Corcovado jesus (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

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I must say this is the absolute last thing I planned to post today again, or ever for that matter. But I think it is time, now that the earthquake is over and the volcanic ashes settled over his use of the word “religion,” which seemed to be the main point of contention for most of my liturgical brothers and sisters in Christ, to hear with more clarity what he was attempting to say here.

At the outset, I will say that there are points of theology I probably disagree on with Bethke. I am not a Calvinist. I would believe in and defend the Roman Catholic position on doctrine anytime, not just “because I am Catholic” but more to the point I am Catholic because I fully believe in and follow, as best I know how, the authority of the Word of God through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which of course is not “every tradition” but the ones which have their basis in the early Church and Church Fathers, and have thus stood firm through the Councils and over the many centuries of the Faith.

Having said that, the official and clear Catholic position is that there are Christians, meaning potential “saints” who are headed for heaven, in all Christian denominations who teach the basic creeds of historical Christianity (such as the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds).  Our Catechism of the Catholic Church could not be clearer on this point.

CCC# 818:

“However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.”

I do not believe the point can be any clearer than that. This is our brother in Christ.  He is 22 years young. He has turned from the world and, as the old song goes, has “decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.”  No parent in their right mind would be ashamed of having this man date their daughter or be their son for that matter. And, as strongly as I believe in the concept that Christianity flows from Catholicism, and I do accept this, I also would daresay that I would rather have a hot-blooded evangelical Christian in my family than a near-dead Catholic Christian who puts in for Mass twice a year.

We can argue the theology of “his church versus ours” all day. But the first and foremost issue is bringing souls to Christ. And that can happen through the Sacraments or beyond them. See CCC reference below:

CCC# 1257:

The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.). 

It however won’t happen by calling people such as he or Tim Tebow or others who are at least attempting to share the Lord who they love so very much such things as “idiots” or “heretics” when they are neither.

As I shared to him in a personal note, when I was in my Protestant years I never bought into the anti-Catholicism I saw around me. What I was shocked to find after my return to the Church was that many of those who had indeed had their lives totally changed through a committed relationship (yes, I said it!) with Jesus Christ now had no problem ripping to shreds those who found Him outside of Catholic circles. And I have seen more examples of this in regard to both Bethke and Tebow than at any time since my return to Rome.  Maybe we should just revive burning at the stake or something else equally Christ-like…

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Rubbish, folks.  And that is the nicer word for it.

Real “religion” always respects the other, even when we disagree on points, even important ones. Anything else simply kills dialogue (another word some who read this no doubt just cringe when even seeing it in print, no doubt). But dialogue we must.

Here is a very positive example of Jefferson Bethke and a Roman Catholic priest in that very dialogue on the secular CBS This Morning…with deep and obvious respect on both sides clearly shown.  We can all learn from it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505266_162-57363805/priest-gives-video-star-holler-from-the-collar/?tag=morningFlexGridLeft;flexGridModule

So may I now challenge you to once again watch the video, and then read what our brother in Jesus Jeff Bethke says about it in the link below?  You might be surprised at what you missed the first time around.  In fact, read his thoughts first, and then watch the video again.  As we always teach and say we believe, context is everything.

My Thoughts After Writing ‘Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus’–http://jeffbethke.com

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Blessed Ash Wednesday to everyone!  God is continually good, isn’t He?  Especially when, as the Divine Mercy and Fatima prayers go, we are “most in need of His Mercy.”  I was recently asking myself why that might be. But one thing we as Catholics share with our Calvinist sisters and brothers is an appreciation for both the sovereignty and glory of God. It is absolutely true that the very essence of God is His love, and that is why He has offered salvation to us. But a salvation dependent on us, at least on our fleshly desire for Him, is not enough, and never has been. While we would differ from Calvin in that we believe we are both able to and must choose to cooperate with His Grace, we agree with them that it is totally and completely His Grace that saves us.

If that sounds paradoxical, it is because it is meant to. St Augustine of Hippo, in his 169^th sermon, stated that “He who created you without you will not justify you without you.” And it is that first portion of the statement which fits so well with His delight in saving the unsalvageable  It is to the very glory of God when He reaches down and “saves a wretch like me” as the wonderful hymn Amazing Grace says to each of us.  St Paul warns us with solemnity not to misuse this grace in Romans 6: 1-4 (ESV):

 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Truth be told, we are saved because He loves us endlessly, and He does so because that is His very nature to do so. It therefore completely and totally glorifies and exalts His loving nature to offer salvation to undeserving humankind. The two fit together hand in glove, and one is not contrary to the other. Bringing us back to the original thought here, that is why He delights in redeeming us from our hopelessly sinful selves. His Love and His Glory. It just happens to include us in the package.

Ash Wednesday is a great reminder of this.  As the priest imposes the ashes (usually burned from last year’s blessed Palms from Palm Sunday) he says the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  If you had any ego remaining, thinking that God saved you or, more accurately, is in process of saving you due to your great value to the Kingdom, that pronouncement should pretty much eliminate those thoughts. As the Sign of the Cross is gently but firmly placed on your forehead, Lent begins for you. And this Holy Season, which is given to assist our growth in the threefold purpose of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and an increase of each  of these in your life and mine, is an awakening of the gift of God which is already in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. If even St Timothy needed such an awakening according to the admonishment of St Paul, then surely we do from time to time as well.

 2 Timothy 1:6 (ESV):

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

So what about this apparition deal? I think most of us have heard of supposed visions of our Blessed Mother in the form of everything from tortillas to chocolate, and if we look hard enough for signs we will almost always find something that might pass for one. While the rich symbolism of Ash Wednesday needs no such signs, yet each and every imposition of ashes is as individual as the person receiving it. Although the goal is to make a “cross” on each and every forehead, the priests and ministers are moving a bit fast, especially in a big parish or congregation, and the ashen image does not always look, shall we just say, traditional.

Mine first reminded me of a Tau Cross, which is a cross in the shape of the Greek letter Tau and was first promoted by St Francis of Assisi, one of my patrons.  So far so good. At next examination, it then reminded me of the dove of the Holy Spirit, and finally on 3^rd glance the Resurrection of Jesus our Lord. Now however it looks more like a simple airplane. Yikes and ouch. I do not think I can claim it as a “private revelation” after all…

Still each of the above symbols (except perhaps the airplane of course!!!) are spiritual images which on this Ash Wednesday remind me of a larger and already revealed set of essential truths—Jesus dying on the Cross for us all, Jew and Greek (which then ultimately includes all Gentiles), his Resurrection from the dead, and his gift of the Holy Spirit to those of us who are baptized into Him and walk in His Faith.  So I guess there are some lessons there after all, even if they do not qualify as apparitions per se. Going back to the first Scripture I quoted (Romans 6: 1-4), it is all there. And may I, and you, and each person reading this, learn to walk in obedience to our baptisms, first in the death and then the Resurrection of the Christ. Let us further allow this Lent to be fruitful indeed by increasing us in prayer, fasting when physically able, and giving to those in need. Religion is not worth much without these three, nor is life in general. Then again, they are actually one in the same, aren’t they? And all too soon, we will once again be “dust in the wind” as the 70s song by Kansas so eloquently tells us. It is a sobering thought. And one we need more than once a year.

Lastly, I want to share the Prayer Over the Offerings from the new translation of the Roman Missal It pretty much embodies everything I am attempting to say in this writing today, and likely more besides. I think we might all do well to make this prayer our own, not just for Ash Wednesday but for all of Lent and life:

“As we solemnly offer the annual sacrifice for the beginning of Lent, we entreat you, O Lord, that, through works of penance and charity, we may turn away from harmful pleasures and, cleansed from our sins, may become worthy to celebrate devoutly the Passion of your Son. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.”

To which we each may say a heartfelt “Amen.”

 SEE LAST LINK BELOW FOR AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ABOUT THE NEW MASS TRANSLATION AND ASH WEDNESDAY…

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV® Text Edition: 2007.

The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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Reblogged from The Easter People:

I was much afraid.  When I began to realize that the fullness of the Christian faith is found within the Catholic Church, I was terrified. My history. For 27 years, I grew up in a family that taught me to love Jesus and His Word, the Bible.  They also encouraged me to grow in Christian community at the Bible Church we were a part of on eastern Long Island.  I fondly remember the great love and service the community there shared with each other and anyone who had need.  Songs were lifted to God in …

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I “met” Michael this last year on Facebook, and have grown to appreciate his zeal and love for Christ and others. Should I be privileged to live so long I expect to hear much from him before entering the next world. If not, I will definitely be praying for his witness from the other realm. Read and enjoy on this Ash Wednesday all. God bless.

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In re-reading my piece, I began to find myself further exploring the whole idea of “enabling” on a societal level, whether drugs, alcohol, or within the realm of sexuality.  It briefly occurred to me then, but more so now, how much the entire flap over forced payment of contraception and abortifacients by church and para-church organizations is indeed a case of this type of enablement.

What I do not think people fully realize, even those who are against this move by the Obama administration, is how much of a slippery slope we have already been on to even bring us to this point, or for how many years. It was called in the 1960s the “New Morality.” With that change in paradigms the birth control “Pill” became common, living together outside of marriage was suddenly acceptable, and sexuality in all forms was openly explored. It was no longer tied to one of its main purposes, which is the continuation of the human species, and became an end in itself. That altered thinking or, as some call it, the “contraceptive mentality,” was major in its ramifications. It was no longer the “norm” for a woman to stay at home and raise a family, but became just as common or more so to work and day care centers began to boom as an industry. Divorce became “no-fault” and those, like myself, from backgrounds of same-sex attraction too were liberated. What had been commonly accepted as correct behavior was turned on its head in a short enough time that I, even as a child and then teen during that era, easily observed the entire change by the time I graduated from high school, the year after Roe v Wade legalized abortion on demand nationwide.

I have seen many who have written on the Constitutional and religious liberty issues with regard to this issue but not so much on this more subtle piece to the puzzle. Perhaps we shy away from it due to our own senses of guilt or shame, or other reasons too, but I think we need to face squarely the fact that our society allowed this to happen and did not in fact even notice it coming because we were too busy participating.  Some forward-thinking people, such as Pope Paul VI, obviously did, to be sure, but they were considered to be overly inflammatory, “haters,” or just plain gloom-and-doom types who did not really know the score.  As it turns out, they were the only ones actually keeping score.

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We as fallen humans use some very complex psychology in order to enable others on any level, personal or otherwise. We first try to second-guess what might be the best for people, basing it upon possible or probable future behavior, whether good or bad.  Instead of then dealing with the underlying behavior issues, such as in this instance sexual promiscuity and wanton selfishness, we try to help them to plan for it. The faultiness in this approach is clear to me just by looking at my own past grievous faults and actions.

In my other article, I speak of a man with whom I was briefly involved in 1993, one who turned out to be HIV positive (the virus which causes AIDS).  The ironic thing is that I had never been in even a remotely dangerous sexual liaison until in my early 30s and in the process of divorcing, and had lost my dearest friend in ministry, as well as his wife, in the mid-1980s to this lethal illness. In his case it was due to a drug-dependent past, and then after he became a committed Christian he unknowingly passed it on to his equally unsuspecting wife. So I was aware of the horror of HIV/AIDS early on.  I was also educated on ways to prevent it.  But I still stepped into the trap of risk-taking.  And the very people who aided and abetted me in those risks were the same ones whose stated intentions were to help people make wiser decisions, such as the MN AIDS Project and others.  Let me be clear that no one told me to take risks. But it was assumed that I would, and thus thought necessary to teach me how to minimize them while maximizing my own pursuits for pleasure.

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Obviously I was old enough and knew enough that I must own any choices I made at that time, but the fact remains that I might have been swayed otherwise if I had been warned more clearly about the gravity of the perils I was walking into, even of such things as failed condom usage and of the many other sexually transmitted diseases not always prevented by “playing the field” as I was heartily doing, even in a supposedly “safe” manner.  Instead the local LGBT bars handed out condoms for free to all customers, and the view was very simply that “we were going to do it anyway” so we might as well do it as safely as possible.

The striking similarity between giving an alcoholic just enough drinks to make him or her “feel good” and then to hang upon the futile hope that they will cheerfully comply with a 2 or 3 drink limit is an irony not lost to me. The bars, the MN AIDS Project, the LGBT publications, and even the “gay-friendly” churches all presumed the same thing—that being sexually active was the “new norm.” And, partly at least owing to that pervasive attitude, we did exactly that. People strongly tend to act as they are expected to. Basic psychology 101.

For my part I was not overly risky in my activities, and always stayed within commonly recommended “safer sex” guidelines. But when a person who I had spent one passionate night with died just one year later, of a disease I had sworn I would never allow myself to even get near to, it jolted within me a wakeup call, slowing me down abruptly  and considerably.  While it was several more years before I became fully celibate, I was suddenly far more particular as to who I went home with and how often, knowing that each encounter could be the one that might give me that dreaded and lethal condition. In effect the “field” became less fun but had far fewer weeds at that point.

The idea therefore that we must provide easy contraception for women who are sexually active is ludicrous to me in the same way as the well-intentioned folks at the bar who used to give me condoms by the dozen at no charge.  In both cases we are expecting the worst, not the best, to occur, and in doing so we essentially make it easier to happen.  That is what enabling does.

I was blessed, not deserving so, I might add, to find myself after 9 months of tests to still to be HIV negative. Other people, good people who our Lord loves and who carry His dignity and image, have not been so blessed as me.  But I wish to heaven someone out there had truly cared enough to not suggest that I have “safer sex,” but instead would have seriously challenged me to be celibate.  I am not sure I would have listened—but I might have—and did eventually.  No one though within the LGBT community or for that matter among other family and friends ever even attempted such a thing. Not one, and not once that I recall at least.

Fast-forwarding to now, in the name of “women’s health” of all things, we are doing the exact same type of enabling with HHS. The idea of even suggesting abstinence is approximately somewhere between idiotic and far-fetched to many of the people involved, and yet one of them is a faithful and at least apparently monogamous husband (President Obama), several are noted Catholic women with longstanding marriages, such as Kathleen Sibelius and Nancy Pelosi, and one, the head of the Catholic Health Care Association, Sister Carol Sheehan, has taken a lifetime vow of celibacy and chastity, which we can only assume she follows personally.  What a strange, strange group to be promoting promiscuity in the name of health!!!  How it must be a stench before our God.

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Revelation speaks of the “whore of Babylon” and her desire to spread her immorality to others. Why would the above-mentioned group (picture is slightly different), all who claim to be practicing Christians, spend so much of their valuable time, efforts, and even reputations to do the same?

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Birth control is not illegal in this nation.  Nor, for that matter, is abortion sadly.  But the idea that it is somehow our moral responsibility to begin paying for such services to those who otherwise could not afford it, rather than using that same exertion and money in educating  those women (and men) in better ways to live, such as abstinence outside of marriage and NFP (Natural Family Planning) within it, which has been long proven to work just as well as the “Pill” by the way, causes me to wonder just what could motivate anyone who names the name of Christ to encourage others to do things with their bodies that they themselves clearly choose not to do?  The word stupid does not begin to describe it.

I am baffled, sickened and irate about this whole thing, as are many, many others. But I know one thing on a first-hand level that seems to be missed in this whole argument in both directions. I know the fear and apprehension that comes from supposedly “safer sex.” And I have seen friends die from it.  That to me is reason enough to oppose this immoral mandate.

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Adding one last but very crucial point, the MN AIDS Project does many fine things. I would take nothing away the fact that they have pioneered efforts to fight HIV when few were doing so. I am simply saying that I fervently wish they would add abstinence education to their agenda. I do not expect them to do so, however. So this is not primarily about them–but it is about me and the many of us who once supported everything within the LGBT community, and can no longer do so.  However they (MN AIDS Project) do raise much money each year to fight AIDS and to help, in practical ways, those who currently are afflicted with it. A link to some of those activities is listed just below this paragraph. A better approach however might be to give to Catholic groups who also assist those with AIDS, but do so without advancing the idea of so-called “safer sex” but instead abstinence and helping people to achieve this this goal, no matter what their sexual inclination may be. Many such fine groups exist, such as Catholic Relief Services and the apostolate Courage. Their links are just below as well: 

http://crs.org/hiv-aids/

http://couragerc.net/

https://community.mnaidsproject.org/aidswalk

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Reblogged from Catholibertarian:

The past few days I have been sick and am so sorry that I haven’t made my blog rounds in recent days.  I felt better today so Kevin and I took the opportunity to travel to Steubenville, OH (about a 45 minute drive from where we live) to attend a Rick Santorum rally.  I had been wanting to see him in person so it was awesome to be able to see Rick today.  The place where he was speaking was packed with lots of people – at least 500 people were in attendance.  What was really cool though, is that I was …

I just have to share this–it hearkens to my own experience just a few short weeks ago here in MN, just before the “sudden Santorum surge” all over the country–which my state led the way on, by the way:). God is definitely good all the time. Blessings to Teresa Rice for this post!

I also wish to take this President’s Day opportunity to share something I discovered lately, and that is the real meaning of Rick Santorum‘s last name.  I do so because certain folks, in the name of satire or crass humor, have misused it mercilessly in the past few years. But it is Latin for the “Holy of Holies.” And whatever you may think of his political views, this man is arguably one of the holiest and yet down-to-earth Catholic Christians out there by anyone’s standards. I am proud to share his first name, and would be equally proud to share his last one as well. I support him all the way.

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  The image below is the Sancta Santorum in Rome, Italy.

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Just a few statistics that humble me and yet encourage me forward…Today I will be hitting my 14,000th “hit.”  Largely this is due to numerous friends who have helped promote this blog, to those who as I said had already been reading my thoughts and words from FB, and, more than anything, to Tito Edwards, who has generously and often promoted me through daily blog links to numerous Catholic sites through his page:

 http://thepulp.it/

and which is also published within the National Catholic Register (now owned and operated by EWTN)  blog page on a daily basis. That has been some beautiful exposure to say the very least.

Cover of Through Gates of Splendor

I also have connected with 91 nations, posted 126 separate times, and had as diverse an audience as the well-known and highly regarded Dr. Thomas Howard, who I write about in my conversion story and who is the brother of Elisabeth Elliott (whose husband Jim was a martyred missionary to Ecuador and a hero of mine even in my teen years). Both of them are tremendous authors and indeed have stories to tell which the whole Christian wold has taken note of over the years. Dr. Howard and I have corresponded over the last 5 years, and he gave me permission to quote him regarding my blog stating:

“Well, bravo. Your piece on abortion was “bang on”, as the English say. It’s encouraging to know you’re in there fighting the good fight.The responses you got were also encouraging. You speak with great courage and circumspection. And again, orchids and laurels to you for what you’re doing.”

Pretty rich endorsement from one of  the former editors of Christianity Today, and  author of so many books which have helped and guided people such as the great Jeff Cavins during his own return to the Faith.

Another person whose site has referred many to mine is Patrick Vandapool. I first came into contact with this unique man on FB, and have continued to stay in touch through his blog “A Catholic UNapologist” which is pretty–well, unapologetic.  While he and I have distinctly different styles, we share a love for the Lord and the Catholic Faith, and I am proud to consider him a friend and fellow sojourner.  Here is a link to his page:

http://patrickvandapool.com/

And last but certainly not least, I actually won an award via a new friend,  Tony Layne, whose blog “Outside the Asylum” is just one of those well-written and charitable perspectives within the Faith.  He always has some good stuff to say. I humbly thank you Tony! Visit him at:

http://tonylayne.blogspot.com/

And here is the award:

I have probably forgotten someone, but I do know this, each person who has ever stopped by even for a moment has been important to me, and caused me much gladness to be within the ever-widening circle of Catholic Christian blogging!   I do not know what the future holds, in a year my blog may be doubled in size, or it may be defunct. Only our Lord knows.  My last blog had exactly 4 followers in as many years, and I was one of the four!  This one so far has over 170 and again in just 3 months. I can only believe God has some purpose in my words going out in directions I would not have imagined 6 months ago.  I would, more than anything, therefore ask humbly for your prayers that I may continue to use it in a way He sees fit.  And I love being able to share my heart with so many.

God’s peace to each of you and thanks again.

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