The One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church

Yet again, UKoK has done it again...made a great post about how the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church of God. I had quickly skimmed over it and got read somethings said by the Protestant defenders. With all due respect to them, I would point out two things about what they said. First of all, they said that every Christian had the same Faith. This is false, for example some Catholics think that the Muslims have the same Faith, because they believe in only one God. How could the Faiths be the same when there are SO many differences in actions and belief. It is the same between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, we may believe in the same God but not in everything else for instance the Mass and its meaning. Secondly, they mentioned Purgatory and how they didn't get it, if you think the same way try reading C.S. Lewis' book, "The Great Divorce." I don't know if it agrees with the Church or vice versa but it explains everything so well. It is about a vision/dream that C.S. Lewis had where he goes to Purgatory, Heaven and Hell.

Eucharistic Miracles

On Ukok's blog, there is a great discussion about if the Eucharist is real or symbolic. As I read it though I noticed that no one mentioned the Eucharistc Miracles. Then I thought maybe no one knows about them in that discussion so I mentioned this book to them, if you haven't heard of them either I would defenitely recommend this book.

Book Meme

Catholic and GOP tagged me with this Meme a while ago, I just haven't gotten around to it.

How many books do you own:

Gee, I have never counted. There are five large bookcases full of books plus dozens laying around near them or around the house. In any case, a lot!

The last book you read:

The last book I read was The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister and Joanna Collicutt Mcgrath. Well I really only read the chapters I was interested in but I got the main idea.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Well, not very many books mean a whole lot to me but here are some that I really enjoyed reading,

1.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

2.The Eragon Trilogy (the last one isn't out yet) by Christopher Paolini

3. All Redwall books (there's like 18) by Brian Jacques

4.The Prophet by Frank E. Perretti (I haven't read this present darkness but I hear it is very good also)

5. a.A Seperate Peace by John Knowles

b.The Giver by Louis Lowry

c.The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

d.The Bible by God

...and the list continues but I'll spare my readers.

I tag my mom

Here are some Thomases if you know what I mean

"I am sorry Catholic kids do not make a school
Catholic, what makes a school Catholic is the people that teach their (being in
good standing with the Vatican) and the people that attend the school actually
believe what the Church teaches...so far ND is batting 0-2.Hence it is catholic
with a small c and not a BIG C as say Franciscan Univ. is!!!
"

I was rather surprised to read that as a "devout"
catholic you would be proud of ND...which we all know is only catholic in name
and not much else..sorry to burst your bubble!

These are some of the comments that were left on my Mother's Blog after she posted about my Brother's graduation from Our Lady's University (ND). First of all talking about the comment in the blue who are you to criticize? Maybe we should remove the log from our own eyes before trying to remove the splinter from our neighbor's (BIBLE!). I am very surprised by this comment because it is apparent that this person has never been to Notre Dame.


The first time I ever went there was three years ago and the presence of Our Lady was so strong that when we left I was positive we had forgotten someone. And the students are very devote Catholics. My mother wanted to say the Rosary at the Grotto and told my brother she was going. My brother told her to wait just a second ran down the hall and invited around ten of his friends to come with her. It was freezing rain out, there was strong bitter winds, but they still agreed to go. They went to the Grotto and when they had finished she was about to get up to rush to shelter thoroughly soaked and longing for warmth. Then she noticed the students, every single one of them were still kneeling, eyes closed, just praying and remained so for a few more minutes.


Needless to say she was quite impressed with the devotedness of the students. Quite frankly I would run to the nearest building after the last amen, I am not that strong. Furthermore, and I quote the Valedictorian Speech from Mike's Graduation;

"After reading about students at other universities placing
cars on top of
buildings, I expected similar rebelliousness here. And,
during my
freshman year, I heard about students climbing atop our very own
Stepan
Center. Yet, I soon discovered the uniqueness of rebellion at Notre
Dame. Instead of placing large items atop Stepan or any other
building, I
heard of numerous friends ascending our geodesic and decidedly
un-golden dome…
to… pray the rosary. “What?” I asked. I likewise
was taken aback
when I noticed in my dorm that the most popular weekend spot
was the chapel for
Sunday night Mass. The University’s faith
foundation was instrumental in
my decision to come here, though only after
arriving as a student did I start to
realize the distinctiveness of this
place and the role faith plays in that
distinctiveness."

Need I continue? Oh by the way he is becoming a priest.

ahhh, a charismatic catholic, thanks that explains it all!

Honestly, we need to stick together as the one Holy catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. There was one more comment on my mother's blog being prejudice against charismatic Catholics. Well, correct me if I am mistaken but I believe the Apostles were Charismatic, praying in tongues in the upper room. I have been a Charismatic Catholic all my life and did not now it was a "new" thing to the Church until recently. I am surprised that the Church would be afraid of her past.

ND Grad!

I am the second from the left on the one above (with my family) and the one on the right on the bottom, with the graduate Mike

My older brother (the oldest one) graduated from Notre Dame University last weekend with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. We arrived Thursday night and slept in the Jameson in off campus and the next morning met Mike at his dorm. We then hung out, unpacked and then went to a family dance Friday night.

That was a lot of fun and the first time I ever really danced in public, I was pretty bad but Mike was great of course. Mike was the vice president of the swing dance club and was a member of the Dance club also. He was very good in both and danced with the president of the Dance club when he joined and attended competitions (the girl in the pink flowery dress). I stayed the night in my brother's dorm while the rest of the family slept in the dorm next door. Saturday was pretty uneventful all morning and afternoon, we walked around campus again. Then we went to Mass which was said in the basketball stadium and was attended by the Bishop of the diocese and a holy man from Galilee. It was very packed and I was very impressed by the participation in the Mass, even thought they weren't very respectful but nobodies perfect. Then we attended the actual graduation on Sunday, he received his diploma, we attended the after party, where there was this giant 6 layered, 12' by 3' cake that was delicious. Then packed up helped him out of his dorm and went home. Of course a lot more happened, including going to the Basilica and the grotto but if I said everything I would write a book so here's the overview.

The cake

The basilica but these pictures do not do it justice

And the Grotto and who can forget the Dome but I don't have a picture, for those who have never seen it, it is gold with a golden Mary on top, on top of a large old beautiful building. The building is actually in the second picture with just me and Mike but you can not see the Dome.

10 Interesting Facts Meme

I was tagged by my Mom (happy Mother's Day!) to do the ten things Meme.

1. My brother is graduating from Notre Dame (college).

2. I play hockey, football, baseball, basketball, run Track, and swim/dive competitively.

3. I am a certified Lifeguard.

4. I play classical guitar.

5. My other brother is graduating from High School.

6. I made it into the elite choir at my High School. (the Madrigals, just in case you have heard of them)

7. I was the Stage Manager for the play, "Starwreck" which is now showing on TV.

8. I have a special relationship with Our Lady of Guadalupe. (I was Baptized on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception)

9. I have three sisters and two brothers.

10. I was home schooled until fourth grade.

I tag Catholic and GOP

Where is the Love?

Today, when I was riding with my car pool, we got stuck behind a bus entering my neighborhood. I started to grumble to myself getting angry that we had to wait so long to get in front of the bus (I am American;)). Anyways, a child got out of the bus, he turned to the bus smiling at a friend then raised his hand, and extended the middle finger! I was completely shocked, he was around nine years old and he had just done a horribly inappropriate hand gesture! What happened to this world? Are we so blind not to see that the world is rotting away beneath us?

I have this song on my computer by the Black-eyed Peas. They are a hip-hop/rap kind of group. Their songs are usually inappropriate or a useless jumble of words. But this particular song is called "Where Is The Love?" And as I wrote the phrase "beneath us?" the song said, "what happened to human morality?" Is it so bad that even the horrible media (they mention that in their song) has noticed what they are doing to the world? It is a sad time to live in, I certainly hope that my uncle is right when he says that the culture just makes circles. We may still be able to return to the "good old days" (even though I wasn't there I think it would be so much better) where children weren't killed before birth, teens drink and stick needles in themselves etc. Or was there ever a time like that? In the mean time we should just pray constantly to avoid the near occasion of sin, and to make good decisions.

"Every decision you make, decides who you are."

-My brother John, so true if you think about it.

Darkness

"We are in darkness and must be thankful that our knowledge is not wanted (needed) to perfect thy work."

-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

So my mother has been bugging me and bugging me, "you need to write a post!" But I had gotten writer's block. I had no subject to write about at all. Then she handed me a book of quotes by saints saying that when she needs something to write about she just opens this book and reads a quote and writes about it. Well, obviously, I tried it out. And I stumbled on the quote, read it and a thought popped into my head. Why is it that many people I know (including me) are scared of the dark? Is it a natural thing for us to fear? Personally I fear it for what it may contain, demons, criminals, the devil, who knows.

>

Then I realized how ironic it is for us to fear the dark. Everyone I know that fears the dark has been brought to Jesus, the Light, through Baptism. We fear returning to our chains when most of the world is already there. The world where everyone wants to be the same, hates being imprisoned like everyone else spiritually. This subject always gets me aggravated, if your Christian then act like one! But we should not brood on this subject as St. Moses the Ethiopian syas, "God will not hear our prayers unless we acknowledge ourselves as sinners. We do this when we ponder on our sins alone, and not on those of our neighbor."

Big-Headedness

I just went to a blog called Vocation: Thoughts of a Teenage Christian. It is a very nice blog, written on by a 15 year old boy in England. It has icons, pictures and a lot, and I mean a lot of facts about the Church and her saints. Before I had gone to this blog I had thought I was pretty good in my Faith, at school many people think I am being called to the priesthood (and I only a freshmen). Obviously my head was blown up quite a bit. This blog completely deflated it. He knows so much more about Catholicism then I do and I have been one my whole life, he just joined the Church.

This reminds me of a time when my mom mentioned to me during a conversation, that many religious people act like they are better than others. I wonder how many people have been turned away from the Faith because they met a Catholic who thought they were better than them. It makes me think of the time some Jews caught a woman (Mary Magdalene) committing adultery. (how did they catch her, was it planned, just to bring her down?) They brought her to Jesus, in an attempt to trap him, asked what they should do with her. They knew Jesus was very merciful and hoped that he would show her mercy when the Jewish way is to stone her. Then Jesus began to write on the ground, and when prompted answered, "he who has no sin shall cast the first stone." Since obviously none of them had not sinned they dropped all their stones and walked away.

That story reminds me of a homily given by my Pastor. After this story was read he injected the idea, what did Jesus write? He said that many have speculated over things in the Bible but this one has been overlooked. It must be important because it was mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures. He thought of maybe he wrote a chart, wrote the name of one of the Jews and his favorite sin. Then the next person and his favorite sin until he had gone through all of them. Now completely humiliated and probably a little anxious to get out of there, they wanted to get on with it. He then said what he said and they, now known as sinners in the eyes of the people, could not throw their stones. Of course my pastor said it a lot better and explained it more thoroughly.

This also reinstates the Jesus is God. He mentioned things only the Lord would know (the favorite sins of many Jews), that is why I love this homily so much. It also ties together with my point because they must of had bigheads because they thought they were so perfect that since this woman had sinned she should die and they should kill her. Anyways thank you Jesus for deflating my head again, now I can think of other things besides myself.

On April 25 2007 I past a test that confirmed me as a professional Lifegaurd and rescuer:)

Why?

It has come to my attention that some Catholics I know (mostly teens) are slacking in their Faith. They fully know their Faith being born and raised Catholic, but the defilement of our modern society is getting to them.

That brings me to an interesting point; why is it only us? Whenever there is a Buddhist or Muslim person everyone is fascinated with this person's religion. Why is it that whenever Catholicism comes up everyone puts on their "doubting caps." Is it because they think our Faith is boring? Or is it because it is the Truth.

I think it is all the devil. He (and I don't like having to capitalize his name but it is grammatically correct) plants doubts in our minds in the most subtle ways. For example: You want to watch this TV show and you know there is some objectionable material in it. You think, "It's not like I think these things are right: I'm just going to watch it for entertainment. Then a few months of watching the show, the devil then plants these ideas in the back of your head and you think, "Oh yeah like in that TV show." Then you find yourself doing things you never ever thought you would do.

Lol I just had a thought, what if you met yourself back when you were little. Back when you thought Jesus was cool. Back when you were innocent. What would your former self do? Would he/she slap you, hate you for who you are and what you have done? Or would they look up to you, admire you for your accomplishments. I know mine would be pretty disappointed for some of the things I have done. How about you?

Invisible Children

In Northern Uganda, around the region of Gulu, there was a woman named Alice. Alice became possessed by a demon and taught that the government was not needed. After her death some of her followers began an organization called the "Lord's Resistance Army."

The LRA needed troops (otherwise there would be no army) and began to abduct children. Today, 17 years later, there have been 200,000 children abducted and brain-washed to fight and kill. Those who had refused were beaten, and if they continued to refuse then they were brutally slaughtered. 6,000 have been killed.

Many of the children have fled their homes to escape abduction. They live in displacement camps or under hospitals or any other semi-safe area in a nearby city. Their only possessions are the shirts on their backs and some have a blanket or sheet. They get one meal a day. When night draws near there is a mad scramble to the semi-safe areas to get some space; there is usually not room for all and they need to avoid the rebels(LRA) and find some where else to hide.

Those who were brain-washed and then escape are not healthy, many are mentally retarded, some crave to see blood etc. It is a very sad thing. Why do I tell you this? Because at the end of the documentary, Invisible Children, one child said, "I pray to God, that the Government of America help us." The link will lead you to any information you may need to help.

Now, some people I know will use this against the war on Iraq, why should we spend so much money on Iraq when these horrors are occurring? The situation in Iraq was equally if not more horrifying. I know this because of a book called "The Threatening Storm." The book talks about all the chemical weapons and their ready-to-make factories and all the completely horrifying and barbaric acts that Saddam Hussein committed against his own people. This is an evil subject but the ignorance of it around the world is shocking and this news needs to be spread, so here's one of my contributions.

Invisible Children Preview

It has been a long day; I went to school early today for some went weight lifting for football (I hadn't to one in a while so I thought why not). Then I went through school and left early at 2:00 so I could run in a Track Meet. I ran the 800 meter relay and my team was awarded first place. I then rushed to my dad's car at 5:00 so I could go to my last day of Lifeguard Instruction (next is testing). The Lifeguard Training went from 6-10 so I really just got home and still need to do my homework. Because of this I will not begin writing about my first subject today but I will tomorrow. It is about the "Invisible Children." They are the abducted children of Northern Uganda. They are abducted to fight or they die. To be continued tomorrow...

Me

Hello my name is James, I am 15 years old, I am in High School and swim on a swim team in the summer, play Football in the Spring (undefeated!), Hockey in the winter and I am currently running Track. I have Blue eyes and blonde hair, and 5'9". I am currently being trained as a Red Cross Lifeguard so I can work at the neighborhood pool. I am number 4 in a family of 6 (the youngest boy aka the toughest:)). My mom has had a blog for a while now and I decided to get one myself. In this blog I will be talking about all the stupid politicians, heresies against Catholicism, and anything else I hear about and want to speak my opinion.