Another apology

Hi everyone,

I want to just apologize once again. I'm very sorry that I haven't posted since Sunday. I will post tonight, and then hopefully post every day again starting tonight. Thank you for your patience. If you would like to suggest an article topic, please let me know. Thanks so much.

Phil

Satan is a car salesman

This title is not meant to say anything negative about car salesman whatsoever. They are good decent citizens, just like any other group of people. The title I chose for this post is to explain some of the things I've learned about Satan and the way he operates in the world.

Satan started as an angel of God named Lucifer, but was too proud. He wanted to be like God, and continues to want this. We can see examples, such as in the Garden of Eden when Satan tempts Adam and Eve by saying they can be like God and know what God knows if they follow him. Satan wants nothing more than to be equal with God, even though he never will be. But Satan is very intelligent and that's what's so dangerous about him. Many may object and claim Satan doesn't exist. It's been said this is his greatest deception. All he needs is for people to believe this. But how can we say he doesn't exist? Do parents not abuse their children, do men not take advantage of prostitutes, are families not destroyed by alcohol abuse? Does Satan not laugh and be glad when these things occur?

Satan is like a car salesman, except instead of selling cars, he sells sin. Because of concupiscence, humans have a tendency toward sin. Francis of Assisi called his body and its desires "brother ass". What he meant was that, like Jesus said: "my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak". We all can fall under this category. We want to behave in a certain way and be holy, but the desires of the flesh sometimes overwhelm us. Satan knows this. So like a car salesman, he first finds out what type of sin we are most attracted to. Our concupiscence is on the market for our sinful desires. He shows us the main ones, as in the seven deadly sins: pride, anger, lust, gluttony, envy, jealousy, and laziness.  He asks us questions in our daily life to find out what we are looking for. Perhaps there is an opportunity to either work or to waste time. This is a question. The question is do we choose laziness or do we choose zeal. Satan then uses these to craft an opportunity to bring us into sin.

Satan may see a holy and righteous man who is doing good works. So he, the tempter, will offer this man an opportunity to be prideful. Satan asks, "You do all these good works for people of your community. You deserve recognition. Go, and tell others of your great deeds." Satan does not see a man being charitable and try to tempt him with laziness, because that is not something he is interested in. Just like a car salesman would not tempt a single man to purchase a minivan, the devil tailors his temptations to our strongest concupiscence.

Importantly there is much hope! Satan fears nothing more than the prayers of the righteous man. Prayer is the most effective weapon against Satan. We create a shield of protection around ourselves when we ask God to be a part of our lives. God is the light and Satan is the darkness, but darkness cannot ever survive in the light. Therefore if we continually ask God to help us, then Satan will not be there.

I read a book a little while back from the chief exorcist of Rome. He said Satan fears prayers, and fears the intercession of Mary and the saints, and fears the power of God. If we pray and align our will with the will of the Heavenly Father, then Satan has nowhere to hide. He will be driven completely away.

The best way to avoid sin is to avoid the occasion of sin. Surround yourself with holy people and holy deeds. If you see evil, get as far from it as possible as soon as possible. Sin is always easiest to fight the earlier you start. I forget which saint said this, I believe it was Francis of Assisi, but he said do not confront sin and then try to combat it. Instead, the moment you sense something could be sinful, run as far and as fast the other way as possible.

Let us pray that all people during this season of Easter turn away from the evil one and say Yes to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ's Crown of Thorns

I believe Christ's Crown of Thorns represents several things, and the things I mention is not an exhaustive list. I saw a painting which showed the thorns and branches of Christ's as being very long. Then I realized it meant Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. His crown branches off and we partake of him in his glory. We are the body of Christ.

I also realized that the thorny crown is a paradox just like the life of Christ. Christ's suffering and death on the cross purchased for us the greatest reward. When Jesus brought our sins to the cross, he suffered more than anyone else ever could. Yet it was through this suffering that we could partake in the beatific vision. The cross represents all of this very well. The crown of thorns is painful, causing Jesus to bleed and to suffer, yet through his suffering he is rewarded and we the human race are rewarded. We receive a gift greater than can be had by any king, we receive eternal salvation. Pain and redemption are inextricably linked, and the crown represents the victory and our eternal salvation.

I would like to share a very powerful hymn. The words were written by St. Bernard of Clairveaux, a saint and doctor of the Church.

Will the US have an ambassador to the Vatican?

It seems the United States is having some trouble picking an ambassador to the Vatican. This has not usually been a big issue, but with Obama in the White House, it's proving to be a conundrum. Obama is the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to lead the US, and his policies on life issues put him at distinct odds with the Catholic Church. To that end, he is having extraordinary difficulty selecting a new ambassador to the Vatican. One reason is that he wants to pick a pro-abortion person to do the job. Right away, this sets this person up for dismissal by the Holy See. As a country, the Holy See has the right to reject any candidate put forward as a potential ambassador.

Since 1984, the US has had diplomatic relations with the Vatican in the form of an ambassador. In all events, the person selected has been pro-life regardless of party affiliation. The Vatican does not exclude candidates based on their viewpoints, so theoretically the Vatican could allow an ambassador from any religion, however there are certain issues which the Vatican is so adamant about that selecting someone who differs on those points would prove completely useless for diplomatic relations.

It's not hard to imagine why it is so difficult for Obama to pick someone for this post. He surrounds himself with people who promote the culture of death. Any issue that is classified as advancing this culture, you can be sure Obama is for it.

Let us pray that the US wakes up and smells the roses and selects a worthy representative to be an ambassador to the Vatican. In the history of salvation, the United States is a blip on the radar. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Christ has been here for almost 2,000 years and will be with us forever. All in all, the Vatican would like to have diplomatic relations with the US, but it certainly is not desperate for them.

Electing a black person

This title sounds a little strange. Perhaps you are wondering if it will turn out to be racist. I hope it grabs attention. But I am not deceiving you, this really is the theme of this latest post. I want to explore what it means for many people to vote for and ultimately elect Barack Hussein Obama and how it relates to Catholic thinking, specifically as far as racism and other issues go.

It was certainly a big change to elect Barack Obama to the White House. Never had a black man been president, but this is especially amazing given the history of racism in the US. Is the US more racist than other countries? I do not think so. Are there conflicts that tend to work along racial lines? Yes. But there are many countries in the world which are much more racist than America.

Barack Obama got into the White House. This alone proves racism can't be as bad as people say it is. White people make up the majority of the United States. Therefore, a large percentage of white people voted for him. Many suggest that the reason for this is that Obama is half black and half white, but this would not explain the white vote, since one of the most racist groups in the United States, the KKK, hate nothing more than the marriage of blacks to whites. They view this as the most serious of crimes. Just as a side note, the KKK also hated Catholics and people of Irish descent, which I'm actually not unhappy about.

The fact that a black man (or so he's called) was elected as president has, in and of itself, a lot of good effects, which I explored in a previous article. But in absolute terms, electing a black man is not necessarily better than electing a white man. This may seem obvious, but when you hear what many commentators and regular people have to say, you realize this is a prevalent attitude.

I believe expressing the opinion that a black man, any black man, being electing to the White House is a good thing represents a high level of racism. A good gauge of racism is to replace "black" with "white". Imagine if someone said, "I'm really glad we elected a white person and not a black person." This person would be labeled a bigot and racist. But if someone says they are happy a black man was elected because he's black, this is not seen in a negative way.

I am very unhappy that Barack Obama was elected. He is the most radically pro-abortion politician in American history and he is ushering in the culture of death with open arms. Everything he does seems to contradict good values. And what makes it all the more maddening is that he doesn't mind being self-contradictory. He doesn't mind saying one minute that he wants to protect all life and then turning around and unleashing the most violent attack on life in history.

People who vote based on the colour of someone's skin are racist, regardless of whether their skin is the same colour as someone else's or not. We should vote for someone who will be pleasing to the people, to the country, but especially to God. If Hitler was a black man, would the holocaust have been a good thing? If we truly claim to be tolerant and accepting of people of all colours, then we would never vote for someone simply because of the colour of their skin.

The side effect of all of this is that Obama gets away with a lot that other politicians wouldn't. If someone objects to him being in the White House, they are labeled a racist. Everything he does is seen as something done by someone who has always been oppressed, therefore it has to be good. It is all too common to think that white people oppress and black people are oppressed. Therefore, if Obama passes a law that violates the sanctity of life, we automatically think he has the right to do that because he has been put down for so long.

We cannot be easy on Obama. We must put him to the test and challenge him. It's hard to believe all the good things President Bush did while in the White House until you see all the things Obama has to reverse. Every day we hear that Bush protected life with various laws, but now Obama is bent on destroying all these laws. It's the equivalent of being in ancient Roman times and Obama reinstating the practice of bringing unwanted children to a hill to die of exposure.

Let us be truly rid of racism. That includes reverse racism and hatred of one's own race. Let's create a society where everyone is treated equally as a child of God.

My apologies

For all those who were expecting an article yesterday since I've started posting daily, I apologize for its absence. I will be posting shortly!

Should we emphasize Christ's suffering or his resurrection?

A friend of mine a few days ago asked if I believe it's accurate to say that Catholics focus on Christ's suffering and death while Protestants focus on the Resurrection. At first I somewhat agreed with him, but I later had more time to think about it and put it into perspective and I developed a few thoughts on the issue.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Catholics do focus on the suffering and death of Christ, whereas this element of Christ's life is overshadowed in Protestant thinking by his resurrection, which they focus on almost exclusively. Of course this will vary from group to group within Protestantism.

Catholic spirituality places a lot of emphasis on Christ's suffering. This can be seen by our devotions. The Stations of the Cross give a 14-step analysis of Christ's trial, suffering, and death of the cross. This was introduced by St. Francis of Assisi. Around this time, around 800 years ago, more graphic representations of Christ's crucifixion became common. Francis of Assisi was the first person to receive the stigmata, which are the wounds of Christ. The Mass, the main worship of Catholics, is called a sacrifice. We present Christ's body and blood to be eaten by the Christian community, just as Christ did at the Last Supper. We pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, which recount five major events of Christ's suffering, and are: 1) His agony in the garden of Gethsemene, 2) Scourging at the pillar, 3) Crowning with Thorns, 4) Carrying the Cross, 5) Crucifixion and death on the cross. We devote an entire season called Lent to align ourselves to the suffering of Christ and be freed from our material desires. Fridays of the year are designated as sacrificial days. In the past, this meant not eating meat on Fridays, but now this can be substituted by another act of penance. There are many more examples of the centrality of Christ's suffering in our theology.

But this emphasis on Christ's Passion is not unnatural, and no devotion will ever go further in the portrayal of Christ's suffering than the amount he actually suffered. Christ suffered more than any person in history, not merely because of the brutal scourging and crucifixion, but because he bore our sins and became the paschal sacrifice of humanity. We should be on our knees praising God for this each and every day.

We believe in Christ ON the cross. The cross without Christ is empty, barren, it does not accomplish our salvation. But our salvation was accomplished by Christ ON the cross. This is where Earth was united with Heaven. Many people say they have an empty cross because Christ conquered death and that he rose from the dead and that he is not on the cross anymore. But if you are showing an empty cross to indicate that Jesus is not on the cross, it would be more accurate to show an empty tomb because that's where Jesus rose from the dead. The point of the crucifix and cross as a symbol of our faith has always been that Christ died for our sins and the cross is where this was accomplished.

It is also important to remember how lovingly and fully we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. Lent is 40 days (46 if you count Sundays), but the Easter Season is 50 days until Pentecost. We celebrate Advent, the preparation of Christmas, but of course, we also celebrate Christmas itself with much joy. We have the Sorrowful Mysteries as I mentioned above, but we also have the Joyful and Glorious mysteries. We call the Mass a sacrifice, but we also call it a celebration.

The reason for this is we believe suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin. When we suffer, we do not just do it to hurt ourselves, we do it to unite ourselves more fully with Christ. By doing so, we give up our attachments to worldly possessions and material satisfaction and become more aware of our relationship with God.

This reminds me of one of my favorite parts of the Passion of the Christ movie. Jesus has been scourged almost to death, his body is wounded beyond recognition from the sadistic treatment he has received, he is bloody, and now he is made to carry his cross. His can barely stand up and falls several times. His mother sees him and is overwhelmed with grief. She rushes to his side where is face down, on his knees, with his cross above him. He is coughing up blood. He says to his mother, "See, I make all things new". This was very powerful for me. Christ did not say "I am suffering a lot" or "I am defeated", but rather he is making all things new. We are washed with the blood of Christ. He is renewing the world. What we see as weakness, Christ sees as strength. What we see as suffering, Christ sees as redemption. Saints have often spoke of the paradox of the cross. As we often say at Mass, "In dying you destroyed our death, in rising you restored our life."

I could go on for many more pages, because this is the essence of our spirituality. But to summarize, I would say this: We cannot separate Christ's resurrection from his suffering and death on the cross, no more than we can separate his human and divine natures. Therefore to ask which we emphasis more is a false dicotomy. Celebrating one or the other exclusively would contradict the message of Christ. As Fr. John Corapi says, we cannot have the crown without the cross.

Proper response to improper comments about the Catholic Church and Christianity

As I've listened to more and more Catholic Answers Live and learn more about my faith, I also learn more about interacting with others. As Christians, we must always give an account for our beliefs and to defend them, but must do it with love and kindness, as Peter tells us in his epistle, in the Bible.

How do we react to slander and blasphemy? I may not be an expert in this subject, but I have learned some things throughout my life. Let me know if you have learned anything by posting a comment on my blog.

1) Do not encourage uncharitable or unkind words. This is very important. Sometimes we see a false dicotomy between speaking out very boldly and noticeably to defend our beliefs and not defending them at all. There is a middle ground however. You must not formally cooperate in evil or encourage it. A good idea I think is if someone says something that's anti-Christian, you don't need to stand out and chastise them, but just do not respond. If it was a joke, do not laugh, if it misinformation, just leave. Make it noticeable that you are not entertained by their comments, but you don't need to give them a public scolding.

2) Whenever possible, tell people something positive about your faith. You can do this subtlely, without starting off with "Christianity is the way to God because...". For example, if someone asks you what you did on the weekend, you can mention that you went to Mass, and list other things as well if you want. Or if someone is sick, mention that you will pray for them.

The point I am trying to make is that in order to evangelize, you do not have to wear an enormous crucifix around your next and only talk about God and your faith. You can evangelize subtlely. Never sacrifice what you hold most dear, and never participate in unkind words toward your beliefs. Always bear witness to the hope that is in you. Having said this, if you feel you are called or feel brave, you can always go out of your way to talk about the love of Christ. If you want to tell people about your faith and to defend it clearly and loudly, by all means, go ahead. Remember, many Christians were killed for their beliefs, so being mocked is not so bad.

Do not take an all or nothing approach. Do whatever you can to spread the good news.