Do you know why?

I have been interested in the Catholic Church's position about the Freemasons for quite some time now. It is perhaps one of the most forgotten and even ignored positions of the Church. The Freemasons are seen by the Church as the official "enemies of the Church." Why? Not because the Church hates the men and, apparently, few women who are involved. Rather because the ideology which this organization espouses is particularly anti-Christ. "What sort of inflammatory statement are you making here?" you might ask. But check out this video and see if you find any problems or incompatibilities with this masonically produced video and the Catholic Faith:



There are a few things we must notice. First, one should have noticed that at 7:14-7:25 the narrator notes that all men are seen as the same. Now, while that corresponds to the Church's understanding of the equality of all men on the one hand, it also denies the priesthood, established by our Lord Jesus Christ. Since certain men are given the gift of the priesthood, they are meant to guide all mankind to Christ and are given special grace to do it. Moreover, and more importantly, the Pope himself is granted the ability to guide and maintain the Church by his teachings. This is fundamentally rejected by the Masons, since no man is seen as above another. In every day human life, no less, we have a great example of why this is wrong within our families. A dad or a mom cannot act or be equal to their children because the children are learning from their parents. I could only imagine the havoc our house would become if I let my son and daughter play and I only played with them, instead of guiding and correcting them. This is essentially what the consistent practice of this ideology of equality without respect for complementary differences between people yields. This, in part, demonstrates what the Popes have referred to as indifference.

Secondly, at 9:35-10:02 the gentlemen describes that on the altar in Japan one found the (Bhagavad) Gita - a Hindu text, the Koran, and the Bible. At first this sounds quite nice, until we realize that as Catholics we recognize that, according to the teaching of our First Pope, St. Peter, "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved (Acts 4:12)." The second element of Freemasonry that presents a serious problem is the idea of syncretism, which seeks to make all religions essentially into one. By placing the Koran and the Hindu text next to the bible, the essential claim being demonstrated is that the words of Jesus are "just as important" as the words of Mohammed and the words of the Hindu text. If we believe that "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16)," then we must realize that neither the Koran nor the Hindu religions can offer what Jesus offers. If you reject Jesus Christ, then one can legitimately make such a claim. However, one would also be implicitly rejecting the same claim practically, since you would deny one religion is also equal to others!

The gentlemen then speaks of the teachings of Freemasonry being "universal," which is quite interesting considering that the Greek word "Catholicos" means "universal." Essentially, the Freemasonic ideal is such that the Catholic Church be ignored and/or destroyed by "making" all men equal, rather than accepting that they are. This is the whole purpose of belonging to this organization, to come to equality. In fact, certain documents of the Freemasons demonstrate that non-Masons or "rough ashlars" are not equal to Masons, since the mason takes an oath to care for other masons before non-masons.

The final element of this video I hope you, dear reader, will consider is located at the end of it. At 14:26 the gentlement says, "The truths you learn as a Mason are personal and private, but the values echo the past..." Again, if you are not a Christian, this is a fine statement for a non-Christian religion. However, for the Christian, and even more so for Catholics, how can we speak of "truth being personal and private?" Jesus told us, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6)." If we believe in Jesus Christ, how can we seek any truth beyond him? In fact, he is the one who reveals God the Father to us! For us who believe this, then, we cannot see any truth as being hidden or merely personal. This, it seems to me, is what Jesus says when he teaches the Apostles, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

I do not dislike the Masons as people, however, it is clear from Scripture, History, but even more so from Holy Mother Church that mankind suffers in manifold ways when we reject or, worse, become indifferent to the only Savior of Mankind, Jesus Christ. The question then becomes how seriously do we take our devotion to the Son of God made man, who died, and was resurrected from the dead for our sake? Do we become indifferent in our own lives, because it is not only the Masonic ideology that makes us indifferent to Jesus! It is a serious question which each of us ought to consider.

Is it better or not?

My beloved family and I have just taken the leap to the 21st century and we now have, thank you Qwest, high-speed DSL internet service at home. We got sick of paying the $10.95 to the company we had dial-up with. Luckily, thanks to my Catholic Social Teaching class [Hi Guys!], I was able to build my own computer! That is quite an experience, but I have to say that it was not as harrowing as I thought it might be... I mean sure you can shock yourself, but if you have a good friend show you how to do it I don't think it is as bad as I thought it would be.

I think I might be comfortable with building another one on my own. The problem of course is knowing what to buy, thankfully when you have a couple of good friends who are self-proclaimed "computer geeks" it is easy enough to find parts that are good - or as one friend who helped me put it, that are "smoking."

At any rate, I have a feeling this means I will be blogging a lot more. Hopefully, I can put it into my schedule each day to blog. I wonder how wise a choice this was, to be honest, because I think I will probably spend a lot more time blogging. OFten as I am reading books, I find myself pondering things... and now, faithful or new reader, you too will be connected to my brain... scary thought.

At any rate, we shall see whether this pans out for more blogs entries or not. I have a feeling it will. But we shall see...

Please pray for me as I try to balance the desire to always be blabbing away here about theology, with continuing to serve my family as the Father and Husband. After all, its tempting to be writing all the time since I have paid for the stupid internet and now my blog just sits here and calls to me... Its free to be typing away, but is it really? As I was reminded today, there is no such thing as a free lunch... as attractive as it sounds...

Miracles.

Is there anyone among us who won't admit to restricting God in our lives. Yesterday my son and I watched the video "The Day the Sun Danced":


This very well done movie shows what happened at Fatima, Portugal way back in 1917. There were so many incredible messages given from the Mother of God to those children. Watching this movie with my boy, I was struck by the fact that, as a Catholic, few people that I am aware of seem to discuss about the Blessed Mother's apparition in Fatima.

Now, we must be clear: no one MUST believe in any PRIVATE apparition, since nothing in such an apparition holds anything that will make our salvation any more real from our Lord Jesus Christ. However, as Holy Mother Church encourages us, when an apparition is approved, such apparitions can help to increase our spiritual life, that is, our growth in holiness.

Why? Often it is because these messages from heaven give us some way to reconnect with our faith in a very personal and real way. Our Lady or our Lord or some saint is usually calling us to recommit ourselves to God and to reject sin. Who doesn't need that kind of encouragement!? Even more, however, the messages often give a deeper spiritual appreciation of where our society or a person's spiritual life is lacking. For example, at Fatima, the Blessed Mother, by God's grace, showed the children a vision of hell. They were allowed to see the poor souls who send themselves there because of their indifference to God - especially in the Holy Eucharist. To combat this indifference, the angel who came before Mary to the 3 children gave them a prayer which was often encouraged for all Catholics to say before mass. As a 33 year old man, I am very aware that I don't even know this prayer by heart. It was never encouraged for me, however, I think the time has come for me to learn it.

There are so many things that God gives us as signs to reveal his love for us. The least of which was the great miracle of the Sun in Fatima. I was all interested in this great miracle as it is said that 70,000 people including Freemasons, Atheists and Communists all saw this miracle and I always see movies with people filming the event as it happened and I was wondering if any such film actually exists today. I found these pictures on Youtube:

Nevertheless, I know there are other miracles that have happened and continue to happen every year around the face of the planet. It surprised me, though, I must admit to find this one:

Is it real? I believe it is. Could it be doctored? It probbably could be, but I would prefer to believe the miracle until someone disproves this. Whether this is real or not, will it change my faith? No. Why would I believe before being skeptical? Because I am "some moron who rejects science?" No, because I know that God exists and actually does communicate to all mankind and, as the Scripture says, He acts in mysterious ways. Why must he do what we think is right or what shows us what we envision or understand God to be? As a good Father, as Jesus reveals Him, God knows what we need to help us to grow in love for mankind and for the one living and true God. Do people doctor pictures like this or fake them? Yes. In fact, there have been apparitions, such as in Bayside, New York, where people claimed to have seen "divine things" and later it was proven to be a hoax. Nevertheless, the love of God is real, and like our American system of judicial law, I prefer to believe the miracles that are presumed to be of God are real until proven false. And if they are proven false, fine. It won't change my belief in the one living and true God just because man was trying to imitate God by creating some false miracle. Rather, I would prefer to believe in the goodness of God and forgive man's idiocy in doing such things.

Why? Becuase I know who loves me, and who died for me, and who has restored my soul with the peace and joy that this world has never offered me in the midst of all the sins I have wallowed in. At the end of the day, miracles are periphery; they are the icing on the cake of the greatest reality that God is real, the God cares about me even in the midst of all I have made myself, and he calls me to abandon myself to Him in love. For only in finding and living His love will I or you or any human soul find our greatest joy and peace.

Anyone?

Ok, come on, who doesn't love this song? I remember seeing this when I was like 6 or 7 years old. Why can't comedians, actors and other entertainment types have great humor like this? Why must everything be focused on sex? Well, at least we have the internet to recall these glories of TV when it was still possible to watch TV without being influenced to become moral relativized. I should probably pick up DVD's of the Muppet Show, I always loved that show. Well, at any rate enjoy!

What have we become?

I have been behind in my reading of First Things, the wonderful magazine edited by Fr. John Neuhaus. I have been busy with my class on Catholic Social Teaching and preparing for that, as well as preparing to end the catechetical school year here at the parish, and finally completing RCIA process for this year (while most importantly trying to find time for the two little souls my wife and I have been entrusted with). So I am just catching up with the Dec 2007 issue - yeah I am that far behind. But Fr. Neuhaus points to a Fr. Thomas Hopko's address at the St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary last year. Fr. Hopko reportedly noted:

"It happens that men and women who once were human are simply no longer so. They have become nothing but minds and matter, brains and bodies, computers and consumers, calculators and copulators, constructors and cloners, who believe that they wish to conquer as they are enslaved to an oligarchy of "Conditioners" who are themselves ensalved and destroyed by their insane strivings to define, design, manage, and manipulate a world and a humanity bereft of the God who boundlessly loves them."

I find this a very interesting point. Could it be that in our own day we have left what is most important in our lives (not what we think that is, but what God has revealed for us)? I think it is a highly personal question, though we can also answer it for our public culture to be sure. Let each of us consider whether we have not given ourselves over to the fast-paced lives that our modern world imposes upon us. Let each of us consider whether the support of family life has become a bother or our foundation as humans. This is fundamentally what the Church has proposed for over a century, since Pope Leo XIII's brilliant Encyclical Rerum Novarum. Yet, to be sure, there are those who would reject the family as the foundation of our own lives and of society. In my estimation, this is nothing more than lunacy, insanity, and fantasy. What is your position?

Our Lady of Sheshan

There are many people who are concerned with a great many things in life, as there are plenty of worries even for today. However, I think, for us Catholics, it should give cause to stop and think about what are our worries and what the Pope is worried about. Our Holy Father has just penned a new prayer for the Chinese people. Let us each take a moment to pray for those who are persecuted and those who suffer in the midst of practicing their Holy Catholic Faith in China, according to the words of our Holy Father:



Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title "Help of Christians," the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.

We come before you today to implore your protection.

Look upon the People of God and, with a mother's care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

When you obediently said "yes" in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God's eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.

You willingly and generously co-operated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, Who died that we might live.

From that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in His footsteps by taking up His Cross.

Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.

Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God's loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trails, continue to believe, to hope, to love.

May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus.

In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.

Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.

Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!


May our Blessed Mother keep safe those who flee to Christ our Lord!

Sicky-poo

Once again I have been given to the suffering of sickness. Praise God, in all things! Nevertheless, I am happy to "make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (Col 1:13)" especially for the poor unborn who are threatened this morning and week.

NOT FOR KIDS

If you have never seen what actually happens, then perhaps it may be useful to hear a description given by Fr. Frank Pavone, in my estimation a future saint, who is tirelessly working so that everyone is aware of what we are actually doing in "choosing abortion." Please be aware that the description is a bit graphic, but welcome to understanding what we me must know about if we are to fight it! This is called a Dismemberment Abortion:



Secondarily, here is a description of what we fight for the under unborn Americans and human beings under 18 weeks: