Time to Change the World

Friends of Faith:

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens. ….a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecc 3: 1-11 (beginning)

Would you like to change the world, but feel like it is impossible? It is not a time to be silent, it is a time to speak. It is always a time to love, unfortunately there is a lot of hate. And we are in a time of war: against the devil in who is tearing down our Christian moral values, taking away our religious freedom and imposing Islamic terrorism, but God reminds us that if we speak to promote his truth it should give us peace.

But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.  Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see.  To him be honor and eternal power. Amen. 1 Tm: 6: 11-16

Just as I was ready to turn off the politics these were the readings I heard and then I heard a homily which I hope you’ll take the time to listen to as hopefully it will give you peace as it did me:  Daily Catholic Mass - 2016-09-20 - Fr. Miguel.

Simply put God asks us to speak as our religious liberties allow – by voting –while making our decision as to how to vote using our faithful Christian conscience in making a just decision. We must not be discouraged and irritated by personalities or the current state of the morals in our nation. Instead, we are to use due diligence and form our conscience based on the Five non- negotiable Christian values -abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and same-sex “so called marriage". More at http://www.catholic.com/ . 

Focus on the Family also reminded me that voting isn’t just about choosing a personality or the lesser of two evils in the presidential race, but rather it is about determining policies at all levels of society: local, state and national – because probably as important as the presidential race are races for our state representatives and the nomination of the judges made at every level, especially for the Supreme and District courts. www.Commit2vote2016.com

If you don’t know where to start here is the direct link to a simple comparative chart on the party platforms. How Do The Party Platforms Compare? We Break It Down. And if you want to verify the comparison copy and paste these direct links to the full platform verbiage. The democratic platform at https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf (in particular pg 19 & 37); and the republican platform at https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL[1]-ben_1468872234.pdf (in particular pg 31-32 & 36)

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens. ……What advantage has the worker from his toil? He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. Ecc 3: 1-11 (conclusion)

Heavenly Father, bless our nations people and help them to wisely choose our elected officials. Guide our elected officials to uphold Christian moral values as they have been designed by God. Thank you for the gift of life at all stages from natural conception to natural death. Help us to trust in your timeless power and respect your design even when we cannot fully see it. Amen.

This is our appointed time to speak. It is our time to vote a well formed Christian conscience. May we as Christians do our part to change the world.

Blessings, 

Charlotte

It Doesn't Affect Me

Women of Faith:

Have you ever been asked to take a stand on a moral, church or political issue and said, “It doesn’t affect me?” I know I have, especially when I was younger and didn’t understand the direct (or indirect) affect that those decisions I made had on others.

This saying often comes from “a false sense of security,” “a complacency,” that as long as I do right, it doesn’t make any difference what the rest of my family or my community does around me.

Like the food chain we learned in middle school biology, when I make a choice, or take a stand, or allow someone else to do so, it DOES affect others--family, community, or world. Even a relatively easy decision like going shopping can affect all three: my purchase has spent money that could have been used for a more “needy” purpose in my family, or the money could have been used to make a payment on debt/credit card (community), or to feed the needy (world)—and my time could have been spent with my spouse or my children doing the more “simple” –staying home (family), visiting a sick or lonely friend (community) or helping at a food shelter (the world).

In Sunday’s first reading, Amos is pretty clear about how “complacency” is affecting the people of Zion—the people are eating the lambs and calves and enjoying their treasure “luxury” (ivory) while the poor are starving: “Thus says the LORD the God of hosts: Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.” Am 6:1a, 4-7

I read one of those internet “forwards” the other day about a mouse who asked each of his “larger” animal friends for help—everyone said “it doesn’t affect me;” in the end each of them dying because of the indirect cause and affect we have on each other.

It is pretty clear what God calls us to do: “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called.” 1 Tm 6:11-16

Yet the problems facing our society today: the rich getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer; a 60% divorce rate; 4000 abortions a day and same sex marriage—just because I am making the “right choice;” just because “I” choose to follow the commandments, doesn’t mean I should allow “free choice” because it is “their life,” “their choice.” Our choice to follow Jesus, means we would lay our lives down for another, just as He did for us. But are we willing, are we spreading God’s word, are we attempting to tell others the truth, especially our children and friends, God’s truth, and most importantly, are we following God’s truth ourselves?

These are tough choices, these are not popular choices. We are in a spiritual war, and war is not easy. But I don’t think we can just sit back and say nothing; I don’t think we can “expect” our children to realize that society’s teachings are not God’s teachings. As church going Christians, we are the “larger,” while there are some that may not listen, there are many others that do not know God at all, because there has been no one to teach them, to show them God’s truth. Life is not easy, we may even suffer for making the “right” choice, or for speaking God’s truths, but just as it is the military’s duty to defend our country, so is it our duty to defend the teachings of Christ.

It is our job to teach not only our children the faith, but also to let our friends know when a particular choice, or a society choice, is not fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. And it is our duty as Christians to vote our faith. (See the attached article by Father Corapi.)

Dear God: Praise Your Truth, praise Your Righteousness. Help me to pursue Your Truth and Your Righteousness. Forgive me for being a “slow learner.” Give me the grace and knowledge to make the tough decisions, to speak the Right Truth, Your Truth. And let Your Spirit be with me in passing Your Truth to those around me, with patience, understanding and true love. Amen.

Search for God’s Truths. Choose the Truth. Spread the Truth.

Blessings,
Charlotte

Live from San Antonio

We are in San Antonio, a city rich in Catholic heritage, which was named after St. Anthony, who celebrated the first mass here almost 400 years ago. Our mission is that of “spiritual recharge” with “carefree timelessness”—Matthew Kelly-- for each other and with God.

Saturday, as part of an audience of over 10,000, we listened to the internationally known priest, Father Corapi, www.fathercorapi.com. He was sponsored by our special friends, Greg and Julie Alexander, founders of the Alexander House, www.thealexanderhouse.org and the “Covenant of Love” marriage enrichment and ministry programs. (Watch for more—the ministry is coming to TT soon!)

Father Corapi is a “conservative, Harley riding,” priest, who is a Vietnam vet, was once a millionaire businessman in Hollywood and Las Vegas, and lost everything, becoming homeless as he succumbed to drug addiction. Thru his conversion, Father Corapi was ordained a priest by Pope John Paul II with Mother Theresa in attendance in 1991. He appears regularly on EWTN TV and radio stations and is known for speaking the hard truth about where our country and our families are headed spiritually.

His message this weekend was entitled “Life, Love and the Purpose of Our Existence.”
In summary, of the 16 pages of notes I took, Father Corapi said, ‘“The time is at hand to change your life,” because “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” And in the end there are only 2 choices, There is Heaven, or There is Hell. “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”’ Luke 12:32-48.

He said, “The United States is in a state of spiritual warfare” (see Ephesians 6: 10-17.) Our nation is unraveling before our eyes and yet we continue to ignore the signs of the consequences of our sin. And that our life, our love, our souls depend on how we respond to the conflict around us.

This “spiritual warfare” is seen in 4000 abortions and 3600 divorces in the USA each DAY. One half of all marriages end in divorce and almost as many couples are cohabitating without the benefit of marriage. Because marriages are failing, and our children are in misery, so too are our communities and our nation in chaos. Our youth are being denied the teachings of morality, church, and marriage. There is an open, organized attempt to deny the existence of God, just as we have been denied the rights to mention God in our public school classrooms. And the recent rulings by the courts concerning homosexuality and same sex unions which is spoken so strongly against within the teachings of the Bible are another “failure” to heed God’s commands.

Pope Pius XII once said: “The greatest sin of our generation is that it has lost all sense of sin.” And yet we have been told over and over that God will punish and destroy those who sin.

Some of the reason for these sins, these failures, this evil in our society, can be pointed back to the choice to question, and then to go against, the Churches’ moral teachings, especially the introduction of birth control and the ever increasing materialism and secularism in our society.

In Fatima, Portugal, where Our Lady, The Blessed Mother of God, Mary, appeared in 1917 to 3 children and now, again as she appears daily since 1981, in Medjugorje, Bosnia, www.medjugorje.org , Mary brings the message: “I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.”

She continues, by adding repeatedly: “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” This, along with the message, “The Blessed Mother can no longer restrain the hand of her Divine Son from striking the world with just punishment for its many crimes,” should be more than enough warning. However, many Christians have either never heard the warning or have chosen to ignore the warnings. And with each passing day more and more of the predictions made by the Blessed Mother to the children of Fatima and Medjugorje are coming true.
Father Corapi brings much the same message, saying that we must change our ways, heed the commandments, listen and speak the truth, and live by the cross—first with God and then by loving our neighbor as ourself.

Dear God: Praise Be Your Love given freely for life. Help me to Love you more fully by always being ready to sacrifice my life for your sake. Help me to never “water down” or only speak “partial” truths because they are “easier” to bear. Help me be “spiritually ready” to fight the battles and the spiritual war I see all around me. Bless our politicians so that they will listen and act as you command. Thank you for giving Stan & I the opportunity of “carefree timelessness” to spend with you and with each other. Amen.

Will we heed the warnings of Mary and of Father Corapi? Will we do as we are asked: to pray daily, to say the rosary daily, to receive the Eucharist weekly, and to read the bible regularly? Or will we risk being unready sinners, denying the Church teachings and living immorally, choosing only what feels good and not following the commandments?
Blessings from San Antonio,
Charlotte