Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 57846 times)

cassini · « **Reply #75 on:** October 23, 2024, 12:41:20 PM »

Fr Sean again.
Make Problems Opportunities

Someone defined a loser as an individual who when opportunity knocks at the front door, he or she is out back looking for four-leafed clovers. My father used to say that the problem with us humans was that we didn’t view problems as opportunities for enrichment. What he said didn’t make sense to me then. It does now. Two brothers were fighting with each other. Their father punished the one who started the fight by sending him to clean the stable. The other was rewarded by being allowed to play with his toys. After about half an hour, the father checked on both. The boy that was rewarded with the toys was crying. He was upset because he couldn’t make up his mind about which one to play with. The father expected the boy in the stable to be feeling bad because of the dirty task imposed on him but was amazed to hear him whistling. On entering the stable, he saw his son using a shovel throwing horse manure out the back door with a big smile on his face. The father asked the son why he seemed to be so happy. The boy replied, “Well, with all this horse manure there has to be a pony in here somewhere.” What makes the difference is whether we view what life hands us or what we create ourselves as problems or opportunities.

The world is full of problems. We’re bombarded with them every day in the media. When we meet one another more often than not the conversation centers on problems, personal and otherwise. Is it any wonder why more and more people are depressing? The T.V. news is usually bad news. If we don’t view problems as opportunities we doom ourselves to misery and hopelessness or we become cynics. When we focus only on our problems we can feel overwhelmed but God turns them into opportunities. God gives us the wherewithal to benefit from everything that happens to us if we put our trust in Him to show us how our problems can be blessings.

St. Augustine defined evil as the absence or deterioration of good. Evil is a negative reality. It cannot exist on its own. It needs a host like a leech needs a living creature. The host is the good in us. Therefore, wherever we see evil we know that good is not maintained. Evil tries to suck the good out of us like a mosquito or a leech. Without the existence of goodness, evil couldn’t exist since it wouldn’t have anything to feed off. When a person lives a good life evil has no power over him or her. It’s too easy to become overwhelmed by evil since it’s given much more press than goodness receives. We must view evil in light of the good that that is being attacked. Like the boy believing there’s a pony given all the horse manure in the stable, wherever there’s evil there must be good somewhere. The more good is identified and restored the more evil is starved and dies. We can’t eliminate evil unless we restore the good that it is attacking. Evil cannot exist if the good is maintained. This is why we need God because He is all good and the source of all that is good.

St. Mark records an event where Jesus eliminated the evil of blindness by restoring the goodness of sight (Mk 10:46-52). He turned a problem into an opportunity. A blind man along the roadside called out for help. He had been blind for many years and was relegated to begging for a living. His blindness was a huge problem because he couldn’t get employment and there was no welfare. He heard that Jesus would be passing by and took advantage of the opportunity to ask that his sight be restored. He had faith and hope that, somehow, an opportunity for healing would one day knock on his door and he made sure to take advantage of it. He couldn’t see Jesus, but he could hear and shout hoping to be heard. “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me,” he yelled. The apostles tried to hush him up, but the more they did the louder he shouted, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus heard the cry - He always hears the cry of the poor - and ordered His apostles to bring the man to Him. Jesus asked him, “What do you want to do for you?” The man said, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.

The blind beggar was a man of faith and hope. He had learned from Jeremiah (31:7-9) that “The Lord has delivered His people … (and promised to) gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child … (and) console them and guide them … (saying) For I am a Father to Israel.” Jesus told him that it was this faith in God that healed him.

Here is a man who had a problem but turned it into an opportunity to have restored what he had lost. Jesus who came into a world full of problems in order to turn them into opportunities for experiencing His Father’s love. Every problem is an opportunity to turn to God where He meets us in our needs through His Church in faith, love, and hope. St. Paul was inspired to write in Romans 8:28, “All things work for the good of those who love God according to His design.”

As children of God we need to take advantage of every opportunity to ask for His help. The term “opportunist” has some negative connotations. It’s used to describe a person who takes full advantage of every opportunity to achieve his or her own ends without regard to morality. We must be opportunists to use the problem of evil as an incentive to ask God to help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to restore the good that is being attacked. That involves a commitment on our part to live the morally good life by upholding the good that is of God, since only He is good. Our commitment to the good commands us to take full advantage of every opportunity to protect it by nurturing, defending, and restoring it when it’s abused or undermined.

Every problem is a challenge to our faith and an opportunity to express our trust in God “who does great things for us; we are glad indeed.” He promises us that, “Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing” (Ps 126:1-6). Harry Emerson Fosdick, in his book, “On Being a Real Person”, wrote, “Life is a landscaping job. We are handed a site, ample or small, rugged or flat, picturesque or commonplace, whose general outlines and contours are largely determined for us. Both limitation and opportunity are involved in every site and the most unforeseeable results ensure from the handling – some grand opportunities are muffed, and some utterly unpromising situations become notable.”

The power of our faith in Christ lies in the belief that through, with, and in Him every problem is an opportunity for receiving what He has to offer us. We must become Christian opportunists. The next time you have a problem of one kind or another or when someone brings up a problem, instead of commiserating about it, focus on the opportunity that it presents for turning to God and trusting in Him to restore or give you what you need. Then you won’t be overwhelmed by it. Our prayer must be prompted by the man in the Gospel: “Master, help me to see opportunities for being blessed by You where others may see only problems. Amen!” We must ask Jesus to help us view our life through the eyes of supernatural Faith so that we can see every problem as an opportunity to receive His blessing. Faith in Jesus helps us to see what we could never see with our physical eyes. (fr sean)

Five Keys from The Bible For A Happy Home:

1. Give God the first hour of each day. Pray in the morning (St. Mark 1:25).

2. Give God the first day of the week. Serve in your church to save your community (I Corinthians 16:2).

3. Give God the first portion of your income. Keep books on what you give to be sure you do not think you are giving more than you actually are! (Proverbs 3:9, I Corinthians 6:2)

4. Give God the first consideration in every decision. This includes your choice of house, close friends, work, church, school, etc. (St. Matthew 6:33).

5. Give God's Son first place in your heart always. Live in His presence as though He were the unseen guest in your house - He is, you know! (2 Corinthians 8:5). Ord L. Morrow, Good News Broadcaster

cassini · « **Reply #76 on:** October 30, 2024, 08:50:19 AM »

Fr Sean again.
Why We Must Identify Ourselves as Sinners

Jesus revealed that He came to save sinners, not the self-righteous. “I have not come to call the self-righteous to a change of heart, but sinners” (Lk 5:32). St. Mark records Jesus announcing His mission: “This is the time of fulfilment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). The reformation Jesus called for is about changing our life from a sinful state to a state of grace and holiness. Self-righteous people are those who think they have no sin and, of course as a result, see no need to reform their lives. I have had the experience of people coming to Confession saying, “Bless me, father, I have no sin.” Because we can’t hide from God, Jesus’ Church requires us to “recall our sins” as we begin every Holy Mass. In the Penitential Rite of the Holy Mass we admit that we’re all sinners and in need of prayers so that we might receive the grace of repentance and the gift of forgiveness, which are gifts from Jesus in and through the Sacraments of His Church. God gives us His Commandments so that we can know what virtuous, righteous living is and what vicious, unrighteous living is.

God’s Commandments are the signposts that we’re loving Him through freely obeying them. Jesus revealed that, “You will live in my love if you keep my commandments, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and live in His love” (Jn 15:10). Prior to saying that, He warned that, “A man who does not live in me is like a withered, rejected branch, picked up to be thrown in the fire and burnt” (15:6). Jesus came to call sinners to be transformed from a state of sin to a state of grace by living in His love through obeying His commandments. Here Jesus is fulfilling what God said through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:2-6: “Fear the Lord, your God, and keep, throughout your lives, all His statutes and commandments… and thus have a long life … that you may grow and prosper and benefit from God’s promises.” God called His people to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.” Later God declared, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18).

Jesus was asked by a scribe which of God’s commandments was the greatest. The Pharisees had broken down the Ten Commandments to 613 laws so people wondered which one was the most important to keep. Jesus answered by quoting from both Deuteronomy and Leviticus where He combined love of God with love of neighbour, namely love God with everything you are and have and love your neighbour as yourself. Thus Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments into two groups integrally connected, the first three telling us how to show our love for God and the last seven showing us how to show our love for our neighbour, our father and mother being our first neighbours. Our love of God is no greater than our love for our neighbour. It’s against the backdrop of this Law of Love that we’re forced to admit we’re sinners who need to repent and seek forgiveness with a commitment to live a holy life.

The commandment (this is not just a suggestion) to love God, ourselves and our neighbour with all our heart, soul, and strength is impossible without God’s help. To have any hope of doing this we must humbly pray with the Psalmist (Ps 18:2-4): “My God, my Rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, My stronghold!” Why? Natural love isn’t enough to love God and neighbour consistently. We need supernatural love which only God can give us. Which of us loves God, ourselves, and our neighbour with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength consistently and constantly? If we’re honest, we have to admit that none of us, even the holiest among us, loves God and our neighbour with all we are and have. This is the kind of love that is unconditional love and is given without counting the cost.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us with the reality that we’re sinners because we don’t consistently love as God expects us to love. To the degree that we are inconsistent in our love, we’re sinning either by commission or omission. This is why we’re in constant need of the grace of reconciliation, which God, in His mercy and justice, has made possible through Jesus, who is sacramentally present in His Church, particularly in Reconciliation where we can repent and receive forgiveness for mortal and grave sins, the Anointing of the Sick where mortal and venial transgressions of the Law of Love are forgiven when a person is unconscious, if he or she has a repentant heart, and in the Holy Mass where venial sins are forgiven those with a repentant heart.

Sinners don’t go to Heaven. Heaven is for repentant sinners who seek forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift even to the holiest among us because only God can forgive and none of us deserves it. God alone perfects us because He alone can free us from sin and its effects. But He won’t do that unless we admit our sin not just out of fear of punishment but because God is so good in Himself and so deserving of all our love.

The Catholic Church is the visible sign of God’s wish to save every man and woman from sin. The Church brings Jesus to us in each Sacrament in which He both purifies and strengthens us to do good and avoid evil. The Holy Spirit revealed that Jesus “is always able to save those who approach God through Him since He lives forever to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:23-28). The Catholic Church makes it possible to personally approach God through Jesus who is present in her, especially in the Holy Mass.

The Church traditionally devotes this month of November to remembering and praying for the souls in Purgatory, which “is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be released from their sins” (2 Macc 12:46). It’s also a time to think about our own death and the need to ask and answer this question: “How consistent am I in obeying God’s Law of Love?” Admitting that we don’t love as we could, and should, makes us conscious that we’re sinners who cannot save ourselves from hell. This prompts us to ask the Holy Spirit daily for the grace to repent, seek forgiveness, and double our efforts to love God, ourselves and our neighbour with all we are and have. We’ll be judged by how much effort we put into joyfully living in accord with God’s Law of Love. (fr sean)

Indulgence through Praying for the Souls in Purgatory

You can get a plenary indulgence any day this November? The Vatican grants Catholics a plenary indulgence if they visit a cemetery to pray for the dead, and follow the required conditions, on any day in the month of November.

Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree that extended the availability of some plenary indulgences because of concerns about avoiding large gatherings of people in churches or cemeteries. The Vatican has issued the same decree this year during the month of November.

What is a plenary indulgence?

A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary, and all the saints to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. The indulgence cleanses a person of all temporal punishment due to sin. However, it must always be accompanied by a full detachment from all sin, including venial sin.

Requirements: Sacramental confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the pope. Sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist can happen up to about 20 days before or after the act performed to receive a plenary indulgence.

It is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed. One sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences. However for each plenary indulgence one wishes to receive, a separate reception of the Eucharist and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.

The Vatican decree issued due to the pandemic allows Catholics who are unable to leave their home, such as the sick or elderly, to still obtain a plenary indulgence by reciting prayers for the dead before an image of Jesus or the Blessed Mother. Examples of prayers homebound Catholics can pray include the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, lauds or vespers of the Office for the Dead, or by performing a work of mercy by offering their pain to God.

cassini · « **Reply #77 on:** **Today** at 01:30:02 PM »

Fr Sean again.
Would Jesus Draw Attention to Your Giving?

Sigmund Freud described the human psyche as a combination of three forces: ego, id, and superego. In Greek, psyche means spirit or mind. Our psyche is our spirit and it differs from our soul. Our soul is unchanging and eternal while our spirit develops and changes according to our values and circuмstances. Our soul is our vital principle, that which makes us human. Our psyche or our spirit is demonstrated in our thinking, acting, and through our personality. You could say that our spirit is our mental attitude towards the world. Freud attempted to show that our mental attitude is the result of the interaction between the ‘Id’ as our desire for pleasure, the ‘Superego’ as our conscience, and the Ego as the balancer between them. He rejected religion as a neurosis and believed that pleasure was our main motivating force. The Ego’s job, according to Freud, is to ensure Id’s desire for pleasure is balanced by the Superego’s sense of right and wrong. Ego, in Greek and Latin, means the personal pronoun, “I.” From it we get the words egotism, egotistical, egomaniac. All have negative connotations. Why? Because they reflect self-centeredness and selfishness. The unholy trinity is Me, Myself and I!

Because of our fallen nature we’re all prone to selfishness and, as a result, sinfulness. Do you enjoy the company of selfish people? Do we enjoy being selfish? Yes, but we don’t like to admit it. Does it makes us feel good? No, not in the long term. To be selfish is to be a taker rather than a giver. Our ego wants us to continually look out for ourselves even at the expense of others. Like Oprah, we “love expensive presents.” Someone noted that in Heaven the busiest angels are those answering the phones in the Office of Requests, while the least busy angels are in the Office of Thanksgiving. Selfishness and gratitude aren’t partners. We’re always asking God for help but how much time and effort do we put into thanking Him through sacrificing our time and effort for the benefit of others as He has sacrificed Himself for us? We see this selfishness loud and clear on Sundays and Holydays in our country where only a small minority worship God in the Holy Mass. Is it any wonder that a culture of death prevails? Egotism always leads to the death of the human spirit and the starvation of the soul’s need for God.

The antidote to selfishness is generosity. Jesus Christ epitomized generosity of spirit by sacrificing Himself to ransom us from Satan’s grip on our soul through his appeal to our ego. Christianity is about practicing generosity in imitation of Jesus. Through His Church’s Sacraments, Jesus gives us the grace to eliminate our selfishness by putting Him first and then, through His love, putting others first thus conquering our tendency toward Me-ism. God’s Spirit inspired St. Paul to write, “Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. Each one should give what he has decided in his own mind, not grudgingly or because he is made to, for God loves a cheerful giver. And there is no limit to the blessings which God can send you – He will make sure that you will always have all you need for yourselves in every possible circuмstance, and still have something to spare for all sorts of good works” (2 Cor 9:6-8).

There are three kinds of giving: Giving out of our surplus, giving what we don’t need ourselves, giving to get something in return, and giving without counting the cost or expecting a reward. Only the last kind of giving provides the antidote to selfishness. The first two are self-serving. St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed: “Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will. Amen.” He prayed this prayer hoping to receive the grace to be selfless and thus Christ-like, a faithful Catholic Christian.

God has revealed in the Old and New Testaments what He considers to be a generous spirit, an attitude that comes from the heart. The Book of Kings relates the story of a widow of Zarephath whom God’s prophet, Elijah, asked to bake a cake for him from her last portion of flour and oil before she and her son faced certain death by starvation. She trusted in the Lord’s promise through Elijah that He would provide for her if she shared her last bit of food with him (1 Kgs 17:10-16). God is always faithful to His promises, which is why all reasonable people should have faith in Him. The New Testament records brings another poor widow donating her last pennies to the Temple treasury. Her generosity drew Jesus’ attention. As Jesus put it, “”She contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mk 12:44). He contrasted her donation to that of the scribes who donated out of their surplus, while she gave out of her poverty and trust in God’s providence. Their giving was self-serving. Her giving was selfless and an act of Faith in God.

One of Satan’s ploys is to convince us that we must rely on ourselves. That’s our unconscious motivation for why we’re selfish. But the fact is we can’t function without God who alone can save us from sin and death. That’s why Jesus tells us clearly, “The man who seeks only himself brings himself to ruin, whereas he who brings himself to naught for me discovers who he is” (Mt 10:39). We make ourselves naught for Jesus and discover ourselves as His followers when we give without counting the cost. As Proverbs reminds us, “The generous soul will prosper, he who waters will be watered” (11:25). We can’t be Christian and at the same time act selfishly. Giving isn’t always about money or things. It’s about being present to others, listening to them, praying with them, greeting them with a smile, offering them a helping hand, being patient with them, forgiving them, expressing gratitude for their existence – even those who annoy us or are our enemies, understanding them, encouraging them, affirming their gifts, recognizing, etc. I’m reminded of the last verse of a song made popular by Glen Campbell, “Let me be a little meeker/With the brother who is weaker, /Think a little more of others/And a little less of me.”

How do you and I want to face God’s judgment at death? The Holy Spirit reminds us: “Just as it is appointed that men die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him” (Heb 9:24-28). It is our choice now to decide whether we want to meet Jesus Christ as selfish or as generous people who give Him our total self - all our mind, heart, soul, and strength. He will judge you and me according to our deeds. Will our generous deeds outweigh our selfish acts, or vice versa? Now is the time to decide. (fr sean)

Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 57846 times)

cassini

Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

cassini

Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

cassini

Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live