Second thought: Spiritual droughts and spiritual famines are probably much worse than physical ones

In an earlier post, I wrote about the problem of pestilence and other terrible things, but I totally missed the much “bigger picture”.

It has since become quite clear to me that due to the closing of the Churches, we are now in a very serious, spiritual famine (due to our inability to receive the Holy Eucharist) and also in a very serious spiritual drought, due to our inability to receive all the other Sacraments or celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, all of which are God’s preferred and most powerful methods of dispensing his grace – which is a share in God’s divine life – without which, our continued existence is in serious jeopardy.

Worse yet, depending on the will of God and how well we might understand the Sacred Scriptures, variations of this spiritually decrepit situation may (or may not) continue to go on, for several more years. Suggested reading: 1st Kings 17:1-24

This is a much, much bigger problem than the Corona Virus, the shortage of toilet paper, the closing of restaurants, or the reduced hours and other shortages that we might experience, at our favorite stores.

I now know precisely for that which I need to pray. I invite you to join me.

A nation always gets the kind of politicians it deserves.

Submitted by Bob Stanley

Christian doctor explains: How to distinguish between natural disorders and the demonic.

In Dr. Rambally’s opinion, you first see what the person’s reaction is to the Name of Jesus (obviously, a demonic case will bring about a violent reaction). Demonized people — like the aforementioned woman — show supernatural strength (or knowledge).

The demonized will not repeat the Name of Jesus or read from Scripture. And while demon possession may pass from one person to another, mental illness usually does not. Meanwhile, a case of the demonic may involve the fingers twisting, when in fact a normal human can’t twist the fingers in such a way, sane or insane.

Read more

Are you a Mary, a Joseph, a Wise Man, or a Shepherd?

Let’s try to recapture the riches of this lost worldview by applying the spiritual sense of the Christmas story to our lives. For that story happens not only once, in history, but also many times in each individual’s soul. Christ comes to the world — but He also comes to each of us. Advent happens over and over again.

There are two ways to connecting the historical and the spiritual senses. The Jesuit method, from St. Ignatius’ “Spiritual Exercises,” tells us to imaginatively place ourselves into the Gospel stories. The older Augustinian method tells us to look for elements of the story in our lives. We shall be using this latter method as we survey the scene in Bethlehem for the next four weeks.

Look at your Nativity set. Around the Christ Child you see four people or groups: Mary, Joseph, the wise men and the shepherds. We are all around the Christ Child, defined by our relationship to Him; we are all Marys, Josephs, wise men or shepherds.

Read more of the article by Peter Kreeft

Terminal diagnosis: ‘I am stepping out of time into eternity’

Late last year Tony Foley, a 41-year-old tax adviser, was told he had terminal cancer. In this frank account he explains how he has coped.

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The Inquisition

The Inquisition arose at the end of Middle Ages proper as a Church’s answer to the excesses of the heretical movements that didn’t limit themselves to support deviations of strictly theological character – which had till then opposed on a doctrinal level and only by spiritual means – but were also deadly threatening society . The steadfast opposition of the people to heretics’ violence forced the ecclesiastical authorities to intervene, basically to control and to curb a reaction by the people and handled by secular tribunals – sometimes without the necessary wisdom – under the illusion of solving the problem simply by sending heretics to the stake.

Read the article

The Eucharist: symbolic or real?

Q: The Eucharist: symbolic or real?

Do you think that the Eucharist (“body and blood of Christ” … “bread and wine”) is a symbolic thing, or the real PRESENCE of God. And why do you think that?

A: The Catholic and Orthodox churches have an authentic ministerial priesthood, according to the authority of the original apostles, given to them by Jesus at the Last Supper, and transmitted to their successors through ordination, in the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Consequently, ordinary bread and wine becomes the real and substantial body and blood of Jesus Christ, and Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist: body, blood, soul, and divinity.

None of the protestant Christian denominations have an authentic priesthood or valid holy orders, so they have no power whatsoever to consecrate the authentic eucharist.

As a result, their communion remains purely spiritual and symbolic.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since whenever two or more are gathered in his name, Jesus will be there … but NOT in a physical way.

Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are not included in the above group, since they follow “strange” christs and are not even authentically Christian.

It’s really that simple.

Was Christ’s physical body resurrected from the dead or did He rise an immaterial spirit?

Q: Was Christ’s physical body resurrected from the dead or did He rise an immaterial spirit?

A: The resurrection was the supernatural transformation of Jesus’ physical body into a higher form of physical body that was compatible with both heaven and earth, and that could exist in the near presence of God.

Gnostics believe in a purely spiritual resurrection, not understanding that such a thing would be no resurrection at all.

Here’s what St. Augustine had to say about it:

“Christ demonstrated justice by His death, He promised power by His resurrection. What could be more just than to go as far as the death of the cross, for the sake of justice?

What greater act of power than to rise from the dead, and ascend to heaven with the very flesh in which He was slain?”

“First, justice conquered the devil, then power; justice, because Christ had no sin and was most unjustly put to death by the devil; power, because He lived again after death, never to die thereafter.”

 

The Fiat, and Mary’s Example of Spiritual Living

The Fiat, and Mary’s Example of Spiritual Living
By Fr. Walter Dziordz, MIC (Dec 7, 2006)

When Gabriel the Archangel tells Our Lady at the Annunciation that by the “power of the Most High,” she is to bear the Son of God and name Him Jesus, Mary surrenders herself completely to the Divine Plan in what is known as the Fiat (Lk 1:38). Fiat means quite simply, “yes.”

Mary’s “yes” leads to the birth of Christianity. Her agreement will touch people’s hearts everywhere. Christians will ponder this encounter. Movies will be made! Other religions will even honor this famous conversation between the Mother of God and the archangel.

I would think that the best way to understand the Blessed Mother’s consent to the Divine Plan of Redemption is to let her teach us how to understand it.

On a basic level, her “yes” serves as an invitation for us to also trust in God and to experience God in deeper ways. Her “yes” is an act of mercy not only because by giving birth to Christ she helped secure a means for our salvation, but also through her example, we learn to draw closer to God.

Before Mary came along, so many people must have felt distant from God. Maybe they wished to draw closer to Him but did not really know how. Perhaps they felt as if they weren’t being “fed” spiritually. This is a common phrase these days, to be “fed.” It’s a good one, and right now I would say that by reflecting on the encounter of the Blessed Mother and the archangel, many people have been “fed” over the centuries and are still being fed by it today.

How so? Because when we hear the Word proclaimed, we can look to Mary and learn from her to keep it and ponder it in our hearts as she did (see Lk 2:19). Out of love for her Father, she welcomed the Word even when she didn’t fully understand it.

After all, the Blessed Mother never claims in Scripture to know it all – that she has it all figured out and that any of her experiences with God can be understood right off the bat. Throughout the Gospels, she continually “ponders all these things in her heart.” She sits on them. She wonders about it all, whatever “it” is in terms of her encounter with God.

Her legacy to us is multi-layered. She gives us her experiences with salvation history, along with her method of processing these experiences. That is to say, she pondered the Word in her heart, so that like a seed it would bear fruit in due time (see Mk 4:20).

As our own Mother, she is teaching us how to live as spiritual adults, in the same way our own earthly mothers would teach us how to live as future earthly adults. The stories of her life have been repeated continually over the centuries precisely so that we can strive to live virtuously to ponder the mysteries of faith in our own hearts.

The Blessed Mother is leaving us an example of how to walk the life of the spirit. She is our model, par excellence, of love, trust, and service. She was the first to believe and the first to be redeemed as the preeminent member of the Church.

And, she teaches us to be thankful to God, even when we don’t always understand His ways. With Mary, that is evidenced by the fact that soon after she says “yes,” she visits her cousin Elizabeth and proclaims what we know now as the “Magnificat,” a wonderful prayer of thanks to God for the wonderful things that He has done for her, which include, most of all, the impending birth to our Savior. Yes, there is some understanding on her part already that is both real and deep. But she is still stepping forward to an unknown future out of trust in God.

Trust, of course, is the very foundation of the message of Divine Mercy. The more we trust in Him, the more He pours His graces out for us. Yet, how many of us truly trust with all our hearts? I see many people who tend to honor some aspect of Church teachings while ignoring others that they don’t completely comprehend. For example, the Church teaches us to confess both sins of commission (what we did that was sinful) and sins of omission (the good things we could have done but didn’t). Isn’t it true that most of us tend to only admit to the former?

As for Mary’s Fiat, we honor this particular experience of hers, listen to priests’ sermons on it, watch this or that TV show or movie, and so on. How many of us take the time to so realize the importance of this occasion that we sit down someplace and ponder it in our own hearts, as Mary did – and often? I believe that by embracing the whole of Church teachings we find true understanding, peace, and the joy of the Christian message. And this is mercy – to open our hands and to receive all of the good gifts that the Lord offers to us.

The Fiat? We know what we already know about it. What we still need to come to terms with, however, is that it is a mystery. But it’s not the kind of mystery that pushes us away (as in “who can comprehend a mystery?”). It’s a Sacred Mystery that is calling out for us all the time, but especially now on Dec. 8, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, indeed throughout the whole of Advent, culminating on Christmas Day.

All of our liturgical seasons exist for a reason. These “days” are living events. In addition to “celebrating” them, we are called to ponder them, to allow them to take root. We are called to move more deeply into that truth where Mary and the saints live all the time, waiting for us to join them.

Divine Mercy Sunday is the first Sunday after Easter. To learn more about it, and about the Marians of The Immaculate Conception, click the links:

http://www.thedivinemercy.org/

http://www.marian.org/index.php