Catholic Spirituality and Devotion

[noy]

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the biggest problem of the church is its members' dogmatism.

one wouldn't be an adherent to a certain Faith if one does not agree with it's doctrines and dogmas.
please do not be confused with expression of Faith as the thread suggests and what the TS is posting
from Fundamentalism or Dogmatism.
no one forces you or anyone else to share the same devotion.

the TS merely expresses how things are viewed from a Catholic's perspective, it is way too different from imposing the Catholic point of view on others which what the word dogmatism suggests.

[TheSunKing]

[IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WOj1EL6GbGM/UfmpUftLyOI/AAAAAAAAV9E/5YTUncQGskI*******Guardian+Angel.jpg[/IMG]


Our Guardian Angels


By the ineffable providence of God, the angels have been deputed to guard men on their pathway through life. As the Bible promises us, “the angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear Him, and shall deliver them.” (Psalm 33:.


Angels are here with us to act as messengers of God, to deliver warnings, issue proclamations, and interpret visions. The Bible has a lot of evidences to prove their presence. The purpose of angels is to guide the ones they protect and warn them in times when something life changing is going to happen to them. Their main goal is to act towards the spiritual needs and emotional needs of those that belong to the human race.


And just as the angels guard those who have never had faith or sanctifying grace, so too, they continue their guardianship over those who have lost the faith or have fallen away from grace. In fact, this is one of those special provisions of the divine mercy, whereby God ever seeks the reconciliation of the sinner and urges him to turn from his evil ways.

[TheSunKing]

St. Victor I, Pope and Martyr

The First Black African Pope of the Catholic Church


Actually, the Church has 3 African-born popes -- the others are Pope Miltiades, and Pope Gelasius I.

Victor I is accredited as the pope who made Latin the official language of the Roman catholic church

Victor I is recorded as the first to endorse the change of the official date for Easter from that of the Quartodecimans (from 'quartus' meaning fourth and 'decimus' meaning tenth) who celebrated the holiday on the 14th of Nisan to the Roman Catholic celebration on the following Sunday.

[TheSunKing]

Jesus, the Sword-bearer

Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:34

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn


a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household [Micah 7:6]

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

REFLECTIONS:

A puzzling statement

While this statement seems a contradiction, or perhaps a source of embarrassment for christians who take pride in preaching the "Gospel of Jeace", Jesus must have meant something else.

Neither would this statement be a cause for Christians to war or murder others. Rather, Jesus has issued this warning to anyone who follows him that it wont be an easy road to take.

Not a civil peace

For one, Jesus did not intend to change the structure of the world. While a lot of Catholics have taken up the "social gospel" of the (Marxist) Liberation Theology to the poor in South America, this is not what the Gospel meant it to be. Liberation theology basically recasts Jesus Christ as a mere political figure, a revolutionary, and a subversive of Nazareth -- which is heresy.

While the Church has been at the service of the poor and the marginalized, it is no wonder that the Popes John Paul II, Benedict VI and Francis I have condemned the teaching as a serious error because it has emphasized materialism over the spiritualism of the Church.

Jesus cannot bring peace to the world as it is now. But He does bring peace to those who come in repentance to the Lord for their sins. It is to this kind of people, not to the world generally, that Jesus brings peace. It is the peace between you and God, and one with the other. One with the other in the sense of all those who, in Christ, have repented of their sins. Every time the Bible speaks about offering peace to humans, we have to understand that peace comes only to those who have responded to God’s salvation.

There will be no peace in this world until man’s heart is changed. And how can man’s heart ever be changed? It is changed when the cross comes into his life, when the sword of Jesus pierces through his heart.

The cross divides

When someone seriously decides to be a disciple, his trouble very often starts with his family because true discipleship immediately brings a conflict of loyalties. In this respect, Jesus’ teaching is very clear. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37). If commitment to Jesus conflicts with family loyalty, following Jesus must take precedence over the natural love of family. It has been the experience of many believers to be disowned by their families because of their faith.

The cross exposes

Many people live in this illusion of self-righteousness. Arguments along this line often crops: Why do you need to be saved? Saved from what?

It is because of this worldly righteousness that many live in illusion that they are good people. And if you think that you are good, why would you ever want to change? There is no need to change!

The path to holiness is painful because we discover just how bad we are. If you look honestly at yourself and if you allow the message of the cross to speak to your heart, all your self-righteousness disappears. Never again will you dare to attack other people about their sinfulness. You can only say, like the tax-collector, ‘Lord, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Be merciful to me a sinner.’ That is the glory of the cross.

The cross kills

The cross kills our sinful person. The cross kills our old way of life. When God changes a person, He does it thoroughly. He does not renew us by patching up our old sinful character. God is not satisfied with a patchwork. God is interested in a total revolution of the person. The sword has to kill our old life before we can have a new life. This is what baptism is about. In baptism, we are buried with Christ. We die with Him and we rise to a new life. Notice. We do not rise again until we die. If we don’t die, neither will we live. We have to die before we can live. In the gospel of John, Jesus says, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). It is only when the grain dies that it can have life. And we die when we have the cross in our heart because it is the cross that kills our old nature.

The cross makes alive

St. Paul says that the cross is the power of God unto salvation. We are saved by the power of God through the cross. Then at the end of Galatians, Paul also says, But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14). Here again we see that the cross kills and that the cross makes alive. ‘I have been crucified by the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. I have been killed to the world. But also I have been made alive by God with the same cross.’

The cross, like the sword, separates. The cross, like the sword, exposes. The cross, like the sword, kills. The cross, like the sword of the Spirit, makes alive because it sets us free from sin. Now we understand what the Lord Jesus means when He says, ‘I came to bring a sword.’ That sword is the cross.

Jesus brought the cross into the world in order to reconcile all men to God.
Paul writes that He has made peace by the blood of His cross.
It is through His cross, and more specifically through the blood of His cross that we can have our salvation.

[TheSunKing]

(Jacob's Dream by William Blake)

Near-death experience: Proof of heaven


I have been fascinated with stories about people who have been through near-death experiences. Maybe it is because of my strange fascination with death and life beyond. Strangely, they have reported very similar visions: going through a very dark tunnel, or a long stairway with a bright light at the end. Some saints especially, have reported ecstasy of experiencing heaven. Their experiences are very similar to Jacob's dream at Bethel and his encounter with God.

""" Jacob saw a stairway. The stairway reached up all the way to heaven, and the angels of God were coming and going, up and down, back and forth from heaven to earth, and back to heaven again. At the bottom of the stairway there was a glorious light."" -- (Genesis 28.10-22)

One of the most interesting stories i've read is about a neurosurgeon who had the privilege of looking beyond life after death, during a coma. A lot of skeptics and colleagues tried to debunk him, but whatever the explanation is, wether scientific or religious, his experience is a proof that there is indeed a life after death.

Read the story here: Heaven Is Real

[TheSunKing]

A DEFINITION OF A GENTLEMAN

by St John Henry Newman


It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain.
This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate.
He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him;
and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself.
His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature: like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them.


The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast;--all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment;
his great concern being to make every one at their ease and at home.
He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd;
he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate;
he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome.
He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring.
He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets every thing for the best.
He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out.


From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage,
that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.
He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice.
He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.
If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it.
He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive.
Nowhere shall we find greater candour, consideration, indulgence: he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes.
He knows the weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province and its limits.


If he be an unbeliever, he will be too profound and large-minded to ridicule religion or to act against it;
he is too wise to be a dogmatist or fanatic in his infidelity.
He respects piety and devotion; he even supports institutions as venerable, beautiful, or useful, to which he does not assent;
he honours the ministers of religion, and it contents him to decline its mysteries without assailing or denouncing them.
He is a friend of religious toleration, and that, not only because his philosophy has taught him to look on all forms of faith with an impartial eye, but also from the gentleness and effeminacy of feeling, which is the attendant on civilization.


Not that he may not hold a religion too, in his own way, even when he is not a Christian.
In that case his religion is one of imagination and sentiment; it is the embodiment of those ideas of the sublime, majestic, and beautiful, without which there can be no large philosophy.
Sometimes he acknowledges the being of God, sometimes he invests an unknown principle or quality with the attributes of perfection.
And this deduction of his reason, or creation of his fancy, he makes the occasion of such excellent thoughts, and the starting-point of so varied and systematic a teaching, that he even seems like a disciple of Christianity itself.
From the very accuracy and steadiness of his logical powers, he is able to see what sentiments are consistent in those who hold any religious doctrine at all, and he appears to others to feel and to hold a whole circle of theological truths, which exist in his mind no otherwise than as a number of deductions.

[TheSunKing]

Conversation

Sometimes I wonder what I might say if I were to meet you in person Lord.
I think I might say "Thank You Lord" for always being there for me.
I know with certainty there were times when you carried me, Lord,
when it was through your strength I got through the dark times in my life.

[The_Child]

Catholic dogma is summarized in the Nicene creed/Apostle's creed bro -- and all Christians are required to believe in those 12 dogmas.

unsa diay ang sukod sa akong pagkakatoliko?

- - - Updated - - -

one wouldn't be an adherent to a certain Faith if one does not agree with it's doctrines and dogmas.
please do not be confused with expression of Faith as the thread suggests and what the TS is posting
from Fundamentalism or Dogmatism.
no one forces you or anyone else to share the same devotion.

the TS merely expresses how things are viewed from a Catholic's perspective, it is way too different from imposing the Catholic point of view on others which what the word dogmatism suggests.

the problem with the catholic perspective is that it is very diverse,e.g reproductive health.

[SioDenz]

unsa diay ang sukod sa akong pagkakatoliko?

Imung Halad joke...

[newbie.86]

unsa diay ang sukod sa akong pagkakatoliko?

Good question bro. As a Catholic, the Basic Measure is how you follow the 7 main Biblical virtues. Actually, there are 31 mentioned in the Bible, but start lang ta sa 7.


1. Faith -- to believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us
2: Hope -- to desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit
3. Charity -- to love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God
4. Prudence -- right motive, right action
5. Justice -- give to God what is due to him, and to our neighbor what is due to him
6. Temperance -- moderation in the attraction of pleasures and balance in the use of created goods
7. Courage -- forbearance, endurance, and ability to confront fear, uncertainty and intimidation


These virtues are contained in the 10 Commandments and in the 5 Precepts of the Church. You can review and meditate on them.


Knowing the faith is the first step to being Catholic,
Accepting the faith is the second step, and
Practicing the faith is the third — and most difficult — step.

Obeying the rules involves appreciating the wisdom and value of the various rules and laws. And, you’re asked to put that belief into action, to practice what you believe.


-Dummies

the problem with the catholic perspective is that it is very diverse,e.g reproductive health.

Be careful who you listen to. As far as I know, there is only 1 Catholic perspective in all issues.

Any Catholic can claim to be a teaching authority because they have MA, PHD on this and that...

but when its about Catholic teaching on faith and morals we defer to the teaching authority of the Pope and the bishops.