Words That Build Up Or Tear Down

Words are powerful. God reveals Himself to us through His Word, yet how many of us truly read the Bible and study it for our own edification and spiritual growth? Or do we discard it in favour of the latest thriller or fantasy novel. If so then how are we to 'know God' for when we ignore His Word as St. Jerome said, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." We ignore Scripture at our own peril!

Yet even if we read the Scriptures daily, but fail to act what they teach us we are but sounding cymbals in a world full of raucous noise, once again St. Jerome admonishes us with these wise words, "Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, 'Why do you not practice what you preach?' This marvelous Saint indeed speaks wisely for when we 'use' God's Word in order to accuse others of their sins, or instead to try and prove to all our great knowledge and faith then how is that so different from the 'proud Pharisee? The worst though is when we use knowledge of God's Word to hide ones lascivious nature, for one cannot speak angelic words with the heart of a devil!

We need to use our words wisely for in our words we have the power to bring both happiness and grief, we can either build someone up who has suffered or add to their burden by thoughtless words uttered by inexperience if not downright ignorance. It helps if we have gained a sound knowledge and grounding in Scripture for as the Word reveals to us, "Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing." As this Scripture suggests we are all a work in progress, and at times we too are in need of an encouraging word but also one guided in wisdom, lest we speak more as a longing to be liked than speak the Truth as revealed to us through the Word and the Teachings of the Church.

In order to build each other up we must also not judge one another as if we were perfect, but neither should we neglect speaking the Truth for fear of being ridiculed. Correction is good for the soul and those who object wise council should look within their own hearts as to the reasons why? For as St. Paul says, ." If a brother or sister is engaged in an act, or is displaying an attitude, that is sinful and destructive to them and to others, it is essential that they be approached in love so that their destructive behavior may be altered. At times our approach may have to be firm; punishment may even be called for; but these can all be acts of edification if entered into with the proper spirit. If our "severity" is generated from a spirit of anger, frustration, hatred, spite, or desire for vengeance, then we are "tearing down;" but if our "severity" is generated from a spirit of love, concern, and a desire for repentance and continued fellowship, then we are "building up." "For though I cause you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it.....for you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.....in order that you might not suffer loss."

We must always be aware that every person needs to feel loved, validated and needed, so in order to be truly wise, we must weigh our words for they will act upon the heart like a flower ready to bloom or they will crush the bud before it had reached its full maturity. So before we speak remember to examine your own inner motives, and to pray to the Holy Spirit so we may speak in wisdom so as to edify the recipient rather than cause harm and hinder the spiritual path of another. As Thomas Kempis says, "In all your actions keep your end in sight, and how you will stand before your judge, your God, from whom nothing is hidden." Once again to paraphrase, 'it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean but what comes out of him.'

At times we may not know that our actions and words are harming another in that our overzealousness instead of helping may in fact harm the recipient, St. Philip Neri wisely says, "If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility and charity." When our friends come to us with their souls in anguish and the wounds within exposed, do we rub salt in them or do we with utmost compassion become a balm to the troubled and pained individual. At these times words do not need to be expressed as a look of compassion and mercy may achieve more than any word. Our expressions at these times speak louder than words, as tears of empathy flow forth, sometimes tears are our liquid prayers, as Helen Keller eloquently expressed, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart."

We may think what has words to do with spiritual warfare? This is so because it is from the mind that sin begins and is then carried out in both word and deed. For Satan knows our weakness, if we are quick to take offense he will send us offensive people, if we are over sensitive, he will send people to criticize our every word and action, but if some are lazy and apathetic, Satan leaves them to themselves, for they are already his. So if we think that Satan has no use for words then many will be sadly mistaken, for Satan is a sower of malice and discord is its seed upon which hate becomes its fruit.

This should teach us to measure each word as if our soul depended on it for it does, for when we wound another, we wound Christ! We need to take heed of our words and motives, but in order to do so we also need to know what is pleasing for God to hear, and that is words spoken in love, even when correcting another. In the words of another great Saint, "A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love." St. Basil is correct for what we give to others and how we treat them will affect our own relationship with our Heavenly Father, for what is said cannot be taken back, so if we wound a child of God how then does it benefit anyone?

In finishing let us remember we are all at times in need of a kind word, a gentle reminder that all is not lost and the knowledge that we are loved.

Peace of Christ to ALL

Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.

Spiritual and Emotional Exortionists

At times Christians can be their own worst enemies, when it comes to discerning what is true and what is false in the people they meet. We bend over backwards to be accommodating to almost everyone and anyone, in order not to be perceived as 'not nice' or that we are being 'judgmental.

These kind words and feelings feed the emotional extortionists, who then prey on the kindness of others, in an attempt to control them by using their very kindness against them. These people manipulate the good hearts of those who are trying to help them by playing on the good nature of Christians in full knowledge that these very Christians will try their best to help those who seek it.

The emotional extortionists will use various means in order to manipulate and control those around them. Some will play the 'victim' and expect others to come racing to their defense even if they themselves are at fault, for the victim can see no fault in themselves! The victim takes no prisoners as it endeavours to convince others of their perceived persecutions, even if it means fabricating most of their story so as to gain the sympathy of the crowd.

Another attempt at manipulation are those who have suffered at another's hand, they then proceed to list their litany of woe to all who will listen. They will also match anyone else when it comes to suffering as no one on earth has had to go through their perceived torturous path. These people will feign sympathy over another's serious pain but then turn it to their own advantage by claiming their own suffering is ten times worse than anyone else's.

Yet again we have another level of extortion with the 'champions' of those who are lost or lonely, these manipulators come to the aid of those who are truly hurting not to help them but in order to control them. Once the emotional extortionist has gained the trust of the one hurting they then proceed to control them by denying them their due dignity. They begin by encompassing the hurting individual as they make themselves the 'hero' of the piece but once they have gained the trust of the person hurting they then begin the disintegration process by intimidation and exclusion. These hero's of the hurting will then embark on a mission of playing hot and cold friend, in order to unnerve the unsuspecting victim and gain further control over them, as these hurting souls appeal to them for mercy, only to find none! The 'hero' of the piece eventually becomes the owner of the moment by controlling their hurting friend through gushing praise one day and the next by coldly ignoring them, thereby ensuring the continued insecurity of the wounded and needy.

We also have the spiritual competitor, who turns all things religious into a competition, therefore if you pray 1 hour a day they pray 10 hours. If you are able to attend Mass 3 days a week the competitor will tell you they attend Mass 6 days a week, if you read the Bible everyday the competitor reads the Bible all day long. If you have given to the needy the competitor has given twice as much as anyone else. With the spiritual competitor the only winner is themselves! Everything you say and do is wrong and everything they say and do is absolutely correct, there is no arguing with the competitor, for they can see no wrong in themselves and instead spend copious hours proving how wrong you are in everything!

Then comes the most dangerous of extorters, these are the violators, these emotional extortionists prey on those who have disabilities, are suffering from low self esteem or who are lonely and needy. These emotional violators, will feign sympathy with those in need in order to gain their trust and confidences and once the needy person has emptied their heart and soul of their inner pain and secrets, the violator then blackmails the needy by controlling them to do their bidding by intimidating them into submission. The 'friend' has indeed become the foe! These type of extortionists have no sympathy for those who have entrusted their private lives to them, indeed they instead feel secret contempt towards the more vulnerable, as they deem them 'weak' and 'insipid', therefore these manipulators have no conscience towards using the 'weaklings' for their own devious purposes.

There is also one other element of emotional extortionist, which they play to the hilt and that is by claiming themselves as 'martyrs' of another persons malice. In order to prove their torture they will embellish if not totally falsify their stories, in order to gain the sympathy and the support of all they can appeal too. These self proclaimed 'martyrs' will always make themselves the centre of attention, even unto feigning false weeping as they point the finger at everyone else for their own failures. They will claim that they are the victims and spend copious hours regaling everyone with past hurts and anguish, and then insist that they have been 'persecuted' by others by inferring that these purported 'persecutors' are jealous of them. These 'martyrs' when questioned will become very aggressive as they rail yet again against another's disloyalty, for the martyr is entirely self focused and no one's pains matches theirs!

Then comes the 'toxic' personality this is a person who only focuses on the negatives of their own lives but more importantly your life as well. They see no good in themselves and also fail to recognise the good in others, therefore all the good you do will become fodder for them to criticize for criticism appeals much more to these lazy souls, as their focus is not on helping others but destroying them. These toxic personalities will pick at and minimise all your achievements and belittle your successes. They will also try and do their utmost to destroy your very essence and sense of self-worth in an effort to feel superior to you. Nothing escapes the tentacles of the toxic personality as they feed on humiliating those who are willing to give of themselves to others, for to the toxic personality your failure is their success!

Another aspect of emotional and spiritual extortion is the 'chameleon' personality who in themselves are unable to assimilate into normal society so they then observe the characteristics of those they perceive as stable in an attempt to make themselves more acceptable to others. This behavioural pattern can be dangerous in that the chameleon extortionist will also steal your own life experiences and claim it for themselves. Not only will they steal your lives but they will also claim as their own any experiences they have observed in movies and read in books, in effect their lives shift from the real to the unreal. These extortionists become dangerous when they are faced with looking at who they truly are, they will then become abusive, aggresive and lash out rather than face their own inner demons. The 'chameleon' personality is totally anti-social and lack the ability to communicate in an open and friendly manner, this is why they instead copycat the behaviour of more normal people, in the hopes of fooling the majority into accepting them as equals.

Once again we also have another personality disorder which can be called the 'projectionist', these types of people lack all social graces and find it difficult to fit in with any group. They also have an inbuilt inferiority complex and tend to lash out at anyone they may perceive as 'better than them'. The usual weapons for the projectionist is to accuse those they feel inferior too of the very feelings they harbour within themselves. The warped vision of the 'projectionist' distorts any ambiguous remark as an attack on themselves and they will then with use tactics to try and demolish the person who has made them feel inadequate. They do this by sarcastic humour which lacks the very thing they are trying to display, real humour, instead what is supposed to seem funny looks decidedly unfunny. This group of people will also try and project themselves as socially superior to anyone else in an effort to hide their inability to connect in a cognitive way with normal people. This type though cannot maintain the exterior and their lack of social graces soon becomes evident as they resort to ridiculing and denigrating the very people they wish to emulate. The projectionist then projects their own latent animosity and anti-social behaviour onto their victim, in that they have no understanding that the real protagonist is themselves.

We also need to realise that not everybody who has suffered is a manipulator, indeed many have suffered at the hands of another, but the more emotionally and spiritually stable will prayerfully hand over their hurts to our Lord and move on from the bad experience having learnt valuable lessons. To these genuine sufferers we need to encourage them and support them through their sincere crisis with patient understanding as our Lord Heals them through His Grace.

It is up to the Christian to use the gift of discernment in order to recognise the emotional extortionist, for remember these very extortionist are relying on the best part of your nature so they may infiltrate into your very heart and soul. We are to be caring to all without exception, but we are not called to allow ourselves to be held hostage when it comes to our Christian principles. For if a soul is truly hurting then it is our responsibility to guide them to the Divine Physician, where our Lord and Saviour will heal them of their pain. We are simply mere stepping stones in the healing process, but what we are not called to be is...doormats.

Peace of Christ to ALL

Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.

Christ In The Ruins

When our world seems to be full of woe and great catastrophe's abound we can wonder, where is God in all this? Some will say that it is God's punishment on a people that have strayed from the path of righteousness. Others will opine that it is the end of the world and go on long lamentations on everyone else's sins but not there own!

None can speak for God we may never know the reasons behind many catastrophes, but neither can we place everything at the door of a fickle Mother Nature who places no one above her tempestuous reach. When we build hotels, shops and homes on the shores of our native land should we be shocked that an earthquake may turn the water into a tsunami which then destroys all in its path. Is it the fault of Mother Nature when many build high-rises and other monumental buildings on land that is known for its many earthquakes, then when the ground shakes down fall the buildings as many are crushed beneath them? Do we blame God or Mother Nature when we are warned that a catastrophic hurricane is heading in our direction yet the levies that were built to protect the land from flooding can only hold a category three, where as the predicted storm is a category five, is that God's fault? If we build our homes below an active volcano do we blame God when it convulses back to life with devastating results? Is this not the thinking of little children to point the finger at everyone else but never look beyond to our inability to take Mother Nature seriously.

Yet we cannot deny the truth that God is in control of all, including Mother Nature. God shows this through His Word, when He flooded the earth because of man's iniquities and lack of repentance. Once again God through Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and by parting the Red Sea, the Israelites made it to safety whilst the Egyptians who had pursued them drowned. We also see through the Miracles of Jesus when He calmed the stormy sea which had terrified the disciples, healed the sick and lame and brought the dead back to life, that God is all Powerful.

Yet in our history have there not always been catastrophes where whole empires were overthrown as if overnight. Where lands were flooded beyond recovery and volcanoes killed in an instant all that were trapped in its path. But unlike ages past, these days we have access to multi media so when one land is hit with a catastrophe the world learns of this with a flick of a TV switch. Catastrophes are not new, but we are always stunned by them when they happen, how can they not happen when we build our homes both temporal and spiritual on shifting sands?

What should we think when these terrible tragedies occur? Let us look to some of our Saints as they too pondered the meaning of catastrophes and tragedies, as St. Augustine said, "Since nations as such do not pass to eternal life, they are rewarded or chastised in this life for the good or evil they practice; good and bad alike feel the effects of both reward and chastisement. As for the good, the chastisement purifies their love of God, and may even take them from the tribulations of this life to the eternally happy life of Heaven; "Job’s case exemplifies that the human spirit may be proved, and that it may be manifested with what fortitude of pious trust, and with how unmercenary a love, it cleaves to God."

Perhaps we need to look at natural catastrophes in a different eye in that maybe we are being challenged to love more than we do, and to give not from our bounty but from our inner core. When catastrophes happen do we count out our pennies to help the victims recover while we keep our dollars so as not to be deprived of our own luxuries that we have grown accustomed too? Maybe this is a lesson for those better off to help others with their hearts and not only their wallets. Do we really give till it pains us? Till we and our families feel the pinch? Or do we spare what we don’t want, is that truly compassionate giving?

Are we a loving and compassionate people? Do we take the example shown by our Lord and Saviour seriously or do we give mere lip service when we hear the cries of the downcast and broken hearted? Could we follow in the steps of our Lord who though sinless paid for our iniquities in atonement for the many grievous sins done against Him? As St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Justice and mercy appear in the punishment of the just in this world, since by afflictions lesser faults are cleansed in them, and they are the more raised up from earthly affections to God." As the Word reminds us, the rain shall fall on the good and the evil in equal measure. Saint Gregory also said, ‘The evils that press on us in this world force us to go to God.’

Could this be a call from God to return to Him and give to God what is due to Him, our unfaltering love and gratitude not for what our Heavenly Father can give us but because of who He is, for God is Goodness itself. Or are there too many Esau’s in the world who are prepared to sell out their Salvation so they may enjoy the superficialities of life, rather than the treasure which God holds in store for His beloved children.

When catastrophes occur we need not wonder where is Christ, for He is in the ruins with his afflicted children. The challenge is, where are you when the weak and the weary face us not with their poverty.....but with ours?

Peace of Christ to ALL

Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.

The Valentine BUG

Ah yes! Valentine day is upon us. It’s the time for chocolate, roses and stuffed animals. Cupid is busing himself shooting arrows, the devil is singing and the cash registers are going “cha-ching.” Sex toys are out in all their glory, condom advertisements have been quadrupled, hotels are offering packages for couples to come and share an “intimate” evening and night and the kinky lingerie has turned from scraps to floss. We hear people saying Valentine day has lost its meaning as far as “love” is concerned but the harsher reality is what it has turned into…. a day and night in honor of vices.

Far too many young people choose this day to give away one of their most precious gifts, their virginity. They plan for months to make this night oh so perfect for their first time. Some will argue, hey they don’t even wait and plan for Valentine day but the fact remains that far to many use this “holiday” as an avenue to entice their partner into giving up something that should be saved for your beloved spouse on your wedding night. Just do it….. on your wedding night. I am not saying to get married for the sake of having sex “within” marriage, marriage is not to be taken lightly nor is having sex. It’s not even called sex, its called “making love”.

Almost laughable. For starters what is dubbed “making love” is more often than not, brutal, perverse and downright degrading to those partaking in the act. God created us above the animals yet some humans choose to behave like animals, not even like animals but worse than them. What was created to be a beautiful union of a man and a woman, yes a man and a woman, has been twisted and misshaped into something that people either well are ashamed of or just don’t care about.

And yup that deceiver of all deceivers is behind it all. We have those who think that sex is this bad thing and cringe at the mention of the word, oh no not me, not sex! I can understand where it stems from but it is not right to think that sex is something bad and wrong. Anything created by God is indeed good, its how man has taken something beautiful and turned it into something that people are ashamed of. Then there are the I don’t even know how to describe them, people who just casually and yes its casual, have sex anywhere, anytime, any place with anyone. Sex to them is like frogs jumping from one lily pad to the next, before you bat your eyelid it’s another partner.

Oh how it pains me to see something so precious and sacred, used and abused for selfish desires. The brutality and the pervasiveness stems from a selfish desire to satisfy self…the ME me me, its all about me syndrome. You say you love me and I love you, so let’s “make love” because we are in love. But let’s consider another option, I love you and will not have sex with you or anyone else until marriage because I love and respect you so much that I will deny my selfish desires. WOW! Now ain’t this love, denial of SELF for love of me. I’ll take it!

We have been so foolishly led to believe that the way to show we love someone is to shower them with gifts, expensive gifts at that. Who said that a guy has to give a gal flowers and chocolate and jewellery to prove that he loves her. So what if the guy really can’t afford to buy you something, are we gals so self-centered that we would pressure the guy and keep reminding him, “hon Valentine day is coming up, don’t forget the diamonds! The bigger the better, and if I don’t get it you know you ain’t getting “it” either.”

So that’s what we have come to, using sex to get what we want and have turned heartfelt expressions into the more dollars spent the more I “love” and appreciate you. There is a word for this, witchcraft, manipulating someone to have our way. There is nothing new under the sun, I think it’s just that this generation does everything in the open. I mean to walk through a mall and see stores specializing in ‘adult toys”. And this is not limited to the so-called generation X, there are many married people who have these “toys”. Would really love to know how you would explain on of these toys to your four year old who just happens to find one of your “tools” lying around. What would you say?

And the media that gives us so much information, too much information at times, we don’t hear them saying anything. Why would they have anything to say, I mean Valentine day advertisements and sales boost just about every sector of the economy! Let’s see, the kinky lingerie, yah need the cloth, well I beg to differ, these things I can use to floss my teeth and still need some real floss to finish cleaning my teeth for there being a lack of cloth! So there is a demand for the materials needed to make this lingerie. This would include the energy sector, the public sector, have all the taxes etc etc to pay and lets not forget the private sector. The wholesalers and the retailers, the stores and the media, big bucks for advertisements!

Commercialize it more and more, make them spend more and more, money they don’t even have, make them want more and more and not be able to satisfy our gluttonous appetites for wanting everything. The master puppeteer, pulling and tugging at us, making us dance to his music, without even realizing that it is part of his “master plan.” Pulls a cover over our eyes and make us go and do everything based on selfish desires.

So yes I reach to the “ah its okay to have sex cause we are doing it the ‘safe way’ excuse.” The condom….tsk tsk tsk. Safe sex right. Wrong. Okay the downside of the condom, who would have thought that there is a downside to using a condom, well there is. Let’s see, a sperm cell which is couple thousand times larger than a virus cell can pass through the “wall” of the condom. Safe ain’t it, very safe. So parents give their children these safety “tools” and pat themselves on the back, “yes I have done something good! Three cheers for me, my kids are going to be safe now! Hey if they are going to do it anyway they might as well be safe! Yeah a round of applause for me!!!”

I mean far be it to suggest to your kids, “hon you should wait until your honeymoon night to give your precious gift of virginity to your beloved.” Oh no no no! We treat virginity as if it is some sort of plague, like if you don’t have sex now like lightening is gonna strike yah down or you will break out in a rash or get spasms or something. We tell our boys, “son to be a man you have to plant your seeds, spread them far and wide. Then and only then are you da man!”

And our girls, we encourage them to give in cause we say, “well they are in ‘love’ and the only way to keep the guy around if for you to have sex with him.” you know the excuse of well “I much rather know and be able to ‘protect’ them rather than not know and have them NOT doing it the ‘safe way’.

So why is the fact that there ain’t no such thing as having safe sex using a condom not being advertised? Well the condom industry entices the medical industry to say nothing about it cause lets see, if more people come down with STD’s, that’s more people who will require treatment and drugs. Ahhh the mighty dollar sign! We spend loads of money to buy these condoms then pay the rest of our lives cause our “safety apparatus” was faulty. Puppets dancing to the control and music of the master puppeteer on a stage set up by him.

So yup, it’s the day to wine, dine and “romance” each other, manipulate our partners into buying us stuff and then manipulate our partners into “giving” us stuff because we spent big bucks on them. Love is not an erotic, impulsive emotion, it is something that is part of the will and true love is only willed by one who is being fed true affection and appreciation by genuine, heartfelt expressions that comes from the will of another. Call me a prude but Cupid better aim his arrow somewhere else.

Wolves Among The Sheep

Many people are under the misapprehension that to say one is 'catholic' makes them a Catholic, this is not so! In order to truly be Catholic, means one must abide with Scripture and the Church's Teaching and then live it!

What does Scripture say about those who call on the Lord but God is far from their hearts as they embrace a life of inner corruption, "Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. He summoned the crowd and said to them, "Hear and understand. It is not what enters one's mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one." Then his disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He said in reply, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides (of the blind). If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit......Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."

In order to be truly Catholic comes a responsibility to live out our Credo, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died! and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting."

For each of us to live what we believe, we must put our Faith into practice otherwise we are merely prattlers who even though they can fool those around them, still they cannot fool God nor treat God as a fool! So those who say one thing yet live another, are enemies of the Church and are a threat to all Christians, who do try and live out the meaning of their beloved Faith. For those who live lives of corruption will try and drag down the children of God and many times these wolves in sheep clothing succeed!

These children of the dark will often use humour to try and lull our senses into believing that because a phrase is humorous then it is alright to join in on the joke, no matter how crude or vulgar the 'joke' is. This makes the father of lies jubilant as 'Christians' join in and almost outdo the joker with demeaning language and more course behaviour in order to be thought 'progressive'. Let us remind ourselves, when a crude joke is being shared is Jesus laughing too? Or daren't we tell that one to our Saviour? If not, why not? Perhaps because it is too shameful for our Lord's ears, yet He hears every word we utter, before we speak it!

As St. John Vianney says to those who live to embrace both God and worldliness, "But, you will say to me, who are these people who are partly on God's side and partly on the side of the world? Well, my dear children let me describe them. I will compare them (if I may dare to make use of the term) to dogs who will run to the first person who calls them. You may follow them from the morning to the evening, from the beginning of the year to the end. These people look upon Sunday as merely a day for rest and amusement. They stay in bed longer than on weekdays, and instead of giving themselves to God with all their hearts, they do not even think of Him. Some of them will be thinking of their amusements, others of people they expect to meet, still others of the sales they are about to make or the money they will be spending or receiving. With great difficulty they will manage the Sign of the Cross in some fashion or another. Because they will be going to church later, they will omit their prayers altogether, saying: "Oh, I'll have plenty of time to say them before Mass...You see these people who think they are following God but who are really living up to the maxims of the world. They have no scruples about! taking from their neighbour wood or fruit or a thousand and one other things. Whenever they are flattered for what they do for religion, they derive quite a lot of pleasure from their actions. Woe betide you, children of this world! Carry on; follow your master as you have done up to the present! Very soon you will see clearly that you have been mistaken in following his ways. But will that make you any wiser? No, my children, it will not. If someone cheats us once, we say: "We will not trust him any more -- and with good reason." The world cheats us continually and yet we love it." Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world," St. John warns us."

Now there are some 'Catholics' who discount the words of our Saints by suggesting that 'times have changed' yet God tells us in His Word and in the Teachings of our Church that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yet many deceive themselves by pronouncing the words of our Saints as null and void whilst proclaiming their own words as full of wisdom! It is these very same souls who encourage those around them to disregard all Scripture and the Church, in order to have what they see as 'fun' but what is essentially sin!

Is it ever a good thing to speak obscenities, dress immodestly, speak brazenly and involve ourselves in debauched actions? Yet so many do become involved in this very behaviour, have they not realised that God is in their midst, that He sees and hears every course and vulgar word, and no God is not amused! Am I presuming to speak for God, let us see what is revealed in Scripture, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing."

There are 'Pharisees' in our own midst, who though one minute can speak of God, yet in the very next minute they engage themselves in crude and vulgar language and behaviour. These very same 'Christians' would not think of missing Mass, as they observe 'religious obligations' but their hearts are far from God. They also fool themselves into thinking that their decadent behaviour can be 'air brushed' by using and abusing the Sacrament of Penance yet they do not repent of their sin and instead continue on in the same fashion as they did before, this is the height of arrogance as they treat God as their 'spin doctor' for as Scripture says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself."

Sin is not a game nor is it fun and hell does exist for those who live lives of hypocrisy and lukewarmness and accommodate themselves to the worldly both in word and deed. It is also not wise to use God's forgiveness against Him in that many believe no matter the reprehensible conduct that God will understand, He will forgive, even though they show no remorse or regret for their sins.

As Padre Pio once confided to a close friend when he was on his way to hear Confessions, "he saw the devil whispering in the peoples ears. He asked the devil what he was doing. The devil said he was going to give something back to them. Padre Pio said What? The devil said "Their shame." The devil said "I took their shame away so that they would commit these sins and now I want to give it back so they won't confess them."

We cannot rationalise sin as if it were a product of our society therefore any behaviour is acceptable and excusable as we have progressed and advanced in this modern age and become sophisticated. There is also no excuse for us when we find ourselves in the presense of sin in that by claiming we do not wish to judge, yet the person who continues to sin will be Judged by our Lord, what does that say about who is important the opinion of others towards oneself or the soul of one sinning?

When St. Teresa of Avila had finished reading the Confession of St. Augustine she was crushed and recoiled in horror as she came to understand that attending Mass had become a mere habit to her and upon this discovery she uttered these words, "So great was my distress when I thought how ill I had repaid Him for those wounds", she blurted through her tears, "that I felt as if my heart was breaking, and I threw myself down beside him."This great Saint of the Church also said this to her fellow Sisters, "We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

Do these words encourage us to sin and sin again no! They remind us to stay on our guard for the evil one prowls the world like a roaring lion seeking lukewarm souls to seduce using any means available. For Satan knows that pride is a battle we all must face and through God's Grace, pride is defeated! In the words of another great Saint, "Let us stand fast in what is right, and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: "O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations"...as St. Boniface continues, "Let us continue the fight on the day of the Lord. The days of anguish and of tribulation have overtaken us; if God so wills, "let us die for the holy laws of our fathers," so that we may deserve to obtain an eternal inheritance with them."

Let us remember God has an army and that army are those who not only believe in God but are obedient to Him, for without obedience we are paying mere lip service to the Divine Word. For when we embrace the worldly way we have not only failed God, we have also failed those who have been dragged down by the example shown by the lukewarm Christian that sin is justified and acceptable. For by living lives of worldliness and corruption many endanger their own salvation, yet these same people presume to think themselves 'saved' even if they show no sincere remorse for sins committed, have not these souls embraced the 'once saved always saved' theory?

When we compromise the Truth that God and the Church teaches us what is left to believe in, ourselves, our worldly friends? Can we save ourselves; can our worldly friends save us? No! Indeed not! As Theophilus of Antioch says regarding our Faith and its standards, "Far be it from Christians that to do such deeds [as our done by pagan sinners should enter their mind; for temperance dwells with them, self-restraint is practiced, monogamy is observed, chastity is guarded, injustice is exterminated, sin is rooted out, righteousness is exercised, law is ministered, reverence is preserved, God is acknowledged: truth controls, grace guards, peace protects, the holy word guides, wisdom teaches, life directs, God reigns."

From an unknown source comes this telling quote, "the company you keep, you will become"! Who is reigning in your heart? For what cannot be mentioned in God's Presence should not be spoken at all!

In finishing this is from a sermon given by Saint Joseph of Leonissa, "Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel. This is what Saint Paul says to the Corinthians, 'Clearly you are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart' (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our heart is the parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because 'my tongue is nimble as the pen of a skillful scribe'(Psalms 45:2)."

Is your 'book' full of Divine inspirations or course and vulgar words whether expressed in anger or jest the end is the same, for upon Divine Judgement we all face Jesus...alone!

Peace of Christ to ALL

Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.

Too Smart For The Church?

There are many traps, dangers, and pitfalls that we as Christians must face in our daily lives. Events happen to us that are often out of our control. Sickness, accidents, natural catastrophes, even financial difficulties or hardship are often beyond our control, or not due to a self-inflicted cause. Yet, there is one trap that we must be on guard for, and that we must not allow ourselves to fall into our spiritual growth. That trap is, when we begin to think that we have all the answers regarding our faith, and that there is nothing more that we can learn.

We have all seen those individuals or groups of individuals, who think that there is nothing more for them to learn about our faith, that they have grown spiritually as far as it is humanly possible for them to grow. These self-assured people think nothing more can be acquired by them from the study of Holy Scripture, the writings of the Saints, nor from the instruction and guidance of the Church. We have even seen some proclaim themselves the only “true Christians”, the only “true Catholics”. They have fooled themselves into thinking that they have all the answers, that they have all the truth, and that anything other than what they know, what they believe is inherently wrong or ill conceived. As a very holy priest I know says, “some think themselves more Catholic than the Church”.

We should remember, that there is always something new for us to learn. It is not from our own understanding, our own intelligence that we learn, but, what we learn is what is revealed to us through Holy Scripture, the writings of the Saints, and from the Church by the actions and teaching of the Holy Spirit. No one man or woman has had all revealed to him or her by the Holy Spirit, but, each has had some revealed unto them by the Holy Spirit.

Now we all know that the fullness of revelation is in Christ,and He has revealed all. Yet there are aspects of the Faith, and of God that we do not fully understand or comprehend, because as a creation of God we are limited as to our ability to comprehend and understand God. For God is infinite, He cannot be contained or limited by space or time, we on the other hand, are finite, confined by both space and time. In Romans 11:33-35 we are told, “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?”

Further, there are aspects of God and the Faith He has given us, that have been revealed to us, but, because of our limits, we do not fully grasp those aspects. These are what we call the Mysteries of Faith. In “The Pocket Catholic Dictionary” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., we are given this explanation for mystery, “a divinely revealed truth whose very possibility cannot be rationally conceived before it is revealed and, after revelation, whose inner essence cannot be fully understood by the finite mind. The incomprehensibility of revealed mysteries derives from the fact that they are manifestations of God, who is infinite and therefore beyond the complete grasp of a created intellect. Nevertheless, though incomprehensible, mysteries are intelligible. One of the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith, i.e., to develop an understanding of what God has revealed”.

That last sentence within that definition is by far the most important instruction to all believers “the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith,” and to “develop an understanding of what God has revealed”. We should therefore always strive to learn and grow in our faith and belief, and we should always remember that when we pray, when we study, and when we experience growth in our faith, it is because God, through the Holy Spirit has been our teacher, our instructor.

If we fall into the snare set for us by the enemy, into the wrong thinking that we can grow no more, that we have learned all there is to know of God, then we endanger ourselves, we endanger our faith, and we endanger those around us and their faith as well. Many is the man or woman who have followed the teachings of one who gives the appearance and assurance of having found all the truth and been led astray into the errors of heresy, apostasy, and schism. When we think there is nothing more to be revealed to us, through scripture, the Saints, or through the Church, then we are in effect saying that God through the Holy Spirit cannot teach us or guide us, as we need no teaching or guidance from Him who has all Knowledge.

Now we all know that when Saint Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus, that he was a Pharisee, and that he himself had been trained in the Law of Moses. He had been a great persecutor of Christians, and was converted by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus. Yet, Paul who was an intelligent and well educated man, had to be instructed on the “Way” by Peter. Of Paul's instruction after his conversion we read in Galatians 1:17-18, “Neither went I to Jerusalem, to the apostles who were before me: but I went into Arabia, and again I returned to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went to Jerusalem, to see Peter, and I tarried with him fifteen days.”

We know that when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, and when they gave testimony to the Sanhedrin regarding Christ, we realize that they were taught and led by the Holy Spirit, as Acts 4:13 says, “Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, understanding that they were illiterate and ignorant men, they wondered; and they knew them that they had been with Jesus”.

Do not allow yourself to be led astray into thinking that you know all there is to know of God and His Son. We are all always learning. Something may be revealed to you, that I have not yet understood. As well, something may be revealed to me, that you have not yet understood. There are things that have been revealed to the Church, and things yet to be revealed to the Church by the Holy Spirit for the knowledge and understanding of all. We dare not think, we dare not believe that we have reached the pinnacle of spiritual maturity, for there is still much growing we must all do. The Holy Spirit is not stagnant, the Holy Spirit is always moving, always teaching, always enlightening.

The seed of faith is planted in our hearts. Do we water and feed that seed, or do we let it wither and die? Do we let it grow a little, and then turn all attention from it, allowing it to grow for awhile, then wither before it can bear fruit? Do we allow it to grow, then let our pride fill us up with our falsely perceived “perfect knowledge”, and kill that faith after only a little fruit was born from it? Would you who are parents want your child to be raised with no instruction, no correction, no guidance, no discipline? No? Then why do you think God would want His children to do so?

Some who are parents of teenagers get exasperated, when those teenagers try to grow up too fast, and begin to think they know more about what is best for them than their parents do. What I like to call the “13 going on 30 Syndrome”. That is the same thing that happens to us, when we begin to think that we know more about faith and God than the Church, or anyone can teach us. We know what is better for us than they do. Well, we don't. The bottom line is, no matter where you, I, or anyone else is on our path of Faith, we are still immature children that should always seek, always search for, that truth, that maturity, that is God.

Copyright © 2006 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.

Some quotations below to reflect on:

"The Word of God is in your heart. The Word digs in this soil so that the spring may gush out."--Origen

"You are reading? No. Your betrothed is talking to you. It is your betrothed, that is, Christ, who is united with you. He tears you away from the solitude of the desert and brings you into his home, saying to you, "Enter into the joy of your Master."--Saint Jerome

"If one carefully reads the Scriptures, he will find there the word on the subject of Christ -- de Christo sermonem -- and the prefiguration of the new calling. He is indeed the hidden treasure in the field -- the field in fact is the world -- but in truth, the hidden treasure in the Scriptures is Christ. Because he is designed by types and words that humanly are not possible to understand before the accomplishment of all things, that is, Christ's parousia (coming)." -- Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

“You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.” -- Saint Augustine of Hippo

“The Scriptures are in fact, in any passage you care to choose, singing of Christ, provided we have ears that are capable of picking out the tune. The Lord opened the minds of the Apostles so that they understood the Scriptures. That he will open our minds too is our prayer.” --Saint Augustine of Hippo

"Anyone who wants to be always united to God must pray often and read the Bible often. For in prayer it is we who are speaking to God, but in the readings it is God speaking to us.”--Saint Isidore of Seville

"Let us study while we are on earth that Reality which will stay in our minds also when we are in heaven".--Saint Jerome