I am Catholic!
I AM A CATHOLIC ... Because the founder of the Catholic Church is the God-Man Jesus Christ, Who was foretold by the prophets, and Who proved the divine character of His mission and teaching by wonderful miracles, especially by His Own Resurrection from the dead; Because Christ established upon Peter and the Apostles the Church, one, holy, universal, apostolic, with which He declared He would remain all days to the consummation of the world, and against which the gates of Hell would not prevail; Because Christ gave this society certain well defined doctrines which all men everywhere must believe under pain of damnation, to which they may not add or from which they may not subtract; Because Christ the Author of all holiness, promised to guard this society from error and preserve it until the end of time; Because the Catholic Church possesses all marks of this Church established by Christ: The Catholic Church is ONE because she everywhere professes the same faith, has the same sacrifice and sacraments, and is governed by one and the same visible head, the Pope. All non-Catholic sects lack unity. Because of the principles of private judgment they are conditionally splitting and subdividing. They have no central authority to hold them together. Their doctrines and practices are changing from day to day. The Catholic Church is HOLY because its Founder, Jesus Christ, is all-holy; because its doctrines are holy; because its means of sanctification, the sacraments, are holy; because it produces holy, saintly men and women. The Catholic Church is UNIVERSAL because it subsists throughout the ages, teaches all nations, and maintains all the truths given to it by Christ. The sects are not spread over the whole world but rather localized, nor do they they teach everything that Our Lord taught the Apostles. The Catholic Church is APOSTOLIC because it was founded on Christ's Apostles, because it is governed by their doctrines through their lawful successors, and because it never ceases to teach their doctrine. The sects cannot trace their origin to Christ or to the Apostles. I am a Catholic, finally, because God Who is Supreme Truth and Holiness could not possibly be the Author of the countless sects with their mutually destructive and contradictory teachings and practices.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Hard to believe some don't believe
How can people not believe in God? It seems so obvious to me. You see Him everywhere- in newborn babies and old folks, the sun, sky and stars, beautiful birds and butterflies, animals of every species, the oceans, the winds whether gentle or gale force, snow-capped mountains, the Grand Canyon, the deserts with ever-shifting sands, the perfection of the human body itself. But our schools bombard our children with the theory of evolution, as if it could all, somehow, just fall into place. When I look up at the sky on a clear night there is no question in my mind that there is a God. All those stars and planets hanging there, not crashing into earth or one another. Then I consider the earth itself, with perfect balance of light from the sun, gravity and oxygen to sustain life. The seasons, renewing life over and over. All the fantastic forms of life are so amazing! God must have had a good time creating everything. Watching the bird feeders on my back deck is a riot of color: red cardinals, yellow goldfinches, purple finches, black and white chickadees, red headed woodpeckers, gorgeous blue indigo buntings and bluejays, and the iridescent hummingbirds. There are butterflies and dragonflies of all colors. The bats swoop at night for the mosquitos, with their awesome built-in sonar. I look at the perfect, symmetrical markings of my dogs and the way their hair grows in a certain pattern. The salt water fish in our tank are so brightly colored, but are nothing compared to what's in an ocean coral reef. Animals are so fantastic, the world has so much beauty, and the marvel of the human body. How many millions of cells each of us have, along with the miracle of our brain, eyes, senses, skin, heart, liver, kidneys....all working together and supporting each other. Wow....what an amazing God we have.
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