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So I’ve been thinking about what marriage is lately due to all the news in California. The media seems to be falling all over itself to show grown men kissing each other and to sing the supposed joys of allowing Spouse A to “marry” Spouse B. Two questions have come to mind to me this week about the Sacrament of Marriage.

1. How many people are in a marriage?
2. Who is the most important person in a marriage? Hint its not Spouse A.

I think most people would answer two to the first question, and my spouse to the second question. But if we take more than a second to think about the questions and their answers, I think we will come up with the correct answers that our society has forgotten.

The correct answers are three to the first question and God to the second question. The third and most important person in a true marriage has been forgotten.

Continue reading Marriage Quiz

I rarely ever send emails on but I realized I have now have an outlet for the good ones.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him.   Everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. 
 
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and in anger He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?"
 
Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
 
The Moral of This Story: It’s easy to get discouraged when things   are going bad, but we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

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Continue reading When Your Hut Is On Fire

The quote "Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary use words” is consistently attributed to St. Francis. Yet the most distinguished Franciscan scholars cannot find it in any of St. Francis’ writings and they cannot find it attributed to him in any writing about him within 200 years of his death. If any reader of this blog can reference the writing please add a comment below and tell me where.

The quote has an obvious Franciscan spirit and St. Francis did tell his friars not to preach unless they had received the proper permission to do so from the local Bishop while adding “Let all the brothers, however, preach by their deeds.”

So why are we so fixated on a quote that cannot be properly referenced to its supposed author? Is it because the quote is similar to the famed sayings "actions speak louder than words", "put up or shut-up", is it because many times we’d prefer not to be preached to, is it because by preaching we would become hypocrites if our own actions don’t match up to what we are preaching, or is it because it lets the average Christian off the hook of actually preaching the Gospel? I think the later applies more than we care to think. So ask yourself the following questions:

• When was the last time you preached the Gospel using words?
• Have you ever preached the Gospel?
• Why are we as Catholic Christians so quiet about the Gospel as a whole?
• If we truly believe what the Gospels says why is our faith not more intertwined with everything we do?

Our actions do need to be in accordance with what the Gospel teaches, but we also need to spread the Word of God by using words. So I suggest we move to a more effective way of preaching the Gospel by actually using words and the next time you hear the quote attributed to St. Francis I suggest you respond with the alternative of "Preach the Gospel always, using both words and actions".   And if you like you can reference it to www.GetToMass.com

Lord Jesus help me to spread your Gospel through both my Words & Actions.

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Continue reading Preach the Gospel & Please Use Words

I’m surprised at how tough getting a post out every day is and I actually feel bad when I don’t get one out. Last week I had posts written in advance on Tuesday to cover me until Saturday. This week I have no posts in reserve. I hope people are enjoying the posts and I hope to add more content in other areas of the site. I do have one request of my readers and visitors. "Please, provide feeback". Leave a comment on the articles or cast a vote when the poll is up. Use an alias on your comments and no one will know who you are, but I would like feedback when ever possible. When ever I go to look at the site I’m always looking to see if someone posted a comment or if I have a poll up I’m always looking to see what the current tally is or how many visitors came that day. I don’t think anyone wants to write something that no one reads except maybe a diary. So whenever possible please comment.

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Continue reading Feedback

Almost a year ago now, the Pope spoke about Protestant denominations not being true “Churches” but ecclesiastical communities. The media ran with the juicy headline knowing your average Joe Christian is not going to look to see what was really said and in its entire context. Our “sound bite” society got all upset over the Pope’s attempt at true Christian dialog. Benedict XVI was communicating what a ‘Church” really is and what defines the use of the word “Church”. For a church to be a “Church”, Catholic doctrine requires it to be in union with a Bishop who is in union with the Pope, the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ. A Church also must have the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Christ. Not a symbolic communion.

Protestants obviously don’t believe in these dogmas and therefore by Catholic definition cannot be called Churches. To be honest and have true dialog that bears fruit both sides must understand the definitions of the words being used in a dialog. But instead of true dialog the media runs with snippets of what was said in order to created headlines that stir up and divide Christians. We all would get a lot farther if we try to see where the other side is coming from verses working from our own biases but the media won’t tell the whole story and fuels the flame of division.

I personally can see how the Catholic Church’s definition of what a “Church” is would upset non-Catholic Christians, but ultimately what the Pope is saying is true and he is saying it in order for people to understand Catholic teaching. What is the definition of the word church? In America the definition is a place where Christians gather to worship God. But the early Church fathers required “Churches” to be union with the Bishop who was in union with the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, and they needed to have the Eucharist. Protestants have changed the definition of the word Church over time and the Pope is calling us to look at the original definition.

Words obviously have meanings, but when you change the definitions of words a lot of things change, even the context of history can change. Now by taking this into consideration this is why the current battle over the definition of the word “marriage” is so important. If things go on their current path the definition of the word marriage will change, and 100 years from now a Pope will make a comment about true “Marriage” being between a man and a woman, and it will start the same fury that occurred last year about the definition of the word “Church” because society’s definition will have changed.

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Continue reading Don’t Change the Definitions

Do we need to be "born again" as many Protestants would say, or "born from above" per John 3:3?

In John 3:3 & 3:7 the Greek adverb "anothen" means both "from above" and "again". In John 3:3 Jesus means "from above" but Nicodemus misunderstands it as "again" as demonstrated in John 3:4. This misunderstanding serves as a point for further instruction by Jesus later in John 3, but most Protestant translations choose to ignore Jesus’ own correction and translate "anothen" as the word "again" in John 3:3. This is a prime example of why translating words and intent are so difficult.

Being "born from above" is what the sacrament of Baptism does for us. I see accepting Jesus as "your personal Lord & Savior", which is what most Protestants would say is the definition of being "born again" means, is akin to the sacrament of Confirmation. That is when you are to choose Jesus by your own free will, then and every day after. But after the reformation Protestants hacked away at the sacraments to distance themselves from the Catholic Church and they modify solid Biblical translations to fit their own theology. This has caused confusion of many, even Catholics, ever since.

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Continue reading Born From ABOVE

I thought I’d do a little research on Friday the 13th and where the whole superstition came from. I had originally thought the it might stem from Christ’s crucifixion potentially being on a Friday the 13th or what Christians would refer to as Good Friday. But according to Wikipedia.com, the new information center of the world wide web, Christ’s crucifixion took place on the 14th day of Nissan in the Hebrew Lunar Calendar.

Ultimately I didn’t find an easy answer and it appears to come down to plain old superstition that the occult has gravitated to over time.

I suggest that maybe we all give an extra prayer on this Friday the 13th. I would request a rosary for the purpose of fighting pornography and then tracking on the link to the left.

God Bless

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Continue reading Friday the 13th

Every since the creation of the television our society has been obsessed with TV. The biggest events in the last 60 years were all televised; the Kennedy assassination, man landing on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and other monumental events. Ultimately our fascination with TV I think comes down to our pride. We like to see ourselves. Whether it is through photographs or moving pictures we like to see ourselves talk, act, move, think, etc. We are fascinated with our selves, which is probably why pride is at the top of the list of the seven deadly sins. The church teaches we were created to love, worship, and serve our Lord not ourselves.

I remember as a kid I loved television, the Brady Bunch was my favorite show followed close behind by Gilligan’s Island and other afternoon re-runs. My dad would sometimes refer to the TV as the “boob tube”. When you’re a 10 years old that doesn’t really sink in but now I get it. TV wasn’t making me a better person, it made me lazy.

These days the internet has taken over as the TV of the day. Kids in my religious education class said they rarely watched TV these days and spent most of their time on the internet and chatting with friends. But seeing ourselves in action is still something we seem to be most fascinated with, which is why I think YouTube.com is one of most popular sites on the internet.

So the other night I did a search on the word “catholic” on YouTube.com and the first three search results are all short video’s that paint the Catholic Church in a horrible light. The first one is a Catholic mother going off on her son when she finds out he no longer considers himself Catholic shortly after confirmation. Note to all parents, the son was secretly taping the conversation; you don’t want to be put in this situation, so keep your cool at all times. The second video is a comedian poking fun at Catholic sacramentals and the third video appears to be serious video on someone trying to learn about the church for the first few moments until it obviously becomes a farce video that digs at the priest scandal.

YouTube.com I think is a decent gage of our societies collective thought. Jesus said that those who follow him will be persecuted and the Catholic Church certainly persecuted on YouTube. But YouTube is a tool that can be used for either good or bad. Catholics do not have to allow tools like YouTube to put the church in a negative light. In the grand scheme of eternal life YouTube isn’t very important but it can be an awesome tool for evangelization. Just think if Catholic’s never choose to use the printing press. The question is will Catholic’s use tools like YouTube? Or will we allow it to be controlled by the persecutors?

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Continue reading The BoobTube World