On Corpus Christi Pope Francis Disturbs

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Not repentance, Confession, and Jesus all rolled into one

Repentance, Confession, and Jesus all rolled into one?

In honor of Corpus Christi, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Eucharist.  As usual he said some uplifting things but, true to form, some of the things he said were unsettling, some were disturbing, and some were jarring.

We are accustomed to being wary now.  We can’t just assume Pope Francis is presenting us with Catholicism when he speaks, can we?

The Eucharist is the seal of God’s covenant, uniting Christians and giving them the strength to bring God’s love to others, even when faith carries a high price, Pope Francis has said.

The Eucharist does give us strength to love others, even when faith carries a high price, but is it really a ‘seal of God’s covenant?’  I thought it was God Himself.

Does Communion unite Christians with each other, or does receiving Him unite us all with Christ?

Celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ with an evening Mass outside Rome’s Basilica of St John Lateran, Pope Francis said the church and its members will never cease being in awe of the Eucharist.

Is this not something we can take as a given, since God is awesome?

Pope Francis asked the faithful as they walked through the city with the Eucharist to remember “our many brothers and sisters who do not have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus”.

This is true.  The freedom to process through the streets is a great and necessary thing.  I wish more of us felt free and willing to do so.

“Let us be united with them; let us sing with them, praise with them, adore with them,” he said. “And, in our hearts, let us venerate those brothers and sisters who were asked to sacrifice their lives out of fidelity to Christ. May their blood, united to the Lord’s, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.”

The Pope has made it clear before that by ‘martyrs’ he means anyone killed for professing Christ, not just Catholics.  The vast majority of those murdered for Christianity lately are not Roman Catholics.  Is their blood united to the Lord’s?  How much heresy and sin would a murdered ‘christian’ have to embrace before there was some disunity?

How can the deaths of Christians at the hands of Muslims be “pledges of peace and reconciliation for the whole world?”  A death is not a pledge.  Are peace and reconciliation God’s goals in a world full of sin and evil?  Perhaps first He wants faith and obedience.

I would imagine those killed might hope someone would pledge to defeat ISIS through military campaigns, because they know first-hand that it would bring peace and safety for others like themselves.  Most people brave and faithful enough to die for the name of Christ also know what peace really entails.

The Eucharist, he said, “sanctifies us, purifies us and unites us in a marvellous communion with God. In that way we learn that the Eucharist is not a prize for the good, but strength for the weak; for sinners it is pardon; it is the viaticum that helps us move forward, to walk.”

Does the Eucharist purify us?  What if we aren’t repentant?  What if we haven’t made a good Confession?  What good Catholic would consider the Eucharist his ‘prize’ anyway?  Why does the Pope employ strawmen?

Is the Eucharist pardon for the sinner?  Are the Last Rites administered without Confession?  Holy Communion is certainly a manifestation of God’s Mercy since He comes to us and heals us, giving us strength.  But it’s dangerous, particularly now, to give the impression that Communion is a time for forgiveness of sins.  That is what happens for the repentant sinner during Confession. Then, purified through the mercy of God and his Church, the good person can be strengthened and healed by union with Our Lord Himself.

Union with God entails a certain effort on our part, because God is holy.

 

 

 

 

The Crescat Has Faith

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The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

At Patheos the Crescat is one of many who responded to the Anchoress’s call when she asked people why they stay Catholic.

… The question of why we remain Catholic has been asked of the Patheos writers, in response to Pew Report stating our numbers are dwindling.

I’m not much for big word-y words, preferring to keep it straightforward.

I’m Catholic and plan to remain so until I die and my big fat Catholic soul flies off to Catholic Heaven – the part of Heaven where the alcohol and fireworks are kept in ample supply. The existence of Catholic Heaven has been well documented.

If I didn’t leave the Church amidst scandal or liturgical abuse it stands to reason that there’s not much that would make me go. Not even other Catholics.

On the other side of the coin, I don’t stay simply because I love my priests and think they are awesome guys. I don’t stay for the art, the architecture, the traditions, or even the awesome nuns.

You can’t base decisions like that on such superficial reasons.

As awesome as I think the Catholic Church is; with Her brains, beauty and generous nature, that is not why I choose to remain a Catholic. It’s not the beer nor the bacon.

I remain Catholic because the Church is Truth.

I’ve seen the Truth. I’ve experienced it firsthand. I’ve been baptized in the Truth. Confirmed in it. I’ve tasted and drank the Truth. I’ve Adored it and received graces and forgiveness from the Truth.

I have looked plainly and unflinchingly at the Truth and to leave the Church would be to turn my back on all that I know, believe, and have experienced.

To leave the Church is to embrace Hell.

Amen. The end.

This is a good answer.  It reminds me of St. Peter.  The Church has unity in itself.  The truth is complete.  It has a life of its own.  Partial truth is just false and morbid.

How long must we endure all this blather about being part in and part out of the Church, about an ‘ecumenism of blood’ in the name of Jesus, and how the Devil knows all Christians are one?  It doesn’t stand to reason.  It is killing souls.

Let the heretics pray Our Lord will have mercy above and beyond the truth He has revealed. Let them try to make sense out of confusion, and integrate sins using false faith.  If our own voice doesn’t ring clear how will they hear it and be saved?

Katrina Fernandez makes the sacrifices and pays the price to be united to the Church.  She’s no fool and sees the difference between black and white.  You have to take the long view and see the ends of things to understand.

 

 

 

 

Everything Must Be Gay All the Time Even in the Church

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Ushering in the Church of Love, one heresy at a time.

Ushering in the Church of Love one heresy at a time.

The pseudo Church of all things loving, which is quite the opposite of the Catholic Faith, was once only a ridiculous ghost seen on television and in the minds of proud perverts.  Suddenly it has manifested, much like Bruce Jenner, into an frightening reality from one end of the Catholic world to the other.

The Boston Globe’s smug CruxMag usually tries to restrain its glee at the victories of the Church’s enemies.  It pretends to be somewhat Catholic in the hopes it will catch more flies.

Not anymore.

So what to make of same-sex attraction? The logic says: Since sexuality is inextricably linked to procreation, sex that is non-procreative is disordered. Good logic, but an invalid conclusion. Why? Because of our current understanding of the origins of homosexuality.

If it is not chosen, if it is something that seems to be (as current science continues to demonstrate) as much a part of human personality as opposite-sex attraction, then it is part of how God created a person. To suggest that an involuntary orientation deeply linked to the need for human connection and relationship was put there by God but meant to be suppressed and unused is to depict God as a wicked prankster placing insupportable, arbitrary obstacles in the path of people for whom he supposedly has infinite, creative love.

And here’s where we start to see the dead end of this chain of reasoning — this branch of the tree has just gone as far as it can grow, and is no longer contributing to the life of the whole. Regardless of whether anecdote and data are singular and plural, wherever I look and listen, there is someone who is troubled by the fact that a young person whom they love is more and more alienated from the Church because of the current teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. If, as the current polling data seem to show, young people are dropping away at increasing, even unprecedented, rates on account of this issue, then this branch of the tree is literally a dead end.But another branch is producing real fruit, and it is that branch to which those supporters of same-sex marriage who still identify deeply with Christian tradition — with the “Church” in its full, proper meaning — are looking when they politely or impolitely defy public condemnation of same-sex marriage by clerics of their Church and march or vote in favor of it.

But make no mistake — they are being “swayed by their Church.” They know perfectly well that “their Church” preaches “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). They know that their Church preaches “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in them” (1 Jn. 4:16).

They look at the same-sex couples they know who seek to be married, and they see mutuality, and commitment, and fidelity, sometimes in the face of overwhelming vitriol and resistance.

They see relationships that welcome and nurture children.

They see love. And they know what their Church preaches about that.

Our world today is everything gay everywhere all the time.  We have transgender country singers, gay football players, men crying and whining on television, pronoun enforcers and kids punished for having a gender.  No one is permitted to speak against it.  Any communications will get you fired or sued.  Gay is never a choice, as if people were snails.

Few are actually committed to being gay so why this enormous worldwide push from our overlords?  What is their end game? How far will they reach into our Church?  What will it be when they are through?