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My Prayer Box
the Newsletter of My Catholic Tradition
To subscribe to the newsletter, please follow this
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In anticipation for the
Season of Lent, please remember that
Wednesday, February 25, 2009, is Ash
Wednesday. |
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In Your Face: I
am Born Again, Every Day! |
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One day my
daughter talked to me teary-eyed. She recalled of
a message from her born-again cousin about joining
her church and be in a real relationship with the
one true God.
My daughter
is comfortable in her own skin and in our Church.
For anyone to insinuate that for all these times
she had been misled and wrong is understandably
insulting and upsetting to her.
In my mind I
considered the arrogance of these "conversion"
talks.
Have you
ever heard of the saying there is a reason for
everything that happened to you? Well, about a
week or so ago my very persistent wife dragged me
to see a "chick flick" called
New
In Town. As any good husband would do in
the field of fire, I folded ;) and off we went to
see the movie.
In one scene
the main character, Lucy Hill was being driven by
Blanche to her prospected rental home after just
arriving at the town of New Ulm, Minnesota.
Blanche then, after a few howdy do's asked Lucy if
she has found Jesus, whereupon plucky Lucy, who
was just reeling from a freezing welcome in the
middle of the typical Minnesota winter replied she
did not know Jesus was lost!
After my
conversation with my daughter I realized why I had
to be in that movie right then. (Thank you dear
wife, but now Lord explain to me what I was doing
in that other chick flick, Just Not That Into
You!)
A standard
fare for these conversions is such, "Have you
found Jesus?" A standard reply from me, or for
that matter, any Catholic is that, "I did not know
Jesus was ever lost!" The assumption for
the born-again Christians is that with all our
rich traditions and Catholic culture we have lost
sight of the one true God.
Not so,
Catholics worship the one true God, we venerate,
honor and ask for intercession, of the Virgin Mary
and the saints. Jesus is never lost. The very
center of our celebration of the Eucharist is just
that: the holy sacrifice.
"Believe and
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior."
Sure, WE Catholics do. We know that ONLY
Jesus can save.
But we do
not have the arrogance to say that accepting Jesus
is our golden ticket to paradise.
We do not
have the arrogance to say, "I am saved and
forgiven," just because we declared that Jesus is
our Lord and Savior, no matter what we do in
life.
Anyone who
knows THAT for certain can only mean that
person has assumed the role of God. As they say,
"If I know how God thinks, then I'll be God
Himself." That would be blasphemy.
Some
born-again Christians claim that the Lord speaks to
them. I believe some people are holy and the Lord
does speak to them. But for the rest of them I
always thought these delusions are just caused by
gas from their breakfast!
Catholics
know the perils of being human: Temptations,
temptations, temptations. We accept Jesus as our
Lord and Savior, AND we try to emulate His
teaching by our works. It is not enough that we
mouth off and memorize the words of the Bible, we
try to do it. If we fail, we ask for forgiveness
through confession.
Catholic
works of mercy, and our support, either
financially or through volunteerism, are examples
of these. We do not expect brownie points for
these acts. "Investing" in works of mercy just so
we will be saved is wrong headed and un-Catholic.
We just do because we follow.
Matthew 25:40 is quite specific about
this: |
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And the
king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to
you, whatever you did for one of these least
brothers of mine, you did for me.'
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Rich Mullins
said it best in his song, Screen Door, |
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"... But I
really think you oughtta
Take a leap off of the ship
Before you claim to walk on water
Faith without works
Is like a song you can't sing
It's about as useless as
A screen door on a submarine"
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So I hereby
declare, I am Born Again - everyday of my life.
Each day presents me an opportunity to be at peace
with God, to follow His Words. I am Born Again
Everyday, and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
And I am proudly Catholic.
Does that
mean that I am going to heaven when I die? I pray
that I do. But only Jesus and no one else can and
will decide on that.
So take
that! |
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On a side note,
just to show you Catholics have such good sense of
humor a very interesting version of "Screen Door"
is performed in
YouTube, through here. |
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Have ever felt
like your kids are ruling your life? Well,
you are not alone. Here's a really funny
and insightful article written by
Joseph Epstein
of the Weekly Standard, especially with
the school breaks approaching ever so
slowly. |
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In America we
are currently living in a Kindergarchy,
under rule by children. People who are
raising, or have recently raised, or
have even been around children a fair
amount in recent years will, I think,
immediately sense what I have in mind.
Children have gone from background to
foreground figures in domestic life,
with more and more attention centered on
them, their upbringing, their small
accomplishments, their right
relationship with parents and
grandparents. For the past 30 years at
least, we have been lavishing vast
expense and anxiety on our children in
ways that are unprecedented in American
and in perhaps any other national life.
Such has been the weight of all this
concern about children that it has
exercised a subtle but pervasive tyranny
of its own. This is what I call
Kindergarchy: dreary, boring, sadly
misguided Kindergarchy.
With its full-court-press attention on
children, the Kindergarchy is a radical
departure from the ways parents and
children viewed one another in earlier
days. Ten or so years ago I began to
notice that a large number of people
born around the late 1930s and through
the 1940s had, as I do, a brother or
sister five or six years younger or
older than they. So often was this the
case that I began to wonder if there
wasn't some pattern here that I had
hitherto missed? Then it occurred to me
that mothers in those days decided not
to have a second child until their first
child, at five or six, had gone off to
school.
Born into the middle class in the Middle
West, growing up I did not know any
married woman who worked. So the mothers
I am talking about here did not put a
five- or six-year separation between the
birth of their kids for economic
reasons, or because it gave them more
time to devote to their first-born
children, or any other reason I can
think of other than their own damn
convenience. They did it
because--insensitive, selfish, appalling
really to contemplate--it was easier not
to have two children under four years
old to worry about at once; it made more
sense to them not to have to deal with
two or more needy greedy little children
simultaneously. Let one go off to
school, then we shall think of having
another--much easier for everyone all
around. Or so I believe thinking on the
matter went.
Did this arrangement make sense for the
children? Five or six years' age
difference between siblings is probably
not an ideal difference for the
development of closeness between
brothers and sisters. When my younger
brother entered boyhood, at eight or
nine, I was already in high school; when
he was in high school, I was away at
college; and when he was in college, I
was a married man with a son of my own.
No, a five- or six-year separation is
doubtless not the best spacing between
two kids growing up in the same
household. If you had confronted my
mother and father with this
psychological datum, they might have
said, "Interesting." But I doubt that
they would have found it very
interesting at all.
Let me quickly insert that I had the
excellent luck of having good parents.
Neither was in the least neurotic, both
were fair to my brother and me, neither
of us ever doubted the love of either of
them. I can also say with no hesitation
that my parents' two sons were never for
a moment at the center of their lives.
The action in their lives was elsewhere
than in childraising.
In my father's case the action was at
his business--"the place," as he
sometimes called it. A small
businessman, he came most alive when at
work. Without hobbies or outside
interests, he worked a five-and-a-half
day week, and didn't in the least mind
if he had an excuse to drop in for a few
hours on occasional Sundays.
My mother, who was not in any way a
trivial person as the following details
might make her seem, played cards at
least three afternoons a week. She kept
up a fairly brisk social round. She was
at home to provide us lunch when my
brother and I were in grammar school,
and she cooked substantial dinners,
baked, and was a careful housekeeper.
Later she took an interest in charities
and paid for and helped organize
occasional fundraising luncheons. When
her children were grown, she went to
work in her husband's business as a
secretary-bookkeeper-credit-manager, at
all of which she did a first-class job.
When I was a boy my parents might go off
to New York or to Montreal (my father
was
born in Canada) for a week or so and
leave my brother and me in the care of a
woman in the neighborhood, a spinster
named Charlotte Smucker--Mrs. Smucker to
us--who was a professional childsitter.
Sometimes an aunt, my mother's sister
who had no children, would stay with us.
We seldom went on vacation as a family.
When I was eight years old, my parents
sent me off for an eight-week summer
camp session in Eagle River, Wisconsin,
where I learned all the dirty words if
not their precise meanings. None of
these things made me unhappy or in any
way dampened my spirits. I cannot recall
ever thinking of myself as an unhappy
kid.
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You can find
the complete article
by clicking on this link. |
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The Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 22,
2009 |
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First Reading From
the Book of Isaiah: |
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Is 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25
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Thus says the
LORD:
Remember not the events of the past, the things of
long ago consider not; see, I am doing something
new!
Now it
springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the
desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
The people
I formed for myself, that they might announce my
praise. Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, for
you grew weary of me, O Israel.
You
burdened me with your sins, and wearied me with
your crimes.
It is I,
I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses;
your sins I remember no more. |
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Responsorial From the Book of Psalms:
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Ps 41:2-3, 4-5, 13-14 |
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R. Lord,
heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
Blessed is the one who has regard for the lowly
and the poor;
in the day of misfortune the LORD will deliver
him.
The LORD will keep and preserve him;
and make him blessed on earth,
and not give him over to the will of his enemies.
R. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against you.
The LORD will help him on his sickbed,
he will take away all his ailment when he is ill.
Once I said, "O LORD, have pity on me;
heal me, though I have sinned against you."
R. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against you.
But because of my integrity you sustain me
and let me stand before you forever.
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from all eternity. Amen. Amen.
R. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against you.
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Second Reading from the Second Letter to the
Corinthians |
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2 Cor 1:18-22 |
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Brothers and
sisters:
As God is faithful, our word to you is not "yes"
and "no."
For the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by
us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not "yes" and
"no," but "yes" has been in him.
For
however many are the promises of God, their Yes is
in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes
through him to God for glory.
But the
one who gives us security with you in Christ and
who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal
upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a
first installment. |
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Reading From
the Gospel of Mark:
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Mk 2:1-12 |
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When Jesus
returned to Capernaum after some days, it became
known that he was at home.
Many gathered
together so that there was no longer room for
them, not even around the door, and he preached
the word to them.
They came
bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him. After they had
broken through, they let down the mat on which the
paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
paralytic,
"Child, your sins are forgiven."
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Now some
of the scribes were sitting there asking
themselves,
"Why does this man speak that way? He is
blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
Jesus
immediately knew in his mind what they were
thinking to themselves, so he said,
"Why are you
thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk?'
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins
on earth"
—he said to the paralytic,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go
home." He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying,
"We have never seen
anything like this." |
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References |
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Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life
by
Charles J. Chaput
(Author)
“At a time
when the ‘faith and values’ vote has never
been more important, Archbishop Charles Chaput
deftly explores the intersection of morality,
reason, and politics. |
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This isn’t
just a book for Catholics, but for anyone who
cares about the state of America’s soul —and
how that concern might shape the 2008
elections.”
—John
L. Allen Jr., NCR and CNN senior Vatican
correspondent,
Amazon |
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Happiness Is a Serious
Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual
by Dennis Prager.
In this unique blend of self-help and moral
philosophy, talk-radio host Dennis Prager
asserts that we're actually obligated to be
happy, because it makes us better people.
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Praying With Frederic Ozanam (Companions for the Journey Series)
- Paperback, by Ronald Cm Ramson (Author) |
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Praying With Louise De Marillac (Companions for the Journey Series)
by Audrey Gibson (Author), Kieran Kneaves
(Author) |
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Praying with Vincent de Paul (Companions for the
Journey)
2004, by Thomas McKenna
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The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ....
(Paperback)
by
Rodney Stark (Author)
From the Publisher |
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"... this account of Christianity's remarkable
growth within the Roman Empire is already the
subject of much fanfare. "Anyone who
has puzzled over Christianity's rise to
dominance... must read it," ...
Read
the first page. |
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Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities - Year B - 2009
by C.PP.S. Joyce Ann
Zimmerman (Author), Thomas A. Greisen (Author),
S.N.D. de N. Kathleen Harmon (Author), M.S.
Thomas L. Leclerc (Author) |
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"Perfect for home use or to prepare for weekly
liturgy . . . It includes help for the
celebration, ideas for catechesis on the
particular event, and ways to understand the
readings more deeply. Finally, it includes
sample questions from which priests, deacons,
lay groups, ministers and others can jump off
into deeper discussion." |
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Straight Answers, Answers to 100 Questions about
the Catholic Faith
by Ph.D Rev. William P.
Saunders (Author)
Review by:
Reverend William G. Curlin Bishop of Charlotte
Straight Answers offers Catholics a simple and
direct response |
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to the many questions
concerning the Catholic Church. It spells out
profound truths in very simple language for all
who seek a better understanding of their Faith.
I highly recommend it for Catholics, both young
and old. |
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The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way
From Amazon: |
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After years of spiritual study and reflection,
inspirational speaker and bestselling
author Wayne Dyer has emerged a highly esteemed
teacher. His current message about tapping into
the power of intention may sound like good old
positive thinking: just stay focused on what you
want, rather than focusing on the lack of having
what you want. But the teaching here goes deeper
than just controlling thoughts (although he does
acknowledge that thought control is a
surprisingly challenging and significant
endeavor).
This book might
help readers land a better job, but it's more
relevant for those who are ready to detach from
an ego-driven life filled with quick fixes of
happiness and step into a more authentic,
joyful, and spiritually fulfilling life. His
core teachings speak to tapping into a universal
source of energy that can also be called the
"power of intention." |
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The Chariot of Israel: Exploits of the Prophet of Elijah
THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL: When Elijah was caught up
to heaven, his disciple Elisha cried out, "the
chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." Elisha was
referring not to the chariot but to the prophet.
This study of Elijah’s life will captivate you
as |
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it walks you through a
pivotal period in Israel’s history, and
illustrative maps will give you a better
picture of the physical geography of this
ancient land. |
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The First Book of Kings (Cambridge Bible Commentaries on the Old Testament) This
volume of commentary on the New English Bible text of the First Book of Kings
follows the pattern of the now well-established series on the Old and New
Testaments. The main divisions of the text are those provided |
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by the New English Bible
itself, but these are further subdivided for the
purposes of the commentary, which is printed in
short sections following the relevant portion of
the text.
Canon Robinson suggests that the editors of I
Kings compiled their history in order to teach
the Hebrews that their existence as Israel, the
covenant people of God, depended upon their
continuing loyalty to their own religious
traditions, and their refusal to exchange them
for the very different traditions of the
Canaanites among whom they lived.
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I & II Samuel: A Commentary (Old Testament Library)
First sentence in
the book:
""THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL contain that
part of the history of Israel which describes
the foundation of the State, running from the
close of the period of the Judges to the
establishment of the united kingdom." |
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Read more about the Liturgical Year |
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The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Pueblo
Books)
by
Thomas J. Talley
(Author) The Rev. Dr.
Thomas J. Talley, Professor of Liturgics
at the General Theological Seminary in New
York, is one of the leading liturgists in
the country. He gives us a fresh
examination of the complex history of the
Liturgical Year. |
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The Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle C. (Bestseller! the Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday)
by
John J. Pilch (Author)
Reader
Review: The book by Pilch provides those
who not only fill the pulpits across this
country but also all interested in the |
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cultural world in which Jesus lived with a lot
of pertinent information that sheds light on a
lot of areas that have been "muddled" in the
past. Yes, I highly recommend this book. -
James Mauldin |
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Learn more and read the Old Testament. |
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Preaching from the Old Testament
by Elizabeth Achtemeier (Author) Reader
Review: The author of these
thirty-two short chapters begins and ends
with the assumption that problems we
experience with the Old Testament are our
problem, not the Bible's. This
subordinating of the Bible reader to the
well-weathered book he holds in his hand
opens doors, not to forced
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harmonisations
of problematic passages, but to fresh
reappraisal of difficult texts on their
own terms. -
David A. Baer |
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The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament)
This volume helps you make the first five
books of the Old Testament a vital part of
your spiritual reading and practical
growth in the Christian life. It contains
the full English and Latin texts of these
books, along with extensive and
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faithfully Catholic
commentaries. Like other volumes in the
world-renowned Navarre Bible series, these
commentaries draw on Church documents, the
exegesis of Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the works of contemporary
spiritual writers — particularly St. Josemaría
Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible
project. |
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Comments and
Suggestions are Most Welcome.
If you have any
comments or contributions, please
use the form in this link.
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Comments and Suggestions are Most Welcome.
If you have any comments or contributions,
please
use the form in this link.
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Copyright
© 2006. My Catholic Tradition. All rights reserved |
Dear Friends:
Please visit us by
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Thank you.
Rey
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