Tim Tebow

I’m a football fan, and my team is the New Orleans Saints.  I’ve been a Saints fan through thick and thin, having watched their first game, and followed them since I was a boy.  Over the time I’ve been a football fan, various players have celebrated extraordinary plays, touchdowns, and victories with an acknowledgement of God, whether tapping their chest and pointing to the sky or kneeling briefly, or making the sign of the cross.  Most of my life I’ve thought of this as a little ridiculous, but I’ve come to understand it better.  And this brings me to Tim Tebow…

First, a little bio of Mr. Tebow.  He’s pretty private, but it’s known that he was born in the Philippines, in Manila, of missionary parents.  I’ve heard that, when his mother was pregnant, she drank some contaminated water and got sick.  She was advised to abort her child (Tim), but instead she prayed, and promised that if Tim was born healthy, he would also be a missionary for Christ.  Tim’s parents brought him up Christian, he was healthy and remained devoutly Christian, to this day.

I don’t really care how good or bad he is as a football player.  He got his team to the playoffs this year, which speaks to his effort, his leadership, his and his team’s talents.  Yes, even at 8-8 (now 9-8), it is apparent.  But what bothers me is that people make such a spectacle of his Christian witness.  And it’s not that they hold him up as an example.  They make fun of him.  And, as a sign of his perseverence and fortitude, Tim could care less what some will say.  He FIRST OF ALL thanks his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his talents.

I used to think it ridiculous for someone making a living playing a game to thank God for that home run, or that sack.  God didn’t give the touchdown to the receiver.  He didn’t make him score.  But as a Catholic, and a devout one, I see it clearly now.  God gives us all gifts.  Our very breath is a gift, let alone the talent to throw a ball nearly 100 mph.  It’s the talent they thank God for.  I don’t know about you, but I thank God every day, first for the gift of the day, and second for all the gifts He’s given me, especially the gift to know Him, and the ability to love Him and serve Him and obey Him.

Whether we thank him so publicly as Tim Tebow, or privately in the dark before we drift off to sleep, let’s always remember where our next heart beat comes from…

God bless you.

More bumper sticker theology

A long time ago (by this blog’s standards) I did a post or two about bumper sticker theology.  Sayings like “Marriage is 50/50″.  And how wrong they are.

Today’s bumper sticker is this one:

Charity begins at home.

Many people use this as an excuse to not give money to the poor outside of their own home, but first, let’s deal with the saying itself…

Where does it come from?

One of the people most referenced as the author of this quote is Sir Thomas Browne, an English physician, writer and theologian:

“But how shall we expect charity towards others, when we are uncharitable to ourselves? ‘Charity begins at home,’ is the voice of the world;” – Sir Thomas Browne, 1642

It was also said by other famous writers and theologians:

“‘Charity should begin at himself.” – John Wycliffe 1383

“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.” – Charles Dickens, 1844

Now some will say that “charity” is the synonym of the theological virtue of agape, and it’s true that love (the other synonym) does begin at home.  But we usually thing of charity as something we give to the poor, and that’s the emphasis here.  To say “Charity begins at home” as an excuse not to give to the poor is wrong.

Of course, we must first take care of our selves, our families.  But does that mean we have to eat steak or have that 5th television, or that latest computer or car?  We can learn to live within our means to the degree that we can begin to share our blessings.  I foresaw the current economic situation several years ago.  I’d been living the American way, using the equity of my house as an ATM and getting the material goods I wanted.  My bank, to their credit, also foresaw that coming, and put a clamp on home equity loans.  This made us realize that we had to really live within our means, and try to find ways to accomplish that.  So we began to pay off debts, and work our way away from having any debt other than our home.  And, thanks to having a good job, we’ve been able to live much more frugally.  We only buy something new when something breaks.  And so, we now have means to give some of our blessing to others in need.

This is one way for Catholics to be missionaries, the way Christ asked us to be.

Why are Protestants so much in denial?

Happy New Year, everyone.  I hope your Christmas was holy, and today, the Epiphany, I wish you all a blessed New Year.

I’ve been quiet lately, as usually off fighting the wars with anti-Catholics.  I’ve heard so many statements…most recently, an Anglican told me that the Blessed Virgin was buried in Spain.  Of course I asked for references…He also states that the Church of England is still part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church…of course, lots of people/groups say they’re part of something without really being part of it.  Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden (and Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity) claim to be Catholic, yet dissent from official Church teaching.

At any rate, I only have a short time to write each day, and I’ve been out defending the Church, so haven’t been here.  Plus, it’s Christmas season…

So anyway, it has occurred to me that Protestants are in such denial-they’re the ones that add things and subtract things form the Christian faith.  Baptism by immersion, but it doesn’t really do anything; everything’s a symbol-Jesus gave the people a symbol in the bread and wine (grape juice); there’s no such thing in the Bible as a pope, or the Assumption, or Mary’s perpetual virginity, or her immaculate conception…

It’s like “Put it all in a blender and see what happens” Christianity. 

Catholics know that the sacraments effect what they signify-that baptism washes away our original sin, that confession wipes out our daily sin, that confirmation enlists us as soldiers of Christ, that anointing heals us, that laying on hands consecrates our priests to Christ, that marriage bonds two people permanently, and Eucharist, which doesn’t effect what it signifies, it signifies what it effect, is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ.  We know Peter was the first head of Christ’s Church because Christ said so.  We know that Mary didn’t have other children, and that Christ had brothers, and that this statement does not contradict itself.

I will continue to be a soldier for Christ, regardless of where (here, elsewhere on the net or live in person), and I never tire of this mission…

God bless you.

Some Catholics are so naive

Not to back or not back Father Corapi, or any other itinerant preacher, but I’ve been in an arguement with someone on some message board who thinks that Fr. Corapi should be ashamed, ashamed, I tell you, to have been charging fees for people to hear him preach!

This is not about Fr. Corapi.  It’s about the economy of the Church.

The best way to explain this is that, like anything else in this world, everything costs money.  In your parish, it costs money for the screw that holds down the pew.  It costs money for the missalette, the hymnal, the bulletin, the lectionary, the sacramentary, the organ, the piano, the light bulbs, the sacramental hosts and wine.  It costs money for vestments, thuribles, not to mention electricity.  It even costs money to feed the priest(s).

The point is that diocesan priests have a salary, and every time your parish has an event, there’s an expense. 

 

If you go see a lay evangelist like Tim Staples, it likely cost $2000 plus expenses to bring him. So it should be no surprise that Father Corapi, who was neither paid nor funded (the Church doesn’t pay any of his overhead expenses-shelter, food, utilities, health and legal costs, and so on) by anyone but by his own endeavors, charges fees to appear.

This, in no way, excuses that he may have had luxury, but it seems that his order does not take a vow of poverty.  Father Corapi’s living situation may seem irregular.  No denying that.  But it was the situation he agreed to, and his order agreed as well. 

Personally, I believe any priest needs a support structure of people, a family, so to speak.  And Father likely failed (if, indeed, he did fail) because of his lone wolf situation.

St. Bernard on the Blessed Virgin Mary

A sermon of St Bernard

The whole world awaits Mary’s reply

You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.

  The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.

  Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.

  Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.

  Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

What is it that people don’t believe about Catholicism?

Catholicism is a very simple religion, though people do make it very complicated.  But that’s people’s nature.

Fundamentally, we believe that an angel appeared to a woman and told her she would concieve without ‘knowledge’ of a man, and that this boy would be God incarnate.  We believe that that boy grew up, and when the time was right, started a ministry of Truth.  After three years of preaching to truth, the earthly powers that be grew concerned about this man’s popularity, and about his claim to be God, and killed him.  After three days, he resurrected and challenged his immediate followers to spread his message, then he rose to be with his Father in heaven.  From that point on, his followers went around the region at great peril, spreading the word, and converting people to spread the good news further.

Eventually some of his followers wrote down some of what he said and did.  But they never stopped talking about Him.  And this has gone on for more than 2000 years.  Some people do it better than others, some people understand it better than others, but one of the things Christ told us was that he would send an Advocate, his Holy Spirit, to keep the Church from corrupting Christ’s message.  The Catholic Church-nothing new for 2000 years…:)

Some said “No, that can’t be right, he meant this”, convinced some people to follow them, rather than Jesus, and they fell away from the true faith of Jesus.  Some of these were small tremors, some great earthquakes.  But still, the Holy Spirit keeps the Catholic Church from error.

Because we say we’re the Church Christ founded, people find all kinds of ways to try and make disbelievers out of believers.  But we must remember that the Church is holy because Christ instituted it, and if we focus on Christ, we will never go wrong.  If we have questions or doubts, we can turn to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church, again, instituted by Christ, for instruction.

We can count on the human nature of the people in the church to fail.  Priests sin, bishops sin, cardinals sin, the pope sins.  Some have worse than others.  The guy next to you in the pew is a sinner.

The point is that any human institution bears criticism in some way, shape or form.  Even the Catholic Church.  What can withstand any criticism is the teaching of the Catholic Church, because it came from the mouth of Jesus.

It’s Christmas, for God’s sake

I’ve been watching a bunch of ‘holiday’ programming on television, and short of EWTN, have found very little Christ in the programming.  There is certainly lots of wreaths, trees, lights, snow, bows, presents, gift giving, dinner preparation, table decoration, talk of family getting together, and so on.  But we forget what all that stuff leads to…the baby Jesus.  All of that stuff is fine and dandy, but just as Easter is not just about bunnies, chicks, chocolate, pretty dresses, etc., Christ is the reason we celebrate all over the world.

I’ve read from some pretty saintly people that, when Christ was born, not only the shepherds in the fields and the Wise Men knew about it, but the Romans did as well.  In Rome a temple to a pagan god collapsed on the day Christ was born, and an oracle proclaimed that it was because a virgin gave birth to a child.  There was great rejoicing in the heavens and on the earth.

When Mary said “Yes” to the Archangel Gabriel, the entire space-time continuum was changed at that moment.  We went from BC to AD in that moment.

Christ’s was the only birth that was heralded centuries before it happened. 

This week, I urge you, in the hustle and bustle of the ‘holiday season’, to take time out and think what Christ’s birth means to the world.  For without Mary’s yes, His birth, His ministry, and especially His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, there would be no Christianity.

One of the first things I blogged on three years ago was an amazing documentary, not approved, or anything, called Bethlehem’s Star, which says that Christ may have been born exactly on Dec. 25, and why. www.bethlehemstar.net takes you to the website, and you can see it on EWTN sometime this holiday season, Dec 22 at 9:30 AM Eastern, and Dec 29, 2 pm Eastern Standard Time, specificially.

I was gone last week participating in our little parish’s mission, which I organized and hosted.  I was a little disappointed at attendance and outcome, but overall, we had a good mission, except that I sprained my ankle the night of the first mission…

God bless everyone.

Speaking of temperance…chastity of the eyes

I was watching television shows I had DVR’d, trying to catch up.  Of course, one of the great things about a DVR is to fast forward through the commercials, especially the commercials about up-coming shows on the network.  I noticed that CBS was doing an hour-long (or maybe longer) Victoria’s Secret commercial, which technically qualifies as pornography on public airwaves.

I have no beef with Victoria’s Secret-they made women’s underwear better, at least in some ways.  I just don’t think it’s a great idea to show scantily clad models in the lingerie parading before the public.  I know, I used to get caught up in the VS Christmas Catalog, just to see who was going to wear the diamond bra, and so on.  But the public display is not good for society.

There’s a few things that sells in TV Ads, these days.  Sex, is number one, and always has been, though it’s never been so blatant.  Catastrophe is number two-just look at the State Farm ads.  Third is humor, and cuteness.

Again, remember that temperance is not the absence of something any more than real peace is the absence of war.  I’m just glad I have the virtue of prudence working for me, and can fast forward through commercials…I encourage you to do the same thing…

Eye on temperance

The “Christmas” season (for most people, not Catholics, who call it Advent) is usually a time of heavy excess-in spending money, in eating too much, drinking too much, and romancing too much.  For Catholics, this is supposed to be a time of preparation for the coming of our Lord.

And so I thought I’d talk a bit about temperance and virtue in general.

While it’s true that we will never reach a point where sin ceases to be an issue, we CAN make great progress in our spiritual journey by striving to grow in virtue.  Then, when tested, we’re disposed to act in accordance with our values.

 

A virtue is a good habit that inclines us to perform morally good actions, as opposed to a vice, which is a bad habit that inclines us to sin.

 

Virtues enable us to do the right thing with ease, with readiness, with joy, with effectiveness.

 

Virtues are character muscles.  Look what an elite athlete must do to become an elite athlete-hours and hours of working out, grinding, sweating, practicing.  We must do the same thing-growing in virtue.

 

When we begin an exercise regimen, we want to quickly whip ourselves into shape, but we can’t.  We must start slowly, focusing on one muscle group at a time.

 

All virtues relate to the seven fundamentals-the theological ones of faith, hope and charity (love), and the moral virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

 

 

In this season of Advent, we should focus on the virtue of temperance.

 

Temperance is not pleasure avoidance any more than peace is absence of war.

 

Temperance is about living the good life. Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.

 

Passions are a given, not good or evil, but needing to be harnessed by the intellect and will or they will rule us. Temperance involves staying strong during a storm of passion, whether that of food, drink, sexual pleasure or greed. 

In Titus 2:1-8 St. Paul tells us

As for yourself, you must say what is consistent with sound doctrine, namely, that older men should be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance. Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, so that they may train younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers, under the control of their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.

Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves, showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us.

Why is everything all of a sudden “sexy”?

I hear the word ‘sexy’ being bandied about almost as much today as I do ‘love’. I really believe we are saying a word when we don’t mean it.  How is a house or a room sexy when it’s been well decorated?  How is a tool, like a chain-saw, sexy?

Sexy is an adjective that describes sexual attraction in humans.  Are we sexually attracted to a nail gun?  Or to a house?  Does either of those things make us want to have sex with them or in front of them?  I think not.

I would like to propose a return to another word, especially when we find something attractive, let’s just call it ‘attractive’, unless we really feel a sexual identity with it?  It just means that I want that…whatever it is, right?  Wanting earthly things, or having an attachment to them, is natural, if it’s not disordered.

But further, even if we see someone who we are attracted to, should we immediately think ‘sexy’?  I believe this way of thinking gets us in loads of trouble.  As a man, if I see an attractive woman, society would paint her as an object-a sex object, someone who’s there for my pleasure.  But it’s wrong to objectify anything.  That’s worshipping that thing, to some degree, and worship is reserved for God.

So while we may take pleasure from seeing a pretty girl (or guy, for you ladies) walking down the street, I urge people to stop thinking ‘sexy’.  ‘Attractive’ fills the bill.