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.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Think you're healthy? Think again!

We all think of ourselves as being generally healthy. Sure, we have a few things that could be improved, but each morning we get out of bed with enough energy and strength to go through the day. We may not get 8 hours sleep, but we get by. We may not always eat healthy, but what we do eat keeps us going. We have our occasional, nagging aches and pains- headaches, joint pains, occasional stomach upset. We take our Tylenol, Pepcid, vitamin supplements. But for the most part, life goes on as usual with only a few bumps in the road. We expect nothing less! We take our basic health for granted. Then in comes microscopic germ warfare for a visit, and not your normal garden variety. Suddenly your expected ability to be able to live your life "normally" disappears. What the heck??! I ache all over and don't have enough strength to get out bed? I can't sit up without extreme nausea and the end result of it? Plain water and saltine crackers don't stay down! Fever comes and goes, with extreme chills. After several days of this, it becomes apparent- I need some help! And after IV fluids and meds for nausea, there is limited improvement- it will take days to recover. Our bubble of health was just popped by some organism we can't even see. It has been the case for me recently after contracting Influenza A- and yes, I had taken the flu shot. These past days spent flat on my back in bed allowed many hours to think. It occurred to me how fragile our balance of life really is. It seems we go through life looking the other way- it won't happen to me. I won't get in a car accident, I won't develop cancer, my children won't be abducted or abused, that violence that happens all over the world won't come here and affect me or my family....I am immune to this. Not so! We are all walking a thin line with our eyes closed. It's important to stop and think just how fleeting our health can be. And it's also important to give thanks every day for the many blessings we have which are expected and taken for granted. Thank you, God, for the gift of health, each day that I have it!
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