Does God Cry Part II

Well we have seen (somewhat over dramatized) one side of the coin. This is a example of a Catholic who did everything wrong except go to church. While we are not this bad we perhaps find some parts of this in each of us. Last night's posting was a man who was Catholic in name only. Well lets see what he could have done different and what it may have meant for his day.
     On Sunday our friend goes to Mass arriving early to pray for understanding of today's message. He pays close attention in Mass and stays until the last note of the closing hymn. He walks out slowly offering God's blessing upon those who are elderly or handicapped along the way. He knows he has plenty of time as the parking lot is a night,are to get out of until 15 minutes after Mass has ended. He chats with some he knows and stops to read up on what is going on in the church. He and his family get to their cars and have a easy time getting out of the parking lot as he says to himself a prayer of thanksgiving for the Mass. He decides to put off mowing the lawn for another week and chides himself for being slothful yesterday and not doing it then. He reaffirms to himself that this is a family day and goes home and spends time with the kids and wife explaining and meditating on the Mass they heard today. Later it is a great Sunday dinner and off to bed ready to work.
     The alarm goes off at 4:30am he blinks his eyes looking at the clock thinking to himself how much he would enjoy more sleep. He then realizes he has no time for laziness it is time to prepare for the day. He exits the bed and goes straight to his knees thanking a loving God for another day to serve him. He then spends about 20 minutes in meditation on the Passion or some other subject in the Bible and then gets ready to go to work. He leaves early feeling great about the day and as he has plenty of time to get to work. He decides that a coffee stop is in order to get his Double Mocha frappachino with chocolate sprinkles and two cherries. He pulls up after his order and moves along until the car ahead of him seems to have a problem with it's order. He thinks to himself how surprised he is that they don't have more issues with orders as busy as they are. He waits taking sometime to pray as his turn comes up. He greets them warmly and wishes them God's blessings upon his driving away. He takes a drink from his drink and realizes one cherry is missing. He laughs quietly to himself and thinks who would get mad because they forgot a cherry.
     He continues to work arriving about 10 minutes early and spots Charlie walking down the walk. He walks up to him to see if he can answer any of the questions he might have about the Roman Catholic Church. Charlie points to a certain subject and says he does not understand. He asks him to join him in a cup of coffee after work so he can explain it in detail and where it is a little more quiet. Charley agrees and upon departing says thanks. Our friend enters into work and begins his work day. He has a meeting with his boss to discuss why his numbers are down, but there is no yelling as that the boss knows this employee to be faithful in his faith and knows he always gives 100% at work. Our friend returns to his desk asking God to help him at work and again gives thanks for all his blessings. He works all the way to lunch keeping his nose to the grind stone as he knows a idle mind is a open door to the sin of gossip,
     During lunch he Waves Charlie over and asks him to join him for lunch so they can talk. The lunchroom is loud so the discussion is light. He crosses himself in preparation to give thanks for the food God provided and then settles in to eat. Charlie tells him it is weird how many stare at him when he does pray. Our friend just smiles and says "never could deny my savior can't start now" there is a light chuckle. The talk goes from sports to other areas and relaxes them both to face the second half of work. The second half of the day goes as the first except that the company busybody comes around to spread the latest gossip. Our Friend knows he has spent time on this persons list of subjects (as many have). Just as they start up our friend says, "excuse me but this doesn't really apply to me" and excuses himself and turns back to his work. The day finishes with our friend praying a prayer of thanks for his efforts at work. He never brags about what he does and has been offered many awards but insists he does not want these and his reward is helping the company. He knows he is not political enough to get a promotion but remains happy with a raise on occasion.
     He meets Charlie at a small restaurant and listens carefully to Charlie as he is having trouble with the idea of Papal Infallibility. Charlie explains how the Pope is the leader of the Church and has authority in certain areas in which he is considered in fallible. He stresses that this is only done after long prayer and by the direction of the Holy Spirit. He then spends time and pulls out his pocket Bible and shows that in the early church Peter was in charge and all the other disciples went to him for a decision. He shows where there was a actual conflict of teaching where Peter had to say who was right and who was wrong and that the decision was instantly accepted. He remembers he has a Bible Study tonight and invites Charley to come. He offers also to be a sponsor for him during the upcoming RCIA sessions that will start soon. He is hopeful that Charley's whole family will attend so his family can sponsor and support Charley's family and they can both learn something new about their faith. He then says he has to go and will pick Charley up for Bible Study a little early to introduce him around. He goes to pay the bill for the coffee and his card is declined. He is confused by this as he knows there was 400 dollars there this morning. He knows something is up he will check it out when he gets home. Carley offers to pay the tab chided our friend on arranging this all just to get out of a bill. They both laugh and each go to their homes.
     When our friend gets home he hollers at the top of his lungs "Dad's home"! Suddenly he can hear it slowly building in sound and vibration. He thinks to himself with a chuckle "oh oh here comes the kiddie avalanche. His children greet him with hugs and allot of chatter about what they did this day. He makes time to listen to each and discuss what they did. The conversation is real as he listens to all what his children have to say. Along with the kids came the dog also excited to see him and he greets his pet with love and strokes of kindness. Now Mom has entered and she reminds the kids of homework and prayers that will be a little early tonight as Dad has a Bible Study tonight. He quietly says a prayer of thanks for a wonderful family and gives God praise for his blessings. He kisses his wife hello and is told about the hot water heater going out. His wife is upset because it wiped out the checking account and she had a horrible time figuring out what to do. He kissed her and states no problem we will take a little from savings to tide us over and then tells his wife how much he loves her for handling this and for sticking it out through a rough day. She says "well I didn't do it alone" as the husband nods "all things through Christ he says" then they both take a second to pray thanks for the help they had received that day. Then the family settles down for dinner. Soon the husband excuses himself asking his wife to wait a few minutes before the kids come in to pray so he can prepare for the class he is giving tonight. He enters his dark bedroom and kneels to pray asking God to send the Holy Ghost upon him as he teaches so all he says is in accordance with the will of God. The family prays together and then the kids are off to bed as our friend goes to pick up Charley.
     He arrives at the Bible Study with Charley and introduces him around. The class he gives touches all as it seemed that the Holy Spirit spoke through him in all things. He acknowledges all praises from  his brothers in humility citing it was just the Holy Ghost working overtime. Charley after hearing the class wishes to join RCIA with his family. Our friend silently praises God for allowing him to be his tool in bringing Charley home and assures Charley that he and his family will be there every step of the way with them. He asks Charley if he would like him to pray with him and they both pray in thanks for the events of this day. He drops Charley at home and wishes God's blessings and peace to all who enter his home. He arrives at home and looks in on the kids as he heads for his bedroom. The dog has gotten up to greet him and he pets the pooch and gives thanks for such a fine pet. He gets into bed as his wife wakes up. He tells her he loves her and that she is his best friend. He then invites her to pray with him. Prayers being said he slowly drifts off to sleep thinking how much he would rather be in the kingdom of God than here in this world but he knows it is his race to run. He goes to a quiet restful sleep knowing how blessed he truly is.
     So in two days we have seen two people one who was a Catholic in name only and another who lived his faith. Most of us are somewhere in the middle of these two people in our daily lives. However this does not answer the question does God cry? I submit to you it does. You see I have described on day one a lost soul who is Catholic in name only and will likely never change because he is too proud to apologize and too proud to change. The second one is someone who walks with Christ as a matter of habit in his daily life. He takes joy in what God takes joy in and is showered with blessings by his Father. The first man God does cry over, because here is a soul that will go to Hell and never know the true goodness of his God the way the second man does.
     Does God cry? Sure he does. He cries when we fail to help the poor or hungry or downtrodden because we don't wish to share what we have. He cries when he is cursed by man and he name is used as a swear word rather than a name of praise. He cries when we verbally abuse our wives and children and cause them sadness. Or when we shut those in our family out of our lives. He cries to watch somebody claiming to be what he is not and thereby spreading his poison into the body. He cries at the unrepentant who if they just took a few step could once again call God Father and walk in his ways. Yes God does cry and sadly more often than we will ever know. He cries for a child neglected that dies or one who is shot in a crossfire of two drug gangs. He cries to see families ripped apart by divorce which in all too many cases is hardest on the children. He cries for every aborted child that should have grown to know him and serve him.
     Do we make him cry? In all honesty as we are not perfect yes. We do not mean to but it happens more often than not on a daily basis. He rejoices when we go to confess our sins to the Priest but cries if we confess what we are not sorry for. Yes God Cries and with him Jesus.Mary, The holy Ghost and any number of Saints and Angels. Yet they don't cry for themselves as we do. They cry for us and all the missed opportunities to serve Christ and our fellow man. They cry perhaps hardest of all at two things. A person who in his unrepentant ways is sent away from the presence of God. He cries hardest of all for the unborn child who was never given a chance to live.
     Yes we all live somewhere between these two people I have written about these last two days. But for us the real question is not does God cry we know he does. But when will we as the body of Christ stop making him cry over our sins. We cannot correct them all. For those we can't change pray harder than you ever prayed for forgiveness and help to beat this enemy. For those things we can change is it not time we do and bring love to our creator and not sadness and misery.
Good night my friends and God bless each of you. May God bless you and your house and may you rejoice in his spiritual presence soon.

Does God cry? Part 1

In the world we live in we want what we want, when we want it and how we want it. We have all found ourselves living in a world that moves very fast and we accept this because we live in it also. Yep pull to the window order and 60 seconds later here what you ordered. If it takes a extra few minutes we begin to blow the car horn and if what we want a day or two late we call wanting somebodies job for having made you wait. Is it that your or my time is so precious that we cannot sacrifice a extra few minutes or a day before we begin to get angry?
     So lets begin by showing a few examples. We are told at the end of Man go in peace and do good for one another. Sounds great! However when you get in your car to go home it is a zoo. People showing love for each other while cutting each other off and not yielding to anybody because it is urgent you get home. When we continue on to highways to get home it looks somewhat of the start of the Daytona 500 if the speed limit is 60 cars are weaving in and out of traffic at 80 mph with the bumper sticker that says how proud you are to be a Catholic. However we are not alone every Church and every faith has the same issues. Yet it seems that the media and general world hate for the Roman Catholic Faith means any mistake we make are in the eyes of others multiplied by 10 because we are you know one of those. You finally get home from Mass and decide it is a great day to catch up on lawn work thereby not even allowing yourself to keep the Lord's day holy. Angel at Mass, Devil on the way home and heretic when you get home but is this all? Not by a long shot.
     The alarm goes off on Monday morn and you grunt and snore and hit the snooze button. and then again and again and again. When you do wake it is no time for shower just dress and go and I'll catch something later for breakfast, However realizing your still groggy and need some coffee to get that ole ticker into gear. You pull into your favorite fast food place for a triple mocha frappachino with caramel and chocolate sprinkles with two not one cherry on top. So in front of you are three cars and the first two pull away no problem. Your next and you can still make it to work on time. Then as always it hits the guy in front of you either got his order wrong or they are waiting on something. Precious minutes tick away as you wait and you begin to get angry and then angrier and then real hot!
You begin to blow your horn and invoke curses upon the guy in front of you as well as the obviously incompetent staff in this store. You are delayed a total of four minutes and then they take you next. You mumble something about how minimum wage jobs could be better by monkeys rather than them as you snatch your order and Begin to blaze away down the road headed to the high way. To make matters worse your really mad now as they only gave you one cherry on top.
     You finally get to the highway entrance it is of course packed but you still have a three minute window to work with yet. You enter the highway cutting off some semi-truck and he blows his Horn at you to express his displeasure at what you did. You give him that one finger salute as you find you are very angry at the loss of that cherry. Two accidents and a construction zone later with you flying down the highway gets you to work two minutes before time ti punch in on the clock. You run like Jesse Owens clearing the railings by a foot as you vault over them only to land in mud getting you shoes and pants all muddy. You say some words that will have to be explained at Reconciliation Mass and stomp towards the door. As you enter the door there stands Charlie who has been talking to you about the Catholic faith and has a question about yesterdays reading, but your in a hurry and don't have time for that right now. So you spout out "can't you do anything for yourself"! and you stomp over to your desk 5 minutes late to work. You feel bad about what you said to Charlie but you will fix it later when you are in a better mood.

     Lunch comes none to soon and as you begin to feel a little better you think you might make it to the end of the day without killing somebody. You see Charlie and remember you are trying to convince him to leave his Protestant Church and join the Holy Roman Catholic Church. You've poured a ton of time into this. Charlie appears at first reluctant to come over but with you coaxing him he does come over. You ask him if he had reached a final decision about going to Mass with you next Sunday, He replies politely that he can't as he feels being Catholic is not what he wants. He then leaves and you shrug your shoulders and convince yourself that somebody from his church got to him first.
     The remainder of the work day is spent much like the morning except it is hot with the late day sun and your temper is shorter and you snap at most everybody around you as you don.t want to be bothered. A few more run ins with the boss and again you are fired up to furnace level again. A hot drive home in rush hour traffic with the sun beating on you like a drum. You get off the highway and decide to go have a nice cold beer before you go home. You order your beer and think to yourself I have been waiting for this all day. The bartender walks up and tells you your bank card has been declined and you state this can't be true.with venom in your voice, yet sadly it is and you curse the bank and the bartender without mercy before stomping out.
     You drive home with a volcano erupting out the top of your head. You stomp inside the house ignoring your kids as they competent for your attention. Finally they get on your nerves and you yell "Look I'm tired just leave me alone"! The children faces go from smile to hurt confusion as they go their way. You walk into the kitchen and ask what is for dinner and you wife says "hamburgers".
That is it you have had all you can stand and you begin to scream what about the roast in the fridge. You wife states something about a pipe bursting and having to get it fixed along with a new hot water heater. However your not listening and along with screaming about the dinner you wanted you also decide to launch into a tirade as to her wasteful spending. Again she says smoothing about a pipe ans a water heater but you don't want to hear excuses you want to know what she is going to do about her spending and her obvious faults as a wife for not having a decent meal on the table. At this times she bursts into tears and goes to the bedroom locks the door and cries. Your children come to ask what is wrong with mommy and you again yell at them for not leaving you alone. They too retreat into their rooms crying also as you trip over the dog making it yelp and kick at it for being in your way. You look at you watch realizing it is almost time for your men's Bible Study Group and you can't miss it cause you are going to explain how a Catholic Family is to live under Christ.
     You return home after giving the class thinking what a wonderful class you just taught never realizing that many felt your heart was not in it. The house is quiet as you return and you come inside expecting the dog to be jumping up and down on you being happy your home. But no dog,no family, just silence greets you. You begin to think about the class you gave and you feel guilt on how you treated everybody. You look in on the kids who are all sleeping but it is obvious they went to sleep crying. You open your bedroom door and hear a quiet whimper from your wife as you get into bed. Yes she is awake and it would be a good time to apologize and seek God's forgiveness for your sins. However somehow you can't bring yourself to do it you go to sleep and fall to sleep amidst the spinning on a guilty conscience which disappears as you address every issue and justify how somehow none of this was your fault. You can't get comfortable and you fall asleep never getting the peaceful night rest you wanted.
This may be over played, but if honesty is in you perhaps is some measure you can find yourself in this story. I believe at times we all can and we all wish to forget it when it happens. A bad day goes on to destroy testimony as well as witness and has brought hurt to all those around you. As stated this does not reflect on all who read this but there are those who are a exact copy of this fellow.. He goes to Mass with you, he goes to Bible Study with you and may even be a fellow Knight of Columbus. He knows what he did wrong and he knows what he has to do to correct it. He knows all the right things to say at Mass and Bible meetings but what of admitting sin and asking for forgiveness this he struggles with. Perhaps tomorrow will be better. Stay tuned as our friend tries to make all right twenty-four hours later in Does God cry part II.
    
    

A long climb back to the top

As with everyone we all come upon a time in our lives as Catholics when Christ does not feel so near. This can catch you at any time but is most common to new believers. During this time you don't feel the presence of God through the Holy Ghost as you once did. This may have many causes but two causes seem to be prevalent either it is sin or it is a test from God. Either way these times can have a dramatic effect upon a Catholic believer if he is not prepared. Now you can say what you want but as the old saying goes ya gotta be there to understand.
     During these times your first thought is confusion as you try to figure what happened to the closeness with Christ and why it is suddenly not there. The next stage is the "what did I do phase". This is a time of self examination at such an deep and caustic level you almost always count out the idea of a test. You immediately turn to yourself and begin to accuse yourself for being at fault for everything from the loss of your relationship to God to the global warming crisis everybody talks about. You become frustrated and at times stubborn and your prayer life begins to fall off.
     Now at this point you have set your time for the long climb back. You have to start from scratch re- disciplining yourself to pray and to attend Mass etc... This is harder than you think as that Satan will keep you nice and busy with everything from Doctor visits and illness to keep you off your balance and keep you physically run down to keep you away from prayer. This is where the real fight begins. We all know that we are not as tough as our 1870 era relatives. They ate better, they worked harder and prayed allot more. So what to us might seem as a disastrous sickness would have been seen back then as nothing. Headaches are my killers, having suffered a heat stroke injury during military training anytime it gets to a 90+ degree day I get headaches due to heat. They seem to be crippling but when I look at them and be honest with myself they are not enough to keep me from watching television or being on my computer. So why should it prevent us from going to church? Often what happens is with such minor annoyances make us tired and if you live in the Southwest as I do 90 plus days can also sap your energy. So now the issue is tired NOT a headache, and all too often it becomes the real reason we stay away and not the illness that we would shake off in a second if we wanted to.
     If not addressed right away it will continue to drag your spiritual life down until you fight. So how do we fight? First you must accept on faith that it is not you. If you try this and continue to have issues go to reconciliation Mass and relieve yourself of whatever sin you may think it to be. Once you have a clean conscience as well as some prayer time you will find it is a test. As stated earlier this is a tough point to reach because in our humility as Catholics we tend to accept responsibility for issues that hit our spiritual life or we go to panic mode and end up at the same spot. Prayer is essential here and you must pray in such a manner that you will not be disturbed and you can seek a close time with God. Remember feelings can and will fool you, never trust a feeling until you have really checked it out. This is a little something that allot tend to forget. Some prayers that are essential is to meditate on the Passion, the Rosary as well as the Chaplet of divine mercy. You can do more but these three I really do recommend. Also get your Guardian Angel and Saint going with you and as always ask for the intercession of Our Holy Mother Mary.
     Keep praying above all if you stop it will be difficult to get that discipline you once had back. As in the Parable you don't want to be that seed that never had a chance to take root. God is merciful and forgiving beyond measure. He has sufficient grace to forgive and will not fail to do so even if you are away for awhile, We however do not want to use this as a justification to say "well I'll worry about it later. Prayer as you might have guessed can cure almost anything from a doubting faith to a lost faith. How I wish more would realize this as they go through the journey God has set before them. So much pain and loss can be avoided it we only prayed more and worried less. As you pray for a closer bind with Christ you will find in time it will return and probably never left as it was just a dry spell you were feeling. Now I know some will say "earlier you said it could be sin or a test now you say it has never really left and it was a feeling. The truth being it can be any of the three because allot depends on how you experience it.
     The rule is pray always pray, even when Christ seems far far away pray and you will be heard. Christ loves you no matter your situation or your standing. He sees no race,color or creed. He loves all and wishes they would all come to him and find eternal happiness in his coming kingdom. Don't be afraid to say anything to Christ he is with you 24/7 and knows everything so why try to fool him. He will forgive all you need do is seek his endless forgiveness. It was said of Padre Pio that he was praying at all times his duties (saying mass) did not prevent him from doing so. It was said that he would walk down the halls of the monestary and hold conversations with his Guardian Angel. This is how tightly he was wired into Christ! While sadly we cannot spend every minute of our day in prayer due to work and other commitments we can spend perhaps a hour or two talking with our greatest friend. While we know we are nothing without him and it is grace and forgivenessthat we get to his kingdom. He sees us as treasures he created and loves and aches to have us all turn to him in repentance and prayer.
     Such is not the council of evil, but the council of life. Seek Christ in all things remember he died so that you may be forgiven he rose so that you may have eternal life. He has not forgotten you and only wishes that you seek him and let him know you have not forgotten or rejected him. There is a knocking at the door. Will you answer?
God Bless you and peace to all the houses of those who read this.

A time of prayer a time of wayward thoughts

     As a Catholic who had no real foundation in the faith from his family I have learned many things here and there to keep my family well grounded in the faith. A example that I feel most people face is distractions during prayer. These begin with little thoughts off the subject of God and if ignored or not handled properly can lead into real problems. The worst of these is these thoughts grow in wickedness and in volume until you cannot ignore them. I have had in the past some of the most horrible thoughts you can imagine. The problem was frightening for some of these thoughts were very wicked and became harder and harder to shut down. I became frustrated and very afraid of further attacks on my prayer time and became one of many stuck on the "treadmill". You know the one you sin confess it before the Priest and promise yourself never to do it again. Wash,rinse and repeat as many times as it takes to learn to combat these issues. It can destroy your faith and take you away from both Mass and God and render you ineffective as a Catholic, this is of course the very thing Satan wants. You away from Mass and God equals sin and Satan is the only winner here.
     So how do we defeat this enemy attack? Well it starts where everything else does by changing yourself and your habits. This is a tough part because it requires total honesty with yourself and many find looking at themselves in total honesty is not easy as we tend to excuse or justify allot of sins. Myself I never like to venture down this road because I always find something in there that makes me sick to my stomach about myself. The first step is to look at your habits. Do you leave the TV or radio on when you pray? Unless the music is of true faith it is not helping you no matter how much you try to say otherwise. Television is a real monster as it causes you to look away and keep half a ear focused there. With all the garbage that is on TV today we need as little of this as possible. Thank God for Catholic TV be it EWTN or The Catholic Television Channel, or perhaps ABC family (some of it) or TV Land which allows me the opportunity to watch programs that I watched as a child when much of what you see and hear on TV was not allowed at all.
     The second is look at the timing. My night prayers I say right at bedtime, however the problem is that unless you are very careful you can easily be carried off to sleep way too soon and you either fall asleep during or before your prayers have even begun. It is not helped if you are on a prescription for pain pills on a constant basis so the best way to fight this is to plan and make prayer a part of your day. Now I am not speaking of the little prayers of praise or worship we say on a daily basis but the actual heavy duty prayer time. Schedule it and practice it. It will be difficult at first but in time it will become part of your daily life which is where you want it in the first place.
     The second is you wife and children I strongly suggest you pray as a family as all will benefit from some quality time with God. There are many who suffer from a lopsided family. This is when one parent takes off learning all he can and the other doesn't. While I must agree knowledge is not in any way part of our way to heaven it is helpful to get a grip on learning fundamentals of the faith.doctrine as well as tradition. When this happens one spouse digs deep to learn all they can about their faith in a effort to learn to keep away from sin and combat temptation. The other spouse is likely to be a new Catholic and sort of stumbles along the way and relies on the other to direct her spiritual life and that is a recipe for disaster. As one continues to dig deeper the other gets further behind and becomes still more dependant on the studying spouse. The kids when our studious Catholic speaks to them on faith and sin give us that dog look. Yeah you know the one where the head tilts as he looks at you like your trying to teach him calculus. Therefore you family is uneven in faith and knowledge and everybody looks to another to see what to do. At this time prayer life in those left behind falters and nobody gets fed. The other kid issue is simple kids coming in and out telling on each other or in a screaming fight. This is enough to distract anybody.
     So we now have a quiet,scheduled time with the boob-tube off and The Tennessee Bloodsuckers aren't screaming into your ears compliments of a MP3. Are we done? not yet. You must spend the first part of your daily prayers to focus on God and pray that your spirit is lifted up to his. I know many say just pray but again I say you have to be in the presence of someone to talk to them. So therefore your Spirit must be lifted up. You can do this by saying Nicene
     Finally at all times try to pray as a family  I cannot stress this enough yes your teen might grumble and your younger ones fidget, but learning to pray effective prayer is a gift of epic proportions to give to your family. With today's issues of work,bills and hard economic times it is easy to skip prayer. Yet this is a slippery slope one night turns into two or three and then disappears completely and once again Satan wins. To pray with your family is the greatest example for your children to follow. Your kids might grumble but when they can see their Parents or Parent come before God on their knees they will quickly realize that God is to be respected,;loved and worshipped above all and that all things come from him. Then perhaps as I am trying to do, your children will not be absent from the true Church for many years and learn to regret all the lost opportunities they missed by not being well grounded in the Church. The old saying holds true, "Stop the insanity" and set you and your families eyes on God.
Until next time God Bless and see you at Mass.

A word on Betty Ford and a great example of a family

I was not too seriously surprised when the news came on the death of Betty Ford. She was a great lady who did allot to bring addiction as well as breast cancer to the forefront of our society. However as I began to recall my memories of her and her husband former President Gerald Ford something struck me that made my thoughts turn to a whole new direction. Lets take a walk down memory lane for some of us and a history lesson for some. Gerald Ford was in a word left holding the bag once President Nixon left office. He had replaced Spiro Agnew as Vice-President as the stories of corruption and bribery and robbery began to unfold. Many as they were watching person after person being grilled on television during the Watergate hearings began not only to hate President Nixon but every Republican that walked the earth. This was shown as Democrats rolled up huge wins in every level of government elections.
     Gerald Ford was heralded the unelected President and was the punch line for almost every television show due to some unfortunate falls. He then gave Richard Nixon a pardon and the dust really began to fly as the public and the Democrats wanted his hide. Through these 2 to 3 years there was one person by his side Betty Ford. As he began to weaken she was there to be supportive and a point of strength to her Husband. Were they a perfect family? no. Were they without problems? no.
But as Gerald Ford attempted to run the country while facing a backlash of epic proportions she stood by him and in the gale force storms that just kept coming she was his support second only to God. Yes Gerald Ford was a Christian and the cross he bore was in essence heavier than we shall ever see God was there to make sure he could bear it and Betty Ford was there to lend him strength and the will to go through this drama.
     In a Catholic home the Husband is responsible to God for the family as he has the final word in the decisions made. Now this does NOT mean that the wife has no say, in fact it could not be further from the truth. She is his partner and his help within the family unit. The only difference being he has to when no agreement can be reached he must make the decision. I apologize if I do not explain this well but it is such a tricky subject in today's world. Man faces God over decisions made on account of the family. If the children do not grow up to pray. He is responsible for that fault. If the Family misses Mass he faces the music. It is not a great position to be in trust me. Is your family perfect? Well Mr. Husband you are responsible for getting it back on track and teaching Junior that we don't miss Mass because the Cowboys are playing in the early game this Sunday. His wife is there as a helper beyond measure. Often her wisdom far exceeds the Husbands when it comes to a budget because. well men like their toy. Be it Xbox,Wii or a new Droid 4x super HD 3D cooks dinner while you watch television. It is her wisdom that often intervenes and says " no honey we don't have the money for this right now. Like I say her wisdom is like gold.
     The Bible fully supports this as it is noted that "a good wife is a jewel in her husbands crown". When men go off on a flight of unrealistic want or desire it is the wife who keeps him at ground level. This is perhaps the hardest job of all. Dealing with kids and their schedules,housework if she does not work,work if she does not stay home. Add a husband and their capabilities to make a mess where ever they may roam (yes I am one of them) and a wife has her hands full. Betty Ford dealt with little of the issues we do daily. I am sure a maid and chef prepared menus and about everything else they needed. However she also had to watch daily (where we don't have to) her husband beat to the ground by the public.the media as well as other politicians. Yet there she stood and for this I believe she was a tribute to a husbands best friend and confidant his wife.
     I have been blessed by Christ with a marriage now that is going on it's 24th year. You may not believe it but we have never argued or had a major fight in the entire years of our marriage. This is not that I have tried to put her through the ringer. When I lost myself to sin and became tangled in it's webs tighter and tighter it was her that was still there and waiting for me when I came to myself. She is the closest person in the world to me and had I not been forgiven for the Hell on Earth I put her through I might have gone crazy. Since the day I came to myself and asked forgiveness she has never mentioned that time in our lives together and today we are closer that ever. I know in my life there is much I will have to atone for before God and this is a deep weight upon my soul. If Saint Pio worried for his eternal soul then by comparison I am lost. However I am thankful for the forgiveness and mercy of Christ that has released me from this sin.

Finding your place

For the past year my biggest desire is find a place within my Parish to serve not only the Church but to serve Christ as well. I went through RCIA and was told that at my confirmation it is likely that I would find myself by the grace of The Holy Spirit. Confirmation came and nothing transpired to help me find my place. This to me was very troubling as well as hurtful to me as that I really wanted and still do to serve. I would venture to say if I were not married I would likely try to enter the Priesthood even if I am 50 years old.
     However after some serious soul searching I discovered some things that I did not realize. Was it desire to serve or a desire to gain prestige? Pride is a very weird kind of sin, we often find a million and one ways to justify as well as convince ourselves that we are wanting to serve for the greatest good only to find deep down it is self not love that motivates you. Having found this out I went to Reconciliation Mass to seek forgiveness. I know that this has been forgiven but it is a running battle from time to time as I have been blessed to see it allot more quickly now. This also explained the reason why I had not found my calling within the Church Body.
     I have found that doing things without thinking on them is sometimes the best way to go. An example is you see a lady buying a can of formula for her baby but is a dollar short. Often in these type of scenarios we often do not think. We pop up and say "I'll cover that dollar" and tell them God bless you as they depart having seen a act of kindness that is all to rare today. Now did you think about it before you did it, often not it is a impulse action that no thought enters. You did not do it out of what is in it for me. You do it as a act of love that is pure you ask nothing in return but help out of the love that Christ had for us all. In this manner some of our best acts of love have happened in this manner. We offer up pain for the souls in Purgatory. We give a cool drink to a person on a hot day, We offer help to those we don't even know and never wish anything back.
     This is not to say that this is always the best way to go. There are decisions that that require much prayer,devotions and hearfelt searching of our souls to find the answer to. The difference is while the acts of kindness without thought are just that without thought. If you have to think about a matter you had best hit the knees and pray until the answer is given to you through God's grace. In this process we must pray,meditate on Bible passages as well as ask intercession for the answers we have to think about, I suggest the Rosary to start. During this time we must be very careful not to treat God like a dog wanting a treat. First in our minds must be through God ALL things come to you, even the very breath we take and every heartbeat we have. We tend in our own ego to treat God like we are teasing a dog. We give our problem to God and then take it back and try to fix it ourselves. Then we give it back to God (likely in worse shape that it was) and we allow a day or two then we grab it back. God is God we must treat him as such to do otherwise is to endanger our souls and bring true disgrace upon yourself.
     Now many will read this and say I never do that, but I ask you to really explore your heart. Do you give a problem to God and then take it back. Do we forget that God must come first. Are we doing things due to pride instead of out of love and service. A great hint is this. In every Catholic Church there is "the group". You know the ones they teach RCIA or CCD or whatever and they are the in crowd. They do not mean to but they tend to shun outsiders to their group, they will be polite but in truth even the outsiders know to a degree it is forced. Going by the odds if you are part of this group your odds of being as above described is increased. This is not to offend but to expose things that can and do go on in Church. It is Christ himself who states if you are popular you are not his servant. People who serve God are usually the quiet couple with the kindest smiles on their faces and a kind word or a bit of love filled wisdom for anybody. They do not charge to the head of the pack and if you don't look hard you will miss them. It is these souls who are doing Gods will and being blessed more and more each day. Some are outsiders by choice rather than by social discrimination. These people are often people like apologists who wear the veils and bow as the Priest passes etc. These are outsiders because while they believe strongly in the Church they also support the traditions of the Church that have been forgotten or just not practiced within the Parish. Some may call them "holier than thous" but this is rarely the case. Others are outsiders by accident, you know the ones. They didn't used deodorant or shower before Church. OK on the last point it was a awful attempt at humor. We cannot change the world for Christ without changing ourselves. Be totally honest with yourself and do a examination of your faith and practices. Urge others to do so. Then we must work at every Parish to become one. One part of the body of Christ. We must pray daily that this spreads all throughout the Church and we become with Gods help a part of the Body of Christ with one voice, one mission. and one love which is The Lord God who with his Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be glorified forever. If we can accomplish this, Pray for this and do our part in it we with Christ can accomplish anything. It is at this point we may never have to worry about doing something that is not God's will again. Sounds like Heaven......perhaps it is

Is the rage over the Casey Anthoney verdict hypocritical?

Ok well back from vacation visiting with terminally ill Father it was good to get him and the Grand Kids together once more. I am hopeful that we will have a second chance to get up there as I really do enjoy being with him and love him greatly.
    
     So here I go back on the soap box. It is rare for me to become interested in matters of this world as we as Catholics are not of the world we just exist in it. But I am fascinated by the uproar on the verdict of the Casey Anderson trial. A jury of her peers found her innocent. That said that should be the end of it. But no it seems millions are screaming for this young ladies blood.  However as sad as many think it is constitutionally she is free to go and her actions whatever they might have been are now between her and God. I myself take the unpopular position to stand with the laws of our nation and pronounce her innocent due to being found not guilty on the charge.
     However one thing here gets my goat. A little girl is murdered, yes this is a great and horribly tragic event and millions of Americans are demanding a new trial or a investigation so that this little girl can receive her justice. It has become the rage of talk shows and it has been all the rage on facebook and other social sites.
     Yet who cries for justice for the thousands of babies murdered by abortion each year. Where is the demand that justice be served for them? Where is the outraged voices that cry out for their sake? The Casey Anthony trial if ti was a abortion would have never made the news, it would have been another number in the thousands of defenseless babies that are murdered each year. Many will say "well there is a difference she was alive babies in the womb aren't. Wrong! medical evidence is showing more and more that these babies in the womb are not only alive but can feel and have brain activity. So this little girl is dead yes it is sad, but try being a baby in the first nine weeks in the womb and being torn apart by a vacuum cleaner type device and then whats left is cut out. I am shocked that this nation who calls it's self one nation under God remains silent.
     In this nation thousands of babies are aborted yearly. This is justified by a woman saying "I have a right to control my own body" or "It is my choice to have or not have a abortion. Yet The Bible says " I have known you from the beginning of time and I know the numbers of hairs on your heads. God is saying he knew us long before we were born, does this sound like a fetus is not alive? America was once blessed by God, however I cannot say that with much confidence now as we have chased God out of our schools.Govt buildings and even from some private properties. We are blind to the thousands of murders committed in this land under the name of free choice or abortion. We have hungry people in this nation and the world who would consider what you had for dinner tonight as a feast for a king or possibly a dinner for three. We have young people killing each other at alarming rates because their is no moral direction taught them. Their is no God in schools and probably not at home either so what do they grow up to? Facebook,Twitter and video games. Television shows that display a lifestyle that many in our nation will never achieve. I myself would give up all I had and more to spare the lives of these helpless and innocent victims.
     We live in a society where possessions and money are the rule and have all but replaced God as our goal in life. A recent poll stated that 83% of people thought they would go to heaven. Somehow many of us even me possibly are in for a nasty surprise when we die. If a man like Saint Padre Pio in his last days was afraid for his soul, I really have something to worry about. Somehow we have lost our way as a nation and the only way to set it straight again is for we the members of the body of The Holy Roman Catholic Church. We are no longer fighting for our souls but the souls of many yet we make small attempts every so often but then it fades and we become our usual self-centered selves again.
     The old poster that states lead,follow or get out of the way! says it best. We as Catholic must lead the charge to bring back God to school and turn society back to the God it has rejected but deep in their hearts the know they need. For only God can fill the emptiness inside a mans heart. I am not saying this to just Catholics but to all beliefs that call themselves Christians rise also and say in one mighty voice at the voting box both now and forever, "We are one nation under God!!?
     I ask that all who read this be blessed beyond measure. Store you treasure in heaven and seek first the kingdom of God in all you do. Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us !