October 2003 Archives

Everyone understands that All Saint’s Day is November 1st. But how many Catholics really understand the point of All Saint’s Day? Do you know why it’s a holiday for us?

There are few main reasons for the celebration of All Saint’s Day:

1. To give thanks to God.
   
2. To consider the holy example of the Saints.
   
3. To ask for intercession by the Saints.
   
4. To make up for any remiss in honoring the Saints on their particular feast days.
   

Ultimately, All Saints Day is a celebration of the men and women of God who have preceded us and are now enjoying heaven. Make a special point tomorrow to recognize, honor, and meditate on the Saints and the examples they leave for us as a roadmap to heaven.

Click here to read an excellent article on All Saint’s Day at EWTN.com. In the U.S., this has become a largely ignored holiday, which is a shame. Personally, I’ll be taking time tomorrow reading about Saints that I don’t already know and teaching my children the value of imitating those who are already in heaven.

What is the one thing not many people are aware of about your patron saint? My patron saint is St. Thomas More who was martyred by King Henry. A couple of interesting things: (1) he wore an undershirt made of hair virtually all the time as penance (wow); (2) he was very interested in the priesthood, but ultimately did not become a priest, why? "The one thing that prevented him from giving himself to that kind of life was that he could not shake off the desire of the married state. He chose, therefore, to be a chaste husband rather than an impure priest." according to his close friend Eurasmus.

In the comments section below, let us know something interesting about your patron saint in honor of All Saint's Day. I know I'm always interested in learning more about those who are already in heaven!

God bless,
Jay

Just an update on some current events. Join the Traditional Marriage Crusade to stop the homosexual agenda and oppose immoral laws being put into place. Visit www.tfp.org for more info on petitions etc.

Protest a blasphemous play Corpus Christi in which Christ is portrayed as a homosexual as well as all the apostles. This is an abomination. Please join in the 2nd stage of the protest by using the information below to contact the Bartell Theater, and the Mayor of Madison.

The Bartell Theater
113 E. Mifflin Street
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-204-0280
Email: bart@bartelltheatre.org
Fax: 608-204-0281

The Honorable Dave Cieslewicz, Mayor
210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Rm. 403
Madison, WI 53703
mayor@cityofmadison.com
Phone:608-266-4611
Fax: 608-267-8671

Lastly, log on to www.ParentsTV.org to get latest info on how to fight the filth on TV besides unplugging it! Fox's new TV series Nip/Tuck is utterly obscene. However, the PTC has already gotten Orbitz, Carfax, and Castrol to withdraw their sponsorship funding and now they need your help to put the heat on the two major sponsors, Orkin and Gateway. You can contact them at:

Orkin Exterminating Company, Inc.
Gary Rollins, President
2170 Piedmont Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30324-4135
Tel: 404-888-2000
Fax: 404-888-2012

Gateway, Inc.
Ted Waite, CEO
14303 Gateway Place
Poway, CA 92064
Tel: 858-848-3401
Fax: 858-848-3402

This was too good to pass up. What an apt description of what's wrong with our society:

Thanks to Insignificant Thoughts for bringing this to my attention.

Here's an interesting article by Newsweek magazine on the still unfolding saga of Terri Schiavo. Here's a quote that got me:

Battered by the earlier court rulings, the Schindlers appealed to public opinion. They posted videos online showing Terri seeming to respond to her mother’s presence, her face flickering with glee. In others, she appears to follow the movements of a balloon. Doctors enlisted by her parents offer images like these as proof that Terri has flashes of awareness and could eventually recover.

In my mind, hope is the key ingredient. There is hope that Terri could recover (from doctors, not just her parents). Shouldn't this be enough to protect her life? There is no living will - we're taking Michael Schiavo's word that Terri would rather die than live like this. Why?

In the case of a person's life, I would suggest we need more than one person's word to decide upon death. Although I would argue that no one should be killed - they should naturally pass on - I'm surprised that so many want to allow Michael to kill his wife. What's pathetic is that in the US Micheal wouldn't be able to stop Terri from getting an abortion (killing his child), but because of a medical problem he can kill Terri without her obvious consent.

What's that joke about lawyers?

Jay

PS - Thanks to OpenBook for the link.

UPDATE: Also don't miss this article on the money involved in this debate over life. It's ugly.

As everyone can testify, we’re living in the age of reason. Rational though triumphs everything – science is the new god of truth and knowledge. After all, it isn’t real if it cannot be scientifically proven, right? Someone said to me the other day, “If only we lived in a world where miracles happened all the time, where whales swallowed people, blindness could be cured, and fire lowered slowly onto the heads of the faithful.” This is an interesting sentiment. What should be the reply?

Actually, we are not living in the age of reason. We’re living in the age of miracles. My reply, “I have a different point of view. I believe more miracles happen now, it’s just difficult to step back and realize it when you’re in the middle of everything. For example, every week at Mass bread turns into the flesh of God. In addition, we have the Mother of God appearing on earth; bodies being found that haven’t decomposed through hundreds of years; a small woman performing miracles to the poorest poor on earth.”

Despite the intelligentsia pushing an analytical mindset that ignores the spiritual realm, we are living in an age with more incredible miracles than any other time on earth. We have the power of the Eucharist and supernatural prayers like the Rosary to lead us. This is far from an age that will be characterized by scientific fact and reason, this age will be known as the Age of Miracles for that is more accurate.

In daily life we often ascribe miraculous events to “good fortune” (luck) or the inevitable. This is a mistake. Take the time to realize what God is doing for you, even during the humdrum activities that are necessary to life. It’s often as simple as a protestant friend asking the right question that leads to a discussion of Christ. Or the flat tire that seems terrible but really saves you from being in a terrible accident five miles up the road. I’ve heard the suggestion that we will never realize the miraculous events in our lives until we look back from heaven. While this may be true, we should take the time to examine the ordinary and understand some of the miracles God does for each of us. In other words, don’t be so quick to assume that luck is at work – it’s probably another small miracle in your life.

Jay

Charles Stanley is a prominent pastor in a (large) local Atlanta Baptist church. This morning as I woke up, I turned on the TV and Charles was preaching. Literally, the first words out of his mouth were, “man is justified by faith alone” (Romans 3:28) so, of course, I had to keep watching.

Some background material: I think that this is the single biggest fraud perpetrated on the protestant. The word “alone” in Romans 3:28 does not exist. The Holy Spirit prevented Paul from using that word when he wrote this scripture. Martin Luther added “alone” when he essentially rewrote the Bible (throwing out books and adding words). In addition, because of the addition of the word “alone” in Protestant Bibles, it appears that St. Paul is contradicted by St. James (“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” James 2:24). Without Luther’s ‘addition,’ they would not be opposed to one another.

Now, back to Charles Stanley. What was very interesting to me is how he followed this scripture. First, he explained incorrectly that works and faith are separate (this contradicts James as well). Then he bellowed that “to believe in Jesus” implies action. Belief in Christ, he said, is followed by confession and repentance. Here’s where I got confused. Aren’t “confession” and “repentance” works? I grew up Baptist and clearly I would have defined them as such – so which part of Stanley’s service was correct? I’m not sure he knows.

In the broader sense, I see this inconsistency as a big problem for protestants. They stand by the notion of Sola Fides – we are saved by faith alone – but they tend to require works as well. Even the simple notion of “asking Jesus into your heart” is a work and indicates a requirement of more than faith for salvation. It seems like somewhere, deep down, they understand that works are inherent in salvation, they just don’t want to admit. After all, even the devil has faith that God exists and yet he is not saved (because of his works or actions).

Let me know what you think – am I off my rocker or is Charles Stanley misinterpreting the Bible he relies upon for his salvation?

Jay

The ACLU has officially jumped into the fray: they support the notion that husbands can kill their wives if they are incapacitated. Click here for the full story.

It's amazing to me that the ACLU would join this battle. Clearly Michael Schiavo has much to gain from his wife's death (financially). He could easily turn her over into her parent's care, but then the money would not be his. Of course, the ACLU is very, very good at spin, so I'm sure they will convince 80% of Americans that Micheal is a saint (it's unfortunate that we're such suckers).

Of course, the ACLU has consistently supported the murder of infants, so I assume invalids isn't much of a stretch for them. This is a slippery slope argument, which means if you accept that "incapacitated people" or "invalids" no longer have the right to live, then you must be prepared for a wide definition of the words "incapacitated" or "invalid."

Much prayer is needed (as always).

Jay

In a previous article I addressed the reason why Catholics pray to Mary and have such devotion to her as the Mother of God. I might add that this is not some new fad that has captivated Catholics only in recent centuries (I will go into some of the Early Fathers' writings to show that this understanding has existed from the beginning of the Catholic Church). So why do so many non-Catholics miss the boat on Mary? This article is in response to the second comment made on my first article. I began commenting back, but felt a second article would be more visible and more appropriate.

For those who didn't read that comment or that article I will restate the question of the blogger here:

"Can you please explain why the Mary-Worship?"

I'll start by challenging the phrase "Mary-Worship". As stated in both my previous article and in Jay's comment, Catholics DO NOT worship Mary. Asking someone, the Mother of God I might add, to intercede and pray for us is much different than worshipping them.

Finally, Pro-life groups have won a small battle in the war against children: a law banning Partial-birth Abortions passed the Senate yesterday and President Bush has said he will sign it. This could be the start of a turning of the tide in the Abortion debate; I was especially pleased to see that 16 Democrats, including Daschle, voted for the measure - this says something about how barbaric the procedure is.

This is actually the third time this bill has been passed by Congress, however former President Clinton vetoed the measure both of the first two times and Congress was unable to override his veto. The next steps will be a constitutional challenge, likely by the ACLU (Anti-Christian Liberties Union) or Planned Parenthood (what a despicable group) over the constitutionality of the measure. Let's all start praying now that the judges see the justice in keeping this law on the books.

One note, I'd like to thank former President Bush Sr. He apparently did something right: in two days his sons have both moved to save the lives of the helpless. Yesterday Governor Bush saved the life of a woman in Florida and today President Bush will save the lives of many, many babies by signing this bill into law.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a better, ProLife America? We can only pray.

Jay

Spurred on by Jay's recent article on Christmas, I couldn't resist addressing the topic of Halloween especially since I am the mother of twin 3 yr. old boys who are becoming more aware of things in this world. Could someone please answer my question - is Halloween a pagan or a Christian Tradition? How and why did it start? Somewhere in my brain I have the notion that the word Halloween means Hallow Eve because it is the night before All Saints Day. I guess like Christmas Eve is to Christmas - the sacred night of anticipation for our Lord's birth. If this is true, where did the tradition of dressing up and asking people for candy come from? I don't know about most of you but I'm tired of all the gore and horror everywhere. Halloween is no longer a one night affair but rather a full month of satanism it seems. I hope someone can shed some light on this situation for me.

When I lived in Florida last year, I had the privilege of not celebrating Halloween the American way, but rather gathering with various Catholic families to have an All Saints Day Festival. Several Catholic families brought all their children who were required to dress up as a saint and they had activities and games set up pertaining to saints then we had a huge cookout with just good wholesome fellowship and then children got to take home a small goodie bag and a Catholic puzzle. If you homeschool your children, I highly suggest this alternative to Halloween and trick-or-treating. And if kids come to your door, hand out a Christian holy card or pamphlet on a saint or something Christ related.

Yes, it's true: Governor Bush deserves our credit and our applause. He just signed into law a bill allowing Terri Schiavo to live despite the wishes of some.

You can read the story here.

What an amazing example of the power of prayer. It's also a sign that we should simply and confidently trust in God. Even when it seems all is dark, He is still in control. It appeared to many that Terri was past saving - her feeding tube, after all, had been removed. And yet reality is changed to fit God's plans.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for this. Also, be sure to click here for our local debate on the value of Terri's life - it's gotten quite interesting in the last few days.

Be sure to visit Times against Humanity and TerrisFight.org for continuing coverage.

Jay

It’s an interesting dilemma that Christians, and particularly Christian parents, find themselves in every year. Christmas has taken on the materialistic gloss that we Americans have become famous for over the past century. Christmas should be the celebration of Christ’s birth – an incredible event – but it seems that Christmas is rather a season of getting and getting and getting.

The onus is on Christian parents to break through the materialistic fun and get our children to focus on the core of the Christian identity, particularly at such an early time in their lives. How can this be done effectively? It’s not easy, but we do have the Holy Spirit (and lots of prayer) to help. So, I’ve seen several suggestions that I thought were good or interesting and I thought I would mention them here. Let me know if you have any that you would recommend.

1 – Santa is a fantasy. There are really two ways to go with Santa. One way is to use the little figurines that depict Santa praying to Christ in the manger. This is kind-of an attempt to ‘take Christmas back.’ The other route (and the one I use) is to explain that Santa is actually taken from Saint Nicholas. We explain the story of “St. Nick,” and we also explain that Santa Claus is not real. Basically, I don’t like deceiving the kids, so we don’t.

2 - The season of giving. Personally, giving is one of the key facets of a Christian holiday season. There are many ways to get this across, but one of my favorites is this: Give the kids a dollar (or any amount of money) whenever they are caught doing something “good.” In addition, put the same amount into a jar on your kitchen table, which is for the poor. I’ve heard variations where all of the money goes to the poor, which is good as well. You can always encourage kids to even give some of their earnings as well. Other options are to give a present to Jesus – it is His birthday – or have a Jesus birthday cake on Christmas. I think it’s important to do something that gets the central idea across: this is Christ’s birthday.

3 - The central message. Another key is making sure your kids understand why Christ came – the point of Christmas. There are numerous ways to do this (Bible stories, nativity plays, etc), but ultimately you have to sit down and discuss it with them. We make it a point on Christmas Eve to spend the day in the house together (just my immediate family – we see the rest of the family on Christmas). This day involves reading the Christmas passages in the Bible and generally discussing the importance of Christmas with the kids. You can make it more fun by including other games/information, but it’s ultimately a quiet conversation about God in our lives.

Just wanted to say a special thanks to John Paul II for his leadership, vision, and committment to Truth over the last 25 years. The Pope has been the heart of the world and moral center of the universe through some dark times. And yet he remains courageous, morally strong, and focused on God.

May we have a Pope as perfect over the next 25 years!

Jay

The fight for Terri Schiavo has turned into a peaceful vigil seeking a miracle. Terri is now being deprived of food and water until the time of her death. It is a time for prayer and meditation.

For more information on the peaceful protests or legal proceedings, see TerrisFight.org or Times Against Humanity. Times also features links to various other articles and blogs concerning the situation.

Jay

UPDATE: By the way, this old post has resulted in an interesting discussion over whether Terri Schiavo should live or not. Be sure to add your thoughts.

The argument for abortion is a slippery slope: if it looks like a baby, acts like a baby, but isn’t, then what else can be categorized as “non-human” and therefore without the right to live? The end result is likely to be a society that values humanity based upon individual production; communal worth is the only thing that makes you human.

Do you think I'm taking my argument too far? Here’s proof that I’m not: in Illinois a baby isn’t a baby until it’s been separated from the mother. So, if a mother kills her child before cutting the umbilical cord, is it murder? This case shows how two judges say it isn’t. It’s amazing how far we’ve come and how far down that slippery slope we’ve fallen. I highly recommend you take a minute or two and read the article.

America is in decline. We are in a sad, sad state of existence at this point and I’m not sure our humanity can be recovered. How does a world power like Rome fall? Decay from within.

Jay

I have a question for a priest on the homily. I am the lay leader of a Catholic group on a university campus. Our priest would like to have mass said with us sitting in a circle, refocusing the attention on all of us instead of on him. He would also like to do this to facilitate discussion during the homily. Vatican II says that the homily is the task of the priest and the faithful should refrain from comments, dialogue, etc. How grave is this action, and what should I do as the lay leader of this group? I need to also mention that this is not the only unorthodox action done by this priest.
Thank you in advance.

The Nobel Peace Prize began as a defiantly anti-political process by which those who worked for peace were honored. Unfortunately, that trend has not continued and the last two Nobel Peace Prize winners are significantly more political-driven than peace-driven. What a sad state of affairs for a noble cause.

The previous Peace Prize was given to Jimmy Carter, but it was immediately mired in controversy when news leaked that the only reason Carter received the award was because of his opposition to President Bush within the U.S. – many of those oppositions included non-peace related issues, such as abortion and stem cell research.

Now we’re learning that the Pope was not given the award this year (he was the clear favorite) because the committee felt it should not be given to someone in opposition of abortion and contraception. Oh how far the mighty have fallen. It really says something about the sad state of this world when the one man who’s worked harder for peace than anyone is denied this honor because of his unwillingness to exploit women and children.

Shame on the ignoble Nobel committee. This is not what Alfred Nobel wanted when the prize was created.

Jay

PS – they’ve also given the award to Yasser Arafat in the last ten years . . . that should’ve told us where they were headed.

My grandfather passed away this morning. He was a good man and I hope he had made his peace with God. Please say a prayer or two for his soul and for our family. As Maria noted earlier we should be happy that he’s moved on to a better place, but it’s the sadness that gets stuck in your throat.

Jay

First, Fr. Keyes at the New Gasparian has posted his interview answers. I highly recommend you take a few moments to read his responses - they are very insightful.

Now for a question. The situation is that a Deacon in my local parish has resigned from his duty for two reasons. The first is that he is suffering from Polio and it has become difficult to perform his duties. The second is that he divorced his wife of thirty years and is now planning to marry another woman. My question: Can a divorced man serve as a Deacon? I was under the impression that he could not, but I'll leave it up to others to educate me. Second, what's your take on this? The whole situation saddens me greatly as if someone who was so close to winning just dropped out of the race. Am I offbase here?

Jay

October 5th - 12th marks the national week of prayer and fasting to end abortion, contraception, and euthanasia. Please take the time to offer up sacrifices and to include these intentions in your prayers this week. The tide is turning, good will prevail. Have hope and faith that your prayers will be answered.
Maria

Spurred on by Jay's most recent article, I wanted to comment on the role and importance of the family in our modern society.

As a cradle Catholic, I believe that the family is the foundation. Don't get me wrong, ultimately Christ is the foundation of all our lives, but we have to experience Christ and learn of Christ somewhere and, by natural design, God has chosen that somewhere to be within the family. Now some of us do not experience Jesus within our homes and that is certainly a misfortune. But if that experience of Christ came from the outside, meaning through a friend, a book, a professor, a priest, or a relative I guarantee you will find a strong Catholic family behind them.

As group, Catholics can be a strong voice confronting our culture. When we stand together, great things could be accomplished. Of course, it’s difficult to get a significant majority of Catholics to agree on a topic and even more difficult to get them to act. But if there are two issues that Catholics should clearly stand together on, it’s Abortion and anti-Catholicism.

We are called to live out the Catholic life on earth. One easy way is to help others. For example, Barr Labs just announced that they would be buying the morning-after abortion pill sickeningly called “Plan B.” As a Catholic, the one clear thing we can do is make sure we don’t buy anything Barr Labs produces. Because they are basically a contraception/abortion-oriented company, committed Catholics aren’t likely to affect their business too much. Is there anything we can do? Pray for the souls of those working at companies like this and work towards changing our culture of death. How, you say, can I change our culture of death – I’m just one little man/woman on earth? The easiest way is to talk to your friends. Convince them that contraception is sinful – this is easier than you think with non-Catholic Christians who strive to do God’s will. Kimberly Hahn has a great book that can teach you how to prove God didn’t intend for his people to use contraception (and this is a good one by a protestant on contraception). By doing this, even if you only change one mind, you slowly hurt Barr Lab’s and their business model and you help others live a life more full of God’s Grace. This is Catholic activism at it’s finest.

In terms of anti-Catholicism, some Catholic groups are currently pointing out the obvious in a public sphere, but individual Catholics can make a quiet and strong statement. Just last night I caught a CBS show called “Without a Trace.” The premise of the show was that a priest had shown up missing, however the show was basically filled with anti-Catholic sentiment and actions. Priests were having sex with parishioners; the Bishop was made out to be incompetent. Oh – and the only reason the missing man became a priest is because he killed a child as a drug dealer early in his life (believe it or not!). This is the easiest thing to confront: stop watching this crap CBS puts out – turn off the ‘boob tube’ and say the rosary instead. You’ll get more out of it, I promise. And you, personally, won’t be supporting this anti-Catholic mentality that the cultural elites of America have deemed okay to propagate.

I think it’s time we stood up for our beliefs and took concrete actions to have our voice heard. I’m sick of hearing about companies supporting the murder of babies. I’m tired of the anti-Catholic bias that has become not-so-subtle in America today. It’s time to make a stand, even if it’s just a small personal stand against the culture of death. Ultimately, we have a responsibility to improve America – clearly, a strong Catholic influence would do more good than anything else.

Jay

Upon reading Joe's excellent article on suffering, I began to reflect upon the greatest suffering our Lord endured and still endures today - the cross. Then today as I was reading my book I Believe in Love, the author progressed from the topic of suffering to the Eucharist. For we are commanded by God,

"Be you therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matt. 5:48

What is this perfection, but to be holy victims, to be Eucharistic people. How do we become Eucharistic people, how do we become holy victims full of love? In the past I have always relied mostly on my own abilities to avoid sin and to do what is right, but even this is an illusion! My own abilities are not mine, but rather God's. The only possible way I have of becoming a Eucharistic person is by Christ consuming me so that I no longer exist, only His Love burns within me. This task seems impossible and it is. That is why I do not rely on my strengths, rather I turn to Jesus. And where is Jesus present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity? Here in the living miracle of the Eucharist. He is burning in every tabernacle, in every Catholic Church. Hunger and thirst to eat this living miracle; nourish yourselves with it!
In the book I am reading Fr. Jean shed some new light into my desires to be one with Christ. As an adult I have wanted to receive the Eucharist because I knew I needed as much grace as I could get, however, it never occurred to me that Christ wanted me as much as I wanted Him.

"Receive Communion not only for yourself, in order to have this immense grace, but for Jesus, in order to respond to His desire to come down into you, to give Him the joy of descending into your heart, which is a heaven for Him."
I Believe in Love by Father Jean C.J. d'Elbee

Listen further to little St. Therese

"He comes down each day from Heaven in order to find another heaven, the heaven of our souls, made in His image, the living temple of the adorable Trinity."

Therefore, the first and last step we need to take in learning how to embrace suffering and become Love is to go to Mass. Receive Christ so that He might make you perfect as He is perfect. The answer to all our problems begins and ends in our daily bread in Holy Communion. And if for whatever reason you are unable to receive Christ daily make an effort each morning to have a spiritual Communion with Christ. I leave you with one last thought.

"If only you knew how Jesus hungers for you, how He burns with desire to come into your heart, how impatient He is to come down to you, bridging all distance between you and Him! The day you miss a Communion is a great disappointment for Him. So go to Him; respond to His desire." Fr. Jean