Trust In God

God is Love. No truer words could be spoken. This was so true that Pope Benedict XVI made this the title and theme of his first encyclical. God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only Son as a pure and perfect sacrifice for our sins. The New Adam, sent to wash away the sins of the world in His own blood. With love like this it is easy to see why we should trust Him in everything, right? Well, short answer yes, but we are finite creatures weighed down by the effects of original sin. So many will say, “Why is this happening to me? I’m a good person. I love God. I’m faithful.” Truly heartfelt words that I can assure you do not fall on deaf ears when they are cried out in prayer to God. Remember, Christ was True God AND True Man. He suffered every insult, anguish, torment, and sadness that we do in this life. He suffered them in a much more profound way than we ever could. He was rejected by so many while He was right in front of them Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This continues to happen today as so many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, reject His real and substantial presence in the Blessed Sacrament, but I digress.

Trust in God is essential. It is easy to say but without humility and a surrendering of the will to God it is impossible. We as Christians are called to be Christ-like. He called us all to take up our crosses daily and follow Him. Each person has a specific cross to bear that has been given by God. These crosses can crush us if we try to carry them ourselves. Know this, God will always give you what you need. Notice I didn’t say He will give you what you want. We so often see things we want, materially, emotionally, or even spiritually. We can ask God for them and then become frustrated when He doesn’t hand them over. This is where we must turn ourselves over to God and trust in His wisdom and love completely. Like a good father, God will never give us something we don’t need. What we need is to draw ourselves closer to God. This involves following the example of Christ. When Christ became man He completely humbled Himself to take on the lowly form of one of His creation. Humility again! Christ emptied Himself totally and came as a servant. The truest translation actually says, “He came as a slave”. No object or possession in this world can bring us happiness. God is the only true happiness. Trust in Him with your whole heart, mind, and soul. He will lead you to Him. The road may be rocky. As a matter of fact, I can guarantee you that it will be. Nothing worth having is easy to attain. Salvation and faith are gifts from God, never earned, but bestowed out of love and mercy. We are citizens of Heaven just passing through this world on our way home. Empty yourself so that God can fill you with His love and happiness. Trust that God will give you what you need, not necessarily what you want. Pray for Humility and Faith. God is Love.

And Jesus Wept

Here is a great cartoon courtesy of Jack Higgins and the Chicago Sun-Times.

ND Student Groups Join the Fight!

After days of hearing from so-called experts stating that Notre Dame students are overwhelmingly in favor of President Obama being honored at graduation, numerous ND student organizations have banded together to show their outrage. Notre Dame Response is a new website sponsored by angry student led groups on campus who think Notre Dame is still a Catholic University and would like to show that to the world. Please visit their website and show support to those brave men and women who are standing up for truth!
(Photo Courtesy of Notre Dame Response)

Brave Voice in a Cowardly World!

Fort Wayne/South Bend Bishop John M. D'Arcy has issued a statement about the sad controversy that has erupted at the University of Notre Dame. Bishop D'Arcy's statement can be read in it's entirety here.

In a sad contrast, the University of Notre Dame has issued a statement of their own. The University is standing firm in their determination to flush Church teaching away and scandalize millions of Catholics around the world. Here is a story on Notre Dame's statement. If you have not yet done so, please visit Notredamescandal.com to sign the petition against the honoring of President Obama. Stand up for truth NOW! The time for sitting on the sidelines is over. Stand up for TRUTH! Be Catholic!

Our True Savior!

(Photo Courtesy of Orthodoxphotos.com)

How Some People View the President!?

I came across this photo today. It struck me immediately for its almost "halo-like" appearance around the head of Obama. It hit me that this is how many people in this country, and indeed around the world, view our Commander-In-Chief. He is seen as a savior to far too many people. In reality one person seeing any one man as their "savior" is scary, unless that Man is Jesus Christ. I can't say if the person who snapped this photo had that in mind but the imagery that it conveys to the world is stark in its contrast to where we should really be putting our trust. Here!

(Photo Courtesy of AP)

Shame of Notre Dame!

(Courtesy of Notre Dame Scandal.com)

Today is a dark day for the University of Notre Dame. It was just announced that the commencement speaker at this year's graduation will be none other than President Barack Obama. The call of the Holy Father for Catholic Institutions and Universities to speak the message of Christ to the world has fallen on deaf ears at this "once great" Catholic Institution of Higher Learning. This President has shown nothing short of utter disdain for the dignity of human beings. He has gone out of his way to promote the destruction of human life at every possible opportunity. Notre Dame is now condoning this despicable behavior by celebrating this man. He will be given an Honorary Law Degree at the commencement. Apparently it is not a doctorate of moral law! He could use a few lessons in that! My main beef here is with the leaders of Notre Dame University. You make my skin crawl! As a Catholic Institution you are called on to be a light of Christ to the world. If you think you are being this light then I suggest you take a few minutes and grab a copy of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church!

Another point in all this is that Notre Dame is being used by the President to subvert Catholic Teachings in this country. I do not think I am out of bounds when I say that I see a personal agenda against the Catholic Church in the policies of this administration. President Obama receives invitations from hundreds of universities each spring. Why did he choose to accept Notre Dame's invitation? While I can't read Obama's mind I can't help but see a pattern of false "catechising" of Catholics in this country. He seems to go out of his way to pick pro-abortion "catholics" for key places in his government. He institutes diabolical policies that will assure the deaths of millions more innocent children in this country. He has removed bans on U.S. tax dollars funding abortion around the world. Perhaps his goal is to make abortion our nation's number one export. Notre Dame is being used to promote this agenda! Think I'm being paranoid? You better wake up America! Societies throughout history that have practiced human sacrifice have been wiped off the face of the earth! Embryonic stem cell research is the modern era's human sacrifice! America's days are numbered and we have done it to ourselves. Don't sit on your hands and let this evil go unchallenged. Speak up! Let the University of Notre Dame know that enough is enough! Please check out this link to sign a petition to let the President of
Notre Dame know how you feel! http://www.notredamescandal.com

For some great commentary on this check out The Catholic Thing and National Review.

God's Answer to Prayer

We ask God for many things. We come to Him in our times of great distress and need. We ask for anything. Keep these things in mind, especially in light of recent events. In our Humility we should ultimately ask that God's will be done in our lives. He knows what is best for us, we don't. God can give gifts in strange ways and in strange places. In ways that those of no faith can't even comprehend. Christ suffered for US. He did that out of love. When trials come they can really bring us closer to God if we humbly accept them. It's perfectly o.k. to ask God for healing and miracles. We just have to say in humility to God, "Please God, your will be done in my life. I pray that your will be that I be freed from this hardship, but if it's not your will then grant me the strength and humility to accept your will as my own. Grant me the strength to accept and carry this cross you have given to me and help me to see how I can give glory to God with it." It is hard to do, I of all people know this all too well. I have been crushed by my cross on far too many occasions. I just have to remember that Christ fell under the weight of His cross as well.......but He got up again. Another thing He did was allow Simon to help Him carry that cross. Humility again. This is so important I can't mention it enough. One last thing to remember;

GOD ANSWERS EVERY PRAYER. THE THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT THE ANSWER WILL BE ONE OF THREE THINGS..........

YES, NO, NOT YET.

Obama defunds Ethical Research!

It was learned yesterday that not only has President Obama now opened the door for federal funding of Destructive Embryonic Stem Cell Research, he has also defunded non-destructive ethical forms of research. I can't help but to point out what seems to be a more and more diabolical agenda of this administration to attack the unborn. War is being waged on the most innocent in our world and their only crime appears to have been their conception. Barbaric! I've said it before and I'll say it again and again. Pray for this country and our President. God Have Mercy On US ALL! AMDG See the related article below.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Besides removing all restrictions on using taxpayer funds for embryo-destructive research yesterday, President Obama also formally rescinded a Bush-era executive order pushing for more research into the most promising and ethical forms of stem cell research.

The executive order signed yesterday by Obama specifically rescinded Executive Order 13435 of June 20, 2007.

Executive Order 13435 pushed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to "conduct and support research" on stem cells that "may result in improved understanding of or treatments for diseases and other adverse health conditions, but are derived without creating a human embryo for research purposes or destroying, discarding, or subjecting to harm a human embryo or fetus." Click Here for the rest of the article.

Obama to reverse limits on stem cell research

Well here we are again! On Monday President Barack Obama will publically unveil his newest executive order aimed at the unborn. This newest order will lift a ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that has been in place for nearly eight years. The ban was originally put in place by President Bush in August of 2001 during his first term in office siting the procedures destruction of human life. Millions of dollars were instead placed behind research involving adult stem cell research. This approach has produced countless advances in medical research but has gone relatively unheralded by politicians, scientists, and news agencies around the country. An unnamed Obama official has been quoted as saying that the new Obama policy toward embryonic stem cell research will "restore scientific integrity to the process".

Integrity indeed! These are dangerous times we are living in. God is merciful and patient and He loves us all. Like any good Father God will not let His children continue to revel in sin and disobedience with being set straight. I call on all of you to make a stand for our innocent brothers and sisters who have been robbed of the dignity of being conceived naturally to loving married parents. They have been treated as a right or as a science experiment. Now they are being treated as something less than human. Something to be discarded for society's selfish needs. I agree that we should do anything to help find cures for disease, but not at the expense of human life. Don't sit on the fence and watch this public abomination rule the day. Don't sit on the fence of indifference and passively watch the world go by. God will one day reach down with His divine hand and shake the fence. Don't get caught sitting on it. Speak up! Pray, Pray, Pray! The innocent blood of millions cries out to heaven for justice. Pray that God will touch the hearts of all those who condone this horrible crime. Pray also that the Holy Spirit will inspire the hearts of us all to speak the truth and take a stand for good, not evil. All that evil needs to exist is for good men and women to do nothing. AMDG

Welcome Home Mr. Speaker

I would like to publically welcome former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich home. As reported on EWTN's news program "The World Over", Mr. Gingrich is set to enter the Catholic Church this Easter. Let us all pray for the former Speaker's spiritual growth and that he will be open to the will of God in his personal and public life. May the grace and blessings of Almighty God shine down upon Mr. Gingrich and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ who will come home to the Catholic Church during this Easter season. AMDG

Immaculate Heart of Mary

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you can let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother,

“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own (Mary’s) soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”

Luke 2: 22-35

Mary, the Mother of God, suffered with her only Son, Jesus Christ. She was bound to her beloved Son from the moment of her Immaculate Conception. The Holy Spirit moved Simeon to prophecy to Mary about the horrible death her Son would face and how this death would “pierce through her own soul.” Christ suffered for the sins and transgressions of all mankind and His Mother Mary would suffer these pains as well. The sword which pierced the soul of Mary was forged by the sins of mankind, from the fall of our first parents until the end of days. Her Immaculate heart is often portrayed pierced with this very sword or strangled by a crown of thorns. Our Mother bleeds and suffers with every sin or blasphemy against the Holy name of God. All who reject her reject her Son, Jesus Christ.

St. John Damascene explained that the Immaculate Heart of Mary "lives solely on the contemplation and the love of God." Her whole being is consumed with loving and serving the will of God. Being immaculately conceived, her will is in complete conformity with the will of God. We must remember that Mary is the Mother of God. Her love and relationship with God is like no other. She is in complete union with the Holy Trinity. Beloved daughter of God the Father, loving mother of God the Son, and faithful spouse of God the Holy Spirit. This is an inseparable union that binds Mary to Christ in a way that could not have affected her in a more profound way. She suffered with Him during His Passion and Crucifixion. St. Bernard wrote in the middle ages that at Calvary, “as Jesus died in Body, so Mary died in Heart.” This statement is profound in its utter simplicity while at the same time in its shear weighty truth. She suffered the pain and sorrowful wounds of a mother whose only son was being murdered. Her soul, bound eternally with that of her Divine Son, suffered the wounds of all our sins. These are the very same sins that Christ took upon Himself as He willingly gave Himself to the executioners.

She also suffered with her Son in another profound way. She suffered the realization that her Son came to die for us all but that many of us would selfishly reject His salvation by rejecting it through our sinful ways. All those who accepted the gift of mercy and sanctification offered by Christ on the cross would be saved from the death and damnation of sin. Freeing us from the bonds that shackled humanity to the original sin of Eden; Christ, the new Adam, in complete union with Mary, the new Eve, would offer mankind salvation from the death that betrayal of God rendered at creation. This salvation would come from God alone but we see Mary's complete cooperation in God's plan through her pure humility and total acceptance of His plan. Mary's suffering would come in the form of all who would hear the Gospel of her Son and reject its message of mercy and love. How she must weep for the poor souls who turn their backs on the Christ. His mercy is for all and for all time and yet so many will reject it because of pride. They are unwilling to listen to God and to conform their will to that of God. Truth is God’s only spoken Word, and His name is Jesus Christ.