The anatomy of a sin

Here is an awesome breakdown of a sin in process. I think we can all look back on a sin we have committed and relate to this. The sin doesn’t even have to be a mortal sin; even venial sins fall into this arrangement.
Thanks to, Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen for this;

Eve looks at the forbidden fruit; it is beautiful to behold. More and more she turns herself from the voice and thought of God to the fragrancy and imagined sweetness of the forbidden fruit. The lingering thought passes into a vivid imagination, the vivid imagination into a burning wish, the burning wish into a half-formed purpose, the half-formed purpose into a hasty act. Swiftly the crisis is upon her, as all such crises are, and the deed was done irrevocably until time shall be no more.

I bet if we could conform our wills to God’s will, and follow the same process (of course replacing the sin part with virtue) we can beat sin every time.
I am thinking it would look something like this;

Eve looks at the forbidden fruit; it is beautiful to behold. More and more she turns herself to the voice and thought of God from the fragrancy and God given sweetness of the forbidden fruit. The lingering thought passes from a vivid imagination, the vivid imagination into an offering up to God, the burning wish into a prayer for strength, prayer for strength, into a moment of prayer of thanksgiving for the Lords help in turning from the temptation. Swiftly the crisis is adverted and the deed was not done.

….what a wonderful world it would be….

Tolerant bumpersticker

Order yours today!!!!!!!!

http://isalifepro.webs.com/

Homosexuality in the local parks

In the battle for morality, especially concerning homosexuality, the media plays an important part in public opinion. Of course, they have their liberal spin on things.

Well, a situation in our neck of the woods caught my eye in the local news: http://www.wave3.com/story/22869380/jcps-teacher-among-6-charged-for-sexual-encounters-in-parks

First the rest area's weren't safe, now the local parks. We already know the public schools aren't safe.

We are told that homosexuality is not harmful to society, but those of us who are not blinded by media bias know better.

Since I like to use the media against itself, I am glad that they printed this comment for an officer involved.
"Families, children, people that were seeing these events and they contacted us directly," said Officer Jim Schreck of Indiana DNR."

So, if homosexuality is so acceptable to lawmakers, why is there public outcry when things like this happen? I'm sure there would be a public outcry against a married man and woman if they were being lewd in public, but I'm not seeing those stories on the news. My point is, immorality shouldn't be acceptable anywhere; but I am predicting that as homosexuality and other disordered preferences in human behavior are being accepted as "the norm", there will be a concern and rise in crime among the general public. It continues to prove my point that Christians are not the "crazy, violent, intolerant" homophobes that the media would portray. We have faith, we have reason, we have the truth. Society will continue to follow the lies of the media unless we Christians step out of our comfort zone and engage them with the message of Jesus Christ.

GO POPE FRANCIS, YOU REBEL!

While looking at the local news stories online to see what rubbish was being tossed to the public currently, I came across this headline;

“Rebel pope urges Catholics to shake up dioceses”

So, of course being curious (and a glutton for punishment), I went ahead and read the article.
WHAT made Pope Francis so radical?
Well evidently he…
“urged young Catholics to shake up the church and make a "mess" in their dioceses by going out into the streets to spread the faith. “

OH MY GOODNESS, NOT THAT!!!

Anarchy is right around the corner.
We can’t have Catholics (especially young Catholics) spreading the faith.
What is this world coming to?

Sarcasm aside, this was an awesome message that of course the media tried to do their normal “spin” on; but I think it flopped…IMO.

The article went on to state “Francis was elected pope on a mandate to reform the church”.
REALLY? Hmmmm

What they presenting is a false hope for cafeteria Catholics and Church “reformers”; those who want more married priests and women priests and whatever else ticks them off about Catholic Church teachings they don’t agree with.

Didn’t they see what happened the last time they “hoped” for “change”?
I think this hope and change is also going to be not what they wanted…but I think it will be what they need.

Pope Francis is continuing on with PJP II’s call for a new evangelization and Benedict XVI’s call for charity, making the way for the re-Christianization for our lost brothers and sisters in the world.

Faith, hope and love in Jesus is the message the world needs to hear.
Truth. Charity and love of our neighbor is going to bring the peace the world needs.

I think that is what Pope Francis is wanting his flock to be.

The Catholic Church knows best

Nathan said to David:

“Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king of Israel.
I rescued you from the hand of Saul.
I gave you your lord’s house and your lord’s wives for your own.
I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more.
Why have you spurned the Lord and done evil in his sight?
You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites.
Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.’
Then David said to Nathan,
“I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan answered David:
“The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die.”

Once again, the Catholic Church knows best.
In this past Sunday readings, we have yet another example of a Catholic sacrament: Penance or Confession. A sacrament that many Catholics are not using often enough....

Even though Nathan has to "prompt" David into making the confession, King David does confess his sin, and seems truely repentant.
Then the Lord gives him absolution through the ministry of Nathan.
Of course King David's "penance" is a lot harsher than anything we will probably experience, but, the Lord brought him through it and now King David is (I believe) basking in the glory of God for eternity. 

May the Lord bring us all to confession regularly so that he may make us all saints and one day bask in the great glory of God!

2013 Kentucky Catholic Homeschool Conference

It's that time of the year again!!!!
If you live in Kentucky or are going to be in Louisville from out of town, please stop by and see us.

Calling All Families!


Dr. Greg Popcak, best selling author of Parenting With Grace and well known Christian Pastoral Counselor, is our keynote speaker for Friday June 7th! Other wonderful speakers attending the 2013 Kentucky Catholic Homeschool Conference include Maureen Wittman, Paul Schaeffer, Brigadier General Patrick J. Dolan, Steve Bertucci,and Dr. Mark Ginter.

Check out the Special Needs talks, Teen Track and list of Vendors

Check out our teen events! Space is limited for teen events so register now!

You do not have to be a catholic, homeschooling parent to appreciate these fantastic talks on faith, love and spirituality! Special discounted pricing available. Everyone is welcome! Help us spread the
word!!

www.louisvillecatholichomeschooling.com

Gay marriage and the Catholic Church

A must read;

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/21/archbishop-cordileone-gay-marriage-catholic-church/2001085/

Welcome our new Holy Father, Pope Francis!

• Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
• He is a Jesuit and is 76yrs old. The first Jesuit Pope ever.
• Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife.
• Bergoglio is the first Pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than 1,000 years.
• He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Blessed John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 2001, of the Title of S. Roberto Bellarmino (St. Robert Bellarmine).
• He has lived for more than 50 years with one functioning lung. He had the other removed as a youngster because of an infection.
• He told Argentineans not to travel to Rome to celebrate if he was appointed but to give their money to the poor instead.

May God Bless our new Papa!!!!!!!!

Please pray for him and our Church.

....more Ash Wednesday apologetics....

The Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, which is the first day of the Lenten fast.

The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. (from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm)

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason I did a search for “Ash Wednesday Services” on my web browser. I already knew where I was going to Mass so why I did it, WHO KNOWS?

Anyway, it was funny (or not), that most of the churches listed first were: Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and even one Baptist church.

EVERYTHING except for Catholic Churches......

Now, how can all these other churches be having Ash Wednesday Services when the distribution of ashes started in the Catholic Church around the 8^th century?

Their churches weren’t even around till the 1500’s…….

If they truly know that all these rituals came from Catholic tradition, and they bash the Catholic Church for being “ritualistic”, doesn’t that make them hypocrites?

Why would you go to a wannabe church that has the distribution of ashes; that has “communion”; that has “confession” but they do not have the Apostolic succession with the authority to carry out these “rituals” given to them by the Lord God Himself?

If the Catholic Church has always had these “rituals” and your church hasn’t, don’t you think you should investigate more fully why you are not going to the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH?

If your church is making false accusations about the Catholic Church, why would you want to be a part of that hypocrisy?

There is no perfect church because there are no perfect people, but there is only one Church founded by Jesus himself.

That is the Catholic Church.

Happy Lent!

Ash Wednesday apologetics

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them;otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.----Matthew 6;1


While today's readings for the Mass focus on our sinfulness and our need for our Saviour Jesus Christ, something else caught my eye. I noticed that today's Gospel reading is a great apologetic for the "faith vs. works" debate. Of course as Catholics, we believe that we need both, that they are one in the same. We don't separate them as the Protestants do.   Just the first line of the chapter states that "you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father" if we do not do righteous deeds (good works) for the right reason; for the love of God and neighbor. That tells me that there is some kind of recompense (reward) for good works.

That doesn't mean that we can "work our way into Heaven" as our misguided Protestant friends accuse us of, but it does give more evidence that we must have both to live out the Christian faith in it's fullness as the Catholic Church teaches.

All show, no go.......

President Barack Obama to use two Bibles for oath

The sad part is, he doesn’t believe, at least in his actions, neither one of them.
True hypocrisy………
America will reap what he sows.

HIDE YOUR SCISSORS!

Police: Man used scissors as weapon

Look out!

Start hording your scissors because the government is coming after them!!!!

OK, this may be silly and I do not wish to make light of the recent shooting tragedies in our country. My heart goes out to all those who suffered loss especially of their children.

As a father of 5 (soon to be 6), I can assure you that I would be the first outraged and possibly the saddest of all if anything happened to one of my children. I can’t imagine…….

But, when our elected officials make a “knee-jerk” reaction as they are making, American’s need to step back from the media frenzy and use common sense. There is real proof that gun control is not the answer.

There is real proof that maximum penalties for gun use in crimes is a great deterrent.
Guns aren’t’ the only weapons out there. Just look at what happened in 2001. AIRPLANES were used to kill about 3000 people.

Did the government outlaw airplanes? NO!!!!
That would be crazy!

They tightened the security and started paying attention to the safety of the passengers.

What has our President done to thwart future attacks on the public especially our schools and daycares, our malls and sports arena’s?

What has our states done on the local levels?

Are our schools any safer now than they were before the shootings in Sandy Hook?

I believe that is where we should be focusing our attention, not in stomping on our Constitutional rights.

I am not a gun owner (yet) although I am feeling like I may have to become one thanks to our government. I know many other people like myself that were not gun owners before the “knee-jerks” in Washington, but now they are.

So our government officials think this was a good idea?

Extremism is not what this country was founded on. We have truly lost our way.

We have taken God out of our schools, our politics and even some out of their religion, but when something goes wrong where do people go to find help, to find peace?

Back to God.

InPRIVATE browsing

What is in-private browsing?

Why do we need in-private browsing?
“InPrivate Browsing enables you to surf the web without leaving a trail in Internet Explorer. This helps prevent anyone else who might be using your computer from seeing where you visited and what you looked at on the web.” (from Microsoft.com)

Until the other day when I was looking up how to disable it on our computer, I was thinking that the only reasons to use it were;
1) Porn
2) Getting your spouse a secret gift.

As I investigated disabling this feature (which is on most newer browsers including IE8 and Firefox), there was a mention of not being able to have your personal information left on public computers.

Fair enough, but really, is it worth it to open the door of pornography or anything else that our children shouldn’t be exposed to for the sake of convenience or privacy?
Privacy is very important for your personal information so why would you go on a public computer and take the risk?
If someone wants your information bad enough, they will get it anyway.

Why can’t the web designers come up with programs that make our children (or personal information) safer on the internet instead of continuing to put these temptations in front of them (us)?

We adults on the other hand have the duty to make sure that our children are safe and that we ourselves don’t use new technology for evil either.

My word of advice is to find out how to permanently delete this feature off your computer before temptation comes knocking on your web browser.

I have found that all browsers having this feature have an easy way to turn it off, but your computer savvy teen will find that fix in no time.
Permanently disabling this feature is the challenge. Some ways are easier than others. Do a good and exhaustive search before attempting any of it though.
I just read that IE8 will disable this feature if the parental controls are set correctly but I have not tested that theory yet.

Another piece of good advice that I heard in a talk the other day is;

“Never go to the store, watch tv or surf the net without a specific goal in mind”.

I think the old saying “idle hands is the devils workshop” is the thought on this advice.