Why Is Jesus Calling Us Now?

I CAME TO CALL SINNERS

On January 10, 2013 Jesus gave a prophecy, one of the series being posted here at Life in the Spirit.   In it He explained why He is calling us at this time, or at any time, for that matter.  All indents are directly from the prophecy.  All comment is mine, and may or may not be inspired.

You who are now listening and envisioning Me, I came that you might have life unto the full.

He wants us to have a full life.  But, you say, I have a full life.  In that case, you won't be offended or challenged by the posting of Monsignor Charles Pope over at the Archdiocese of Washington today here. Don't forget to watch the video at the bottom.  Facebook would not allow it to be shown through Facebook, so it must be very contentious. 

Sin has robbed you of all that I had planned out of love for all humanity, burdening you with hardships.

As Jesus explains to us, sin has gotten in the middle between us and a full life.  You know, we all have our favorite sins, the things that we do so habitually, that we don't even think of them as sins, if we think of anything as a sin.  But, just because we do not think they are sins does not make it so.  The man who commits adultery "because his wife does not understand him," or the person who lives in a homosexual relationship because he/she "would not choose to be a homosexual" is deluded, as we all are in some ways into thinking that our feelings can direct our actions and thoughts, and we are not responsible for them.  But, for the unhappy adulterer (at least after the moments of sexual pleasure wear off) or the unhappy homosexual (when he or she knows in the heart that what he/she is doing is not right) and all of us whatever our sin/drug of choice is know that our sins cause us to carry a heavy burden.

But I have redeemed you, and each of you, if not already, will experience a moment of awakening to the Truth.

How many of us ponder that Jesus REDEEMED us individually?  How awake are we to the Truth of that ?  Jesus says here that we will experience that moment of Truth.

This is the moment when you know Whose you are and that you are greatly loved and treasured.

What will that awakening feel like?  At that moment, we will know that we belong to God, and that we are greatly loved by Him, and in fact He considers us a treasure.  In that moment of Truth, we also know that it is He we have offended in ways we never even really knew, but that His love for us covers over all those sins. 

But, why do so few even think about God, or if they do think badly of Him?

The evil one convinces many, that I do not exist and that I am a harsh and uncaring God.

Ah!  There is another actor on the cosmic stage, the "evil one" or Satan.  Satan not only convinces many that God does not exist.  He also has many of us convinced that he does not exist, that he too is a figment of our imagination.  Though that probably hurts his ego, it serves his purpose.

But God is ever able to thwart Satan's purpose.

But the Truth is that I humbled Myself to associate perfectly with you and all humanity.

We tend to forget that Jesus did humble himself to come to earth and live with us.  He is not an impersonal God, but a very personal God.

How personal?

I am a personal God who sees and cares about each breath, and thought, and every aspect of your lives.

He cares about each breath I take? And every thought? Every aspect of my life?  And not only me and you, but every person on the face of the earth, and all those who have died and gone before.  Sounds pretty personal to me. 

My greatest joy will be to see you enjoy Paradise, which I formed for you for all eternity.

So, what is all this love God has for us about.  He wants us in eternal paradise with Him   But for many of us, we cannot see past the earth we are on here, and the simple life (though we think it is complex) that we live here on terra firma, though the terra does not seem so firma any more.

Some of My people are angry Souls, who without Me in their lives, hate everyone and all created things.  Hatred consumes them, and you My faithful servants, must inform them of My forgiving love, and that it is never too late, even to the last moment of their lives.

There are people on the earth whose lives are filled with hatred.  It does not manifest always in violence.  Sometimes these people just have not much good to say about people and places and things.  This kind of hatred looks benign, but is hatred just the same.  

But, God is making it our job not to leave them in their hatred, but to love them and let them know that He loves them.  Oh, and His love is forgiving.  One of the things that hatred is really about is the self, when the person sees that the self is not good enough.  Self hatred tends to manifest as hatred of others.

When they open the door of their hearts, I receive them, they feel love possibly for the first time in a long time, and they experience a joy that transcends all sadness and pain.

All the hurt and the ways that others have let them down, has been put behind them and they are unburdened.

But, God can heal all of that hatred, and fill the person with joy.  When a Grumpy Gus becomes a Happy Harry, the heavens rejoice.  And for the GG to become an HH, really takes letting go; letting go of a life on unmet expectations, and sadness.

You see, when I am given permission to take over a person's life, I do all the work that needs to be done, they need only cooperate and receive.

In the beginning, you are not able to do for yourself, what My Holy Spirit accomplishes within you.

All God wants from you and me is PERMISSION; permission to let Him take over our lives.  That is the hardest thing to do for us humans.  We think we are in charge, and if we let go, who is out there to take charge for us?  Why not ask God and find out?  What can it hurt?  If you ask God to help you our, and He doesn't exist or doesn't really love you, what have you lost?  You tried and it didn't work.  But it was worth a try.

However, it will work, because all God wants from you is a little "yes".

Little by little, I allow Faith which was given to you in Baptism, to flex its muscle, so to speak, and you learn to be faithful in small things.

I will eventually call upon you to grow in courage, your efforts are essential, it doesn't just happen, and you will be strengthened for greater responsibility, each has a mission in life.

If you say yes, He will do it all until you are able to take baby steps on your own in your faith, and you will grow stronger, more courageous, and happier than you can imagine, with only peace in your heart - real peace in your heart, not the kind that comes and goes depending on your mood, and circumstances.  Real peace.

Many of you have endeared yourselves to the Blessed Mother, this was My heart's deepest longing at the Cross, when I gave Her to you, and She has been drawing you to Me more each day.

Mary is there to help us; to help us draw closer to Jesus.  Jesus left her here on earth as our Mother, a better mother than our own human mother, because she has complete and direct access to God all the time, and because she carried the Son of God inside her, and was formed by God for that purpose, and to be our Mother.

In the coming time that remains to you, follow Me and forgive those who will be opposing and persecuting you, causing more hardships than you already endure. INRI

This is the tough part, but it is necessary.  We must not only follow Jesus, but we must forgive all those along our path who hurt us on our journey.  Why is that so important?  It is important for us to not harbor hatred and anger to others, because it turns us away from God, but our hatred sits on top of theirs and weighs them down even further.  Forgiving and loving those it is hard to love takes burdens off of them, and helps them to see what we are called to see,

CHILDREN, HAS YOUR JOY BEEN ENCUMBERED?

This prophecy is the most recent one received in Ridgetown Ontario, and is found here in total, though it is reproduced below as each section is described.

                       

Take hold securely the hand of your Blessed and Holy Mother, She will lead you down the shortest and most secure path to Me.

Jesus wants all of those who love him to take His earthly Mother Mary as our own, and to hold tightly to her hand.  Non-Catholic Christians have failed to believe Jesus telling us how important Mary is to our salvation.  If as the Bible says "All generations will call me blessed" in Luke 1:48, then why are Christians so loath to take Mary as their own mother, just as our brother Jesus did?

It is with great sadness that I view many leaving My banquet table, that I have prepared for their food, which will nourish them, as they hunger and thirst for fulfillment in this life.

In this day and age so many are abandoning the practice of Christian faith, sometimes for some other belief, but often replacing it with nothing.  The devil has convinced so many of us that  we do not need religion, that in fact we are our own gods, whether we state it that way or not.

They seek Me in other things and places, or should I say they do not seek Me, but they are looking for happiness apart from Me.

Those who have found their true happiness in a relationship with Jesus know that there is no real happiness found outside of loving Him, and believing in His eternal love for each of us.  We see our brothers and sisters scrabbling out an existence outside of life in Him, and we know that that is just not enough.  It is an illusion, but when it is all you know, you are unable to see it as that.

The rich young man in Scriptures, was seeking how to gain eternal life. He was saddened in the answer that he should sell all he possessed and give the money to the poor and follow Me.

The man was saddened because he could not separate himself from his possessions, he had not found the happiness he sought but, he did not believe that they were causing him to be encumbered by them.

So many of us seek our happiness in possessions, and give at least tacit acceptance to the saying: "The one who dies with the most toys wins."  Actually the one who dies with the most toys just dies, if they have a hold on him, as they cannot help him once he is dead.

We hold on to our possessions like they really matter.  Yet, many of the happiest people in the world have nothing.  We feel sorry for their lack.  They, in turn feel sorry for us for our lack of things that are important.

If you today are seeking a joy from Me, surrender to Me all that you possess or all that is possessing you, I am asking you today to surrender all that is yours, and entrust them to Me.

Ah! The ask.  In sales, and Jesus is nothing if not a great salesman, though He is much more, the ask is where the rubber hits the road.   And this is a big one.  Give Jesus authority over all you possess, so that it does not possess you.  If your car is so important that you park it far away in a parking lot so it will not get a chip in the paint, only drive it on sunny days, and keep it hidden away in a garage most of the time, the car owns you.  The same goes for your wardrobe, your furniture, and all your other things.

I want to give you the joy of freedom of heart and total abandonment from possessions, I am not asking you to leave house and family, but to free yourselves from a closed hand on what you own.

Jesus knows, since He is God, that there is no freedom in the things of this world.  They may be very useful, but beyond their utility and beauty, they are a trap.  Jesus is not specifically asking you to sell everything you own and give it to the poor, though that might be a good idea if your possessions possess you.  But, He is asking your to open your hands and therefor your hearts so that you are free of your possessions, so you will do with them what Jesus wants you to, and give them their proper place as things, not as gods.

If soon it will be asked of you to leave these things behind, it will already have been decided in your heart to have given everything to Me, trusting in My provision of everything you will need.

But, here He tells us that there will come a time when we will have to leave our things behind to follow where He wants us to go.  But, He tells us that we will have been prepared to leave behind our things to follow our heart, and trust in His Divine Providence - not an easy task.

I am to be your everything, thus total peace and joy that surpasses all understanding will be yours.

If He becomes everything to us, we will always be rich in treasure, just not what we have become used to.  To be filled with peace and joy in all circumstances is treasure indeed.

To the world at large this seems to be total absurdity, since they do not comprehend the invisible reality of God working among His people.

I want you to say with Me as I met My Apostles at the well of the Samaritan woman, ‘My food is to do the Will of My Father and to finish His work.’

In this way you abandon your thoughts and all that you desire to God, unburdening yourselves for the work of God, and leaving your concerns to Him.

This reminds me somewhat of when Jesus told disciples about His death and that they must eat His body and drink His blood, and many of them left because it was a teaching to them that was too hard for them to absorb with their human minds, as Eucharist is still too hard for our Protestant brethren to delve into and grasp.   What He asked his disciples to believe was absurd then, and what He asks us to believe is absurd now - at least with our human eyes.  But with our eyes of faith we can see more clearly, and can add our Amen to his request.

I love you, and want freedom to be yours, it is for your greatest good in the fulfillment of the commission, to love God and others, that I ask of you to surrender now the things that encumber.

May peace fill you as I grant this grace, as it has never been so urgent before, and so great an opportunity for you to advance in the coming steps to the illumination of the world.

 It takes courage to read this, believe it, and allow Him to do what He must so that we can be who He wants and needs us to be.

He speaks in the last phrase about the "illumination of the world."  We think that we are an illuminated society.  We have so much knowledge that did not exist before.  We have learned more in the last decade than in the previous century, and our knowledge keeps growing exponentially.  But, in our thirst for knowledge we have lost track of Wisdom, which is even more important.  Having all the knowledge of the world is of no value if it is not applied with Wisdom.

God illuminates us with His Wisdom, and fills us to bursting with His Holy Spirit, if only we say "Yes Lord."  Our yes to Him is like Mary's yes to the Holy Spirit.  It is an act of submission of our will to the Divine Will.  Our submission to Him is not giving up freedom, but gaining complete and total freedom, freedom to be the best we can be, to be what we were created for, what God had in mind for us from before time began.

Will be allow our Joy to be unencumbered?  Will we allow ourselves to be set free?

Breaking It Down - Prophecy from Ridgetown Ontario October 25, 2011

Over at Life in the Spirit this prophecy appeared today.  It is entitled "Bread of Life".  I have reproduced it below, but it is chopped up with my explanations about its content.  The original content is in red.

                           

You have known and acknowledged that I have called and chosen you.

People of prayer have felt the call of the Lord in their lives.  They have been led to begin to repent of their sins and to turn their hearts to doing God's Will in their lives.  

We have begun to see that the things of this world are really not important, but that the people of it are, and they, just like we were, are trapped in the lure of this world, and its empty promises.

If you have felt this in your life, then you are to know that you have been called and chosen by God for this place and this time.
 

 I have selected to make of you a vessel for the continued sanctification and nourishment of your families especially those who have left the faith and the Sacraments.

One of the things in life that is now a cause of sadness for me is how our children have abandoned the Catholic faith, in practice if not fully in their hearts.  Their lives and the lives of our siblings, their children and loved ones and of many of our acquaintances and friends are modeled after the world we inhabit and not the Saviour of the World who came for us and died, and then was resurrected for us that we might have life to the full in Him.

One of the reasons for the falling away in our society of the once faithful has been the influence of the devil in this age.  Part of the behavior of our children and siblings is their response to the sinful example of my own life to them for so much of my life.  If I had me for a father or a brother would I behave any differently than my children and siblings?

But, if we can see that we have been called out of the muck and mire, how are we to help others our of it, particularly if they, like us before, have no idea that they are stuck in the muck.

But, God says here that we are to be vessels of their sanctification, all those who we shed silent tears for.  Many of the tears I shed for those of my family is for how they were lured deeper into lives of sin by my own sinfulness. 

In using you as My instruments, many would otherwise be forever lost, starving for Spiritual food, without My intervention.

Here, God tells us that our weeping and mourning will not be wasted, and that we are called to be His Instruments to help feed them the spiritual food that God has been giving to us.  He wants us to share His food, His Body and Blood, with them.  But How?

You will stand in the gap, maintaining the lifeline of grace, Hope in the wake of the coming Chastisement.

We are not useless.  We can stand in the gap for them, praying for them, loving them where they are, and by living lives worthy of the calling of God on our own lives, we can be signs to them in times of trouble as in the coming Chastisement.

Ahh!  The coming Chastisement.  We don't know what that is really going to be, but we cannot look at the weather patterns or lack thereof in our world, the starvation happening in our world, both physical and moral, the economic uncertainties that exist, particularly since the latest recession started in 2008.  With the rule of abortion, same sex marriage, and general lawlessness that is prevailing, can God stand back, and not chastise us to bring us back to Him?

You will be My chosen vessels sent to others as well, who are in need of My healing, deliverance and peace.

We will be sent to help others as well, maybe next door, maybe across the globe.  Can any of us, if our hearts are coming into tune with God not see the need for healing, deliverance and finally peace in this sin sick world.

Just as you can do nothing on your own, always be totally infused in Me as your source of food and strength for the Mission to which you have been called.

But, chosen though we may be, we are not in this alone, not guided by our own selves, but are to be totally filled with Him as our food and strength to fulfill the calling on us.  Whew!  That takes a load off of my mind.  My sin has been a part of what has led so many to abandon God in this day and age, not mine alone, but mine is every bit as big a part of this disease as anyone else's.   But, God will fill me up with Him, so that I can be Him to my family, to friends, to strangers on the journey.

Your supply replenished as a Ciborium filled with consecrated Hosts ready to feed the poor.

In the Catholic Mass, the Ciborium is a gold container with a lid on it that holds the consecrated body (sacramental bread) of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When Mass is said, the priest consecrates the body and blood of Jesus and refills the Ciboria/  God is saying that as simply (though mystically) as this is done, so we shall be filled with Him for our journey.  The symbolism of this is wonderful.

You yourself will be My Ciborium, I am the Bread of Life.

And it gets better.  We will be a Ciborium, filled with the Bread of Life.  We will be filled and refilled with Him, Our Saviour.

Give what you have received from Me to the many who are in dire need.

So, we are then able to give what we have received, with no need to horde it, because it will be refilled as we need.  How cool is that!

First must be your families of which you are closely related, then to those I bring to you without their being aware.

 Oh! Sage advice there, but what would you expect from God who so loves us.  Our first responsibilities are to our families.  They have been hurt by our sin, but they are also aided by our love, and as we grow more in love and less in sin, they gain benefits from it.

But, interesting phrase at the end of that sentence "those I bring to you without their being aware."  So, we don't go up to them and tell them that we have something and they need it.  No, we are to bring them the love of God without their being aware.  So, our job is not to scare them to Him, but love them to Him.

Loved one, will you serve Me in this way?  Will you allow Me to use you as a Ciborium to feed others?

So, the close, just as in any good sales effort.  After the above, dare we say no?  Not me, thank you very much.   Remember the hymn we sing from time to time "Here I am Lord".  One part of the lyric goes: "I will go, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart."

From now on, because you have given to Me your hearts and your whole being, your time will be most valuable in the time remaining.

This statement is somewhat in response to a prayer that Jesus gave to Anne, a Lay Apostle in locutions in Cavan Ireland a number of years ago for the faithful to pray.  It goes: "Dear God in Heaven, I give You my life, my work and my heart.  In turn, give me the grace of obeying Your every direction to the fullest ppossible extent.  Amen."

If we have given our hearts as He says, and given Him our whole being, there will be an economy to the time that we have available to us.

Be at peace always for this will attract the ones who are most confused in the frantic world of speed and noise.

But, Lord how are we to bring them to you?  Ahh!  Be at peace.!

Now, Julian of Norwich makes sense, as she said:  "All will be well.  All will be well.  All manner of things will be well."  Whys did she need to repeat it three times?  Why did Jesus ask Peter: "Do you love me?' three times.  So, we would get it eventually.  It was important enough to repeat.

So, God tells us to be at peace ALWAYS.  That will attract them.  My Dear Wife and I have been praying together in the evenings, offering up intentions of those things and people of whom we are aware, praying the Rosary, the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, a number of other specific prayers that have come to us over the years, and doing a brief reading with prayers.  We have noticed changes happening in the lives of loved ones and others, and have also had people come to our home and comment on how peaceful it is.  That is God at work.  It isn't us, though we are cooperating.  It is Him.

You will appear to stand alone and will seem not to conform with the world at large but it must be so.

Since He closed the sale above, He can now tell us a bit about the challenges that come with selling out for Him.   We will appear to stand alone.  I find that many of the things that people are talking about as important do not matter to me anymore.   Specifically, the matters do not really matter.  But, the people do, so there is detachment from their issues, but a growing attachment to the individuals and their hearts.

This is My plan for you and for all who will respond to My call, it falls on deaf ears too preoccupied.

It is a call for survival for salvation.

So, this is His Plan for me, for you, for all who read these messages, and for those who receive their messages in other ways.  We are not to be deaf to this call, and not to be preoccupied with the things of this world, like our work, our play, our television sets, and other distractions from the big picture, His Big Picture.

How important is this.  It is a call for SURVIVAL.  Our very survival is at stake here.  And more than that SALVATION.  He is the Way the Truth and the Life, and that leads to our salvation.  There is no other path way to get there.  Big house won't do it.  Money in the bank won't make it happen.

This is a call to be humble and contrite.  "A humbled and contrite heart You will not spurn."

Be the vessel of food for the needy, the Bread of Life for those who are not destined to perish.

"Be" the vessel of food, not "Do".  We are human beings, not human doings.  Our being is to be active, but we are to model Him for others.  Jesus lived His life on earth in humble obedience to the Father, even unto His death on the cross.  He was the vessel of food for the needy.  Can we be any less in this day and age?

We are to be the vessel of food for those "not destined to perish."  Jesus knows that some will perish.  He is not bound by time and space, so He knows the end, who said yes, and who said no to His Call.  All can say yes, but many will not.  But, let none say no because we did not come to them with Him and as Him as He calls us to.  I do not want that on my head.  Do you?

This is a mysterious concept for you but as you will trust in My work in you all will fall into place.

Wow! That's an understatement.   A mysterious concept, You say.  But, all we have to do is trust in His work, and it will fall into place.  It will slowly become clear, though still a mystery, but the veils that hide it from us will be pierced, and our eyes will see more clearly.

My desire is that none should perish whom My Father has given Me.

Though He knows that some are destined to fail, because they will choose not to follow Him, He does not want any to perish, as we were all given to Him by the Father.  We can choose not to follow, but His heart aches for those who will turn away, and He will not rest until He has exercised all options to draw all to Him.

                                                                                                                               INRI

The Prophetic Word - Private Revelation

What It Means for those of us Here on Planet Earth

God loves you and me.  You are free to deny this, but you do so at your own peril.  As a loving God, He has spoken through his prophets; He has sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to live among us, and to teach us of His love.  Further, he has inspired writers of the times before Jesus to present the Jewish faith and life for us.  He also inspired writers of the early days after Jesus Death and Resurrection to document his life, and to present in their own words the teachings that He left them with.  These writings were considered canonical at a point in time, and formed a serious component of what is termed public revelation.

The sacred traditions that Jesus handed on, and which the Apostles and the faithful turned into their daily living, and beliefs are also part of the public revelation.  Public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle.

But, the Church has not been left adrift since then.  The Holy Spirit has inspired believers, and even non believers to draw closer to God, and has also inspired leaders of the Church to document over time things that were held to be true but were not part of the earlier documented tradition or scripture.

But, it does not end there, and we just sit back and wait for an impersonal God to do with us what He wills at some unspecified date.

Not at all!  God has continued to present Himself and His plan for our lives to us through various means, because His desire is that we all spend all of eternity with Him in heaven.  One of the means he has used has been apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour.  In these apparitions, and in other appearances by Jesus and the saints, words of instruction have been spoken for the faithful. Another means that God uses has been prophetic words given to certain individuals that are for their own edification and for the edification of the body of Christ.

This type of revelation is called "private revelation", and it is incumbent upon readers and listeners to give private revelation its due, and nothing more.  If a private revelation were to conflict with public revelation, then you could count on it being not from God.

EWTN, the Catholic Television Network has an excellent article on public and private revelation which explains things very well here.

So, at a time when numerous people around the globe are receiving and sharing private revelation the Life in the Spirit blog I created a few years ago for Father Sam Johnston, a retired priest of the London Roman Catholic Diocese is being revisited, and becoming active again.

I started this blog in 2009 to present prophecies that had been received by a woman under Father Sam Johnston's spiritual direction.  This particular woman, Ann Donkers, had passed away, and it was appropriate to put the words that she and Father Sam claimed that she received from the Lord up on the internet where others could see them, read them, and hopefully be inspired by them..

Her personal testimony was one of the posts of this blog early on.

Though the date is not significant of itself, the last post of a prophecy received by Mrs. Donkers was  on September 11, 2010.

But, the mantle of a prophet that Our Lord had placed on Ann Donkers was essentially passed on to another.  So, now there are prophetic words being received in Ridgetown Ontario by another person under Father Sam's spiritual direction.  In fact, these prophetic words have been being received by this person for a few years now, but Father Sam is so certain of their veracity that he wants these to be published as well.

It is my intent to publish these prophetic words for the edification of those who come across them by whatever means.

If Jesus Christ can be born to a humble family in nowhere Israel, then He can speak to a person in Ridgetown Ontario.  You could say: "But, look at the reach He would have if he were to speak to someone in Toronto, or New York, or Tokyo.".  To that I would respond: "He tries every day to speak to people in those places, but they are so busy about their daily activities that they cannot hear his voice over the noise of their own."  Hence, he speaks to a humble servant in a small town in southwesten Ontario.

I will be presenting new prophecies as they are received, but will also publish those from the last four years that this person has received.

With each prophecy that he sees, Father Sam spends aover an hour pouring over every word to ensure that they are authentic words that are consistent with our Catholic Christian faith, to ensure that readers are not misled, and also to absorb God's love for him and for us.

Feel free to follow these prophetic words.  They are located here.

Lest We Forget

November 11 is Rememberance Day in Canada, and throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations, and in many other countries of the world.  It is a memorial day in Canada and many other nations for the memories of those who died in the line of duty to their country.  It was first proclaimed as a day of remembrance by England's King George V in 1919 to honor those who died in the First World War, and the memory of the deceased are to be called to mind at 11 am on the 11th day of the 11th month, which is also the time that the Armistice signed by the Allies and Germany earlier in the morning took effect.

Many other brave men and women have died subsequently in conflicts throughout the world, and we extend this Remembrance to include them as well.

In America, it is called Veterans Day, because Memorial Day, when members of the US armed services who died in conflicts are honored, has a longer tradition, dating back to the end of the Civil War between the states.  So, Veterans Day recognizes all who have served in the US military.

Though November 11 does not memorialize those American service men and women who died while serving their country, I have chosen to link a special video I came across that is about honoring American war dead in the Angel flight that repatriates their bodies to America.  I have also linked another video, which is how Canada has honored our military men and women killed in combat, by repatriating them to Canada, and taking their bodies on the drive along the section of our TransCanada Highway called the Highway of Heroes.

May we never forget the courage that men and women who have served our countries in the military have displayed, many of them at the cost of their own lives.

May they Rest in Peace.

Do You Ever Wonder What is Going on in this Crazy World?

What Impact Does Science Have on Us?

Contraceptives are good, right?  The current Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, who claims to be a Catholic seems to think so, so does his boss, not his BOSS the God he claims that he serves,  but his boss, the President, Barack Obama.  They both claim that all employers in America must provide contraceptives in their health care plans.

But, the Catholic Church claims that contracepting the sexual act is wrong, that it hinders the unitive act between a man and his wife, as well as preventing the possibility that a child will be born as a result of the sexual actions of a man and wife.  But, of course, the Catholic Church is lost somewhere in the Middle Ages, or maybe even earlier than that.  Even if the Church is correct, so what?

But maybe, just maybe the Catholic Church knows a thing or two that you and I do not about the inherent dangers of contracepting.

Maybe, just maybe, the Catholic Church knows that when you tamper with God's plan for creation, that the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play, and the results are not what modern science would lead you to believe they are.

The video linked below has gone viral because it presents inconvenient truths, and maybe an inconvenient truth that might change some of your ideas.

What if contracepting was dangerous to your health?  What if it was causing havoc in the animal world, particularly with underwater creatures?  Watch the linked video below and see.

Canada Loses More of Its Innocence

CBSA Guard Shot at BC Crossing Point

Yesterday afternoon, a Canada Border agent was shot and seriously wounded by a man entering Canada, who subsequently shot and killed himself.  When I first read about it yesterday, I confess that I did not feel connected to it, tut tutted, and moved along.

At 12:30 am this morning we received a call from one of our children, telling us that the guard was a close personal friend of hers from Ontario.

That made a senseless tragedy somewhat personal, though I only know the young woman anecdotally.  But, in that she is someone highly regarded by one of our children, her assault took on more meaning for us.  MDW looked on this as a mother would, concern for the young woman's mother, as a mother for a mother, and of course, for the young woman herself.

By this morning, we were more aware of things that had transpired, and this random senseless act of violence was in some way mitigated by acts of kindness from co-workers of the mother, co-workers of the daughter, and friends of both, who have come to their aid and comfort already.

Most of us will only see the act of violence, as that is largely what the media will report and analyze to death in coming days, as they discuss the state of mind of the alleged perpetrator, how lax or tight border security is, whether the guard should have been armed, and blah blah blah.

This is the first time in history that a Canadian border guard has been shot in the line of duty.  In our travels in the southern US, we see border guards near the Mexican border, armed with machine guns,  wearing Kevlar, and ready to go to war on a moment's notice.  Innocence has been lost there, and it is now common place, and even to a large extent to us, as we see it so frequently.

But, the loss of innocence at US borders started with one random act of violence as well, and now we have joined that slippery slope.

This is a sad day for a young woman whose world has been turned upside down by an idiot with a gun, and it is a sad day for Canada, as like her, we have suffered some Innocence Lost this day.  It can never be recovered.

May God bring healing to this young woman, and to her family in the wake of this tragedy, and may God also comfort the spirits of her co-workers,  Also, may God have mercy on the soul of the man who set this all in motion.

How Are We To Respond to Challenges to the Faith?

Yesterday, I posted a response, in a sense, to an article by Tom Moran in the Star Ledger written in criticism of a Pastoral Letter from the Archbishop of Newark NJ, Archbishop Myers, entitled "When Two Become One: A Pastoral Teaching on the Definition, Purpose and Sanctity of Marriage".  It is a thoughtful, and beautiful defence of what has always been Church teaching about sacramental marriage, and is worthy of being read, prayed about, and then brought into our daily lives.

Archbishop Myers states in the letter:

Marriage is a natural and pre-political institution.  As such, it is not created by law or the state, though governments rightly recognize it in law and protect and support it for the sake of the common good.  Marriage is a human institution, to be sure, and spouses can enter into the bond of marriage only by freely choosing to do so.  Still, marriage is an institution whose defining features and structuring norms are not pure products of human choice.  We cannot define and redefine marriage to suit our personal tastes or goals.  We cannot make forms of relationship or types of conduct marital simply by attaching to them the word "marriage."  The defining features and structuring norms of marriage are written in the design of creation and revealed to us by a loving God who made marriage a powerful symbol of the mystery of his love for us.

But, the next page is where he hits hard, fair but hard, when he says:

Canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church both provide a straightforward definition of marriage: "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring . . ."  Thus, the essential elements of marriage include a communion of life (unity), permanence, fidelity, and an ordering toward fecundity (fruitfulness).  It should be clear from this definition that the Church recognizes as valid and binding all true marriages, not simply those between Catholic or Christians or believers in God.  It is true that Christ has elevated the marital covenant between baptized persons to the dignity of a sacrament. . .

It is my duty as your Archbishop to to remind you that Catholics who do not accept the teaching of the Church on marriage and family (especially those who act in public or private life contrary to the Church's received tradition on marriage and family)  by their own choice seriously harm their communion with Christ and His Church.  I urge those not in communion with the Church regarding her teaching on marriage and family (or any other grave matter of faith) sincerely to re-examine their consciences, asking God for the grace of the Holy Spirit which "guide [us] to all truth" (John 16:13).  If they continue to be unable to assent to or live the Church's teachings in these matters, they must in all honesty and humility refrain from receiving Holy Communion until they can do so with integrity; to continue to receive Holy Communion while so dissenting would be objectively dishonest.

I contend that not only Archbishop Myers, but all bishops in North America owe this kind of honesty to the faithful in their dioceses.

Men and women in authority, who claim the mantle of their alleged Catholic faith, have been giving the Church a rap of being inconsistent as they proclaim abortion rights, gay marriage rights, and other things under a false banner of social justice, all under the watchful eye of the public and of their bishops and pastors, who have sat quietly by.  They have been fostered by the silence to breed dissent in the Church.  This dissent is a cancer that, but by the grace of God, would destroy the Church given enough time.

When Jesus taught the essence of the Eucharist to people of his time, many walked away because this teachings was too hard for them.   Well, gay marriage and abortion rights are hard teachings as well, and our Catholic Church leaders are called to be like Jesus and give us all the teachings, including and especially the hard ones.

The Tom Moran's of this world, and we are all like Tom Moran more or less, need to be told the truth in love and kindness, but also firmly, as Archbishop Myers has done.  How we respond to truth is not the Archbishop's problem.  As he himself noted When I look back at my own life, beginning in the 1950's, I see that I was weakly catechized, and that when the trials of the teenage years came upon me, I was not prepared to stand firm in the faith I was raised in.  I was too weak and too ill prepared for the battles that waged at that time for my soul.  The world was too enticing for me to courageously stand against it.

If it were not for the Catholics in the Church, the Church would be perfect.  However, there will always be Catholics in the Church, and so we, those Catholics, must be made into the City of God, by right teaching, by the sacraments, and by personal sacrifice for the good of Holy Mother Church.  It is by the Grace of God that we are all called, but having been called, we must be helped to answer that call.

Tom Moran will return to the Church; count on it.  He has a mother praying in heaven for his soul, two actually, his human mother, and His Holy Mother Mary, and he has a third mother here on earth praying for his reversion to the faith of his youth, Holy Mother Church.  So, Jesus will not let him go ever.

My mother never gave up on me.  She prayed me back to the faith, while she was still alive, and I am sure she prays for me now from heaven.  But, even if she had not prayed for me, God would not have given me up, not without a very serious fight.

We must pray, and trust that God hears our prayers, and answers our prayers, for the reversion of all those in our families who have left the faith, and for conversion for all those outside faith in Christ Jesus.  Not only must we pray, but we must live the faith which we pray, loving those who we encounter daily

The Church Made Me Do It

I am a Victim Here

Over at Where the Rubber Hits the Road, Father Tim Moyle has a habit of posting links to various articles that touch on matters of faith, particularly the Catholic faith.  We have conversed by email over the last couple of years periodically, and one time I asked him to comment on the articles that he posts, since I would value his thoughts, and believed that others would as well. 

However, that has not been his style, and as time has passed, I have come to appreciate his approach.  By providing the links only, usually without his personal opinion, I have to think harder about the article linked than I would if I could just have a priest's viewpoint.  It is not that he does not have a priest's viewpoint, but there is a synergy and continuity to the articles he links.  Also, he monitors the comments that the articles generate and participates as he feels the need.

Consequently, his method has made me become a more studious Catholic Christian, by providing me things on which to ruminate.

This morning he provided a link to a blog posting over at nj.com by Tom Moran a writer at the Star Ledger, and a lapsed Catholic, who while canonizing his much loved mother, has claimed that he is a spiritual refugee, and wonder of wonders it is the fault of the Catholic Church.

He wrote about the Catholic Church that he was raised up in, and how through no fault or responsibility of his own he fled a million miles from it, and finds himself spiritually homeless.  A million miles from New Jersey would put him somewhere out in space, which is probably a good place for his brand of Catholic theology.

He states that:

One in three American adults was raised in a Catholic family, but fewer than one in four identify as Catholic today. No other church has shed so many followers, according to surveys by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

So if I am a refugee, I am walking on a road that is crowded with others who feel the same way.

But, really he wants to share with us his angst that Archbishop Myers of his local diocese issued a pastoral letter called "When Two Become One: A Pastoral Teaching on the Definition, Purpose and Sanctity of Marriage", which can be read at the Archdiocese of Newark site here, or in executive summary at the same site here.

If Mr. Moran (I wonder if his last name is not misspelled) has read Catholic teaching, or perhaps scanned the sections of the Catechism that the Archbishop refers to in his teaching, he would know readily that Archbishop Myers is not telling the people what he wants them to do, as Mr. Moran put it, but what the Church believes today, and has always believed.  That the good Archbishop chose now to present his teaching is timely, though Mr. Moran sees it as politically motivated.

The American people have an opportunity in a little over a month from now to vote their consciences in their national election, and shame on them if they do not.  Whether they should vote Democrat or Republican in this election is a matter for them individually to decide.  That one party, the Democrat party has party policies that are in direct conflict with the Church as it relates to marriage, and also to the sanctity of life, does not preclude individual Catholics from voting for a Democrat politician locally who has beliefs that he is prepared to push forward that are consistent with Catholic teaching.  But, if Catholic Church teaching matters to Catholics, and it should, then serious thought has to be given to how one votes.

Mr. Moran cited his sainted mother who after his father passed away, married a divorced man a decade later, and with the complicity of her parish priest continued to receive Holy Communion.  Archbishop Myers advised Mr. Moran that the priest and his mother were wrong, which shocked Mr. Moran.  That his mother had taken birth control pills, because pregnancies gave her serious migraines apparently should have furthered her cause for sainthood.

The late Mrs. Moran was born a sinner, lived as a sinner, and died as a sinner.  There, I bet she was received into the loving arms of Her Saviour, because she is not different than any one of us on the planet, except in one way.   Unlike most of us, she sought to do God's will in her life.  Most of us skip that part.  But, we are all sinners, and like her, sometimes we sin because in seeking to do our best we are wrongly advised, as happened to her in the matters of our sexuality. 

We are complicit in our illicit sexuality, and Archbishop Myers is trying to correct that to some extent.  We, the faithful, need our pastoral leaders to tell us the truth that the Church teaches.  We need them to be unequivocal with us about what is and is not right.  We need them to not wave like the flag does in the breeze, but to stand strong against the tide of the world, and lead us to freedom.

No, Mr. Moran, the Catholic Church will not ever have women priests.  Also,  gay marriages will never be accepted in the Catholic Church for the reasons that Archbishop Myers has clearly stated, and did not make up on his own.

Archbishop Myers has a solemn duty to teach authentically what the Church believes to be true, and risks his own personal salvation if he does not.  He knows that, and is not playing with us about it.

As Lifesite News reported shortly after the pastoral letter was released, the Archbishop goes so far as to state that those in opposition to Church teaching should not present themselves for Holy Communion.  That is a hard teaching, and as many walked away from Jesus when he preached about the Eucharist, and that we were to eat His Body and His Blood if we were to have life within us, many are likely to walk away from the Newark Archdiocese. 

Since Mr. Moran has a pulpit of his own to spread dissent beyond his own family, he has manipulated the pastoral letter to protect his job, and to sell newspapers.  As the failure of many to follow Church teaching on sexuality in the past, because it was not presented well, and often not at all, is in no small part the responsibility of the bishops of the day, spreading lies and falsehoods, as Mr. Moran is doing will be on his head when he leaves this mortal coil.

Let us pray for the reversion of Mr. Moran to the truth of the Catholic Church, and may we rejoice with the angels when the prayers of his own mother in heaven, and our Holy Mother in heaven for his soul are answered in their fullness.

Faith Is Caught, Not Taught

Wake up Catholic Priests and do the job to which Christ called you when you were ordained.

Evangelical Christians have long espoused something that most Catholics never understood, and so avoided. 

When I was a child in the 50s, I attended Mass regularly, was an altar server, and generally hung around the Church and our Catholic school and church community.  Then Vatican II occurred, and many priests, religious and lay people in the Church took the move to the vernacular form of the Mass to break down the walls of much of what was considered sacred, which is in truth, contrary to the teaching documents from Vatican II.

Where Pope John XXIII was inspired to usher in to the Church a new age of the Holy Spirit, many took the opportunity to follow the devil and bring in a New Age style of movement, diminishing the mysteries and humanising everything else.

The sexual revolution came along about the same time, and all Hell broke loose, both literally and figuratively.  There again, the Pope did the right thing, and Pope Paul VI released the most important document on faith and sexual morality never read by most Catholics, with the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.  But, here in Canada, and throughout much of the free world, bishops and priests let the already dwindling faithful down.  In Canada, we had a watered down interpretation of Humanae Vitae called the Winnipeg Statement, which at a time when we needed clarity on sexual morals including contraception, gave us pablum instead of meat.

I know very few married people who claim to be Catholics, nominally or practicing, who did not contracept at some time during their marriages, and most did so before their marriages, where sexual immorality took its root.

So, Catholics have left the Catholic Church in droves.  Many found homes in other Christian denominations, a sad truth.  Sadder still is that more left church all together, and profess to not miss it one little bit.

How can this be, if the words of Jesus Christ himself to us about the Eucharist are true, as He stated to those with Him at the time: "Unless you eat (the Greek word used actually means to gnaw on) the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have life within you"?  These words caused many to leave Him at the time, saying this teaching was too hard.  And too hard it has proven even for those who confess to follow Him today, as only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches hold it literally to be true.

If these words of Jesus are true, and if Jesus gave the power of his first priests to pass on this sacred gift of Himself in the form of bread and wine that he instituted at the Last Supper, then why have we left, and wandered off wherever?  These are after all, "the words of eternal life."

We, the People of God have a responsibility to develop our faith, but it is very difficult when we are not properly instructed in that faith.  If, in fact, faith is caught, not taught, then the teaching is what prepares the fertile soil for the seeds of faith to grow and multiply.

Our pastors have failed miserably to keep us home, and to bring us home, and have allowed the sheep to be scattered, and they will be held to account for doing so.  But, for those of us who remain, it is incumbent on us to lift our pastors up in prayer, that they might become the leaders in faith that we need to strengthen us and to grow the faith back up.   For failing to support them, we will be held to account.

Our pastors have proven to be all too human, to have fears of congregations shrinking, and so have tried to mollify us, rather than to educate us in the truth.

Shame on them!  And, shame on us for not supporting them prayerfully day in and day out to provide them with the spiritual cover to allow them to be steadfast in preaching the Gospel with no excuses, and no apologies.

Our Evangelical Protestant brothers and sisters know that Christianity is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  What is more personal than to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?

This morning in the Lauds, the first Liturgy of the Hours for the day, there was an excerpt from a sermon on Pastors by Saint Augustine that is on point.  Every Catholic priest in the world should have read these words and taken them to heart in their early morning prayers.

From a sermon On Pastors by Saint Augustine, bishop
(Sermon 46, 14-15: CCL 41, 541-542)

Welcome or unwelcome, insist upon the message

The straying sheep you have not recalled; the lost sheep you have not sought. In one way or another, we go on living between the hands of robbers and the teeth of raging wolves, and in light of these present dangers we ask your prayers. The sheep moreover are insolent. The shepherd seeks out the straying sheep, but because they have wandered away and are lost they say that they are not ours. “Why do you want us? Why do you seek us?” they ask, as if their straying and being lost were not the very reason for our wanting them and seeking them out. “If I am straying,” he says, “if I am lost, why do you want me?” You are straying, that is why I wish to recall you. You have been lost, I wish to find you. “But I wish to stray,” he says: “I wish to be lost.”

So you wish to stray and be lost? How much better that I do not also wish this. Certainly, I dare say, I am unwelcome. But I listen to the Apostle who says: Preach the word; insist upon it, welcome and unwelcome. Welcome to whom? Unwelcome to whom? By all means welcome to those who desire it; unwelcome to those who do not. However unwelcome, I dare to say: “You wish to stray, you wish to be lost; but I do not want this.” For the one whom I fear does not wish this. And should I wish it, consider his words of reproach: The straying sheep you have not recalled; the lost sheep you have not sought. Shall I fear you rather than him? Remember, we must all present ourselves before the judgement seat of Christ.

I shall recall the straying; I shall seek the lost. Whether they wish it or not, I shall do it. And should the brambles of the forests tear at me when I seek them, I shall force myself through all straits; I shall put down all hedges. So far as the God whom I fear grants me the strength, I shall search everywhere. I shall recall the straying; I shall seek after those on the verge of being lost. If you do not want me to suffer, do not stray, do not become lost. It is enough that I lament your straying and loss. No, I fear that in neglecting you, I shall also kill what is strong. Consider the passage that follows: And what was strong you have destroyed. Should I neglect the straying and lost, the strong one will also take delight in straying and in being lost.

Dear Priests:

Do not let us stray any longer.  Invite us into personal relationship with Jesus Christ, as exemplified so wonderfully in the Eucharist, but also in every moment of our daily lives.  Tell us the hard truths about sexual morality.  Tell us about sin and its deleterious effect on our daily lives and on that relationship with Jesus.  Preach the word of God with truth and clarity.  Help us to catch the faith by preparing the soil of our hearts to receive, nurture and grow that seed.