« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Religion

Pope John Paul II

Sunday, April 3rd, 2005

A man whose courage in standing up for his morals is one that I admire. His morals are that of my Church. I adhere to the same beliefs, the same morals, the same standards. I am not as strong as he was, but can only hope to become so. In the face of a “changing” world, he stood on the firm ground of Truth, and would hear nothing of “forward thinking.” He stood on the shoulders of giants, and had a louder voice than all of them. He refused to let failing health stop him from doing his job, and in doing so, became an example for us all. He embraced his suffering. He was a beacon of light in this dark world. People from all walks of life respected him, even if they didn’t have the same faith.

Learn what he taught. But not only what he taught, but why he taught it. And most importantly: Be Not Afraid.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Roman Catholic | No Comments »

G.K. Chesterton on Truth

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005

He has come too near to the truth, and has forgotten that truth is a magnet, with the powers of attraction and repulsion. . . It is impossible to be just to the Catholic Church. The moment men cease to pull against it they feel a tug towards it. The moment they cease to shout it down they begin to listen to it with pleasure. The moment they try to be fair to it they begin to be fond of it. But when that affection has passed a certain point it begins to take on the tragic and menacing grandeur of a great love affair. The man has exactly the same sense of having committed or compromised himself; of having been in a sense entrapped, even if he is glad to be entrapped.
-G.K. Chesterton

Tags: , , ,
Posted in G.K. Chesterton, Quotes, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

False Hatred

Tuesday, February 15th, 2005

“There are not 100 people who hate the Catholic Church; But there are millions who hate what they believe the Catholic Church to be.”
-Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Tags: , ,
Posted in Quotes, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

Patience and Impatience

Sunday, February 6th, 2005

Sometimes we do things because we feel the need for companionship, when really it could be any number of things. Perhaps it’s a longing you feel to be near God.. perhaps you need someone to talk to.. perhaps you need a friend to laugh with, to play a game with, or to just be a goof with.. it could be anything. Maybe you want to go to Meijer for a midnight run and buy a Sobe, a pack of Baseball cards, and some chewing gum.. or gummies. Who knows? But either way, yes, a lot of times there can be frustration with impatience. Just have to strive for the patience that you need, because God will show you the way when you least expect it. God is the only one that won’t leave you high and dry, and will ALWAYS be there to lean on and to trust. Granted, we have friends that are willing to do anything for us, but even our friends can let us down. No one loves you the way He does.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Myself, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

On Abortion

Tuesday, January 25th, 2005

“But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, that father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.

This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

–Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

My official response to any and all situations regarding a pregnant woman, including the so called “chance of death” which is brought up all the time, but no specific case studies are available, is that all life is worth the chance to live.

Years ago at Antioch when it was at the Regan’s house, we had a discussion on Abortion. While there were some who knew of exactly what they were talking about, many had no clue. In an effort to educate, we were shown a video called, “The Hard Truth”. This video is graphic and shows abortion in it’s true form. I am going to post a link here where you can watch this video in segments. There is no narraration for the video except at the beginning. I will tell you now, THIS IS GRAPHIC and does show actual abortion as well as what happens to the babies after the abortions. This is a tough video to watch, but if you do watch it, by the end you will more fully understand our nations greatest travesty. This puts everything else in life into perspective.

http://www.abortiontv.com

I am Pro-Life. Very much so. I saw Jim Caviezel speak the the Grand Rapids Right to Life Banquet last fall that was $50 a seat and over 5000 people went. I donated well over $200 to the cause that night and I feel it’s well worth every penny. Not only is the Catholic Church doing something about it, but we are actively praying, all the time, for an end to abortion, for a return to Family values, etc. Re: Theology of the Body. There are also women that talk with the girls that are considering an Abortion, etc. Not condemning them, but being honest and open with them, and genuinely caring for them.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Politics, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

Fallen Away

Friday, January 14th, 2005

“Take care, my brothers, lest any of you have an evil and unfaithful spirit and fall away from the living God.” Hebrews 3:12

It’s possible to know the Lord and then fall away from that relationship. It’s possible to be delivered from the evil one and be re-inhabited by seven other devils far worse than the first (Lk 11:26). It’s possible for a Christian to fall into a condition worse than unbelief (2 Pt 2:20).

The Bible warns us to take care. “My fear is that, just as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted and you may fall away from your sincere and complete devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:3).

We must “encourage one another daily while it is still “today,” so that no one grows hardened by the deceit of sin” (Heb 3:13). We don’t have it made, but “He Who calls us is trustworthy, therefore He will do it” (1 Thes 5:24). Let’s encourage one another, not because we are ignorant about our weakness but because we are sure of His promises.

In our weakness His power reaches perfection (2 Cor 12:9). We were saved not by our power, but by His. Likewise, we persevere in life with Jesus by His power. “In Him everything continues in being” (Col 1:17). “We have become partners of Christ only if we maintain to the end that confidence with which we began” (Heb 3:14).
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp?d=1/13/2005

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Roman Catholic | No Comments »

On being the Center of Attention

Thursday, December 2nd, 2004

Many things get in my path that force me to make decisions. I’m not a decision maker, because I like to take into account the effect that my decision has on others. I don’t want to let anyone down, and fear losing friends over bad decisions. Being the center of attention scares me, and yet I crave it. I enjoy being noticed. I enjoy it when people compliment me. Mainly because I didn’t have a lot of that growing up.

So when someone new comes along that is suddenly the center of attention, I feel I have to do something about it and risk overcompensating.

I’m not a public speaker and I’m not all that funny. But I can talk in public about things that I know about, and I can make jokes or point out the obvious sometimes, and make a situation funny.

I was never the popular kid, and still get crap because I am strong in my Catholic convictions. Should my being a virgin at 24 be so surprising to people? Which is sadder: that people are shocked, or that there is a REASON that people are shocked?

I can’t do a lot of things, and I can’t be there for everyone all the time. I can promise to do my best for those that I care about. My best is all that I can give. I will fail, but that’s why I need the help of my friends to keep moving forward.

I have a lot of friends. More, sometimes, than I even know how to deal with, or handle. I have always been good at making friends. Sometimes I question what it is that makes me a good friend to people. Why am I your friend? What is it that makes you want to call me friend?

What makes it hard is when I want to talk to one person, and don’t know what to talk about with them. I don’t know what they’ll find interesting, or what they enjoy talking about. Perhaps I should ask that. Perhaps I should just keep plugging away, learning about their family, and other interests, and let the rest come with time. Why am I so impatient sometimes? Why am I so shy, yet outgoing at the same moment? Why can’t I be outgoing when I want to be? What is it that I’m afraid of? Being the center of attention to this one person?

Which brings us to where we started. What’s it mean, then, to be the center of attention?

Tags: ,
Posted in Myself, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

The Passion of the Christ

Wednesday, September 1st, 2004

I just got the Passion of the Christ on DVD a couple of days ago. I have not yet had the energy to watch it. Having seen it twice in the theatre, it is definitely a masterpiece in filmmaking. It’s full of heart and soul, and definitely the greatest film of The Passion of Our Lord that has ever been created. Crafted with love and care, tenderness and prayer, it takes you on a very real and very brutal journey though the last 12 hours of the life of Christ. But who doesn’t know that?

What really irritates me, is those people that are afraid to watch it. It’s not going to kill you to see this movie. If anything, it’ll help mold you into a better Christian, and really, who doesn’t need to improve in that area. We all have struggles, we all have hurts, we all have pains, this film says “I love you, and I want to help to take away your pain, or to help you to understand it better.”

You guys, Jesus knows our hurts, our pains, our struggles. He knows when we are happy, when we are sad, and He weeps with us. He carried our burdens and took so much just for us. The film doesn’t even do the true crucifixion justice.

Is the movie gory? Have you seen Kill Bill volume One? From what I’ve heard, that is much worse. For those that have seen the film, it’s definitely not as gory as the media made it sound like. It cuts away from the scourging to show the audience reaction, and the reactions of Mary, the Mother of God, as she can only watch her Son as He is tortured, and that becomes too much for her to bear. However, she remains near by through it all.

This movie has gotten the same reaction that Jesus got when He walked the earth. The movie was slammed and criticised as being overzealous. It is REVOLUTIONARY, it threatened too many people’s way of life. People that weren’t ready to give up their sinfull ways. These people reacted in manners of self-defense. They didn’t know how to take it. Perhaps they were never taught. Perhaps they glimpsed something that they never thought was possible, and still don’t.

All I know, is that there is the influence of God on this film. Watching it, you really get a sense for the emotion that God must have been going through.

You Are My Son
Scarecrow and Tinmen

Verse 1:
I should not cry though I’m broken inside
Why should I mope all day long
Living above takes the sting from these wounds
And I’m living by faith and not by sight
Then I hear His voice gently calling My name
Love to hear His voice in the cool of,
The cool of the day

Pre-Chorus:
I love you My Son
I love you My Son
And I want to tell you that you’re on My mind
The funny things you say and do and I love
I love that you’re Mine

Chorus:
I know your name and I weep when you hurt
And I cheer when you win
Because you are my son
I will come when you call
I will hear your prayers
And I will fight for my name
Because you are my Son
You are my son

Verse 2:
Loving me when I am unlovable
You’re patient when I’m far from it
Keeping no records of all of our wrongs
And His love has canceled our debts
And I stand in awe of Your infinite grace
Knowing that You took our sin with its
With its sentence of death

Pre-Chorus
Chorus twice

Ending:
My Son

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Lyrics, Movies, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

The Journey to Finding God’s Will

Saturday, August 14th, 2004

I wrote this for my friend Amy in her Xanga, but thought I should also post it here.

The Journey to God and finding His Will for your life begins with you. I recently heard something that I feel can help you find out where God wants you to be. What are your talents, your gifts that God has graced you with? List all of those. Then ask yourself what you love to do, what is it that brings you joy, like pure, absolute joy. The kind of fun that you know God is showing you and blessing you with. Write those down. Now take a look at that list, and write down all of the things that you could do to acheive a melody of both. The music that the talents and joys will bring is magnificent indeed, as it becomes clearer and the harmony mixes together and molds itself in layers that, when separate, were played very beautifully, almost like you don’t want to hear them mixed with another sound. But when they are mingled together, they create something so beautiful and profound that you cannot stop listening. Then you go in that direction.

“I’m getting into You, because You got to me in a way words can’t describe.
I’m getting into You, because I’ve got to be. You’re essential to survive.
I’m going to love You with my life.”

He said “I love you and that’s what you are getting yourself into”

-Relient K, Getting into You

Nothing can change Your love
It’s mine forever
Nothing can steal my heart
It’s Yours forever

Touched by Your hand of grace
My heart is won, my heart is won
and Angels did celebrate
Just for this One

We’ll be the best of friends forever
and I’ll die to live with You forever
Nothing in this world could ever keep me
from loving You forever, forever here with You
-Sarah Kelly, Forever

Just set aside five minutes every day at the exact same time. Say, right when you wake up, no matter what, the first thing you do is look at the clock or set an alarm of some type, for 5 minutes. Pick up your Bible, and open it up and read it. Meditate on it. Perhaps use this site: http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
You can pick up the “One Bread, One Body” books at most Churches. They are meditations on the daily readings. The more you do this, the more clearly you’ll be able to hear God’s voice calling you. It may not be like Moses’ Burning Bush, but God still talks to people like that. The trick is to listen. He won’t put you where you’ll be unhappy. That’s what faith is. And that’s why faith is so beautiful.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Lyrics, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

What is going on? -On Leadership-

Monday, May 31st, 2004

What the heck is going on? So last week I was supposed to give the talk at Antioch on Thursday. More of leading a discussion though. No one showed up except for Joe and Scott. We just went to Cheers.

The topic that I was given? Leadership. It was really quite incredible that this was the topic. After the events of the last week and a half, a few people didn’t end up in a very good spot. The worst thing is that they know better. There is no excuse for their actions. None.

What gives some people the idea that drinking a lot is setting a good example in front of those that are underage? And then ending up on a floor, or God knows where else… and drinking underage…that also pisses me off, the immaturity there.. seriously GROW UP!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Antioch Friends, Roman Catholic | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »