​Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, when Christians rejoice at the Resurrection of Our Lord Who died on the Cross to save us from our sins.
 
However, while we Catholics receive forgiveness from our sins when we go to Confession, and all our eternal punishment due to sin is removed – i.e. going to hell - the temporal punishment due to those sins may still remain. This means after we die, we go to Purgatory to be purged of our remaining impurities before we can enter Heaven ‘where nothing impure shall enter (Revelation 21:27).’
 
This temporal punishment remains if our contrition is imperfect, that is, if we go to Confession without truly repenting of our sin or out of fear of hell. Perfect contrition is extremely difficult to achieve; it’s hard for us not to be attached in some way to our sins. Which is why we keep committing them!

Is There Another Way to Be Cleansed? 
​
In his wonderful book, Understanding Divine Mercy Father Chris Alar, MIC, a priest with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, writes, “For those unable to have all temporal punishment remitted in this life because they don’t have perfect love, perfect contrition, or perfect detachment from sin, all hope is not lost.”
 
He goes on to explain the extraordinary grace of Divine Mercy Sunday. “If you have ever wished you could wipe your slate clean and start over, this is your chance! … All sins and punishment are removed by the grace of this one day, Divine Mercy Sunday, when we fulfill the conditions of a valid Confession and worthily receive Holy Communion.”

​How to Receive the Grace of Divine Mercy Sunday 
​
If you are a non-Catholic, or homebound and unable to get to the Sacraments because your church is closed, you can still receive this grace if you truly desire it. Ask God for forgiveness of your sins by making an Act of Contrition, and wanting to be united to God through making an Act of Spiritual Communion and the Church believes that God will grant this grace of His Mercy.
 
For Catholics who can attend church, first, go to Confession before or on Divine Mercy Sunday – or any time during Lent will do. The important thing is to be in a state of grace on that day, meaning that you are aware of no mortal sin on your soul. The last act is to receive Holy Communion with the intention of receiving this promised grace.
 
Father Alar suggests the following prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, You promised St. Faustina that the soul that has been to Confession (I have) and the soul that receives Holy Communion with trust in Divine Mercy (I am) will receive complete forgiveness of all sins and punishment. Lord, please give me this grace. Jesus, I trust in You.”
 
If you recite that prayer with total trust in Jesus and a sincere intention of turning away from sin, Jesus will give you this grace. As Father Alar writes, “This grace is so powerful that it can open the door to Heaven, so don’t let Divine Mercy Sunday pass you by!”
​
In 2022 it is on April 24th.

​Helping the Holy Souls in Purgatory 

You can only receive this grace for yourself, and not for a Holy Soul in Purgatory.
 
However, you can offer a plenary indulgence for those Holy Souls, attached to an act of worship of the Divine Mercy or taking part in a Divine Mercy service on that same day. This is separate from the extraordinary promise of Divine Mercy Sunday.
 
Are All My Sins Taken Care of?
​
As a final point, the extraordinary promise of Divine Mercy cleanses us of everything up to and including our participation in Divine Mercy Sunday. It does not remove punishment for sins committed after that date. We have to wait until the next year to receive these amazing graces.
 
All the more reason to take advantage of them this year!

Confessing our sins is hard.

Satan doesn’t want us doing it, so he makes us feel uncomfortable. Not with our sins, but with the thought of admitting to them out loud. To a person. He persuades us to postpone our visit to the priest again and again, until finally we’re convinced we don’t need to go at all.

Thus the devil wins.  We lose God’s precious friendship, and if we've committed a mortal sin we put our souls in eternal danger. We ignore His call to come back, no matter how grave the sin we’ve committed. We miss out on His Divine Mercy, which is only available before we die. After that comes judgement.

It takes real courage to fight against the Evil One and step into that confessional. 

The Humility Aspect 
​
Our disposition when speaking to God should always be one of total humility, in recognition of His Goodness and our fallen nature, and of Him as Our Creator.

People tell me that they can talk to God directly and don’t need the mediation of a flawed human being. This reasoning allows them to side-step the uncomfortableness of a physical meeting, thereby avoiding the humility that Confession entails.

Is it easier to confess aloud to a living human being or privately to God? It takes a great deal more humility to do so person-to-person than to have a conversation in one’s head. And how often does a person really confess their sins without a nudge from Holy Church to do so?

During Confession, I am talking to God. The priest is acting in persona Christi, like the Apostles, the first priests.  “If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. (John 20:23).” See also Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.

Many think that Confession gives Catholics a clean slate to sin again. But the opposite is true: the more often we go to Confession, the less likely we are to sin. Confessing to a priest takes great humility, and that humbling experience is a very strong deterrent against sinning in the first place.
​
You can’t say that of those who don’t frequent the confessional.

You’re not that Special 
​
Proud beings that we are, we worry about scandalizing the priests with our sins and are afraid they’ll look at us differently once we’ve confessed them. But our sins are not original: the priest has heard them all before. None of us is that special.

And, as an appointed minister of Christ, the priest’s job is not to keep a running tab on our misbehavior. He forgets it as soon as confession is over, just as Christ does (remember, the priest is in persona Christi).

Although each of us is important in God’s eyes, we need to remember that we are also part of God’s plan for salvation and fulfill our role by following His Will not ours.
​
But God is not looking to crush our freedom and make us feel bad. What He wants is for us to live the fullest life possible. This means ridding ourselves of our sins, and Confession is the sacrament He gave us for doing it.

​The Amazing Takeaway 
​
There is a deep peace that comes from admitting one’s imperfections to Someone higher than us, Who understands us better than we understand ourselves.

Christ said of the woman who anointed His feet: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

The worse our sins are and the more we appreciate our unworthiness before God, the greater will be our love for Him because of His incredible forgiveness. Some of the greatest saints started out as the greatest sinners. God’s Mercy is unfathomable, but it is there for all of us, if we reach out to Him with repentance in Confession.

It is impossible to describe the sheer joy of receiving absolution in the confessional. I feel an overwhelming sense of Christ’s love when I come away from my encounter with Him. I am once more in friendship with Him and often cry from the sheer happiness of it. Many of my friends have the same reaction. As a forgiven person, I want to try my best not to sin anymore and ‘to avoid the near occasions of sin.’

The worst feeling in the world for me - as a Catholic who was away from the Church for over twenty years - is to lose my sense of being in friendship with Christ. If I sin grievously, I instantly lose that precious gift and need to repair it as fast as I can. Thankfully my local church takes confession before every weekday Mass, and I am able to quickly restore my relationship with God and receive the Eucharist.


As Father Phil Bloom writes in his great article on Confession:
“Some people have considered confession to be a kind of "psychiatry for the masses." Carl Jung … speculated that the confession of sins accomplishes much of what psychiatry does. …..(But) the sacrament of penance is not about feeling better, it is about receiving the Holy Spirit.”

And only the promptings of Holy Spirit give us the courage to go through with it.

Further Reading:
 
What Is the Sacrament of Confession?
​
Confession of Sins

For Christians the tidal wave of secularism sweeping over the world today is both confusing and terrifying. What on earth is going on and are we powerless to stem it?

Absolute Relativism is a literal Godsend for these times. Within only 59 pages, Chris Stefanick clearly defines absolute relativism and logically explains how illogical it is. He points out the idiocies of this ‘new dictatorship’ so eloquently that the reader is hard-pressed to understand why people ever fall for it.

But fall for it they do. Mr. Stefanick helps us understand this insidious enemy and  stand against it.

Do Relativists Even Know What Relativism Is? 
​
“Relativism is the idea that there is no universal, absolute truth, but that truth differs from person to person and culture to culture. In other words, truth is relative to what each person or culture thinks.”

It’s not hard to see how dangerous such a philosophy is, but as Mr. Stefanick says, “It’s widely accepted because it’s rarely scrutinized. Since it has worked its way into the fabric of our society, it is simply assumed to be true.”

The fundamental premise of relativism is that it “is absolutely true for everyone that nothing is absolutely true for anyone.”

This statement is self-contradicting: “If it’s true for everyone that nothing is true for everyone, then the assertion “Nothing is true for everyone” also isn’t true for everyone!”

​The Moral Abandonment of Our Children 

Running from the responsibility to give the next generation a true moral compass is depriving our children of purpose and hope.

Consider what Pope John Paul II says in this quote from the book:

“False teachers, many belonging to an intellectual elite in the worlds of science, culture, and the media, present an anti-gospel…their only certainty is that there is no definite truth, no sure path … they advocate an approach to life that has led millions of young people into a sad loneliness in which they are deprived of reasons for hope and are incapable of real love.”

Futher, the booklet quotes Pope Benedict XVI:

“A spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. This emptiness is the inevitable result of relativism, which separates us from life’s most profound realities. This is, perhaps, its most tragic effect.”

Mr. Stefanick gives the latest suicide statistics among teens: almost 15 percent had seriously considered it, and close to 7 percent had actually attempted to kill themselves. Even allowing for mental illness as the cause of some of this, he writes “a percentage that high represents a more far-reaching societal problem - a crisis in meaning and a poverty of purpose.”
​
Many parents mistakenly think that loving their children means to accept them without guiding them in the truth. They think they are ‘setting them free.’ But this is moral abandonment, it is love without truth, and a “unique form of cruelty.”

Not All Lives Are Equal According to Relativism 
​
The author states that abortion could only have become legal in a relativist society.

When everyone accepts objective principles, such as the dignity of all human beings and the natural law, the right to life is assured for all.

But when morals are no longer based on objective facts, “rights come to be regarded as favors granted by the state or by a majority vote” as is happening “with what was once seen as the inalienable right to life.”

Mr. Stefanick cites Archbishop Charles J. Chaput: “No rights are safe when the right to life is not.”

The author explains how abortion has become legal in a society where nothing is wrong in and of itself. Pro-abortionists “claim that abortion should be legal in the name of ‘freedom of choice,’ not necessarily because it’s a moral decision. …. Abortion was made legal by relativism and probably remains so because of it.”

He points out the sad truth that although most Americans are against abortion, they do nothing to prevent it, because they are unwitting relativists, not wanting to “impose their morality” on others.

“And so it seems that a multitude of Americans think an act is murder but won’t do anything about it.”
​
How sad that this ‘dogma’ of relativism, which most people don’t even understand or challenge, has become a protected new religion!

The New Definition of Intolerance  
​
Tolerance is touted as the new virtue. “Purity, piety, temperance, wisdom, and courage are all optional.” Yet most people don’t even know what tolerance is.

Here I’ve added the Miriam-Webster definition of tolerance pertinent to our context:

“1:  capacity to endure pain or hardship:  endurance, fortitude, stamina
“2 a :  sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own
   b :  the act of allowing something:  toleration”

As Mr. Stefanick says, “Tolerance is enduring ideas or actions that you don’t agree with.”

But the relativist’s definition of tolerance is “not strongly disagreeing with anyone on moral or religious issues.”

Based on that, I'd like to add the following imaginary conversation:
               
'If you disagree with me, you’re being intolerant,’ says the relativist.
               
The Christian replies, ‘In reality, you’re being intolerant because you don’t show sympathy for my view of things. I’m not being intolerant simply because I don’t see the world as you do.’

‘But I’m right and you’re wrong!’

‘I thought there was no absolute right or wrong?  And if we’re all allowed to have our own truths - the essence of relativism - then why am I being ‘intolerant’ if I have a different truth from you?’

Chris Stefanick explains how harmful genuine intolerance is “if it’s used to censor ideas, coerce people into agreeing with you, or if it takes the form of violence.”

He cites examples where “relativists can be more intolerant than those who believe in absolute truth.” These include the ACLU backing lawsuits “to forcibly quash any mention of God out of the public square to cater to a few intolerant atheists,” and the “attacks on conscientious objection rights that currently allow Catholic doctors and hospitals to refuse to participate in providing abortions.”

He shows “how relativism can produce the polar opposite of tolerance because it removes objective reasons for people to practice restraint against those they disagree with.” (My italics)

The booklet cites the clear teaching on tolerance from the Second Vatican Council:

“The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.”
​
This is authentic tolerance.

Truth 
​
Mr. Stefanick challenges scientists: “Why limit your discoveries about the universe to the realities inside a petri dish? You study the matter of the universe, but you’re missing the meaning.”

When Christians claim to be 100 percent right about God, it should not be seen as saying that everyone else is wrong, nor as disrespecting people of other religions. Christians are not calling non-Christians unholy. “Nor is theological correctness the same as holiness. The devil, for instance, is an expert in theology.”

To the question “Doesn’t it smack of pride to claim to know the truth?” he responds, “Not as much as it smacks of pride to claim you can create your own truth - your own moral and spiritual universe.”
​
He explains that in “considering whether an action is right or wrong, we should follow the law: natural law and divine law.” He describes divine law as what God has directly revealed to us, and natural law as “the moral principles ‘written’ into our very nature.” Even children on the playground have a natural sense of fairness and unfairness.

Relativism, with its rejection of shoulds and should nots, is unnatural.
Moral realism is natural, “a recognition that there are ethical principles we all should live by” and it’s “in our DNA.” 
​
But, some may argue, “Isn’t relativism just about us growing beyond antiquated moral views?”

Mr. Stefanick responds that, far from being outdated and antiquated, right ideas should be embraced as having “stood the test of time. The passage of time doesn’t make an ethical concept wrong or obsolete. You don’t use ethics to tell time. Using a clock to judge moral issues is just as foolish. …The truths identified in philosophy (and theology) are timeless. They can be polished, but they don’t rust.”

​
Faith 

We can be brought to the threshold of faith through reason, but “reason can’t cross the actual threshold for us.” Because God is the object, faith “is not a science but a relationship. This is why faith is brought about by an act of will, not only of the intellect.”

The author uses marriage as an analogy.

A man can rationally look at all the options available to him and rule them out except for the one he wishes to marry. He cannot scientifically check out everything about this one woman, but based on what he considers sufficient evidence, “her beauty and goodness leads (sic) you to make the decision to give her your life.”

Faith is not irrational but supra-rational - “beyond the limits of reason,” like the “parts of our universe that are beyond the limits of our sight. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there.” Just as you jump into a marriage you cannot fully understand, “once you have enough evidence, you jump anyway” into faith.

Mr. Stefanick adds that the atheist makes a leap of faith, too: it is not possible to scientifically prove that God doesn’t exist. The atheist has to choose to believe in God’s non-existence.

Christianity 

To the question “What makes you so convinced about Christianity?” comes the answer:

“If someone rises from the dead by his own power, I’ll believe anything he says. The founder of Christianity rose from the dead.”

Mr. Stefanick relates the story of  Harvard Professor Greenleaf, who wanted to prove that the Resurrection couldn’t possibly stand in a court of law. The problem was that eyewitnesses are a certain way to close a case, and he discovered that there were many eyewitnesses to Christ’s Resurrection.

Not only that, but they were willing to die rather than recant their testimony and suffered horrible deaths for declaring the fact that they had seen the risen Christ.

Greenleaf’s attempt to debunk the Resurrection story ended in his becoming a Christian.
​
Finally, faith helps us make sense of tragedy. “Like a faithful spouse, you can continue to choose faith in a loving Author of life over hopelessness.”


 
This is only a small sampling of the rich truths that await you in Chris Stefanick’s powerful treatise. He exposes relativism for the monster it really is.

He also gives us concrete ways to fight back against this evil in our society with his Seven Ways to Battle Relativism. I strongly urge you to get a copy of the booklet to find out what they are. You’ll be glad you did!


Absolute Relativism is available as a booklet for $2.95 or as an eBook for $1.79 from ShopCatholic.com.

Available as a FREE CD from DynamicCatholic.com.
​
P.S. I don’t get compensated if you purchase Absolute Relativism but Chris Stefanick wants us all to spread the word, and so do I!

Christ suffered Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane not only because of the horrendous suffering He was about to endure. He also sweated beads of blood from anguish over knowing that vast numbers of people would ignore His sacrifice and continue along the wide, easy path to destruction. 

Not All Will Be Saved


“This is the chalice of My Blood….which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Eucharistic Prayer during Mass – my emphasis.)

He didn’t say ‘poured out for all.’ His sacrifice would only benefit those who believe in Him.

It is not sufficient simply to say to ourselves, in private: “I believe in Christ.”

We have to live our lives as followers of Christ: this includes speaking up in His Name and being prepared for ridicule and persecution as a result.

It means standing up to public opinion – or rather, those who purport to represent public opinion, employing loud, bullying tactics to threaten into submission those who don’t agree with their secular agenda.

Sin Is Real                                                                                               
We who have stood by weakly and allowed the removal of God from the public arena and morals will have to answer to Him for our cowardice. Where were we when Christ needed us to fight the good fight?

And those in authority who are leading the population astray will pay the wages of sin, too, together with those pushing their amoral agenda down our throats.

“Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come (Luke 17:1).” (My emphasis.)

As Martin G. Collins writes:  “Anyone who leads others into sin bears great guilt. Only a deep-seated wickedness attempts to confuse and destroy another's potential.”

Lucy of Fatima said: “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved.”

And So Is Hell

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).”

Is our final aspiration to number among the “souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the winter mist”? Blessed Benedict Joseph Labre.

St. Padre Pio was asked what he thought about modern people who don’t believe in hell: “They’ll believe in hell when they get there,” he replied.

Unless we repent and change our ways by conforming to God's will, we’re going to discover the truth of that saint’s statement.

He has given us a choice, and if we’re humble enough to recognize God’s authority, we shall be taking the right road.

But those who are ‘too smart’ to believe in God will find out just how smart they really are after they leave this world. They'll meet their Creator, and in that brief moment realize that in Him they have found the Truth.  Then they will yearn to be with Him forever. But it will be too late.

Christ can save them while they're here on earth, but not afterwards. They’ll be cast out of His Presence for all eternity.

“If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate,” warns St. Augustine.

Is it really worth throwing away Jesus' sacrifice for us and risking our souls and those of our children?

Further Reading

SR. LUCIA of FATIMA GIVES WARNING: "MANY WILL BE LOST"

The Third Secret of Fatima

The Fathers and Saints on the Fewness of the Saved

Meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary this Friday, I had a clearer notion of Christ’s personal situation during His Passion.

Everything Christ did during His life, and especially during those awful last hours, point to His great love for us. 

But our human notion of real love is sketchy at best. Only through examining love in action through Jesus can we grasp the real essence of love.

Stopping the Pain

God in His three Persons is almighty and all powerful. At any time throughout His torture, Christ could have said, “Enough!” and halted the process.

He could also have revealed Himself as the transfigured Christ – with all wounds healed.  Can you imagine how terrified and in awe of Him the Jews and Romans would have been had He done that?

Instead he endured being whipped repeatedly with steel tips, spat upon, hit, jeered at and mocked. He was clothed in a purple cloak which was then ripped off His back after the blood from His scourging had dried on the material.

Thorns were pressed into His head and He was forced to carry His own heavy cross, when he had no energy left. When had he last eaten or drunk? At the Passover meal with the Apostles. That was hours ago.  

The cross dug into his shoulder, inflicting even more pain, well before he was nailed to it and hoisted, naked, for all to sneer at while he took three hours to die of suffocation.

And at any point during this excruciating ordeal, He could have said, “Stop!”

But He didn’t.

Doesn’t that give us pause for thought? Do any of us love even one person enough to go through such agony for them, let alone the whole of flawed humanity?

It takes unbelievable humility to act as if you have no power over your persecutors.

That’s real love.

Makes one think, doesn’t it? 

He Descended into Hell for Us

I've often wondered what the phrase in the Creed ‘He descended into Hell’ means.

Hell is separation from God. No one can enter communion with God in Heaven if he or she is not pure. We must be purged in Purgatory of our remaining impurities before we can enter Heaven.

Christ took on all the sins of the world – past, present and future – when He let Himself be crucified. He became impure. For the first, last and only time, He was separated from God.

And not because of anything He had done wrong. Completely pure, He became impure out of love for us. He’d been one with the Father from the beginning of time, and now, because He wanted to save us, He agreed to be separated from His Father.

No wonder he cried out, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The agony of being split from the Trinity must have been far worse than any physical pain. Even though He knew it was temporary and necessary to conquer death, it was going to be – well, Hell for Him.

And when we realize that He was fully aware that this horrible moment of separation was imminent, the Agony in the Garden takes on an added dimension, doesn’t it?

Yet Jesus did this out of love for us.

Another beautiful truth.        

Saved or Not?

He knew already in the Garden of Gethsemane just how many souls His sacrifice would save. He also knew the exact number of those who would spurn His sacrifice and descend into Hell.

Those latter souls will have refused to believe in God during their lifetime, only to discover His existence when they die. At the very moment when they believe in Him, they will be separated from Him.

Just when they desire Him above all things, it will be too late. They will never be with Him in Heaven. 

Imagine how the knowledge of these truths increased Christ’s agony! We can readily sympathize with His prayers to have the chalice removed from His lips. 

Yet He still went through His Passion out of love for us all. Even if only a few of us make it through that narrow door, Christ wanted to show us just how much He cared about every single human being, by dying a horrible death to give us all a chance to be saved.

Isn’t that another beautiful truth?  

So how are we going to show Him our appreciation of what He went through ‘for us men and for our salvation’?

God has a wonderful gift for us this Lent.

Sadly many of us will refuse to open it, and eye it instead with suspicion. But God affords us the opportunity to learn about His gift before accepting it. 

And then we have two choices:

a)      accept God and be happy - forever
         or
b)      reject God and live in misery - forever.

Doesn’t it make sense to check that gift out?

What Is This Gift? 

Even if you don’t make to the end of this post, go to http://fathersloveletter.com/ and watch the video. Its message is uncomplicated and beautiful. 

And it describes the Gift.

You will meet a God who desires to lavish His love on you. A God Who is your Father, and wants you to know that you were not created in error or by accident. You were created by Him on purpose and for a purpose. You are His child - if you accept Him as your Father.

Abba, Daddy

If you have, or are around children, you’ll understand how wonderful it is when they reciprocate your love.

But how do you feel when they turn their backs on you, because you’re ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘don’t know anything’? 

It’s tough, isn’t it, to watch rebellious children head for disaster because 'they know best’? As youngsters we may have been down that road ourselves, and know from experience that it leads to destruction.

If only our children would heed us, and stay on the right path, how much better their lives would be!

God feels the same way when we insist He is ‘old-fashioned,’ ‘doesn’t understand us’ and is therefore 'irrelevant' to the 21st Century.

But when we turn from our godless ways, come back to Him and follow His commandments, God rejoices that we have chosen His gift. Confession is a wonderful way to start accepting His gift this Lent.

(Aren't we thrilled when our children abandon their reckless ways and apologize to us?)

Just as loving offspring heed their parents because they don’t want to hurt them, we as children of God obey Him because we don’t want to upset Him. We want to be His ‘special treasure:’

“Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.” (Exodus 19:5). (My italics.)

Whatever We Ask...

Note the 'if you will obey me' above. God needs our co-operation in order to shower us with His blessings.

When children are disobedient, destructive, anti-social and selfish, do we encourage this behavior by granting them their every wish?

Of course not!

In the same way, God will not reward bad-living by granting sinful wishes.


To obtain His help, we first need to repent of hurting Him, work on changing our bad habits and destroy unhealthy attachments. This will lead to our wanting the right things.

Then:  “…. whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). (My italics.)


Through His commandments and Holy Scripture, together with the Sacraments and teachings of the Church, God Our Father offers us a step-by-step guide for right living, so we can be with Him in heaven.

He even sent His Only Son to set us the example of right living!

God waits for us with love and longing. Will we use His guide this Lent and let Him lead us, His children, to our redemption through His Son this Easter?

Further reading: 

If you still need convincing to become a child of God now, here is a powerful and sobering testimony!

http://www.markmallett.com/blog/the-seven-seals-of-revolution/#more-4958  

Christmas is a great time to examine our feelings towards our enemies.

Advent, preparing for the coming of God in human form at Christmas, is the perfect time for examining our attitude towards our enemies.  Christ calls us to forgive them and to love our neighbor (which includes our enemies) as ourselves.

But it’s hard!

So how about trying this first step: praying for those who hate you?

Choose specific prayers - for example, a decade of the Rosary. If you set aside a few minutes each day to pray for the person (or persons) who hate you, for at least one month, you’ll gradually find yourself enjoying the following unexpected blessings.

What Makes Praying For Your Enemies So Powerful?

 1.      It gives you benevolent power

By doing something good for your enemies, you diminish their ability to hurt you.
Sending ‘good vibes’ their way blocks the ‘bad vibes’ they’re sending your way.
Love conquers hate: it’s that simple.

2.     It reduces their negative power

By praying for individuals who intensely dislike you, you allow them to occupy only a tiny time-slot during your day. Then you’re done with them: they no longer dominate your thoughts for hours on end.

No one likes anybody to hate them, and praying for enemies eliminates their power to upset you.

3.      You gain peace

The angels didn’t say “peace on earth and goodwill to all men”, as is commonly misquoted. They actually said: “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:14 New Living Translation.

God is pleased with us if we let go of resentment and do something good for those who hate us. That is the path to peace.

4.      You’ll feel good about yourself

I’m not talking about being a ‘goody-two-shoes’ here. I’m talking about the good and faithful servant who has done his duty, and can sleep at night because he has a clean conscience and wishes no one ill will.

5.      You’ll discover a hidden strength in yourself

As you experience the above benefits, you’ll learn that you are much stronger than you thought and see yourself in a new light.

It’s not just the saints who can overcome their animosity to those who hurt them. You, too, have the strength to start out on the path to holiness.

Avoiding a Potential Pitfall

When we begin praying for those who hate us, there is the danger of feeling superior to them.

A good way to avoid this is to examine the reasons for their dislike. The answers keep us humble and prevent us from thinking of them as ‘bad people’ and ourselves as ‘good people.’

Perhaps their circumstances are not as good as ours, and they are jealous of us? If so, we need to feel empathy, rather than animosity.

Maybe we’ve done something to hurt them – intentionally or unintentionally? Do we need to ask them for forgiveness? Even if we’re not yet ready to do this, being aware of the need to do so will keep us from feeling ‘holier than thou.’
 

Praying for our enemies brings many blessings. By exercising our benevolent power over them, we reduce their negative power over us.  We gain peace and feel good about ourselves in a humble way.

With the discovery that we do have the strength to become holier, we’ll approach baby Jesus on the day of His birth with confident trust that He will help us fulfill His commandments of love and forgiveness - towards those who love us and those who don’t.

 

 

Being a good Christian is difficult, especially these days.

It’s unfashionable to follow the precepts of a man who lived over 2000 years ago and doesn’t embrace the spirit of our times, which tells us to ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'

Instead He exhorts us to "turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” New Living Translation (©2007) Matt. 16:24

Where’s the appeal in that?

And does such a lifestyle guarantee admittance to heaven? Supposing we ‘take up our cross’ only to end up in the nothingness of the Universe after we die, instead of living in eternal happiness with God? We'll have missed out on so much!

Would it not be smart to have a Plan B – a back-up creed, as it were ─ just in case we’re wrong to believe in Christ and His teachings?

Napoleon’s Life Strategy

In his famous book ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ Napoleon Hill outlines principles for attaining earthly success and writes about the many men who’ve applied them.

A certain Edwin C. Barnes wanted to work with (not for) Thomas Edison. Mr. Hill writes:  “Barnes' desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended everything else. It was DEFINITE.”

Mr. Barnes was so determined to achieve his aim, that he was willing to “burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want."

Barnes ‘did not say, "I will keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case I fail to get what I want in the Edison organization."……“He stood by his DESIRE until it became the dominating obsession of his life ─ and ─ finally, a fact.”

In short, Barnes’ goal became an obsession, and everything he did was in order to achieve this one end. He succeeded. ‘Out of that business association (with Edison) grew the slogan, "Made by Edison and installed by Barnes."’

Christ’s Strategy

God demands the same ‘obsession’ from us, and warns against trying to be of this world and of God. We can choose only one.

The first commandment is unambiguous about this.  “I am the Lord your God…. You shall have no other gods before Me.” (My italics)
Exodus 20:2-17   

Jesus elaborates further on the level of commitment God requires of us.

'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' Matthew: 22:37

We must guard against deep attachment to the things of this world for  only love of God makes us willingly obey His laws. And when we don’t obey His laws, it proves we don’t love or believe in Him.  

St. James admonishes those who can’t choose one or the other 'god,' and calls them ‘double-minded.’

“Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:8.  The New Living Translation (©2007)

Clarke’s Commentary on the same webpage explains it this way:

“A man of this (double-minded) character is continually distracted; he will neither let earth nor heaven go, and yet he can have but one.”  

St. James also makes it clear that such “people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” unless their “faith is in God alone.” James 1:6-7

We can’t pray to God only when we want something and expect Him to give it to us, when we worship the pursuit of worldly wealth instead of Him the rest of the time.

If You Aren't For Me...

It isn't possible to love God and Mammon: love of one excludes love of the other. Either we are for God or we are against Him: there is no middle ground.

Christ is very clear about this: "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.” Matthew 12:30 New Living Translation (©2007)

He also outlines the consequences of not being wholeheartedly Christian:

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.” Luke 9:26 New Living Translation (©2007)

We can’t be successful in any undertaking if our commitment is lukewarm. The desire of true Christians is to get to heaven: their lives are lived solely in the hope of being with God when they die.

Hope Versus Hope

Christian ‘hope’ is completely different from worldly hope.

Jack Weaver defines this in his ‘Notes From a Retired Preacher.’

‘The Hope of Heaven is not a maybe — but an absolute and definite guarantee by the Word of the Truth of the Gospel.
 
‘“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Titus 1:2
 
‘Eternal life — guaranteed and promised by the God of the Universe. He cannot lie... Every true believer in Jesus Christ may look with confidence to the glorious appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. (There is) No doubt!’
 
Christian hope is not wishful thinking: it is the absolute certainty of eternal life if we commit to Christ.
 
Do We Still Have Time?  

If we’ve been a doubting, ‘double-minded’ person, will Christ still accept our belated commitment to Him?

Absolutely!

 ‘“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.’ Joel 2:12-13 ESV

‘The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.’ Acts 17:30 ESV 

So now would be a good time. :)

Is There a Deadline?
 
Christ is the Merciful One during our lifetime. If we repent of our sins and ask for His forgiveness now, He will extend His infinite mercy to us.

This changes when we die.

Consider these words of Our Lord to Saint Faustina:

“Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. (1588)”

The moment we die, He becomes our Judge and His clemency is permanently over. 

“….after (the end times) will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them. (848) (My italics)

“Before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the doors of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the doors of My mercy must pass through the doors of My justice... (1146)”

Now, Was That So Difficult?

Christ wants to save us, but we must humble ourselves and ask for His forgiveness. He cannot save us if we don't ask Him to. 

Catholics have to ask pardon for their sins out loud to a priest, which requires even more humility than a quiet acknowledgement of guilt to God alone.

But, however we do so, once we’ve admitted our faults and asked for forgiveness, a great burden lifts from us. Invited back into our hearts, Christ in His mercy walks with us again.

And as my former parish priest used to say, ‘Don’t look down or that’s where you’re going. Look up ─ at where you want to go!”

God must be the Alpha and Omega of our lives if we are to attain that for which He made us: eternal life with Him in heaven.

There is no Plan B for Christians. We don't need one.


Napoleon Hill quotes taken from:

Hill, Napoleon (2010-05-07). The Classic Napoleon Hill Masterpiece THINK AND GROW RICH [Illustrated & Annotated] (Kindle Locations 4470-4471). Northpointe Classics. Kindle Edition.(Available for 99c)

Or click here for free download.

St Faustina quotes taken from:

THE LIFE AND MISSION OF Saint Faustina APOSTLE OF THE DIVINE MERCY

My mother is in a skilled nursing home in Madison after suffering a stroke. So I have to  fly in two planes each way to visit her from Maryland. Up till now I’ve always prayed silently for God to keep me and the other passengers safe during these flights.

The Closet Christian

But I realized that this was praying on the sly, as it were - not wishing  other passengers to notice that I was talking to God. 
  
One reason for this was that I didn’t want my fear of flying to be obvious. But something more sinister was going on: I was embarrassed to be seen praying.
 
Was I unwilling to let the public know that I was a Christian?
 
That thought upset me. A lot.

(Wo)manning Up...

So I decided to make the Sign of the Cross as the plane was taking off (when I start to pray) and when the plane landed (after my thank-you-God-for-the-safe-flight prayer).

Or Not...
 
But - it would mean acknowledging Christ in public. Gasp!!

You expect priests to be inured to the stares and ridicule of people around them, but it was asking a lot from a member of the laity, who prefers to remain anonymous when traveling, and indeed in general.

Wait a Minute: Doesn't Christ Mention This Topic Somewhere?
 
Then I remembered the words of Scripture:

"I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God's angels.” Luke 12:8 New Living Translation (©2007)

Followed by:

"But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.” Luke 12:9 New Living Translation (©2007)

There was no pretending I didn't understand the import of those words.
  
(Wo)manning Up - For Real, This Time

Just how humiliating would it really be to make the Sign of the Cross in public? Come on, I wasn’t being called to do something truly scary, like stand up and ask the passengers to join me in prayer!

Was I too weak to give one, small - yet significant - public acknowledgement of Christ?
 
I felt embarrassed about feeling embarrassed, and hoped God would forgive my timidity. If I called myself a Christian, and a Catholic, I had to be prepared to evangelize even in this tiny way. If Christ died on the Cross for me – in a very public humiliation – surely I could manage this minor sacrifice in return?

I am glad to say that as soon as we began taxiing on the runway, I made a big – not furtive – Sign of the Cross and asked God to keep all of us safe. When we landed I did the same, and proceeded to repeat the process for each of my successive three flights.

There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Baby steps..

God  - One
Satan - A Big Goose Egg

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