A Possible Good Resource For the Mass

I believe that this little gem might be right for the price....

http://www.magnificat.com/romanmissal/roman_missal_companion.asp

God bless & until the next time...

Expanded Ramblings....

Some more ideas began rambling around the ol’ melon…the sentence, ”God LOVED us into being.”  Yet another profound statement made by Fr. Barron, got me thinking: 1) If we are created in the likeness of God, Himself and 2) He LOVED us into being, is it ANY wonder at all that He gave us the sacred gift of “love making” as the means for us to carry on the race he created?  I mean, he could have had us buy babies at a store or even find them under rocks...ANYTHING! But no, He gave us this complex, thrilling, experience of giving ones whole self, in love, to another as the means of creation.  As He LOVED us into being, so we LOVE our children into being.  Or at least, this was the original intention.
Without one part of the equation (the male or the female) nothing can result in the act but mere, momentary pleasure.  Without complete love in the experience, there is confused, shallowness that in so many cases result in pain, mental anguish and worst of all casual disregard for the act.  Without all the correct components present in the experience, one cannot encounter ALL that God intended for the act: 1) First and foremost CREATION, 2) The complete giving of oneself in love and 3) No fear of hurt or confusion due to the presence of true love, which the act only enhances.  Take away one part of it and the sheer awesomeness of the event can never be accomplished.  In another gift given to us by God…our free will… we have reduced the act to pleasure at whim.  I contend that since pre-marital sex is so common today it is a major aid in destroying so many marriages. People bring to the marriage pre-existing sexual hang ups, experiences, past hurts and formulated opinions.  This disallows for the true intimacy intended by God that is supposed to be saved, cherished and encouraged to grow between a male & female VOWED to one another in marriage. 
Because sex is so casual today, things like vowing to another human, for LIFE, is taken lightly because sex is JUST sex….eventually I’m gonna want to have IT with someone else, it's just natural, right?  It is a huge reason so many don't marry at all today. Everyone has an automatic "opt out" option when the shine is off the apple without the hassel of divorce proceedings. Younger generations have come to realize that marriage and sexual fidelity are merely a current agreement based on feelings two people have for one another at that moment.  The desire to remain faithful will wane as time goes on and life becomes difficult so why bother?  If we strip the seriousness of the life giving act to just the “pleasurable” aspect of the equation, our commitment to one another is hollow when sex with our current partner has lost its luster, we begin looking for the exit. We mask this reality with a host of other reasons that don't seem as shallow to support our cause. 
Is it any wonder that the pursuit of sexual stimulation is such a GIGANTIC business in the form of pornography and ancillary businesses, the media, clothing, medications to enhance the experience, products to prevent creation etc?  It’s because we are never truly fulfilled by the partial act we have limited ourselves to in our current, casual approach to sex. We need manmade intervention to try & fill the void.  It is why sex has become disordered, exposed and even for some their very definition in life.  So much importance is put on IT because of how important IT is. Yet, our secular society has confused and missed the WHY of its importance. It has replaced the TRUE importance of the act with all of the earthly draws to it.  We have removed God’s, all encompassing, role in it.  We keep searching for fulfillment in a bottomless pit. It becomes increasingly more unnatural because the bar is ever raised to the perverse to TRY and find the answers in the experience.  Meanwhile, we have had the pathway to fulfillment all along, if we had only listened to God.
And because we have hurt God’s greatest gift to us (life) by reducing the creating act and actually acted against creation in the use of contraceptives (a most UNNATURAL and un-Godly act), then consequently, when these methods don't work, the total disregard of the life brought forth by our actions in abortion, we wind up back to yesterdays discussion about believing this is singularly OUR life (with no answering to anyone) to begin with.  It now makes all the sense in the world that we were meant to have as many children as God willed us BECAUSE, once again, God doesn’t care how comfortable our lives are, if our lifestyles are effected by more children…to Him…more humans = more souls to meet Him in Heaven. It is also why it is an affront to God to assume that He created the Earth unable to accommodate us all. But that discussion is for another day.  God bless us all.

What I Learned This Week...

What I learned this week is…get this…”God doesn’t need us.”  I mean, I guess we all know that right?  But I heard Fr. Barron (from "Word on Fire" and the new documentary “Catholicism”) say that this week & when I really thought about…it kinda rocked my world.  We all go through life so “egocentric.” Not necessarily in a BAD way but just because, ‘hey, we’re human.’  What do we think about all day, everyday…’What am, I/my family, gonna do today?  What am, I/my family, gonna eat today? What do, I/my family, have on our social schedule for today?’  It’s natural & I don’t think that there is anything WRONG with it, it’s just fact…me, mine, me, me, me, mine, mine!  And here we are, ever so important to ourselves and our little world we’ve created and…God doesn’t NEED us or ANY of that.  I'm sure He's happy when we're happy but all He really wants is for us to eventually make our way to Him in Heaven.  This world is but a blink for Him in eternity.  He LOVED us into being and He never had to in the first place.  If we OBEY him or not in this life doesn’t change Him or hinder Him…it only matters to Him because He LOVES us.  So we go through the rat race of this world, making, losing, longing for money, gaining, losing, longing for power and so on…then when you think of it in the context of ‘God doesn’t need you’….no matter if you are the leader of the free world…or founder of Apple, Inc. all of a sudden we are all very, very small indeed.  It becomes crystal clear (to me at least) why the lowliest of low will be raised high in the end.  The first will be last & the last first.  It's not just because it sounds nice & poor people will finally get theirs...it's because we are all truly equal in God's eyes because he doesn't CARE what our social stature is in THIS life. We are all lowly humans, which He LOVES despite our flaws & lowly state.  It also puts into perspective our current social mindset of “It’s MY life and MY body & I’ll do with it what I WANT…” Guess what…it’s NOT & if you DO..you risk more than ANYTHING your human mind can imagine in this life, which it's length is mere moments compared to the afterlife.  God bless us humans & especially the law makers and the media who assist in creating this culture of “ME” that we so easily and readily accept.

This is GREAT...

This list is compilation found on the website "Ultimate Listverse Top 10 Lists"....enjoy.

 http://listverse.com/2009/07/13/top-10-misconceptions-about-the-catholic-church/#.Tn-LaazX7BM.blogger

WARNING: Very difficult message....

I thank a dear friend for sending me this video! 

Folks, if you start to follow my blog, you must be warned that I am a Pro-Life supporter and activist. My current situation in life has unfortunately limited my work in this area for the moment, but I know God has more work for me in the future. Although, many activists believe that in presenting the horrors of abortion in its gory reality can be very successful in gaining converts to the cause, I usually do not prescribe to these methods of spreading the messasge against abortion BUT, I must admit, this particular video is very, very effective (& it's NOT bloody) Plus, no one says it better than Fr. Frank!  Please, if you are compelled...pass this along!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBOAPleF1t0

God bless you and until the next time!

Perhaps I've Said Too Much....

One of the biggest problems facing this world today is "Political Correctness."  This seemingly kind and sunny approach to the world appears almost Christian in nature, live and let live!  Don’t judge one another, there is only One who will judge, whoever casts the first stone and so forth.  But what about religious orthodoxy?  Masses of people HATE the Catholic Church today because of “all their rules,” right?  How many times have we heard this?  But what about Judaism’s rules?  Or Christian Evangelical rules? Catholicism is not the only faith that abides by ancient, Biblical, moral standards (let’s not even discuss Muslim orthodoxy).  How does one honestly follow their authentic faith today without offending our neighbors in a world of such moral decay?  
How does one teach their children ‘Well, it’s OK for your friend to do XYZ, but it’s NOT OK for you, you’re a Catholic and ‘No’, even though they will burn in the fires of hell…it’s not nice to talk about that and we are not the ones to judge.”
BUT WAIT!  Aren’t we called to evangelize?  Aren’t we called to help save our neighbors from the fiery depths of hell?  I know I’m being a bit facetious here BUT truly think about it…is it more Christian like to keep our mouths shut when we are witness to grave immorality and we KNOW these acts are jeopardizing the souls of our friends and family?  Or is it our calling to try & help our loved ones in hopes that we can find ourselves together in heaven one day?  We have become so over concerned about what OTHERS will think of us if we should take stand on something we know is morally right or wrong that we are forgetting about what GOD is thinking about us by our inaction. 

One of my favorite quotes speaks to this: "Silence in the face of evil, is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  If your not familiar with Ol’ Dietrich, do yourself a favor & do a quick bit of homework on him…a remarkable man. 

“Political Correctness” has crippled our society by allowing immorality to take hold and religion to be forced underground.  The religiously faithful people have been made scared to even allow their voices to be heard in fear of ridicule, public attacks and being labeled ‘uncaring’, ‘close minded’, even ‘uneducated’ etc.  I contend that if we REALLY cared, we’d be fighting for our loved ones souls and not caring about what the current social standards are. 

Check out this bloggers post (& even the posts after it) on this topic, it hits the “nail on the head.”

http://blog.adw.org/2011/09/catholic-orthodoxy-is-not-bigotry-a-response-to-the-hate-filled-comments-received-by-a-catholic-blogger/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=catholic-orthodoxy-is-not-bigotry-a-response-to-the-hate-filled-comments-received-by-a-catholic-blogger

Enjoy!

Another GREAT one from Real Catholic TV

I get backed up on watching my regular updates from Real Catholic TV then I'm always overwhelmed with all the great episodes.  I in particularly love when they put together one of these "special topic" editions. 

WELL worth the 30 minutes of your time on Pius XII.  God bless!

http://www.realcatholictv.com/free/index.php?vidID=ciax-2011-08-26&ssnID=162

A Great Video Blog on Mary

Not sure how you all feel about Michael Voris or the Vortex but sometimes (I feel often times) he just nails it!  This is from about a month ago but no matter....enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV?feature=mhee#p/u/0/c0SX1s669q8

Old Soul

Old Soul's.  When we talk about a child being an "Old Soul" I always think it means they have a deeper insight to life.  They see certain things that the average kid may not see, wise beyond their years, if you will.  I also think it can pertain to people like myself, who pines for yesteryear.  I many times think I was born too late.  If I could pick a time era in history, I could see myself fitting in far better than I do today, somewhere possibly between, 1910-1950.  When I see old houses, buildings or factories abandon, I feel physically sad when I know many think “it’s just an eye soar, a new building should be built there to clean it up.”  I am not a romantic person by nature BUT where nostalgia comes into play, I wistfully image the birth of our nation, the heart aches, the hard work, the huge families, the widespread farm lands and the gentry of the cities just beginning to emerge.  Idealistic images of immigrant families. The men who built this nation by the strength of their backs and the sweat of their brow.  The amazing women who ran large families, made clothes, cooked, grew gardens, nursed, taught and passed along their faith usually with a baby on her hip.  The hardships they faced only makes me appreciate them more.  I think this condition of mine adds to why I am so conservative.  I look to these periods of history and think I am soft with materialism & technology and long for the simplicity of knowing a hard days work would provide for my family which I would thank God for every Sunday at Church.  I am not foolish enough to realize that life was far more difficult than this and and I am  grateful for all our modern conveniences and blessings that these generations made possible for us, BUT my heart still yearns for these times. I cannot help myself. My kids watch “The Little Rascals” series with me (I ordered them from Amazon) & I explain to them why milk and ice was left at the doorstep, and what a dog catcher was. I watch their faces and can tell that their minds are trying to understand this foreign world they are peeking in at. My five year old has asked me "Mom these people aren't real, right?" Where does one begin?

I share all this with you because someone sent me this link in an e-mail and my heart literally longs for this time.  To walk NYC in 1940’s, to talk to all these people & shop along the streets….ahhh, I need something for this illness I have. Enjoy the link!


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036932/New-York-City-photos-Charles-W-Cushman-reveal-1940s-life-Big-Apple.html

ALL I have to say is WOW!

Catholic Online is reporting this today!  Our good Pope is just amazing.  God bless him.

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=42829

Ohhh Applesauce...

Ahhh, childhood.  Have you ever thought that the reason why God formed families the way He has, is so the parents get the gift of reliving their OWN childhood?  You get this fantastic second chance to re-do all the WONDERFUL things that you remember from your own youth and in doing so, teach your child the lessons you learned from that experience.  Sharing your memories, your feelings that you felt, explaining what life was like when you were younger; your children eat it up!  They get a glimpse of what was like “so very long ago” (HA!)  and you get to experience the joy of whatever it is you are sharing with them and seeing the happiness the same event brings them.  I guess this is how “traditions” are formed.  You also get the chance to evaluate the negative experiences from your younger life and choose how to filter THOSE lessons to your kids and pray they never experience the painful part of it, only reap the benefits of the lesson.  You get a “do-over” if you will.  Children give us the adult pass to be childlike again, just by being in their presence if you allow yourself to embrace it.
Every time I take the occasion to spend this kind of time with my kids (which is usually in the kitchen) I promise myself that I will do it far more often because of the happiness & positive experience it brings to us all.  Yet, I fall short.  I try & blame today's busy schedules, filled with technology & outside distractions.  All the time we spend on a computer, watching TV and playing video games...it's too easy to look up from your "device" to notice, the day is done and realize I barely saw my kids (in the next room) today.
I spent about 40 minutes with my five year old today trying our hand at making homemade applesauce.  We laughed and talked about when I was a little girl & use to make “homemade” yummy things with his “Nanny” (my Mom).  He talked about some of his friends from school & how making this yummy apple recipe makes him want to grow up & plant his own apple trees & have his own apple stand where he can sell apple delights like what we were making and decided we would give some jars of it to some of our friends.  All of this led him to ask me to show him pictures of when I was his age.  It was a small part of our day that made us both so happy!  A little nugget that was SO far better than being on the computer or doing laundry.  While we peeled apples together, my mind went back, vividly, to when I when I was a little girl and sat across a kitchen table helping my own Mother, knead dough to make bread.  I make the same recipe now with my own kids, a project we usually save for bad weather days.  As the future is upon us with all the technology and advanced lifestyles we lead today, a few small exercises bring us back to a past generation and HOPEFULLY will be carried forward with my own children and their future families with stories of Grandma and childhoods and the times we made applesauce together…maybe we’ve started a new fall tradition birthed out memories from my own past that will one day be enjoyed by my grandkids!!.  Maybe memories of afternoons with all the windows open and fresh fall breezes with yummy smells billowing from the kitchen & all the surprise & excitement of opening the oven door to our newest creations will entice the next generation to spend time with one another.  These days won’t last forever.  There will come the time when other things will occupy their time & cooking or baking with Mom (& Dad too) will become passé as it did in my own youth BUT, I believe it always comes full circle.  Watching my son help me measure & steadily (with both hands) spill the ingredients into the large pot as he shared with me all his ideas & thoughts for the day…priceless and I just got to step back into a fond time of my childhood & do it all again with the boy I love.  Until the next time friends!

Mary Our Mother...

Many Non-Catholic Christians do not understand a Catholics deep devotion to the Mother of our Lord. They have accused Catholics of elevating our "honor" for her above Christ's, by kneeling in front of a statue of Her, we are idolaters, many have relegated her to the mere "vessel" God used to usher the Lord to earth. I have done a bit of homework on the topic.  I find it so interesting how words and phrases used in a Catholic’s everyday life comes into SUCH scrutiny by others in attempt to discredit the faith. Many Fundamentalist Christians attack us on the use of the word “worship” when it comes to the saints & Mary.  So, I find it intriguing to learn about the ORIGIN of many words and how they apply to their context in the Bible & our ancient faith.  I hope you enjoy as well.

Taken from “The Essential Catholic Survival Guide” by the staff of Catholic Answers.

Worship: The word has undergone change in meaning in English. It comes from the Old English word “weorthscipe”, which means “the condition of being worthy of honor, respect, or dignity.”  To ascribe to honor, worth, or excellence to someone, whether a sage, a magistrate, or God.  For centuries, the term “worship” simply meant showing respect or honor we see this held over today in England they call their magistrates “Your Worship” we Americans say “Your Honor”.  These terms do not infer that English subjects worship their magistrates as gods, they could potentially despise the person, BUT it is giving the OFFICE the honor it rightfully deserves.  But today, most elsewhere this word has been narrowed to be used ONLY in to indicate the supreme form honor & reverence due God.

In Scripture, the word is used in the older meaning. In the early Christian centuries, theologians began to differentiate between different types of honor, in order to make more clear which is due God and which is not.  The Greek term “latria” came to be used to refer to the honor that is due God alone & the term “dulia” for honor due humans especially those who lived & died in God’s friendship i.e. the saints.  (Matt. 10:41) indicates the special honor due these individuals. A special term was created for the honor especially due Mary “hyperdulia” or beyond dulia.  It is greater in degree, but still of the same kind.  All 3 of these terms used to be lumped together under the English word “worship”.

Another distinction between the honor due to God compared to that of humans has been the use of t he words “adore” or “adoration” to describe the total, consuming reverence due to God, and the terms “venerate”, “veneration” and honor to refer to the respect due humans.  You will sometimes hear Catholics say “We adore God but we honor his saints.”  Without acknowledging these distinctions, one does not understand that aspect of the faith.  Catholics do not practice idolatry, this is patently false.  Catholics DO NOT WORSHIP ANYONE BUT GOD.  At least given the modern term of the word. The Church is VERY clear about the fact that latria, adoration, what contemporary English speakers call WORSHIP is reserved strictly for God.  In Hebrew, the word for worship is “shakhah” and is used many times in the Old Testament (OT) in regard to honoring humans.

How is honor given?  We give it to public officials, in the marriage ceremony we vow to “love, HONOR & obey,” when we address letters to legislators we write "To the Honorable So-and-So", we are instructed to honor our military, our fallen soldiers, our Founding Fathers etc…these practices are entirely biblical in nature.  We are commanded at certain times in Scripture to honor certain people "Honor thy Father and Thy Mother..."  Catholics do not make the distinction between our living or dead when it comes to the worthiness of honor. If they are worthy of honor in their physical life, they are worthy of honor in their spiritual life as well.  So parents, holy religious figures (like saints) etc. are all worthy (living or dead) of our honor. I Peter “Honor all men, Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor.”

This next section was compiled from a few different sources which I mentioned before each statement. Otherwise they are my personal ramblings.

Honoring Specifically Mary

1) Her blood mixed with Christ’s while He was in the womb.  They share DNA!!  If one cannot stand in Christ’s presence without being 100% cleansed of sin…how could it be for the one who CARRIED him inside her, and brought his earthly life into being.  Her soul could have been nothing but spotless of sin and perfect to carry the SON OF MAN.

2) This info I got from www.catholicbible101.com:  (Luke 1:28) Gabriel’s greeting to Mary “Hail Mary, full of Grace the Lord IS with you” NOT the Lord will be with you shortly, the Lord is coming in the future to be with you, or the Lord WAS with you (indicating he was there then left).” He IS WITH YOU” meaning PRESENTLY.  This event took place prior to Jesus' conception, which means she was pure and holy BEFOREHAND. If not the Bible would NOT have stated it this way. If Mary had said “No” to Gabriel, and had not accepted her path “according to thy will”, some think Gabriel would have just moved on to some other girl!! Some also think that although she DID carry the CHRIST, the Holy Spirit left her at the Incarnation. But ask a Bible Christian where it says that ANYWHERE in Scripture. This is where individual interpretation plus a little word twisting enters into the scene.

3) This info I got from www.CatholicBridge.com  In the New Testament Mary is present at almost every major event in the life of Jesus:

• His conception (Luke 1:2)
•  His development in the womb, including the fetal development of John the Baptist (Lk 1:43)
• His birth (Lk 2:7)
• Offering Him to God (Lk 2:22)
• Early childhood (Lk 2:22-38)
• His confirmation at 12 years old (Lk 2:49)
• His start in public ministry and the first of his miracles, which she instigated. (Wedding at Cana Jn 2:3)
• His death on Calvary (Jn 19:26)
• The birth of the Church at the Pentecost (Acts 1:14).

These many references of her in the NT clearly indicate her role being infinitely greater than any of Jesus’ disciples. 

4)   Mary said "Do whatever he [Jesus] tells you to do." (Jn:2:3) She is the first person IN HISTORY to say this about Jesus. (So Catholics in no way ELEVATE Her above Christ, she herself is telling us who to follow)

5)   Luke and Mathew weren't at Jesus' birth. Mary was likely the one who told them about it (Lk 1-2, Mat 1-2).

6)   Mary received the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost and spoke in tongues 2000 years before Pentecostals got the gift.  (Acts 1:14, 2:3)

7)   In the Bible, Mary clearly spells out her role in eternity(Lk 1:46-49):

My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

-The Bible says Jesus is magnified by Mary's soul. A soul is eternal and not limited by life on earth. Mary reinforces her eternal ministry by saying "all generations will call me blessed." If the Bible intended Mary's ministry to end with the birth of Jesus, or at his death, or even at Mary's death, it wouldn't use that language. To MAGNIFY is to make something appear larger so we can see it better, so being in relation to Mary's eternal soul does not draw focus away from Jesus, it does the opposite. It magnifies him.

All of this infomation and more can be found at the sites & resources mentioned here. 

Found this I thought I'd share....

Just came across this piece at the National Catholic Reporter from Friday: Enjoy!

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/dissent-don’t-you-dare

Never Forget

Everyone passes from this earthly life. Some quietly alone, others in a blaze of glory, some sick, some tragically but in our lifetime, none have passed so PUBLICALLY as those who left us on 9-11 ten years ago. Each of us carry our own memories and sorrows. Please consider offering your Mass today for all the families personally effected by this horrific event & our nation who will never quite completely heal.

This is a reflection piece from Our Sunday Visitor today that I thought was touching, thought I'd share http://www.osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/8344/From-911-comes-peace-that-surpasses-understandin.aspx

Where was I???

So, the reason I haven't had a chance to post more here is because I had a very interesting week elsewhere online.  Most of my free time was spent in debate on a social networking site with a Christian Fundamentalist.  Although I found myself at times infuriated with the nonsense this gentleman was “teaching” his friends about Catholicism by his attempt to expose me on his profile page, this experience wound up a blessing for me.  Is it me, or are the MOST angry Christians former Catholics?  This gentleman met me by trying to convert me while I was saying the rosary online!  (If you haven’t tried this by the way, check out my link here for “Come Pray the Rosary” my favorite site for this…I LOVE it).  This site has an “intentions” tab.  People can add their prayer intentions here, real time…well this individual thought it a good idea to mock & ridicule people while they PRAYED THE ROSARY about their devotion to Mary.  He kept requesting if we wanted to learn more, to follow him back to his social networking page so he could share with us his brand of personal salvation.  Under a false name (which I found dubious from the get go) I followed him back to his page, originally to give him a piece of my mind about harassing people while they prayed.  I don’t have a problem with people wanting to evangelize…I GET that, I really do,  but right in the middle of a meditative prayer?  REALLY?  It’s simple marketing 101, if you want people to “buy what your selling” a good place to start is not by patronizing, mocking, or ridiculing the individual you’d like to have buy from you. So I told him as much. Through our private messages back & forth he went on to tell me that it was his duty as a REAL Christian to be a “hammer” because that is what it takes for most people to come authentically to Christ…to be hammered with the TRUTH, he eventually dropped much of his adversarial tone and shared with me that he left the Catholic faith when, sadly, his first wife died of cancer.  He explained that the people in his parish and sadly his pastor treated him & his family terribly during and after his wife’s sickness that he left the Church because he knew then, that the Catholic Church was all about money, lies and just plain evil because no one of God could have ever acted as these people did.  So when he found his current faith (non-denominational, anti-religion group), he was reborn in Christ and has made it his mission to “remove the scales” from other lost people ESPECIALLY Catholics.  My heart really went out to this guy.  So we “friended” one another on this social site to be able to keep up with each other. I really paid him no mind for awhile until I saw his status this past Sunday change to say in all caps “HEY CATHOLICS, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU, YOU SERVED ROME WELL TODAY BUT YOU DID NOT SERVE GOD.”  Me & my big mouth!  I could NOT let this kind of comment go unchallenged.  I responded by asking “Is this because Catholics are anti-God?” and this began nearly a full week of him battering me with sarcastic and loaded questions about the tenets of the Catholic faith. His attempt was to lead me into answering his questions and in doing this, I would expose our faith as a cult, filled with parlor tricks, idolatry, pedophiles and anti-Semites.  At times his rants were nothing short of the fantastic.  I believe I responded calmly, respectfully (although at times THAT was difficult) with some fabulous, authentically Catholic resources at hand that I thought you may all appreciate:

1)  A WONDERFUL study Bible which I find INVALUABLE in navigating through the complex books of the Bible. The one I read is called “The Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition, New American Bible, 2^nd Edition”  2) “The Essential Catholic Survival Guide” by the staff of “Catholic Answers.”  “Catholic Answers” is a quarterly periodical I subscribe to which is a TREMENDOUS Apologetic resource I cannot live without 3) The “Catholic Answers” website http://www.catholic.com/.  This is the sister to the periodical and in a click just a world of knowledge at your fingertips and 4) my newest gem that I came across during this process this week http://www.catholicbible101.com/.  What a GREAT, easy to understand site chockfull of just about anything you need to know about our beautiful faith.  Sadly, my new Fundamentalist “friend”….”DE-friended me” this week! As he bid me “adieu” he said he would pray for me to come to the understanding of my faults and ways and find my way to Christ.  I responded by telling him my door was always open to become “friends” again. 

Although my new friend-de-friend, was once Catholic, it sounds as if he either FORGOT the tenets of his faith or possibly never knew them to begin with.  His understanding (& probably all of his friends who were reading our thread) of the Catholic faith was so misguided, so inaccurate that it was fairy tale-ish.  My new friend was a great student of someone’s.  He had learned all the right talking points & all the right positions to "zing it" to Catholics but his arguments fell apart once the first layer of the onion was peeled.  Folks like this know, unfortunately, that far too often many of us are not in a position to defend the history or accuracy of our own faith.  I am no different!  I didn’t KNOW a lot of this material off the top of my head, I was heavily relying on my resources that I had at my disposal.  We can be a detriment to ourselves and others when we know enough only to be dangerous.  Our faith is so complex (& the more you dig, I promise, the more you will fall in love with its beauty because in finding out the TRUTHS behind the faith…there is NO DOUBT you will further & further become convinced of it’s infallibility if you aren’t already.)  This man kept quoting me “other Catholics” he questioned in the past.  When asked “So, why do Catholic’s believe ABC“, he would wait for the commonly crazy (to him) answer about worshiping the dead (our saints) or raising Mary above God in adoration or using our “magic water” as he called it.  He would wait to publically attack and make a fool of the speaker so they could see the error of their ways, want to leave the faith & further support his convictions. He claims this approach works very well for him and if it DOES, than that is sad indeed. My friend could quote chapter & verse of why HE believed what he did from Bible passages BUT when I responded with Biblical evidence to refute him…he had NO answers for me. Many times, if I went back to his passage he quoted to support his position and actually read the passages before and after his example, the meaning he was attempting to convey was completely lost because the whole piece when taken IN context meant something far different. He at times would get REALLY frustrated with me and would write “LIES!!” or “THIS IS SATAN SPEAKING!!”
One thing I definitely learned from this experience was he was correct in pointing out how so many, American Catholic’s are unable to defend their faith accurately (including myself.)  It’s not for the faint of heart being a Catholic.  We all know the tragedies, scandal, attacks & secularism that Mother Church faces today. We have been warned throughout time how difficult it will be for the Church and Her faithful to remain steadfast.  Presently we find ourselves in yet another dark time. With our priests & religious dwindling and with so many embracing the modernist, altered approach to the faith…who is left to teach us?  Who will be the ones to pass on the true faith to the next generation?  I contend it MUST be us, lay people, though we are.  We MUST take the time to learn our faith so we can, not FIGHT with our fellow Christians about who is right & who is wrong BUT so we can explain & teach them WHY the Catholic faith is the one true faith and how the Church is infallible in Her teachings.
Yes, I got frustrated and angry at times at my new friend because what he was saying was so hateful about another group of Christians (namely US) but I knew it was because he was hurt due to having no idea why his Catholic faith "abandon" him.  I quickly realized that God was asking me to befriend this guy & try to be an example which I think each and everyone of us are called to be every day.  A good friend, just told me that we should never DEFEND our faith because the Catholic Church needs no defense but we should lovingly EXPLAIN our faith & she couldn’t be more correct.  In the acidic environment we live in today towards religious people, I DO find it difficult to let down the walls and embrace people with the understanding that they “know not what they do” and it is MY job (and every Catholic) to lovingly help them understand, because in the end, we are safeguarding their souls, right?  This isn’t for bragging rights or “I’m right & you're wrong & I know everything!”  It because we all want to be together in heaven in the end & what in life is more important than that? 
With all of the materials (especially the internet) that are so readily available (but make sure it is material approved by Rome before you embrace it…there are A LOT of people spreading a brand of THEIR Catholicism which is not in line with Catechism of the Catholic Church.)  Why not try and become a beacon for others?  I PROMISE you, the more you learn, the more you will want to learn AND all of a sudden, the trials of everyday life become something entirely different.  Something to celebrate even.  Someone passed me this GREAT video & thought it applied here.  ENJOY!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk4OCzre_IY&feature=share God bless you & check in soon.

One of My Favorite Prayers

O Jesus, I humbly implore you to grant your special graces to our family. May our home be a shrine of peace, purity, love, labor & faith. I beg you, Jesus, to protect & bless all of us, absent & present, living & dead.

O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus and our mother, pray to Jesus for our family, for all families of the world to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young & their vocations.

Blessed St. Joseph, holy guardian of Jesus & Mary, assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which he granted to you, to watch over our home at the bed of the sick & dying, so that with Mary & with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.

I just love this prayer.  I love how it speaks to all 3 members of the Holy Family and the final request "Ask of Jesus that special grace which he granted to you, to watch over our home at the bed of the sick & dying, so that with Mary & with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus." REALLY jumps out at me.  This reminds me everyday of not only my duty to work on getting myself to Heaven BUT also of my great responsibility of helping the rest of my family get there as well so we can all be TOGETHER with Jesus & the saints. I feel a dire need to pray that "heaven may find our family unbroken..." & I pray it finds yours there as well.  

Just thought I'd share!  Until the next time.

Why you ask?

Ya well, I ask myself the same question. It's not like I'm highly educated, well read, or have some tremendous background to share but what I lack in all of those important things...I make up for in zeal!  Ha! I guess I got that 99% perspiration thing going for me. 

Is there anyone out there like me?  Back in my late 20’s early 30’s I was in that stage of life where I was really struggling with who I wanted to be when I grew up!  My childhood household was a VERY conservative, orthodox Catholic family.  I went on to attend an all woman’s college & as one can imagine, Catholic though it was, it was uber liberal & I felt I had been exposed to both mindsets & now it was time for me to forge my OWN way from what I had learned from both learning experiences.  I didn’t want to just be a clone of my parents as I felt so many of my peers were.  If you asked many of them “Well, OK…I hear ya, you believe (fill in the blank) but why?” Too often  there was an uncomfortable pause, as if this person really didn’t KNOW why they believed whatever it was they were espousing.  I found it humorous at times. I thought ‘I don’t want to be that person & since I was born with the inability to keep my mouth shut…I’d better figure out what it is I stand for in this life.’  So, I started my journey.  It began with my politics.  I realized pretty quickly that my particular slant definitely fell in a pretty Conservative camp.  In the end, it was probably due to my upbringing that I just couldn’t get away from but at least I tried to approach it with an open mind.  Unfortunately, for awhile I was one of those annoying, “tow the line” Republicans.  I would try & explain away any wrong doing of any politician I particularly liked & slander ones I didn’t, usually for the same reasons I condoned my guy.  We all know “that guy”…well I was her.  I was young & clearly foolish & I was missing one, big factor in picking my role models…my faith.  Eventually, the veil began to be lifted to realize that on both sides of the aisle, most of these people were immoral, greedy, power hungry mobsters basically.  Disheartened and disappointed time & time again by our so called “leaders” left me wanting so much more.  I knew then that politics was a game that was a necessary evil but I could not blindly follow any of these jack-asses & if I wanted to be truthful to myself I needed to accept this fact. At this same time, I had started volunteering at a soup kitchen once a month.  Here I was attending mass maybe once or twice a month & volunteering as infrequently & I thought I was Mother Teresa.  Once again, delusions of grandeur, holier than thou when the reality was, I was someone who knew very little about my faith although attending close to 20 years in Catholic schools!!  Once again, I realized I was a fool when it came to speaking on anything of substance.  So once again I thought, if I’m going to call myself a Catholic…I really…REALLY need to understand what that means!  I cannot go through life, attending mass, not understanding why I do it! What if one day I had kids?  I’m sure I’d be forcing them to go to mass, an why? Well,…well just because…we’re Catholic & we HAVE TO!  That certainly didn’t sit well with me.  So slowly, I started digging around & the more I learned, the more doors were opened to me…the more I realized that the promises of the Church (not the people IN the Church) were the absolute truth.  The Church of Rome, that Jesus bestowed on us is 100% infallible & It’s truths are real.  This exercise BLEW OPEN my eyes & continues to do so every day.  I will not claim to be a Theologian but I am on this never ending quest to learn more.  I thank GOD that I began this venture before my current situation hit my family.  If I had not learned what I had to that point, my lukewarm approach to my faith would have failed me.  There is no doubt I would have turned my back on the Church, become depressed & in that, quite possibly ruined my family.  Bishop Fulton Sheen said it best "Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is.” I am certain I would have found SOME reason to be one of the millions.  It is just too easy.  The strength I have needed these past two years I can only attribute to truly knowing that without God, there is nothingness.  I, Liz Smith, am NOT a strong person…the Holy Spirit & His graces have given me strength to endure.  This isn’t some mamby-pamby, feel good, self help writer telling you that the secret is within YOU…it’s NOT!  There is nothing HUMAN about it, it is truly God’s graces working within us that assist us in our daily lives & it is our duty to seek Him out so we can unload our burdens on Him & find the help we need in everything we do.  It’s there for the asking, all we have to do is truly believe.
I recently read a piece that called us all to be a St. Paul…for all of us to evangelize the proper faith.  I thought as I take this journey of learning about mine, maybe there were others who would want to join me.  It is a very tough road to be a Catholic.  We are not well liked by many outside our faith and quite frankly, we are not well liked by many who claim to be Catholic presently.  We are NOT like any other Christians (yet many, even within the Church, would have you think we are) the more I learn, the more I am fascinated by our beautiful faith & have come to realize It’s singular truth.  The strength one needs in today’s secular world to actually live as our faith prescribes is extraordinarily difficult (even WITHOUT hardships.)  Sadly, our current society stands in the pathway of every step a Catholic (and any other Orthodox religion) takes today.  It ain’t easy.  I find nothing more admirable than a person unafraid to speak an unpopular truth & actually attempt to live by it.  No one is perfect, ESPECIALLY not me.   but don't be afraid to stand for something!  TRY & live by it.  Otherwise what do you tell your kids?  Are you “for real?” Or just someone else in society that you really can’t count on who talks a lot of crap?  I think we are all so afraid to fail if we are vocal about what we believe that people will point fingers & call us frauds because we say one thing & do another.  We all fail at some point & we will many, many times.  We should ONLY care about what God thinks of our attempts.  Not what our neighbors do.  At that point you look at your kids and say "Honey, Mommy is trying...& I will wake up & try again....just like my diet...."

Until the next time! 

Allow me to introduce myself...

So, I'm a Jersey Mom who has found herself in the oddest of places. As of fall 2009, life was damn near perfect! My husband & I were working hard at raising our 2 awesome little kids (cue the wavy special effects of a 1980's sitcom that alerts us to a flashback sequence...)

In 2004, my husband & I embarked on our greatest adventure together. We made the difficult decision that I would leave my "Corporate America" job so I could pursue the challenging path of a "Household Engineer." Our first child was born, our daughter, our "Shining Star", our most perfect accomplishment to date. We were not people of means, losing my salary would definitely mean a life of sacrifices ahead of us, but it was something we were willing to try, in hopes of attempting to get this parenting thing right. We knew, once I left, there was no turning back. The chance of me being able to return at some point, realizing my current salary and position would be impossible so we decide to hold our collective nose & jump. In 2006, our happy little household expanded to incorporate our dear, dear son, our second greatest accomplishment. Life was moving along swimmingly. Your average household, birthday's & Christmas's pass, many laughs, lots of blessings, average hurdles, always in need of: just a little more money, a few less pounds and always the next home project to tackle...we were surviving but if there was just A FEW MORE DOLLARS to stretch...we would be able to exhale. We had lived in this place for so long, it felt normal to us, so we counted our blessings & looked to the future. The future of my husband’s career looked promising & I went on to obtain my real estate license after the birth of my son. I had this great plan, I would work part-time somewhere & learn the business until both kids were in school full time. By then, I would have a good handle on the business & I'd delve into my second career full force. Yes, yes...the market crashed I know, but me, the ever optimist, took it as a blessing! By the time the market turned around, I would have built my resume & would be able to market myself as a successful salesperson in the worst market since the Great Depression! The time I had to devote to my clients was fantastic!  My motivation was to be able to make enough money to afford my kids Catholic school tuition & still be able to be a class Mom if I felt like it. Like I said, we were getting by, BUT adding the cost of tuition to the mix made it all the harder & this was not something we were willing to compromise on. My desire was to ease the burden on my husband & if God blessed us with anything MORE than that...well then, WOO HOO for us, but I'd settle for restful sleep. Ahhh, life was moving along EXACTLY according to plan. I can honestly say we were very, very happy. And since we started our journey together we had been active members of our local Catholic parish attending weekly Mass thanking God for all of our said blessings & I was Chairperson of the Parish's Pro-Life Committee.
But Halloween weekend of 2009 wound up being a pivotal point for our happy, little family. My dear husband came home from work and shared that he had been let go from his job, downsized, laid off! The company he had been with for over 15 years & his first "real job" after college. This news was devastating. I’m certain TOO MANY people reading this know EXACTLY our emotions. Well, once again, we counted our blessings, his severance package was nothing to shake a stick at & THANKFULLY, my husband being in finance and all, had been very aggressive with saving for our retirement. Between his severance & additional saving accounts we knew that we would be fine ESPECIALLY since we just knew he would get hired in fairly short order, right? I mean, c’mon?  FIFTEEN years in retirement planning? All his background & experience…his excellent work record…he would be scooped up in a jiffy, right? That was October of 2009…what day is it today?  SIGH…has anyone mentioned that it’s HELL out there? 
So, I started doing something I really hadn’t done too much of until that point. PRAYING. Of course I said a few obligatory prayers each day…before meals and before the children went to sleep as part of their ritual BUT…as for deep, personal, truly thoughtful prayer…no, I really did not have that as part of my daily routine. I use to think about it, in passing once in awhile, kind of like “Huh ya, I really should be doing more of that shouldn’t I…” and then the moment would pass as quickly as it came until the next time I pondered it. But now, well now I really had some pray’en to do. Funny how that happens huh?
As I mentioned, my kids were attending a little Catholic school, so a few days a week, I would head over to the attached church & say the rosary & a few random prayers before the Tabernacle to beg for God’s assistance & guidance. The stress felt unbearable at times. This became my regular practice to the point if I missed one of these days, I felt badly that I had not started my day off right.  And so began my journey in understanding the importance of prayer. Oddly, during this time, each night my husband & I would put the kids to bed & watch various political talk shows & news programs and every night as we watched the crisis that faced our nation, I use to turn to my husband & say “I feel like we are meant to go through this, like we are being made strong so we can help other people soon…because things are BAD & I think they are only going to get worse.” My husband knows me too well…me & my streams of ideas & thoughts that rattle around my brain.  So he nods his head, half ignoring me (but there is that half that is listening too) week after week I’d make some comment like this to him…I’d say “Don’t you feel it? Like a crescendo building?  Like something really bad is going to happen & we are going to be called on…” I can almost hear his feigned response. Well, month after month passes & our bank account dwindles & the nightly news grows more & more dire. More family & friends lose jobs, short sell their homes, get downgraded, are denied bonuses…tough times all around. We continue to plod along each month as our stress levels grew. My husband has been on many promising interviews with lots of talk like “You’re one of our top candidates…” only to get the final “Thanks but, no thanks.” letter a week later.  My husband, God love him, tried so hard to keep his job search to Tri-state area for us. Knowing that I had been trying very hard to build my real estate business & with some success at this point (not nearly enough to support us BUT I was working hard at it) and now the kids were in school, a school we had fallen in love with for them.  We were really (especially me) entrenched in our parish community between our faith & the school. This was really the lifestyle I could have only dreamed of.  So he tried & tried then finally we realized (or should I said I FINALLY REALIZED) that we were not in a position any longer to be choosey. If a decent job presented itself, no matter where it took us, he would HAVE to take it. With the understanding that as soon as possible we would make our way back here to attempt to resume our perfect little life. Well, a job DID present itself this Spring, with options of moving to either: Texas, North Carolina, or Georgia!! This was an in particularly phenomenal job that I could not deny him. He had a very serious chance at getting it, he was one of 3 final candidates in the running. They made him attend a 5 hour day of interviewing ending in a presentation they asked him to learn. He was so confident at his chances, I began looking at real estate online & began asking God for acceptance of the change that was before us. The following week, we jumped every time the phone rang thinking this was the call to tell us of our new fate. A walk to the mailbox put an end to THAT anxiety. Sure enough “Thank you but we have decided to continue our search…”  Continue your search?  So out of your THREE final people, NONE proved to be suitable???  Who was the one making the short list in the first place?  Maybe their job should be in question, no?  My poor husband.  He was crushed. Out of all the interviews he had been on, this one was the CLOSEST position to perfect he could have asked for. Not a job he was over qualified for nor was it a stretch for him. My husband said that he "would NEVER understand why this opportunity past him." Little did we know the "WHY" would soon present itself to us. He was not this upset when he 1st lost his job!  I was worried for him but for some reason, I was not nearly as upset by the actual loss of that job. I believe, prayer had finally gotten me to the place where I was truly able to leave the outcome in God’s hands. It wasn’t just a saying anymore. It was something I was living by. 
So I was working more & more hours in attempt to find more customers & hubby was doing a great job with the kids at home. For some reason, this year had been a tough on my kids with bringing home every kind of illness the school had to offer. My daughter had recently had this weird virus that presented itself with aches & pains in the legs & back. I had heard EVERYONE had gotten it & was thinking, BOY it’s not often my little guy misses a bullet like that…he’s the kid who winds up with EVERYTHING. Until one day he started complaining of a backache. Per the doctor, I started pumping him full of over the counter muscle relaxers until it passed. I was worried. I was convinced that this was NOT the same virus his sister had recently. Night after night in bed next to my husband before lights went out I’d say “I don’t like this thing with our boy.” & he’d shake his head & say “He’s a 5 year old boy…he strained his back or something. You are over reacting.”  There were no fevers, no lack of appetite just…not running around like newly 5 year old boy SHOULD. The Friday after Easter I took the kids to the zoo here in NJ to meet up with some of their classmates. I had already scheduled a follow up doctor’s appointment for later that day because the pain was STILL there…well, at the zoo there was a pretty big slide (who this kid never met a slide he didn’t love) which he begged me to go on. I was wary because he had been favoring his back a lot that day. I reluctantly said “Yes…BUT BE CAREFUL PLEASE!”  I waited at the bottom for his landing & when he did…the kid couldn’t get up.  He called for me to help with tears in his eyes. I carried him out of the zoo that day & after an exam by his doctor we were sent to a children’s hospital in the area. After a week of testing, tears and terror, we found out our most perfect son had a stage four cancer. A cancer so rare & terrible, my husband aptly questioned “How messed up is it, when you wish your child had Leukemia?” which pretty much sums up our feelings at that moment. The "Why?" in my mind was answered immidiately & I also know why I was feeling like "We were being made strong" prior to finding out this news.
Now that you know the story, this is where we begin our journey together finding God’s strength every day and growing in our Catholic faith. It is the ONLY way we survive, navigating our way through this life. Helping, learning and lots of laughing. You will find I am unabashed, unafraid & most probably controversial. I have no problem if you disagree with me, I only ask that you be respectful!!  God bless.