Drawing from this and other Church teachings, we may conclude, any voluntary sexual arousal or act outside of a normal (uncontracepted) marital union of husband and wife is seriously sinful. This would include masturbation, fornication, extramarital foreplay, adultery, homosexual acts, and even lustful thoughts (Mt 5:28). To our oversexed world this may seem outrageous but Christ's moral teachings have always been a stumbling block to the world. The world has no use for crosses.
"Why are these things wrong? Briefly, because 1) sex is a symbol of committed marital love (and foreplay is to prepare for sex) and 2) sex may produce children, who should be conceived and raised in the stable love community of marriage"
I took this from something on the same Courage site that is speaking to the question of what is Chastity?.. It makes us realize that there is so much more to all of this that we ourselves are called to this same strictness with our own lustful thoughts and actions! I would encourage you to read more on this yourselves and be informed, but also convicted to make a better effort with the help of these things in our own lives... specifically for us to be there with prayer and dedication to fight the forces of evil that surround us and saturate our senses everywhere we turn! Another article in the National Catholic Register (NCR) is about porn addicts helping others fight the addiction - ThePornEffect.com is the site mentioned. I will not go into this today, but it just seems to be so prevalent to us here at the computer... when that horror is only a mouse click away! Help!
I have found a wonderful saint to help us in this battle we are facing! She was introduced to me by my daughter, Susan, who fell in love with her while she was in Rome visiting her sister Maria, who was studying there for the year! Susan took her as her parton saint, when she was confirmed the following year! She is St Agnes and she lived in the 300s. She was beautiful and wealthy and many men wanted to marry her, but she had heard the call of Jesus to be His Bride alone! She refused all of these men, so they took her and put her in a house of prostitution! The only man that tried to touch her was struck blind, and she left there totally untouched!
Up until Susan left from France she wore this chain around her ankle as a sign of her being a slave to Jesus through Mary... see http://www.fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html... something encouraged by St Louis de Montfort!
"The youthful saint came forth from this den of infamy uncontaminated in mind and body, and still a pure spouse of Christ. The most prominent among her suitors was now so enraged that he incited the judge still more against her. The heroic virgin was condemned to be beheaded. "She went to the place of execution more cheerfully than others go to their wedding."
Amid the tears of the spectators the instrument of death fell, and she went to meet the Immortal Spouce whom she loved better than life!" Lives of the Saints... a more grown up saint book that I read daily!
We are not alone in this battle... as we are placed in that house of prostitution every day! St Agnes, along with Mary, and Our Savior are all there to give us the strength we need to resist temptation, and to fill our hearts, minds and spirits with all that is good and wholesome and right!
I must end this... I feel absolutely drained and sad at the way that the Truth is so distorted and lies are believed! Jesus came to set the world straight!
St Paul writes to us today in Phillipians:
"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Phil 4:8
"Walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overcome you."John 12:35
That is pretty simple in the face of this huge confusing mess... Look to Him - the LIGHT! We find him in the Eucharist each day, we find Him in the Word each day, we find Him through the loving eyes of His Mother each day as we say the rosary meditating on his life, and all that He showed us how to live while here with us on earth! WE see Him in the wisdom of the Church, and the teachings that are there for us to help men and women live a Holy Life! Thank you, Lord!
My dad, Deacon Robert Cross, doing a Communion service on the days that the priest is not there... No, he is not able to consecrate, but he can do the readings and preach and give out the consecrated hosts that are stored in the tabernacle!
Jesus tells us in today's Gospel from Luke 12: 49-53... "I have come to set the earth on fire!" How true that seems to be today in the face of what the Church has to deal with even among it's own members! Why is it so hard to realize that the psalmist was speaking the truth when he wrote:
"They are happy whose life is blameless, who follow God's law." Psalm 119:1 Trying to make gay marriage the law is not going to lead to true happiness! It is going to make it harder to find that happiness as God made it for us in the way that he created us to come together as one man and one woman in marriage, and to form that "domestic church" ...that little slice of heaven here on earth!
Lord, give us the wisdom and the strength to stand firm in the Truth! May we know without any doubt that we have so much support and help to make it to that place of happiness and peace and joy... knowing that we are following that Truth to follow the Way to Life! We are so grateful for how you Loved us with your Life, and may we go forth to serve You... as you are within all those that we meet this day! Most especially may we see you within our families! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
"I will call upon you, God, for you will answer me; bend your ear and hear my prayer. Guard me as the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 16: 6,8
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