Not knowing the future

 

We all make plans, and along with our projects we normally envisage how 

we are going to carry them out. 

But to surrender to God means to lay our projects, our problems, our pain 

and our entire lives in His hands.

To live in a state of accepting not knowing how our life is going to pan out,

we hand over control to God. 

That does not mean that we lose control over ourselves, on the contrary, 

surrender to God helps us greatly to become more centered and focused, 

with a deep and constant awareness that we are dependent on Him.

Neither does it mean that we become passive, and let Him do everything, again, 

on the contrary, we want to use and develop the talents that he gave us. 

In this process of handing ourselves over, what does Jesus want us to do?

 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.   

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

(Matthew 11:28-30)

 

The way I understand this is that we have to follow the precepts of the Lord.

If  we do what He tells us to do; 

Trust Him

Let go of our attachments (especially to money, whether one has it or not, 

the nature of the attachment is the same) 

Go to Mass 

Pray the prayers of the Church

Fast on Fridays, Go to regular Confession, Read the Bible, 

Telling others about God; Evangelizing.

This is not too much to ask: "my yoke is easy and my burden is light"

This way we can become God's co-operators, co-workers. 

But we need to stay alert!  We are working for God's Kingdom, 

with people we need to be vigilant, because people (=sinners) are not to be trusted. 

Awareness!

There are many people that are convinced that the aforementioned requirements 

are not important, they say that it suffices that you are kind to your neighbour, and 

that you help others.  

That is important, for sure, but no, it is not enough, true Catholic Faith has those 

requirements. It keeps the focus continually on Jesus, and not on ourselves. 

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

 

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity is the national motto of France.

It is based on the Declaration of human and citizen rights of 1789.

In France, up until the Lockdown, les Gilets Jaunes: the Yellow Vests, were out every weekend,

often with a high risk to their own safety. It was not just motivated by their long tradition of

demonstrations, revolts, insurrection and strikes.

The movement was made up of ordinary people of all professions,

who due to never ending punitive new taxes, suffered so much financially that there would not

be enough money to buy food. With the Lock down, the economy have taken a hard blow,

many people have lost their jobs.

There was already a high suicide rate before, but now things are worse.

The villages are almost more or less abandoned, whereas up to even 20 years ago they were full

of little enterprises, cafés, shops, little factories, that gave enough income to live on.

And there was a community spirit of cooperation.

The cooperative model, apart from being equitable, has many facets and dimensions that will help reduce the problems attached to our current model; of which crime and mental health are two.

A successful model of a cooperative community is the Kibbutzes which we find in Israel,

where I myself worked as a young person. It shows clearly that this approach is not utopia,

it is workable and creates strength in communities.

In addition, on a human level, the concept of sharing and cooperating is fundamental for human growth. During the confinement, the community spirit and genuine care that people had for each other, was heartwarming and gave a lot of hope.

In the 1960's and 70's many young people tried to live in communities based on the principles of non profit, cooperation, and human love. The communities that grew out of the hippie culture did not succeed because they were based on drugs, sex and lack of any genuine spirituality.

In Christianity we are all declared equal.

We are all going to die, we are all going to turn into dust.

Ironically, also in France, the Catholic Church has a long history of aligning herself with

the rich and powerful, la bourgeoisie.

The result of that, and also of Vatican 2, is that the catholic doctrine has in many parts disappeared

and been replaced by a protestant one, and a structure of human worldly power, instead of teaching

the truth about God.

It is a tragedy because God is not whatever we want him to be. He is what he is and he does not

change and modify himself over time, he does not follow fashion. He does not think like us.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD

( Isaiah 55, 8)

Accumulation of wealth, materialism and consumerism are obstacles to living in union with God.

And we know that it does not bring happiness.

It brings stress.

It becomes an obsession.

In reality there is enough of everything for everybody.

Human beings actually needs very little to live; oxygen, water, food, shelter, but in order to

expand and grow in the dignity that God wants him to live in, he also needs to develop a

relationship with the Creator.

We are like coins with it's two sides;

at the same time as being present in this world we have the possibility of also living in union with God. This is why Jesus came. And just as all relationships needs to be worked at; the relationship with our family and friends, with God it is not any different.

We do not find God in the sky, in the clouds,we find him in the here and now, in everyday life.

If we cooperate with God's light and intelligence, which He has put into each and every one of us, and to which we gain access through the true teaching of the Church, inside ourselves, by letting go of our obstinate ego and pride, this perfect cohesion will also necessarily manifest itself in society, in economy, in creating authentic Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

The Creator and the creatures, two sides of the same coin.

Living in communities where everybody contributes to create a whole, for the common good, corresponds perfectly with the true teaching of the Catholic Church where every member forms a part  of  the whole Body Of Christ.

People would have a higher quality of life, human relationships would be better, and the current widespread underlying mentality of regarding each other as competitors would no longer need to exist. It is the result of a society where it has been instilled into us from an early age that you have to be better that the others in order to succeed. People are often taught how to (ab)use and betray each other. We forget that we are, in spite of being different, in fact equal, in value, by nature.

Covid 19 lockdown, and afterwards, revealed a lot, and since it has had such a severe effect on the world's economies, we do not know yet how it will pan out.

The Sacrement of Confession

 

 

We do not confess our sins directly to God, we confess them to a priest.

And the more we confess, the faster we progress!

So what actually happens during confession? 

The confessional is a place where there can be no pride,  pride is the deadliest 

obstacle to God. We feel humiliated admitting to the priest with actual words

what we have done that hurts Jesus. The fact that we have to use many words and 

explain  the what and the how, brings it into the light. When we speak, it "goes out" of us. 

The feelings attached to it might not go away straight away, but in reality we are 

lighter,  it is a form of exorcism that is taking place. 

And only the priest can give us absolution, forgiveness; the priest speaks the words,

but it is Jesus that is forgiving. It brings spiritual healing.

And it brings us closer to God; we become more aware of our thoughts, words, 

attitudes and actions, we grow in understanding of the faith.

 And with a bit of time the feelings heals too.  

In our society so many people have recourse to counselors and psychologists;

if they knew the value of confession, they would go there instead and the psychotherapists 

would be out of work.  

Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort

 

What worried Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort,

who was born in 1673 and ordained priest in 1700,

was the lack of priests and ignorance of the Catholic faith.

We can therefore see that after 300 years,

the situation has not changed!

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort is known for his writings:

"The secret of The Rosary",

"True devotion to Mary" and "The Secret of Mary".

There he developed the reasons why, to find God,

we have to go through Mary, just like Jesus did. 

 

Sanctification by Mary

"As in the order of nature a child must have a father and a mother,

likewise in the order of grace, a true child of the church must have

God for his father and Mary for his mother, and if anyone prides

himself on having God for his father and yet does not have the love

of a true child for Mary,

he is a deceiver and the only father he has is the devil "

 Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

 

The Catholic Church; Guardian of the Faith

 

 

Today I sent this email to the Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin 

 

"Your Excellency Archbishop Martin,

I am writing to you regarding the Church's position on moral issues, as it is becoming 

increasingly blurred, unclear and vague.

Before the referendum on gay marriage, the priest in my parish did not even make a 

mention of it in his homily, and today there are also Catholics who are pro-abortion.

The Parcours Alpha course in France which takes place in catholic churches, 

does not mention the Sacraments of the Church, neither the Virgin Mary, and nobody 

makes the sign of the Cross.

It is presented as a basic introduction to Christianity, but for the Catholic Church it is 

surely the Sacraments that forms the base? 

I know one team member who insists it is "great that now divorced people can remarry 

and receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church", and that "we must and should now 

congregate with Muslims and pray together with them, because there is only one God".

The horror of the sex abuse scandals and it's denial and concealment does not provide

an explanation, as it was widespread in all parts of the society; in the field of sport,

in every kind of groupings where there were vulnerable children, and the largest proportion  

of abuse happened in the family unit.

It does not follow that therefore sport is bad, or that family units are bad, and that they must disappear.

Has the Church ceased insisting on her own teaching, in an effort to seek her survival under

the hat of ecumenism, like a merger?

I ask the question because Protestantism is widespread within the Catholic Church;
people do not believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist,
they do not believe in the Resurrection of the body etc. 
Although they confess it with their lips at the start of Mass.
Very many do not believe in the celibacy for priests, because they do not understand 
why that rule is there,  as nobody seems to be able to explain it to them in a way that
satisfies the intelligence.
Many do not believe in the right to life of the unborn, they are not able to differentiate
between the woman's body and that of the baby,
and they think that no matter what one do, "it is ok, one must not judge".
That means that we have lost the capacity to differentiate between good and evil, and
the entire catholic doctrine unravels.

I understand that in wake of all the scandals, it is not easy to hold one's ground, but not
doing so is worse.
The fact that the Church has lost her position of dominance in former catholic countries,
is not a bad thing, as she was never about worldly power in the first place.
The evil has to be cleared out. But to allow the Church to slip unnoticed into Protestantism 
is a serious betrayal of Christ Himself. The Church's premier role and mission is to save souls,
not to look for her own survival."

Clarity on abortion

“Termination of pregnancy” is a diplomatic way of covering up the horror and reality of abortion.
To make matters worse, they are even now saying that it is an urgent part of "health care".
Humans have a great ability to live in denial and lie to themselves, but this never lasts forever,
in the end, sooner or later, facts and reality catches up with us.

To pretend that we are not dealing with the murder of ALIVE innocent babies, even today,
when we know that even "two weeks behind on your period" your baby's body has arms 
and legs, that fingers and toes are forming, and his heart is beating, is the same as lying.

Neither do we hear anything about the psychological consequences for women who were persuaded to abort their babies and that "it was the best option" for them. We talk a lot about the horror of abuse, but we hear nothing about the mental anguish women endure as a result of the abortions they have had.

Pellevoisin, France

In 1876, in Pellevoisin, France, Our Lady appeared 15 times to a woman called 

Estelle Faguette.

  

What happened was that Estelle got a deadly illness. 

It was not the fact that she was going to die that bothered her, it was the fact

that her parents depended on her for their survival, as they were both unable to work 

and Estelle was the one that provided for them both by working.

 

She wrote a letter to Our Lady and put it in the little grotto to Our Lady which was a 

good bit away from where she lived. 

During the 15 apparitions of Our Lady that followed, Estelle was healed progressively 

and was in the end completely free of her illness. 

I had the chance to visit Pellevoisin.

First and foremost the Mass was extremely nourishing for the soul and the spirit, 

and throughout it there was a cohesion and perfection that was tangible.

I was in awe.  

After Mass we spoke with some of the Sisters of the religious community who lives there;  

the contemplative sisters of Saint Jean

Afterwards we visited the sanctuary and the grotto.

 

What a rich and beautiful day! It is to be recommended.

Stay!

Ours is a spiritual battle.

To be fully participating at Mass we must be there with our full presence
and awareness.

Regardless of the fact that in the Church we might sometimes have the
impression that it is the adversary who rules,
we need to stay there, and not leave in discouragement, because despite
the heresies sometimes pronounced, we need to stay on the playing field
in order to fight.

Our role is to tell the truth. If we leave, we let them win.

So to all you within the "conciliatory" ranks who sticks the label of "fundamentalist"
on all Catholics who are against the fading away and blurring of catholic doctrine
but who holds tight to it,  not because they are old fashioned or are stuck
in the past, as most of them are young!, but because they understand that nothing is
more important than guarding the faith. 
They know it because of their level of awareness.
And the aim of the catholic doctrine is to raise Man's awareness about who he is
in his deepest sense.  

From it's beginning, The Church has never had an easy ride.
Besides the persecution of Christians, which is still strong today, and the persecutions
carried out by the Christians themselves, internal conflict
has also always been present. It is part of human nature, so it would be unrealistic to
"wait until everybody is on the same page", because that will never happen.
We are, and will always be, on different steps of the ladder.

So many of the characters in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, seems so
familiar to me.The way they think, talk and act.
It seems as if nothing has changed, in all that time.
But that is not true, since Jesus came, He changed everything.
But for us, it can only happen if we really want it to.

The unity with the other Christian churches that the conciliatory ranks talks about,
has led to so much confusion in regard to the faith itself, as a lot of people believe
that in order to be "united" one must pretend that we are the same, and not insist
on our own teaching, as we do not want to "upset" them, and show ourselves to be
"unloving".
That is in reality abandonment, and self betrayal.

If today, the congregation is small in some parishes, is it important?
Is our religion about being big, powerful, highly revered and respected, or is is
about saving souls for the Kingdom of God?
Maybe it is even good, because Mother Church needs space, peace and quiet, from all
the "doing" to come back to what she is all about.
She is about announcing the Truth.

 


  

Why celibacy for catholic priests?

There are many people who are still stuck on this question, they say it is not natural to expect a man to be celibate,
and with all the scandals within the catholic church, it seems
to give nourishment to their arguments.
They say: «well there you go, that is the result of this rule in the
catholic church,
celibacy does not work, it is not natural»



But: The catholic faith never claimed to be natural,
it claims to be supernatural.



The scandals of pedophelia and rape are more than sickening,
it beggars belief,
and the cover-ups: almost even more.
It reveals the grotesque side of humankind's perverted nature.
But contradictory to what one might be led to believe by the media,
these crimes do not represent the majority of priests, it represents
a tiny minority.
And a logical consequence of all these revelations ought to be the
disappearance of clericalism.
Because we need to be vigilant with people, all people, this is clearly
stated in the Bible too,
and most of us are not mindful enough.
Regarding clerical abuse, even one case is one too many, and
extremely disappointing and damaging.
We need to remember that the catholic doctrine emphasizes that
we are all sinners, all corrupt.
That is what the congregation confess together, including the
priest, at the start of every single Mass.



And celibacy was not invented by the Catholic Church, 
it has always been a central element in spiritual life, even long 
before Christianity.



Druid priests, for example, were thought to have been celibate and
Aztec temple priests were expected to remain sexually abstinent.
And please, quoting Luther on the subject is illogical, since he was
someone who was not willing to remain celibate, he chose to leave,
take a wife and «set up his own shop».



The Cross is central to catholicism
and is also central in the celibacy position of the Church.



The catholic doctrine is a program,
the goal is our divinization; salvation.
Too many people are focused on the political and social side of the the Church,
and forget the spiritual side.



Remember the seven deadly sins:



Pride, greed, wrath (anger), envy, lust, gluttony and sloth (laziness)



which are elements of our human, natural (=sinful) nature.



They are the main obstacles to life in God, that is why we need to concentrate
on eliminating them.



Out of each one of the capital sins grows other sins.



The glutton, for example, cannot control himself in regard to food; as a
consequence he will not be able to control other parts of himself either.



But in concentracing on curbing the inclinations of our earthly nature,
we are working on our relationship with God, which is also part of our
nature, the deepest part of it, the divine part.



The people that are still moaning about «priest's right to marry», do not understand that by taking control of the elements of our earthly nature,
by consciously practicing everyday
self restraint, self control, in regard to eating, emotional reactions, feelings,
sexual impulses, etc, we grow in divine life, because these spiritual practices
gives fruits.

The person does not deprive himself of these things for no good reason,
he knows what he is doing!



If we gain control of our earthly bodies and minds, we grow in God.

It is mathematical, the catholic doctrine is of a metaphysical order.



This is why that when a man voluntarily and freely renounces satisfaction
of his sexual impulses, when he is willing to suffer it,
when it is done in full conscience and with the full free will of
the man, it transforms itself gradually into holy power.
He needs that in his role as a priest, which is to instruct and teach us,
in order that we too can become holy: divinized.



That is the program, and that is the goal.



Here in France, where I am, I have had the sad experience of seeing a holy priest, a young priest with clearly and manifested spiritual powers, disintegrate, in front of everybody in the parish, to a confused, evasive, fumbling man, due to a woman who literally chased him, encircled him, until he could not escape. He was forced to leave the priesthood.



The saddest thing of all, is that his congregation did nothing to help him.
Instead of chasing the woman away, they encouraged her.
When I spoke up, I was bullied and abused by them, they told me I was
judgemental.
Yes, I was using my capacity to estimate what was going on.

That goes to show that because the catholics in question did not understand 
the rule on celibacy, and many of them were against it, they were unable to help and support the priest, and therefore unable to help the catholic church.
Unawareness and miscomprehension regarding the catholic faith,
plays a large part in why catholics in France are now active in
transforming the catholic church into a protestant one.
It will not stop there, they are already talking about how we
«ought to all pray together with the muslims».
Their program is a different one, it is an effort to destroy the
catholic doctrine, from the inside.

Lots of evidence points to the fact that focusing on making things easy, 

more comfortable, less challenging, does not make life more solid,

wholesome and enduring.

But the acceptance of crosses can give a whole new dimension 

to spiritual life.  

And it is precisely the radical character of the catholic doctrine that

makes it attractive to the soul that seeks God.

We are asked to give our entire selves.

The Holy Catholic Church

The Church is a hierarchy and not a democracy.

The stone that the Church's dogma was written on; like the stone that Moses's
ten commandments was written on, has been broken.
The dilution and confusion brought by Vatican 2 has had catastrophic results;
most notably in regard to sexual education, which blurred the vision of everyone,
priests and faithful alike.
To the extent that today people that support abortion and gay marriage believe
themselves to be catholic.

Our current religious, priests and bishops are left with the shambles and the shame.

Their task is to guard and protect the catholic doctrine, but as that was demoted to a
place of inferior importance over 50 years ago, it must necessarily be a position of
internal conflict for them, if what they are bound to adhere to (Vatican 2), do not
match what they in their heart know is true.
They are bound by total obedience to their superiors; there is no place for negotiation.
What a dilemma!

As believers, what is our role? What can we do, what ought we do?
I take note that, especially among the young, there is a strong trend back to the real
church, the pre ecumenical Vatican 2 church, where things were clear,
and therefore no possible room for personal and subjective interpretations.
It was a matter of take it or leave it. You choose.
You are in or you are out. Yes or no.

I believe we need to support our priests by our words and actions. 

We are the Church, we must not be afraid to speak the truth, not even when it seems
to go against the structure.
In reality the pyramid of power is dependent on the bricks on the ground (us) for it's
existence.
If we are not here, they can not continue to exist either.
That is why they are now ready to listen to us.

But that means that me and you, yes,you too, must not be afraid to say what you think.
If I know in my heart that it is only the real (post Vatican 2) Catholic doctrine that
has all the knowledge about God, as spelled out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
it logically follows that I esteem the other denominations to be of lesser value, and
obviously; other religions, to be of no real everlasting value.

Parcours Alpha

All Catholics are responsible for upholding the faith.
It is easy to point out what is wrong in the Church,
and even easier to blame those in charge.
But what do we do, what do each one of us do about it?
We are all parts of the same body, the Church.

Personally, I was so disturbed by what I had seen and heard,
that I spoke to the bishop directly about it.
The bishops are extremely busy people, but they also know
that they need us, to keep them updated about life in the parishes.


The true Catholic doctrine must be re-taught and restored,
The current situation is that the people
who are responsible for transmitting the faith; to children and adults,
often themselves have unclear ideas of its precepts,
so how can they possibly transmit it to others?
Where I am nobody even asks for qualification from the catechists.
It is the only domaine I can think of, where there are no specific requirement for taking part.
In all other areas of volontary work today you need to produce proof that you have
undergone the appropriate training which qualifies you to take part, and you need to
have a clean criminal record.
But curiously, this is not the case in the very important fundamental work of forming the
conscience of children in the catechist classes,
which is an absurdity.


And then there is the subtility of the adversary, he is always active, and one way for
him to creep in, is when people are very busy,
and also when they are trying to save themselves.

We all have our limits, we can not investigate every single thing deeply,
because we do not have enough time.
Often, an idea or a concept appears to be completely fine. We know that the devil is
clever in disguising himself, and presenting himself well.

The Parcours Alpha program, a protestant program created in an anglican London
parish, by an anglican pastor with the goal of reviving his parish, and of bringing
people back to his church ( the protestant one), has been in
use in catholic parishes for many years, in France, and elsewhere.

As I had already had become aware of the absence of catholic doctrine in my
own parish, I took part in a Parcours Alpha to see what they had to offer,
not knowing that it was not catholic.
As I had checked out the church in question, and had confirmed that it was catholic,
I took it for granted that the program was also catholic.
But halfway in the program I became aware that it was protestant.

I had found it strange that there was no mention of the Sacrements,
neither of Mary, the Mother Of God.

What makes it more sinister and dishonest, is that there is at no moment any
mention of the fact that this is a basic introduction to protestantism, because
this program takes place in catholic churches!

I can add that the amount of heresises against the catholic faith that I heard from
some of the other members of the Parcours Alpha team, during the course of these
evenings, tells me that any one who is searching the catholic faith, has to avoid this
program at all costs.
The catholic catechism provides the material for a catholic program to be drawn up,
to take place in a similar setting, if they want (convivial setting, dinner).
So why do they not do that?
Can anyone envisage the protestant churches opening their doors to facilitate a
catholic program?
No? Not me either.
I think the scandals of pedophilia and the cover ups,
is what allowed this program to sneak in, under the guise of being efficient of
bringing souls back to the church.
The church, maybe, but not the catholic one.

Because it is exactly the sexual rules of the catholic church that people are rejecting,
referring to the clerical abuse as their justification.
This program would be the final straw that would sink the catholic church,
and that from within the church itself.
How sad. 

Saint Joseph, Glorious Patriarch

I pray the Rosary to Our Lady every day, and I thank God that I found this Faith that
gives us a Mother upon whom we can always trust, a true Mother.

Also, I have often recourse to Saint Therese, Saint Rita and Padre Pio to help me in
hopeless situations, and they always do.

But it is only recently that I have discovered the incredible power of Saint Joseph,
Jesus's foster father.

He is The Patron Saint of the Catholic Church, he is in charge of defending and
protecting her.

In praying to him to intercede for me in a personal way, I pray simultaneously for 
his intercession to protect the Catholic Church against heresies, and to clear out 
what might be the blurred,unclear or confusing today.

If something that is not clear, what is it?

Or more precisely; who is it?

That can not be taken seriously by people that are genuinely looking for the truth.

And the truth exists, objectively. The clear, naked truth.

The Catholic Church can never "save herself," she has been established on earth by God,
she is the spouse of God.

It is not the scandals of paedophilia and criminal cover-ups that is threatening to sink
the catholic church into the ground, it is the loss of the teaching of the catholic doctrine,
the clear and complete teaching of the Way, the Truth,
the do's and the dont's that leads to Life.

Even just before the "referendum" on "gay marriage" in Ireland, a lot of the priests 
did not even mention it in their homilies, and why?
Because they know that anytime they spell out the teaching of the church they take
the very real risk of being reprimanded, and they know that
they will be verbally ( and maybe even physically) attacked by all those who hate the
church.

But Saint Joseph was never afraid, he was always obedient to the Word of God, and he
protected the Son Of Man against the dangers and threats at his time, against Herod
who wanted to kill Jesus, by fleeing into Egypt.

What threatens to kill the Catholic Church today is the confusion that the "unity" of the
churches has brought in,
in the name of this unity, the teaching has become blurred, misunderstandings are left to
fester, worldly and subjective views has been allowed to stay.

Simply put, the protestants wanted things "their" way, they protested, they did not stay
in order to work things out, instead they broke away, they left.

Ecumenism; it is a political program, an earthly ideal,
in the order of nature, but our faith is of a higher order, it is supernatural.

Saint Thérèse

I very recently prayed the novena to Saint Thérèse for a special intention.

In the past I have always received flowers in some form or other, associated 

with this novena, as a sign that the prayers are being heard. 

At the end of the novena I received a letter in the post containing two little 

prayer leaflets (équipe du Rosaire), and when I opened the first one, inside 

between the two first pages, was stuck a folded up little post-it, inside it was 

a little piece of a rose petal from the miraculous rosebush of Saint Rita! 

It was the leader of our team who had posted me the leaflets, and she did not 

know that I was praying to Saint Thérèse!

The Word

Impact of WORDS; pronounced, written or thought,
the power of WORD's associations,
linked to perceptions and relating to memories,
is very strong.

The WORDS used when talking to each other are very important;
they have the power to create and destroy.
It is astonishing to see the impact of even one WORD, good or bad.
And in a legal context, we have to be very vigilant with every WORD.


"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
(John 1, 1-5) 

With Jesus The Word Became Flesh

After 33 years the WORD was crucified; nailed to a tree until He died.

It was because of the WORDS He spoke, He claimed to be God, 
they could not accept those WORDS;  so they had to get rid of Him.

Fortunately that was not the end of the story, because He rose again, and although He ascended 
into heaven, He did not abandon us as orphans, He sent us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.  

The devil

The devil; well that guy, he exists. I have already dedicated a previous post on him,

but since awareness is so important to our well being, I will again say a few things

about him.

Some people say that they believe in life after death, but they do not believe in hell.

I think that is illogical, because as we can confirm that hell already exists on earth,

there is no reason to believe that it does not exist on the other side of this life.

I mention that, because the devil and hell go together.

How do we recognize the devil?

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

(John 10:10)

This is how. 

He normally does not use a gun, most often he uses words. 

He lies. 

He steals. 

He tries to trick you and confuse you.

He might make you believe that he has your best interest at 

heart in acting as he does, and as he has had a lot of success in the past,  

be aware!!

It is in the result that we can be sure to know that it was really him;

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are 
ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 
of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth 
forth evil fruit."

(Matthew 7:15–20 (KJV)

And the Big One that gives him away: he hates the church, even though he might pretend to 

be "openminded" and "interested". He is neither.

The thing is: once we are aware of who we are dealing with, he has already lost.

He does not know it yet, of course, but we do.

There are many spirits, but only one Holy Spirit

Human beings are spiritual by nature, our spirit lives within us.

I find artists, for example, very spiritual, and I suppose it is 
because they express themselves from inside out.
Children are very spiritual, and very in their nature, too!

If you are "spiritual but not religious", then you probably have a 
particular aim, or several; maybe to be happy, feel "connected", 
centered, grounded, loving, present, energetic....... etc.

With the Catholic doctrine it is about obedience. 
Obedience is a word that is enough to make people flee, 
to send shivers down the spine.  

One might ask: "what is in it for me", "why would I agree to rules 
that does not make sense, and agree to do things that are boring 
and that I do not understand?"

And again: "what do I get out of it?" 

And then, amongst Christians there are those that are "trying hard" 
to come close to God.
They can never succeed, as it is their "trying hard" that blocks God.

It is God that does everything. That does not mean that we do nothing.
So what is required of us?

Obedience. Prayer, Mass, Bible readings.

That our attitude is one of trust, trust in what we cannot see; 
acts of faith.
It is not us that are in charge, we are being led by God. 

It is a constant work of self emptying; we have to "get out of the way" 
in order that God can fill us.

And we need to have the desire. Deep desire. 

The desire that never goes away after we have seen and experienced
something that is "not of this world", but that is more real than anything
in this world. 

Violation

Abuse is abuse, it is an attack, a violation.

The fact that there has been a massive redefinition of the word abuse;

what was normal and acceptable decades ago, was maybe even classed

as discipline, does not change, reduce or eliminate the damage inflicted

in any way.

The first step is to recognize what happened and then recognize the damage done. 

At the same time the historical or cultural context should not be completely

disregarded, since keeping it in context is important for the healing process.

Because when a victim understands that the person(s) that offended them,

in fact did not know what they were doing, the forgiveness process

can begin. Forgiving, letting go, the emotional charge can leave.

The reality as well, that we are all, at some stage in our lives,

in a smaller or a larger degree, both victims and perpetrators of abuse,

even if we are convinced that we are not.

A child who has nobody to support or help it when he/she is being aggressed

in some way, has to rely on itself. But since a young child has not got the capacities

for self help, the child's mind tells the child that the person who is carrying out the

violence, is right.

That provides a temporary solution to the situation, because the mind needs

one, in order to regain some kind of balance and to carry on with life.

The problem is that this risks becoming permanent.

The child can become completely identified with the aggressor, and if the aggressor

is one of the child's parent, it can become complicated in adult life, as it

hampers the autonomy and development of the growing child and adult.

The person shields themselves with denial, in fact internally it is frozen in fear.

The person cling to their fear as a way of protection. (!)

Continual spiritual battle

For someone who does not stop talking about how he absolutely does not
believe in God, the british comedian Ricky Gervais  seems all the same to
be pretty obsessed about Him.

Last night I saw a clip of a show he did at the end of last year (Australia?) where he in a
sketch jokes that, obviously mocking Christians who believe in the omnipresence of God,
the premier cause of all things created, that God was in Africa at a certain moment in time
busy "given AIDS to babies".

I assume that he has no christian education, but I have heard this argument several times;
that God must not be good, or He must not exist, since He allows so many terrible things
to happen.

On the most basic level of christian doctrine,
is the recognition of the existence of good (God) and bad (the adversary).

The adversary goes under many names, but it is him that is behind disease,
all misery and even death.

It is not God.

It is important to clarify it. 

People are free, free to believe in whatever or whoever they want.

But before rejecting something, people should at least inform themselves about what they
are rejecting.

The adversary is active in the world, because people choose him, instead of God.
It is our cooperation with him, our yes, that allows him to continue his work of corruption.
We are complicit, we are implicit, we are not detached observers.

Us human beings are, generally speaking, not making use of our free will,
which is our greatest "asset", gift from God.


  

The astonishing power of Saint Therese's intercession

Many years ago, it was at the very beginning of my prayer life, I came upon a novena to
Saint Therese,which I picked up from the table close to the main entrance/exit door of the church.
I had heard about Saint Therese, but as someone who did not grow up in the catholic faith, I had
converted, I did not really understand the role of the saints.

At this particular time, I needed help, help from above, as I found myself in a very uncertain
situation; my 24 year old marriage had broken up due to my ex's alcohol addiction.
I did not know what was going to happen to me and my children, and I was coming up to the day
in court for the legal separation hearing where my future would be decided by a judge.
My ex had furnished himself with a well reputed solicitor and barrister,
I had no income, so I had free legal aid. 

In the little leaflet that explained how to pray a novena to Saint Therese, it said at the end that
in praying this novena one would receive flowers as a sign that the supplication would be granted.
I was very sceptical regarding that bit, but I thought it was worth praying the novena anyway.

A week after the 9 day novena, I was hurrying from my house to get to the bus stop in time.
I was getting the bus to town. In passing in front of my neighbours houses, one of  them saw
me from her upstairs window, opened the window and shouted out to me to "hang on" a minute.
I was a bit annoyed because I was sure that I would miss the bus.
But as my neighbour was insisting that I wait, I did. She then came out of her front door with a
beautiful bouquet of flowers. I was speechless. In the decades I had lived there, neither her or any other of my neighbours had given me flowers.
They are good neighbours who help each other, but giving flowers just like that,
is not the done thing.
When I looked at her, she just said that she had felt inspired to give me flowers. Her daughter had been with her when she bought them, and she had tried to discourage her from buying flowers, saying that she would be better off buying me chocolates or something, but no, she felt strongly that I needed flowers!

This neighbour is in no way religious, and she obviously did not know anything about my novena.

The day in court went very well for me, but not for my ex.

Another time I had been talking to another member of the prayer group that I belonged to.
She was desperate to become pregnant because she experienced difficulties in this regard.
I had told her a short time previously that I would pray the novena to Saint Therese for her.
One evening, in entering the little side chapel where the prayer meeting was, I noticed
some beautiful lilies in front of the Altar.
At the end of the meeting, the man who was leading, took the beautiful flowers and in an
official kind of way, handed me the flowers, saying they were for me. 
The woman who I was praying for, and another woman who also knew about it, were equally
amazed as me. Not long afterwards the woman became pregnant, and shortly after she had
the first child, she was pregnant again with the second.

I actually have a long list of similar episodes, always with flowers!

But once, when I was not even praying the novena, I had gone to Mass without realising that it
was the feast day of Saint Therese (1.October), and as the priest announced it at the start of the
Mass, I was saying to myself that fortunately I had not missed that day's Mass, since it was Saint Therese's feast day, as she was always helping me enormously.
As I went out of the church after Mass, my friend who had waited for me,
handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers!
He was not religious, and had no idea about Saint Therese's feast day either!

Through her I have come to understand the role of the Saints in the catholic doctrine, how important
they are for us, and how they help us. In helping us with real practical or material problems, they
help us to understand that we can also be sanctified.

In learning about Saint Therese; the events of her family and personal life, her personality,
her character, I see that she was not perfect either; in several aspects she reminds me of myself,
and that encourages me!

She suffered the effects of the loss of her mother,
(twice, as her elder sister who had become her mother substitute also left her ),
she had a nervous breakdown as a young girl,
she was  the youngest in the family, 
she had a very strong willpower, she was hypersensitive, and suffered from "scrupels"

Thank you for the lockdown

The confinement is an opportunity to advance.

From the beginning I saw it as an opportunity to practice being present.

My mind went to people that are incarcerated in prisons for years, and decades,

and amongst whom there are also many innocent people, wrongly imprisoned.

Then I thought of Marthe Robin, who was not only confined to her house,

but bound to her bed for all her adult life.

She was a young, normal, happy, outgoing young woman, who had plans,

who wanted to do things in her life, but because of a medical condition for

which there was no cure, and  which also caused terrible physical suffering,

she was to stay confined to her bed until she died as an old woman in 1981,

aged 79.


Out of that hopeless situation, in this one person, has grown a world wide

association of Foyers of Charity (Charity Homes); centres for teachings of

authentic catholic doctrine.

Marthe Robin lied in her bed, unable to get up, in a house on a farm in the
middle of nowhere; even to this very day, it is a place which is not easily accessible.

She needed help with the most basic of things, which caused her additional
suffering, because she knew she was a burden to her already struggling parents.

Out of this desperate situation she drew thousands of people
to her bedroom while she was alive, an estimated 100.000; amongs them hundreds
of priests and many bishops, they flocked from all corners of France and also from
other countries, just to be able to tell her their problems and ask her for help.

Every day, there was a queue outside her bedroom, visitors gathered in the farmyard,
before they were let in to continue waiting in the kitchen, until it was their turn to be
allowed in to spend some time with her, most of the time just chatting about normal
ordinary things.
Since her death, the number of visitors to her bedroom is much higher; reaching
up to 40.000 a year.

How did this happen?  What attracted these people, and what is it that continues
to attract people today?
After all, it was difficult to get there and there was no television, internet or
advertising campaign involved.

Looking at it from a worldly point of view, we would say that it is an extremely
unlikely scenario. But the facts are there, they are concrete and manifested.


The confinement as an imposed external reality produces a  

feeling of being confined,  so there are already at the outset at least two elements present.

As I cannot change this exterior reality, I have two choices;

I can stay with the feelings of annoyance and boredom, in other words

I can internally revolt and resist, thinking thoughts like:

"I do not like this, it deprives me of ..........and when this period is finished, 
I will do such and such....."  which reveals non acceptance of the situation
as it is, and which I do not have the power to change.  

It means that I miss the opportunity present in the situation,
which is the gift of being present.

It is a training program, and should be taken as such.
When I fail, I do not get discouraged, because I believe that I get a little bit
better all the time, but I have to learn to be patient with myself.

Patience is something that is completely new to me,
so I have to accept that I am a beginner.

The opposition, the resistance, is INSIDE me, not outside. 

Constraints, difficulties, problems, burdens, pain (crosses) are  

the Tools, the Material, The Dough in the making of the bread,

given to us by Jesus to come back to God.  If we accept them internally.

Jesus accepted to be chained to the pillar as he was being flogged,
and to be nailed to the cross.

My natural human nature, I recognize it, I am not in denial of it,
but instead of giving glory to it, (paganism), I go much further,
because I do not want it to end there!
I want more, I want God!
He already lives in me and in you!
Here and now.
It can only happen by going inside ourselves.

Hopefully it will produce cracks in our image of ourselves, in our defensive system,
our mentality, our perceptions, and produce true humility, which in turn produces true
love and compassion for others and ourselves.
It is an organic process, which includes every part of our lives, which is why it creates
unity within the person. Things come together.

We are in possession of freedom to choose;in any given situation.  FREE WILL.

 I have freedom to choose. I am free.