Civil Rights and Religion

How often have I heard that same-sex "marriage" is a civil rights issue?  Too many times to keep track of, that's for sure.  The people who take that position make it sound pretty convincing, or at least make you feel that if you disagree you must be a Communist, Hitler, or the anti-Christ...  But, this argument requires some serious scrutiny...

Blasphemy and Art

So, today I received an email from "America Needs Fatima"  regarding the blasphemous sculpture  Feet First by Martin Kippenberger which is on display at a museum in Portland, OR:

Saint's Reflection on Mark7:24-30

Today's Gospel was the story of the Gentile woman at first denied Jesus' power to heal her daughter possessed of an unclean spirit, but in her persistence Christ found and rewarded great faith.  Saint Claude de la Columbiere had a beautiful reflection on it which I feel compelled to quote pieces of:

"Consider the workings of divine providence and...the refusal you meet...is only God's strategem to increase your fervor...Remember how he acted towards the Canaanite woman...With what tenderness does he repulse those whom he most wishes to be indulgent to...Take care not to be deceived by it.  The more he seems unwilling, the more you must insist."

"Do as the woman of Canaan; use against him the very arguments he may have for refusing you...I do not deserve the grace I ask, but I do not ask you to give me what I deserve; I ask it through the merits of my Redeemer...you will be unjust to yourself if you give me only what I deserve.  If I were worthier of your benefits it would be less to your glory to give me them.  It is unjust to grant favors to a sinner, but I...appeal...to your mercy."

"Compel God to throw off the mask and say to you with admiration 'Great is your faith, be it done as you wish.  I can no longer resist you, you shall have what you desire, in this life and the next'" 

What powerful words.  Like a love interest that challenges a suitor to pursue and prove his love for her, our Lord wills that we truly desire and want to share in his love.  He will always challenge us to greater reach higher, as we achieve greater capacity for love he will challenge us to grow still further.

Maybe I am a Saint...

Any good Catholic knows that we all strive to be Saints.  We are woefully inadequate and the only hope we have lies in God's Grace and our meager cooperation, but it's the goal we have.  I'm surrounding by good friends and family that constantly point to my Saintly traits, but humility, embarrassment at the being complimented or some other part of my personality tends to leave me more mindful of how much I fail to emulate the Saints, than how I do emulate them.  But, last Friday I spent some time in Eucharistic Adoration reading the Gospel of St. Matthew.  In particular I was reading Chapter 26 and the account of our Lord's agony in the garden.  While I was reading and reflecting my thoughts were focused on His agony, His knowledge of just how many times and how many ways I was going to reject Him, yet He was still going to suffer to redeem me for all those sins I had yet to commit.  Yet again I was thinking just how much I am unlike the Saints.

After that reflection, I returned to my knees and focused my attention on being present with Jesus in Gethsemane, not just focusing on His Real Presence there with me, but connecting myself to Him at the moment of that agony and his and my awareness of how little I deserved His sacrifice but how much He loves me to still be my Savior.  As I'm resting in His presence I contemplating being with Him in the garden my mind starts to drift off to sleep.  And as I jolt myself awake the first thought to enter my mind is, "So you could not watch with me one hour?"

And I suppress a chuckle as I realize, I do share something in common with Peter, James and John...  Maybe I'm doing OK...  At least it's assuring, knowing that in my weakness and desperate need for His grace I am not alone and the company I keep in my weakness is pretty inspiring.

Sola Scriptura

I've been working on this post for awhile, so forgive me for changes in tense or POV, but I finally decided I'd just hit the publish button and move on to other ideas...

For the past several months I've been engaged in an ongoing dialog with a local Jehovah's Witness (JW).  He stopped by the house on a Saturday about 6 months ago and wanted to share his faith with me by reading me a Bible passage.  I listened, then we discussed his understanding, informed by his interpretation (which was actually the Watchtower Society's interpretation) and my understanding, informed by the Catholic Church's teaching.  It was a good discussion, and nearly every other weekend since he stops by and we have an ongoing discussion.

Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood

This is my last post on the current culture of death drama playing out around us, but I mentioned this in an earlier post and feel I ought to address some of the less obvious elements...

I'm not going to dwell on the obvious, my religious views and how they influence my view of the situation.  Rather, I want to focus on a few elements that should concern everyone that has reasonable faculties for intellectual reason and logic.

Birth Control, Abortion and the Repression of Women...

OK, I've addressed the HHS rule forcing Catholic institutions to fund and condone birth control and abortifacients, now I need to address one of the arguments I keep hearing lobbed at Catholics and the Church, that obviously we hate women because we want to control their bodies and deny them freedom.  Sadly, the reverese is quite the opposite, we love women and it's the supporters of birth control that apparently have contempt for women, even themselves.  Here's the truth:

HHS and Conscience...

I'm just amazed at how clueless so many in America have become and sadly it starts in the White House...