Why do we, Catholics, do what we do?

Friends of Faith:

 I'd suggest the below YouTube video for all Catholic Christians who want the answers to questions they are asked and don't feel confident in answering about why we do what we do; and to all Protestant Christians who have questions about why we as Catholics do ....

The speaker is my nephew-in-law (Matt Stevenson) and he does an excellent job of speaking language we can understand, while giving us biblical sites for reference and further study. THANKS, MATT!!

https://youtu.be/dtDy5HjMCfo

And if you have questions after listening please feel free to reach back out to me. I'd love to be able to find and post answers to your questions.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Christ's Home is Our Castle - The Church

Friends of Faith:

Christ is THE King!

“Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Phil 2: 9-10

And we know that every King has a Castle. A place where all of us in the kingdom have a standing invitation and are expected to come home to.

“Then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” Acts 4: 10-12

God’s kingdom is unique because Jesus “the Cornerstone” was rejected. So unlike most kings who are revered and honored by those around them Jesus was rejected by even those he picked as his own disciples. If anything this tells us how difficult it may be for us to honor the truth of His word and His teachings, even to look to His Church for our direction and leadership.

And just like other kingdoms, there is a hierarchy of continuity of leadership. Jesus left us His hierarchy for His kingdom -- The Church -- to Peter (the first Pope) and his successors to whom he gave the authority to lead the Church. “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt 16: 18-19

The Church gives us not only leadership, but strength of a community of believers living under God’s protection and grace given through His Sacraments– Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mk 16:16

Heavenly Father: Help us not to reject you as the cornerstone! And we pray for those who see no reason to come home to your castle, the church. Help us to not be led astray by worldly possessions, cultural relativism and renegade leaders – especially those who profess in your name but without Your authority. And help us to return to Your castle, The Church each week for guidance: to be surrounded by a family of faithful believers who will uphold us, and to seek your protection. In your name we pray. Amen.

The King is waiting our return to His home, now and eternally, and I look forward to meeting you there.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Monday Morning Reflection

The Birth of the Christian Church

Friends of Faith:

Christ’s church is built upon rock. That is why the Church still stands 2014 years later. It is a Universal Church who believes in the Trinity (God the Father, the Creator; Christ the Son, our role model; and with the Holy Spirit as it’s guide). This is the briefest history of the formation of the Christian church:

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt 16: 18-19

But even Peter denied and protested Christ and the ability of God to prevail. He didn’t believe and he was fearful. Without the Spirit which Christ sent and Peter allowed as his guide, Peter would have been nothing. But because of the Spirit he was able to evangelize and build a Church which continues to lead God’s chosen people today.

Division within the church has been caused by the same denial, disbelief, fear and protests as Peter himself felt when he was handed the keys of the kingdom nearly 2000 years ago.

And likewise, the mission, the vocation, of all Christians (Catholic and Protestant alike)—to lead others to Christ thru the fullness of the teachings of His Church—remains. The hope, joy and peace found through Christ is still being given through the Church, to it’s people, by the leadership of the same Spirit sent by God, through His son, those same 2000 years ago.

I am not sure what it is in our humanity that makes us try to figure everything out on our own but I think Blessed Mother Theresa says it best: “If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.”

 

Pride tempts us to choose partial truths, the “easy” outs, the happy road, and the “feel good” rules. Consequently, because we do not have enough room for God we also have difficulty finding enough room to fully love our spouses, our families and our neighbors. Pride causes us to believe that we are in power instead of trusting in the power of the Spirit to lead us and giving God real control of our lives.

 

Like Peter (the first leader of the apostolic church, from whom we trace the successor popes) we are all sinners who sometimes (even often) deny our faith, are in disbelief of Christ’s teachings and His presence, who protest His law (the ten commandments which form His teachings on love and the manifestation of love through our families in the vocation of marriage), and who are fearful of the day to day challenges and sufferings presented by this world.

Come Holy Spirit, Come. Christ promised Your presence as he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Help me to set aside my personal pride to follow Your will, not mine. Thank you for my daily bread, for the many gifts I have but that I don’t realize. Help me to open my heart in faith like St. Peter and Blessed Mother Theresa, by loving unconditionally so that the evils of netherworld shall not prevail. Amen.

Without Christ I am nothing. Without Christ’s church I am wandering without the guide of His Spirit. My prayer is always that I find it in my heart to take up my cross and willingly follow Him,

Blessings,

Charlotte

 

Instructions That Add Up

Friends of Faith:

We probably all have things that we think “add up”— that always seem to come out the same way—that are clearly right.

I have always appreciated black and white, a clear right and a clear wrong, and knowing that numbers added correctly would always add up to the same number.

And when I am struggling, when I am in the midst of a problem and asking for help from an “authority” on the problem, I still tend to try to “manipulate” either the problem or the instruction into something that will add up, that will produce MY own desired end result.

And of course, not every problem, not every choice, is as clear or as easily solved as adding 2 plus 2 and getting 4.

But easy or not, even the basic instructions and the daily chores that I do, don’t always have the same end results, end answers, or produce the same feelings each and every time. Recipes, music, tax returns and even hugs, call all to have a different outcome, a different taste, touch or feeling.

Actually I can’t think of anything else, other than simple math, which always achieves exactly the same answer. Even those things that happen by nature—some would say science—are ultimately things that we have no control over, things that God controls.  

This is because anything created by humans, can or could be changed by God—even simple math.

In fact, HE is the only thing that always Adds UP!! To forgiveness, To Love and To an Ultimate Goal, Heaven.

This is what my faith has taught me, that there is only ONE right that matters.

A right God and a right-given Godly plan: a plan which was designed by God, in His image, and in His desire to get me to be in heaven with Him.

A right way that isn’t always easy and doesn’t always work into me and my plan, and will in the end have a result greater than anything I can currently even think about having a desire for here on earth.

To this end, God gives us many instructions. Instructions which for the past 2000 years He has kept “right” thru Peter, upon whom he built his rock, the Church.

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.* Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt 16: 18-19

And He left us a continuous succession of Popes from Peter, the first Pope, have been continuously bound to carry out and pass down His truth to us, His kingdom, the Church.

Yet for some reason we continue to search for some other instructions that will more easily “add up” to the same end—an imminent end which will escape the tribulations, so that it might be easier to stand before God—to be with Him in heaven.

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." Lk 21: 34-36

I am very thankful for a God who keeps putting His instructions in my daily path: the instructions which remind me that not only is He is in charge, but that I must not be anxious, and that I must continue to pray – for His presents/presence because that is how life will truly “add up” to His unfailing love and His unfailing promise, the gift of heaven.

Heavenly Father: All glory and honor be to Your One Church, Your One Truth, Your One Holy and Apostolic succession, thru Peter, here on earth. I pray that you continue to have mercy on me when I am anxious or when I want to become “drunk with human pleasure, or drowsy through the weariness of earthly works.” Help me to stand up for you, to stay strong and vigilant and to follow Your words, which will always “Add UP” to heaven. Amen.

When something isn’t adding up in my life, it usually is because I am not “adding up” to God.

This week: Search for the way to “Add up” with One God, One Faith, One Love, One choice for Heaven,

Blessings,

Charlotte