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.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

And then there was one

At mass last week, during the homily our priest talked about life as a journey. We have many people that are with us during the journey- friends and relatives, spouse, children- as well as countless people we will encounter but never know their name. We get very used to our lives being filled with other people. Most of us don't want to be alone. We like noise- TV, radio, crowded restaurants, movie theaters- it makes us feel somehow alive and connected to life. If we don't have plans to go somewhere on the weekend, we complain that we're bored. It is hard for us to deal with time alone, and we feel lonely and left out when not surrounded by people. It occurred to me that no matter how much noise or how many people we surround ourselves with, at some point we WILL be alone. Totally, achingly alone. It won't matter how important we have been, how much money we make, or how many friends we have. We all will experience dying alone, by ourselves. Sure, there may be others around us at that time. But the instant we take our last breath, we are on our own to face our creator. There will be no supportive friends or relatives- just us alone, face to face with God. What an odd concept for such a noisy, busy world! It's coming to us all, at an unknown time. Just you and me, God. What will I say to you? What will you say to me?
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