Why am I Catholic?

With all of the horrible things being said in the media about the Pope, sex abuse scandals and corruption it is difficult as a Catholic to defend my Church when someone asks me what I think about such things.

For one thing, these people aren't Catholic and most of them aren't exactly God-fearing Christians either so they really don't understand. And just saying something like, "You can't believe everything you read," just doesn't seem to cut it. Although it is true, you get that look of, "Yeah, right."

There is a war going on. A war against Catholicism. And most catholics don't even know it is going on or even choose to acknowledge it. Acknowledging it is like..... believing that the devil really does exist. I think most people wouldn't deny that Satan exists, they just don't think he is truly present around us. It is much easier to think about him far away in a land called Hell than to think he is among us and is putting thoughts in our heads and encouraging us to be selfish and uncharitable towards one another. It is much easier to scoff than it is to think that my angry thoughts towards someone is being encouraged.

So why be a Catholic? Why not be some other religion that isn't being crushed by the popular vote? We live in a society where being religious is not cool. And what isn't cool gets stomped on. Of course, religion isn't cool. It is a way of life. It is striving to be virtuous and good. Who could be cool and good?

It is hard to be Catholic! No one ever quit being Catholic because it was just too easy. It is a trial. You bear a cross. You suffer. You pray and pray and often prayers go unanswered. You are tested to see if you truly believe! I actually feel uneasy a lot of the time because I have many blessings. I wonder what cross I will be asked to carry next. I want to ask God to give me a cross but at the same time I am scared of the cross he will give. I imagine crosses that I may have some day and how I would carry them.

• Will I be infertile? Maybe so, but I have nothing against adoption. That isn't an easy process but I think I can handle it.
• Will I be poor? Sure, why not? I'd rather be poor than wealthy, actually. Being rich seems stressful in a different way that I wouldn't want. I'm savvy enough to maintain a budget and a household on a low income (I hope).
• Will I lose a family member? That would be very hard and I would suffer and grieve very much but I totally think I could suffer under it and still have my faith.
• Will I die young? I would be sad for those who would grieve for me but I hope that I would find my resting place with Our Lord once and for all.

I'm feeling guilty because I know he wouldn't give me something I couldn't handle so I feel like I am admitting sin by writing this down. *sigh* We're all sinners right? The Church is not for the righteous, it is for the sinners. We want absolution from our sins.

Why am I Catholic?

Because I believe in the Truth. I believe that the Catholic Church is the One True Church, One Holy, One Catholic and One Apostolic. I believe that Jesus is true God and true man. That He died for our sins and was resurrected to show us the way, the truth and the life. I believe Jesus founded the Church with Peter and that means something. I believe in His Body and His Blood and that I need it to survive. I believe in the Sacraments that the holy waters of baptism washed away my original sin, that I received the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon Confirmation, that I receive absolution when I go to Confession. I look forward to the sacrament of Matrimony because being married in the Church is not the same thing as being married legally. I believe in eternal life and the resurrection of the body. I believe in the intercessions of Mary, the Mother of God and of the Saints. I believe in the power of prayer, particularly in the rosary. I believe in Christ's mercy for me and He shows me how to have mercy for others. I believe what the Church teaches and although I fail day by day I will continue to persevere in hopes of His love and by loving Him that He gives me His Most Sacred Heart.

Did Christ say that he founded a perfect Church? Hardly. When you draw sinners together you are bound to have a few that will lose face, will sin again, will not trust God to keep them. It is a simple message but a very hard one to follow. The Church shall prevail against the gates of Hell. So I encourage him, bring it.

My heart is restless until it rests in Him.

So, am I Catholic? Damn straight!

Genesis Humor

Today I read this over on the Musings of a Pertinacious Papist and must share:

There are a whopping nine faithful Catholics in Congress who oppose the public funding of abortion. That's really good news. Faithful, shining witnesses to the truth of the Gospel.Nine. Out of 136 Catholics in Congress. The rest of whom support the public funding of abortion.

Let me see ... When Abraham was negotiating with God on the number of righteous men in Sodom for the sake of which God would not destroy it, how many was the minimum, do you remember?

Genesis 18:32 --

Then [Abraham] said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" And [the Lord] answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

Oh, crap.

Travel

I hope we can travel around the world. Not with a lot of money or to buy and do expensive things. But to visit other people and see where Christianity first started. So see where Mary is honored and to pray at famous places.

Anyway, I just found a quote by Saint Augustine which makes me think of this.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.

Considering how much both Matthew and I read it would be devastating to never travel--almost insulting, really!

I should keep a list of places we hope to visit, I'll start now.

Rome

The Vatican

Lourdes

Paris

Calcutta

(Don't worry, I'll be back to update!)

I got someone banned...

So, as usual I was reading all the posts on Father Z's blog and I was reading the comments on an article that I had read when I came across someone's posting of:

"Women and theology do not mix -- just like women and liturgy..."

Oh, I was shocked. Not furious. Not hurt. Just shocked. Really? I mean, really? Was that statement necessary? Just because a person wrote a terrible thing about the pope and her opinion means that the rest of women should be scorned? Didn't Mary by her Immaculate Conception, birth of Christ and Assumption redeem women from the fallen Eve?

So I posted my own comment about this statement and I said the following:

"Do we really need to say that with such derogatory implications? I don't see how I can read that and interpret it without thinking that some of these feminist women have a point. There are men out there who just don't have respect for women. If the author was a man, I think we should be just as upset and frustrated with the article. So the fact that a woman wrote it is moot.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want women to be priests or have the right to be ordained at all. I just think that women have a specific realm to be loved and appreciated and a statement like that takes away from a woman's right to her realm. It leaves her looking inferior and uneducated.

We love Mary the Mother of God, right? Is she not part of the liturgy? Is not the Bride of Christ the Church? From Bishop Sheen's Three to Get Married, "In the words of the papal encyclical on marriage: '...For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love."' We cannot have liturgy without love. So my point, women are part of the liturgy just not in the same way.

Can my boyfriend and I not read theology together and grow in strength of faith together by doing so? Or should he read it by himself and indulge me sometimes with how smart he is? How am I supposed to teach my children about the Faith if I don't spend the time to understand it myself?

I don't mean to jump off the deep end about this but there are many women who love this forum and don't deserve comments like that. If I interpreted that comment incorrectly, then please, by all means, let me know how I should have took it."

I wasn't sure if I should have posted such a comment but when I thought about it I believed that not saying anything was showing acceptance. Thus, I was compelled to write.

Anyway after my post, a few women said they agreed with me. That made me feel better about having wrote it. It certainly served a purpose.

Father Z was busy today with a conference but he stopped by his blog in the afternoon and made the following comment: "NOTA BENE: Since I am short on time I banned XXXXX. My advice is therefore DNFTT. Ignore that rabbit hole. It is faster for me to ban people than to clean up the messes they leave on the floor of my livingroom."

HAHAHAHAHAH!!! I was totally surprised that he would ban someone without a warning. I actually felt bad about what happened but then I realized that what I said was true and several people agreed with me so Father Z didn't want someone writing things like that on his blog. I actually was afraid of receiving a reprimand myself for my own comment since it wasn't relevant to his original post.

I suppose you can label me a troublemaker.

What to do with people you don't like

This is what I'd like to do:  Dip them into a vat of melted chocolate and ship them off to be someone else's problem.  That really isn't so hateful is it?  At least those other people will get some chocolate out of the matter.

I am coming fast to the decision that I don't want to be around people who don't like themselves.  I can't really do anything to help them.  Frankly, that is not my job. 

I am tired of pettiness, spite, and immaturity.  If you think that you are a wonderful person and have a lot to offer and for some reason I don't like you then that is my fault and please be patient and give me another chance.  I pray in thanksgiving every day for those that I now love that waited for me to come around to love them.  But if you don't like yourself, don't expect me to like you.  It is two separate issues.  One is my impression of you and that I must fix it.  The other is a personal problem with you and only you can fix that.  I wish you luck and will pray for you if asked to but I've decided that my patience is now reserved for those that deserve it.  

Not for those that get sick easily...

Ugh, allergies!

People think I'm crazy but I had no idea what they were until I moved here.  I had no idea that a sinus infection could knock you off your feet and feel like the flu.  I now take a zytrec every day and just recently that isn't doing it for me.

Thankfully, I am not having problems with pressure and my nose is clear.  My big problem is drainage in the back of my throat.  I can't sleep at night.  Last night I slept sitting up.  I'm very thankful for the amazing back-pillow that Denise gave me in college.  That thing is versatile and wonderful!

So I got up this morning, ate my wonderful bowl of cereal and proceeded to take my pills:  zyrtec, multivitamin, two pills of allergy herbal stuff that I got from Shannon and four sudafed.  Then after brushing my teeth the gunk that drained down last night decided it didn't want to be digested and I stood for a few minutes choking up pieces of green thick crud which drained from my sinuses.  Every time I see it it makes me thing of cottage cheese.  Gross.  I actually amazed that I didn't up-chuck my breakfast and all the fabulous medicine that I just consumed.  I hope it doesn't last much longer. (note:  I detest cottage cheese)

I can actually live with this.  I feel fine and function quite well, it could be worse.  The only thing that makes me irritable about this is that I can't get up and run in the morning.  I'm actually scared to go out and run any time of day right now.  I dread what I could do to my sinuses by doing that.  I need to run, it makes me feel awesome and look awesome.  Yes, I am complaining.  People get to do that every now and then.  And I've tried to run at the gym.  Completely boring for me.  So yoga is my only solace right now.

That's it for the day.  Nothing thought-provoking.  The things that I am contemplating right now are not something that I wish to share with the world and would probably violate someone else's trust.  Just know that Lauren's is always wrapping her mind around something and that she is really happy.

Prayers for the day:

For Scott and Melissa,

For Ben's soul to pass quickly to Our Lord,

For lonely friends,

For my family's health,

and unspoken prayers