Oct 29, 2009

Modern society same as it was 2000 years ago

17
So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds;
18
darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart,
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they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.
Ephesians Ch 4


This world has given in to much excess. Much like in Paul’s day, people are falling to the promptings of the devil and living useless and unfulfilling lives; lives lacking God. People want more of everything except for God (and suffering), much less a God that had to suffer for our salvation.
In every aspect of life, there is the opportunity for excessiveness.
According to advertising, it is good to have a great surplus of money, lot’s of unrestricted intimacy, loads of fun, and you can even SUPER SIZE your meal. EXCESS IN EXCESS!

But, I believe that it has been shown, especially in modern times, that no matter how much money you have, how many luxury items you own, how popular you are, what kind of car you drive, it is never enough. There is always something more you desire.
The one desire that people should have, they have hardened their hearts to. They have replaced God with “stuff”, with wanton pleasures that will only suffice for a moment, then they want something better, something that is more pleasurable.

Satan knows our weaknesses and uses them to excess. He uses our physical senses to blind us into submission.
I think Blaise Pascal put it best;

Our senses perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view. Too great length and too great brevity of discourse tend to obscurity; too much truth is paralyzing. First principles are too self-evident for us; too much pleasure disagrees with us. Too many concords are annoying in music; too many benefits irritate us; we wish to have the wherewithal to overpay our debts. "We feel neither extreme heat nor extreme cold. Excessive qualities are prejudicial to us and not perceptible by the senses; we do not feel but suffer them. Extreme youth and extreme age hinder the mind, as also too much and too little education. In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.

I think modern society is feeling the strain and pain of it’s excess. Anxiety, depression, and discontent is on the rise as people fall to the fallacies of relativism, materialism and individualism.
Christians are persecuted while those whom condone and participate in evil are glorified or sympathized with.
……but, as St. Paul and the rest of Scripture teaches;


Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5;5)

Oct 12, 2009

This is the "fairness" that the world wants?

Five New Saints Canonized

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2009 (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints in St. Peter’s Basilica, including Fr. Damian of Molokai. During his homily, the Holy Father noted that all of the saints followed the invitation of Christ: "Come, follow me!"
Speaking to the faithful packed in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning, the Pope described the invitation of Christ saying that he "invites his disciples to the total gift of their lives, without calculation and human self-interest, with a wholehearted faith in God."
This call, the Holy Father continued, is welcome by the saints who "place themselves in humble obedience" to follow the Lord. They no longer focus on themselves, the Pope explained, but by their "logic of faith." They choose "to go against the trends of the time living according to the Gospel." Benedict XVI then gave a brief description of each of the five newly-canonized saints: a bishop, a Trappist brother, two priests and a nun.



Archbishop Zygmunt Szczesny FeliƄski of Warsaw, founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, was committed to evangelization and support for the poor, defending the oppressed during the Russian occupation of Poland, and was sentenced to 20 years in exile in Jaroslaw on the Volga. "His gift of himself to God and man," the Holy Father said in Polish, was "full of confidence and love," and "becomes a shining example for the entire Church."


To those younger generations today who "are not satisfied with what they have," the Pontiff gave the example of Rafael Arnaiz Baron, who came from a wealthy family and was a bit "of a dreamer." He died when he was 27 years old, a Cistercian oblate, considered one of the greatest mystics of the twentieth century.


The Pontiff next spoke of Dominican Father Francisco Coll y Guitard, founder of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation Blessed Virgin Mary. Through his preaching, the saint spread his love of the Word of God and the Sacrament of Reconciliation among all people especially the young.






Father Damian, the famous apostle to the lepers, left Flanders, Belgium at the age of 23 to go on a mission to modern day Hawaii. "Not without fear and loathing," Pope Benedict underlined, "Father Damian made the choice to go on the island of Molokai in the service of lepers who were there, abandoned by all. So he exposed himself to the disease of which they suffered. With them he felt at home. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life."
He continued, "To follow Christ, Father Damian not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in today's Gospel tells us, received eternal life."
The figure of Father Damian, Benedict XVI added, "teaches us to choose the good fight not those that lead to division, but those that gather us together in unity."



And finally, the Pope spoke of St. Mary of the Cross, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and her "wonderful work to help the most vulnerable elderly." He noted that her initiatives and goals are "still valid today, given that many elderly people suffer from multiple poverty and loneliness, sometimes even being abandoned by their families."
The Pope concluded by inviting all present "to allow themselves to be attracted by the shining example of these saints, to be guided by their teachings so that our entire lives become a hymn of praise to God's love."


For more information on the canonization process, go here.

Oct 9, 2009

Not a good way to start my day

This is not what I expected when I woke up this morning.

President Barack Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!!!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???
There are none so blind as those who wish to be...

President Obama has not only deceived the people of this country, but now
here is the proof that he has deceived the whole world.

Mother Teresa (another Nobel Peace Prize winner) has to be rolling over in her grave right now.
How can the most pro-abortion president EVER, win such an award.

How can a person whom won’t even give peace to the unborn in the womb, win an award with the word PEACE in it?
How can we explain peace to the mothers whom are now physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually damaged due to having abortions?

How can this committee say;

The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

I guess these guys have not seen this;


Iran shows might of missiles days before nuclear plant showdown

North Korean Missile Test a Growing Possibility

I hope this committee realizes that Obama is not the only president ever that is concerned over nukes. I can assure you that no one in their right mind would condone using nuclear weapons after seeing the total destruction that ended the lives of so many Japanese.
I think we all have a vision of a world without nuclear weapons, without war,
famine, pestilence, homelessness, joblessness, ect…

Mind you, I think it is great that our President is trying to rally the troops (world wide) and stop the tyrannical powers throughout the world, but, THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
How about waiting till Obama actually achieves this goal before we give him any prizes?

I will leave you with this final thought from Mother Teresa and maybe you will understand why I went on this rant:

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? --Mother Teresa
 
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