Today’s question: Why do I deserve to burn in hell for eternity? If God is love, how can such a thing even be possible?

Question: Why do I deserve to burn in hell for eternity? Please explain how I deserve to burn in hell, from a human perspective and how can I possibly follow a religion that doesn’t make sense?

Answer: The problems related to “The Human Condition” are probably due as much to “circumstance” as to the personal “guilt” of we who are alive on earth, today.

That said, the problem of sin is and always has been, deadly serious!

Due to the Fall of Man (in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden) the default state of all humanity is to be born estranged from God; totally lacking the divine grace that is necessary to enter Heaven; perpetually enslaved to Satan, sin and death; having a natural attraction to sin, as well as an all too human propensity to commit sin.

The only known antidote to perpetual slavery and eternal damnation, is faith in Jesus Christ, the divine man who has demonstrated (as one of us and on our behalf) his total mastery over Satan, sin and death.

The fact that Jesus voluntarily took on flesh, became man, willingly sacrificed himself and then, rose again from the dead, in order to destroy Satan’s power over us (the power of death and hell) while asking nothing in return, except for our faithful allegiance, should be more than sufficient proof of God’s abiding love and tender mercies.

Christians typically swear faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ by being Baptized into his Holy Catholic (Universal) Church.

The Sacrament of Baptism, followed by a regular program of personal prayer and study, along with a lifetime of full, faithful participation in all the work, worship, sacraments and devotions of the Holy Catholic Church, is the time-tested, “Jesus Approved” method of first, being justified by the grace of God and then, proceeding to live a holy life that will serve to glorify God, while preparing us to (hopefully) spend an eternity with him, in Heaven.

The bottom line: Nobody “deserves” Heaven. An invitation to Heaven is a free gift from God, subject only to his divine will, his justice and his mercy.

God typically reserves the gift of Heaven for those who are (or who will be) faithful to Jesus Christ – the one who redeemed all of mankind from Satan, sin, eternal death and hell.

Absent faith in Jesus – or a great miracle/divine exception – there’s only one other choice available.

So what will it be: The Smoking Section or The Non-Smoking Section?

Question of the day: If god loves us so much why does he go through all these games and shenanigans? Why did he send his son to jump through hoops and die?

Question: If god loves us so much why does he go through all these games and shenanigans? Why did he send his son to jump through hoops and die?

Answer: The Fall of Man unwittingly transferred dominion over the whole earth from Adam to Satan, with mankind ending up hopelessly and perpetually enslaved to Satan, sin and death.

So, mere forgiveness would have changed nothing.
The only hope for mankind
was divine intervention of a very particular type,
something only God was capable of accomplishing, for us.

Once redeemed from perpetual slavery to Satan, sin and death by Jesus Christ, it would be supremely foolish and wasteful for man to be voluntarily compromised by sin, once again.

That’s why God holds us to high standards, yet mercifully forgives, so long as we remain faithful (to him) and are truly repentant of our sins.

God typically accomplishes this for us by means of his grace and through our full, faithful and consistent participation in all the work, worship, sacraments and devotions of his Holy Catholic Church.

What do we mean when we say “Peace Be With You” at Mass?

Question: Precisely what type of “peace” are we hoping for when we say “Peace Be With You” at Mass?

Answer: The “peace beyond all understanding” that the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity became man in order to declare, is the peace between sinful mankind and God, which could only be achieved by the salvific work of Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son.

When we say “Peace Be With You” at Mass, we should be thinking something like this: “May God, according to the grace obtained for us by his divine son, forgive all our sins, justify us in faith and personally invite us to spend eternity with him, in Heaven.”

For people of true faith, that should also be enough to mitigate any of the temporarily anxieties and worries brought on by the stresses and strains of our mundane existence here on earth, until the day that we might be privileged to experience God as he really is.

A Question about our redemption in Jesus Christ.

Question: So god required a sacrifice and then he sacrificed his son who was also himself?

Answer: Not exactly.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three divine and distinct persons who essentially constitute the one, true God.

1 X 1 X 1 = 1

The 2nd person of the Holy Trinity (the Son) took on flesh and became man, while never ceasing to be God. We know him as Jesus Christ.

Jesus did for the human race what Adam failed to do: He remained totally and completely obedient to God the Father, even unto death on the cross.

Since Jesus is the eternal God, it is impossible for him to commit any type of sin, so Jesus is immune to the wickedness and snares of the devil. Jesus’ act of total obedience to his heavenly Father, as one of us and on our behalf,  served to appease God’s wrath (due to our sins) redeem mankind and “make” the peace between man and God.

When Jesus permitted the forces of evil to unjustly put him to death, he became the perfect and spotless sacrifice for the sins of the world and the forces of evil became subject to divine judgment, subsequently forfeiting the dominion over all the earth that they enjoyed after “the fall of man”.

When he rose again three days later, Jesus defeated death and proved his claim to divinity, as well as his mastery over Satan, sin and death.

Jesus is now the King if Kings and Lord of Lords, wielding all power over heaven and earth, death and hell.

Fallen mankind does not have that type of power. Only Jesus does.

Through faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ, along with baptism into his church, the power to overcome death becomes available to all who truly seek it. This is primarily a function of divine grace, which is a free gift from God.

All we need do is accept God’s saving grace (which Jesus deliberately obtained for us by his life, death and resurrection) and make a free will choice to cooperate with that grace, as a full, faithful member of his church. Then, we hope for the best.

God will do the rest. His grace is sufficient.

Satan is entrapped in a lower existence, imprisoned in currents of deadly, unredeemable chaos, as are those who choose to follow him.

Satan’s “NO” to God
Non serviam – Latin for “I will not serve”

Saint Hildegard sees how the Ancient Adversary is at work to lure and coerce into this same pit all those whose lives he invades and touches.

Obedience begins with the realization that one cannot bring into completion the work God has begun.

The ambiguity surrounding this life is beyond human capacity to understand or master, and left to ourselves, we are always at risk of being mastered by it.

Following our own whims is not enough because even the whims of the heart are subject to this confusion.

Our dignity, our integrity, our existence require firm ground on which to stand, or they all fall.  This understanding, this saving truth is found somewhere beyond our natural capacities, from Someone above us, who comes down to us, who calls to us and who waits for us to welcome Him.

Rather than allowing oneself to be consumed with the confusion of doing what one wishes, we only begin to redeem the ambiguity of life by searching out the most appropriate way of serving the Lord who reveals Himself to us.

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So what is a “mystery”? It is something that can be experienced even if it cannot be explained.

This is one of the first steps of faith–to trace in your life and in the ways of the world the mysterious way God works.

He does not work according to our plans and our sensible ways of organizing everything. He is always busy under the radar and behind the scenes doing his work.

Faith is being able to see what is going on and how he works in his strange and mysterious way.

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A Catholic convert theologian writes about faith, love, death, God and “other stuff”

My first glimpse of God was the love which my parents shared with one another. It was a life-giving love centered upon a common faith that despite all the challenges of living out a common life together, they could entrust themselves to one another and find a path to their salvation through one another.

The true character of this love was revealed most poignantly to me when my mother was on her deathbed, emaciated and disfigured by the effects of aggressive cancer treatment. As the options dwindled, my father became more and more desperate, trying every possible medical and spiritual avenue to avoid losing my mom.

One afternoon, as he was venting his frustrations to God before a simple wooden crucifix, he heard God interrupt his stream of thoughts almost as if he were speaking audibly: “Do you trust me?” was the simple question posed to him.

Later, closer to the time of her death, my dad was able to look down at my mother’s unconscious face, and say “I have never loved your mother more than I do right now.” It is an inestimable blessing to be able to root one’s analogical appeal to God as “Father” in that kind of experience.

Hospitality and community were also key parts of my religious formation.

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Miraculous survival, guardian angels and saintly relatives who have gone to their eternal reward

by Doug Lawrence

There is a horrific accident. Some people die. Some are spared.

Is it just a random game of numbers, or is there more to this than meets the eye?

Catholics and even some non-Catholic Christians will tell you about their guardian angels – powerful, pure spirit beings, personally assigned by God almighty, to keep us safe from harm.

Even less understood and appreciated are the “Kinsman Redeemers” who step forward to right wrongs and save their people from poverty, starvation, death – and worse.

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, made man, is the ultimate Kinsman Redeemer, but the Bible shows us many more.

The story of Ruth and Boaz is probably the next most significant, since through their timely meeting and subsequent marriage, the sacred blood line of the coming Messiah was preserved. (See 4:22, below.) 

Ruth 4:9-22
(9) And he said to the ancients, and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Chelion’s, and Mahalon’s, of the hand of Noemi:
(10) And have taken to wife Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing.
(11) Then all the people that were in the gate, and the ancients, answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem:
(12) And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
(13) Boaz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive, and to bear a son.
(14) And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor: that his name should be preserved in Israel.
(15) And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons.
(16) And Noemi taking the child, laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it.
(17) And the women, her neighbours, congratulating with her, and saying, There is a son born to Noemi, called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David.
(18) These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron,
(19) Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab,
(20) Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon,
(21) Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed,
(22) Obed begot Isai (Jessie), Isai (Jessie) begot David.

Nor are Kinsman Redeemers required to be presently alive, here on earth. Catholics will explain the concept of the Communion of Saints – that great cloud of faithful witnesses who have gone before us – now in Heaven – eternally perfected in God’s power, grace and mercy.

These holy souls have the right to approach the throne of the Most High God with their petitions – hopefully, interceding with him for us – their beloved progeny and “kin”.

This goes much, much further and it is much more powerful than we might imagine – since by virtue of our baptism, we are all adopted children of God – brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ – with his mother – the Blessed Virgin Mary, also ours.

Saint Paul sums things up quite nicely:

Romans 8:28-39
(28) And we know that to them that love God all things work together unto good: to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.
(29) For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformable to the image of his Son: that he might be the Firstborn amongst many brethren.
(30) And whom he predestined, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?
(32) He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things?
(33) Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God is he that justifieth:
(34) Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died: yea that is risen also again, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
(35) Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Or distress? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or danger? Or persecution? Or the sword?
(36) (As it is written: For thy sake, we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.)
(37) But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us.
(38) For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might,
(39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, the next time things turn out miraculously better than you might ever have expected, don’t forget to thank God, thank your guardian angel, and thank your “extended family” in Heaven. (But why wait? Take a moment to give God thanks and praise, right now!)

The article that inspired this post:

Toddler cheats death after car crashes into buggy and crushes it against wall

If we do not put our total and complete trust in God, can we be truly faithful?

Moses taking one extra “whack” at the rock

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith:
and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God.

Few persons are aware of the extent of their own deficiency in this respect. Most persons take the matter so completely for granted that they do not suspect themselves, and therefore do not examine themselves on the subject.

There is something so monstrous in not trusting God, that we should have thought it must be a rare thing among good people. But experience teaches very differently.   Many aim at perfection, and few attain it. In almost every case the reason of the failure is the want of confidence in God.

Many persons live for years always intending to begin to form habits of prayer, or habits of particular examination of conscience, and never really begin either the one or the other. The real cause of this procrastination is want of confidence in God.

Men try to give up habits of sin, and either intermit their efforts, or abandon them entirely, through want of confidence in God. When a man is scrupulous, it is mostly from want of confidence in God.

Our knowledge of our own misery, which makes us brave when we have confidence in God, makes us cowardly and mean-spirited when we are destitute of that confidence. Many persons take up supernatural views of things as intellectual convictions; and yet, when they are thrown into circumstances which, as it were, compel the acting on these principles, we behold not a vestige of them in their conduct. This also is a result of want of confidence in God.

We really, far more than we believe, look at religion, at prayer, and at grace as if the whole was a lottery, or something like it. A real believing prayer is by no means common. This is probably the reason why such an immensity of prayer seems unanswered. Many men content themselves with a mere indeterminable hope, which can never carry heaven by storm as confidence does. Let us look into ourselves and see if we really have true and solid confidence in God. Many remain beginners all their lives, because they have not confidence in God.

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Liberal social justice Catholics have drunk the Protestant Kool Aid

by Doug Lawrence

The Catholic Church in America appears to be almost evenly split between “libs” and “trads”.

For those who are new to these culture wars, “libs” might be described as Catholics who tend to be light on Catholic dogma and overly reliant on emotion and social work – especially when it  comes to things like voting for pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politicians and the government funding of various welfare programs.

“Libs” also tend to be less concerned about the liturgy, and often have a less than complete understanding and appreciation for the sacraments – especially the need for the absolution of sins in the confessional and the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

For “libs”, emotion generally trumps faith and reason and malformed conscience trumps all – leading to the scandal of high profile, pro abortion and pro homosexual Catholic (and Protestant) politicians infesting all levels of government – along with a plethora of seriously defective Catholic In Name Only (CINO) charities, social justice organizations and even, religious orders.

All of these characteristics are really nothing new for Protestant groups – but they are new for Catholics, since they were essentially put into place by the post-Vatican II “reformers/enablers/revolutionaries” and others who have subsequently learned to invent such things, for their own nefarious purposes, from “whole cloth”.

To sum it up: Like most Protestants, Catholic “libs” generally find it difficult or impossible to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as Christ’s one time, once for many, propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of mankind, the Catholic Church as the “Barque of Peter” – the world’s only universal sacrament of salvation, according to the grace, mercy and forethought of Jesus Christ – and the Bible as the inerrant, Holy Spirit inspired, written Word of God – so about all they have left is social justice work – and their poor choices will almost certainly tend to perpetuate the continuing need for it! 

“Trads” tend to obtain their personal guidance through the exercise of faith and reason, based on a good working knowledge of the teachings of Jesus Christ, illuminated by two thousand years of Catholic Church Tradition, exquisitely reasoned, settled Catholic dogma and Magisterial teachings, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the lives of the saints and the Holy Bible.

Subsequently, “trads” tend to be very picky about the Masses they attend, the fidelity of the priests and bishops who minister to them, the integrity of the politicians who represent them in government, the causes they support, the Bibles they read and the sacraments they receive – most especially the Holy Eucharist, which they firmly believe to be the authentic body and blood of Jesus Christ, along with his soul and divinity.

The “trad’s” primary reliance on grace-giving sacraments – which for baptized Catholics, serve to engender and deeply nurture the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and charity, among others – is based on almost two thousand years of remarkably successful Catholic church history and tradition- which until fairly recent times, provided the spiritual underpinnings for all the best features of modern, western civilization.

For “trads”, faith and reason are employed in order to better understand the “mind” of the Catholic Church and hence, the mind of Jesus Christ, who is God and who will also be our final judge. Individual conscience certainly plays a big part – but only after all pertinent Catholic teachings and principles have already been carefully and prayerfully weighed and considered.

When “trads” need to get something done, they pray – often using the Rosary, or kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament – believing they will receive. Then, one of several things typically happens: 1) The problem simply evaporates and disappears (praise God); 2) The right course of action becomes apparent and that action is personally carried out, according to God’s grace, resolving or suitably mitigating the problem; 3) If it is within their limited area of competence – God sends a socially conscious Protestant, “lib” Catholic, or other person – to fix things; or 4) Life goes on as before – since even God isn’t willing to tackle certain problems that we create for ourselves, in this “valley of tears”.

Of course, there are exceptions and variations on both sides, but it’s just about that simple!

After the Second Vatican Council, the dogma of the devil’s existence became an ’embarrassing part of doctrine’.

Satan’s “no” to God

It’s time for Catholics especially who have been perhaps too eager to buy into too many of the promises and doctrines of modern science, to become reacquainted with the reality of evil.

Just as morality is not a flexible system based on the Masonic conception of “tolerance”; evil, temptation and the devil are not merely convenient mechanisms used to illustrate the concepts of right and wrong to children.

While it’s increasingly fashionable to have a hearty laugh at the simplistic and outdated beliefs of those forefathers in the Faith removed from us by less than a century, all Catholics must be very careful to faithfully retain those doctrinal elements central to the Faith; most especially Original Sin, evil, and the temptations of a very real, very powerful devil.

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…the more the culture tried to paint the Catholic Church as full of sinful people, the more convinced I became of its truth.

I didn’t believe that ordinary people could come up with a set of teachings that contained unparalleled wisdom; maintain them consistently across all times and places, even despite tremendous pressure to recant; and then keep it all going for two thousand years.

And even if the media had been right that the priesthood and episcopate were full of corrupt and immoral people, that would have only made the situation more inexplicable in purely human terms—corrupt and immoral people are always the first to sell out and preach whatever message the culture wants to hear in order to get more power for themselves.

In short, I saw something divine at work here.

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1935 Movie – Dante’s Inferno – with Spencer Tracy. A very scary vision of hell – complete with updated sound effects.

Watch the chilling 8-minute clip on You Tube

Thanks to (the late) Bob Stanley of The Catholic Treasure Chest for the tip.

A foolproof way of staying the hell out of there:

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall be condemned. 

Baptismal Promises

V. Do you reject Satan?
R. I do.

V. And all his works?
R. I do.

V. And all his empty promises? 
R. I do.

V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth? 
R. I do.

V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried,
rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
R. I do.

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
R. I do.

V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit
and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful
to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

John 3:3-5 Jesus answered and said to him: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again? (5) Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

 

Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”

Dogmas of the Catholic Church from “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma” by Dr. Ludwig Ott

The following De Fide statements comprise “Our Catholic Faith without which it is impossible to please God” (The Council of Trent, Session V, explaining the correct interpretation of Hebrews 11: 6).

These positive “articles of faith” have the function of fundamental principles which the faithful accepts without discussion as being certain and sure by virtue of the authority of God, Who is absolute truth (Council of the Vatican). They represent the mind of Christ as St. Paul says:

• 1 Cor. 2:16. – But we have the mind of Christ.
• Hebrews 13:8. – Jesus Christ yesterday, and today: and the same for ever.

Since Our Catholic Faith comes from God, they are not open for debate, and they are not reversible.

The Christian is called to adhere to Christ and His teaching integrally; the unity of faith is the dominant motif of divine revelation on which St. Paul insists energetically, when he writes:

• 1 Cor. 1:10. – I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you: but that you be perfect in mind and in the same judgement.

There is, then, no place for “pick and choose” in the truths proposed to the Faith of Christians by the Infallible Teaching Church for they are bound in Heaven by God Himself. If something is decreed on earth and is also bound in Heaven, that thing must be the truth. Otherwise, God is no longer the Truth, which is contrary to the Gospel:

• Matthew 16:19. – And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven.

The Catholic Church is infallible because it is:

• 1 Timothy 3:15. – the church of the living God,
  the pillar and the ground of the truth.

If a baptized person deliberately denies or contradicts a dogma, he or she is guilty of sin of heresy and automatically becomes subject to the punishment of excommunication.

From the work of Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, published by the Mercier Press Ltd., Cork, Ireland, 1955. With Imprimatur of Cornelius, Bishop. Reprinted in U.S.A. by Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford, Illinois, 1974.

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I. The Unity and Trinity of God

God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things.

God’s existence is not merely an object of rational knowledge, but also an object of supernatural faith.

God’s Nature is incomprehensible to men.

The blessed in Heaven possess an immediate intuitive knowledge of the Divine Essence.

The immediate vision of God transcends the natural power of cognition of the human soul, and is therefore supernatural.

The soul, for the immediate vision of God, requires the light of glory.

God’s Essence is also incomprehensible to the blessed in Heaven.

The divine attributes are really identical among themselves and with the Divine Essence.

God is absolutely perfect.

God is actually infinite in every perfection.

God is absolutely simple.

There is only one God.

The one God is, in the ontological sense, the true God.

God possesses an infinite power of cognition.

God is absolute veracity.

God is absolutely faithful.

God is absolute ontological goodness in Himself and in relation to others.

God is absolute moral goodness or holiness.

God is absolute benignity.

God is absolutely immutable.

God is eternal.

God is immense or absolutely immeasurable.

God is everywhere present in created space.

God’s knowledge is infinite.

God’s knowledge is purely and simply actual.

God’s knowledge is subsistent.

God knows all that is merely possible by the knowledge of simple intelligence.

God knows all real things in the past, the present and the future.

By the knowledge of vision, God also foresees the future free acts of rational creatures with infallible certainty.

God’s Divine Will is infinite.

God loves Himself of necessity, but loves and wills the creation of extra-divine things, on the other hand, with freedom.

God is almighty.

God is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth.

God is infinitely just.

God is infinitely merciful.

In God there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Each of the three Persons possesses the one (numerical) Divine Essence.

In God there are two internal divine processions.

The Divine Persons, not the Divine Nature, are the subject of the internal divine processions (in the active and in the passive sense).

The Second Divine Person proceeds from the First Divine Person by generation, and therefore is related to Him as Son to Father.

The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and from the Son as from a single principle through a single spiration.

The Holy Ghost does not proceed through generation but through spiration.

The relations in God are really identical with the Divine Nature.

The Three Divine Persons are in one another.

All the ad extra activities of God are common to the three Persons.

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Because God has the power to “speak” all things into existence, he never runs out of love … or anything else. As his faithful, adopted children, neither should we.

Read:  A Look at Some Biblical Texts in Opposition to Contraception

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Defining the theological art and science of Catholic apologetics

Five Keys to Set the Lord Ever Before Me

How can we make certain then that I always “set the Lord ever before me?”

We can:

1. Surrender to the Lord and trust in Him.
2. Pray unceasingly that we will grow in love of Him, be obedient and faithful and be found ready when He comes for us.
3. Make frequent Sacramental Confessions.
4. Worthily receive Holy Communion in humility and devotion.
5. Faithfully minister in body and spirit to those in need, leading them to justice and mercy.

On Infant Baptism and the Complete Gratuity of Salvation

It is a simple historical fact that the Church has always baptized infants. Even our earliest documents speak of the practice. For example the Apostolic Tradition written about 215 A.D. has this to say:

The children shall be baptized first. All of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, or someone else from their family. (Apostolic Tradition # 21)

Scripture too confirms that infants should be baptized if you do the math. For example

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:15-17 NIV)

So the Kingdom of God belongs to the little Children (in Greek brephe indicating little Children still held in the arms, babes). And yet elsewhere Jesus also reminds that it is necessary to be baptized in order to enter the Kingdom of God:

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5 NIV)

If the Kingdom of God belongs to little children and we are taught that we cannot inherit it without baptism then it follows that Baptizing infants is necessary and that to fail to do so is a hindering of the little children which Jesus forbade his apostles to do.

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How is a Catholic to respond when somebody asks, “Have you been saved?”

“Yes, I believe in Jesus and received his justifying (sanctifying) grace when I was baptized into his Church. Jesus saved me. And at those times when I have sinned gravely and lost this grace, I returned to the Lord to be cleansed again by him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) where I again received his justifying grace.

I am strengthened in my personal relationship with him by my worship of him and receiving him in Holy Communion at Mass; through my prayer, devotion and reading of the Scriptures; by my study of the teachings of the faith; through my good works prepared beforehand by him for me to perform while in his grace.

I have been saved, am being saved, and have supernatural hope that I will be saved.  I believe this because the Church, established by Jesus, through which this grace flows to me, teaches me that this is so.”

Ten questions every Catholic (even children) should be able to answer

1. What are the two kinds of sin (original and actual)
2. What are the two kinds of actual sin (mortal and venial)? What’s the difference?
3. Name the three Persons of the Holy Trinity
4. Is there one God or three Gods?
5. Name the 7 Sacraments

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