The Papists

Speaking as someone whose parents no longer practice the faith at all, I can definitely empathize with you. Oftentimes I feel like my prayers for my parents’ conversions go unheard.

However, we must remember that the Lord works in His own time, and not our own. Someone once told me that God answers prayers in three ways - “yes,” “no,” and “not right now.” Also, our parents are humans, too, and they have free will to choose God or go against Him. That factors in because they have to choose God out of their own free will; God will not force them to come to Him because He is not like that.

I encourage you to persevere in prayer and not relent in interceding for them. St. Monica and St. Augustine have really comforted me in prayer for my parents’ conversion, personally. The Divine Mercy chaplet is beautiful, as well. 

I hope this helped. Keep the faith and stay strong. God will answer your prayers in the right and perfect timing. 

Grace be with you. 

+ Jordan

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John

empty-and-beautiful:

John 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

The Gospel today touched my heart. Jesus told us that if the world hated us, to remember it hated Him first. The world is fallen and is not what we are made for; we are made for the perfection of the kingdom of Heaven (“The world’s thy ship and not thy home.” - St. Therese of Liseux).

John writes in the second reading (1 John 4:11-16):

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

True love is not of the world, because true love is God. By loving, we remain in Him and are sanctified.

Also, I think a lot of the time we forget that while Jesus Christ is fully Divine, He is also fully human. Because of His Ascension into Heaven, as well as Mary’s Assumption, there are two fully human hearts beating in Heaven and interceding for us.

Yes, Jesus is God, and one completely with both the Father and the Holy Spirit. But, that doesn’t mean He can’t pray for us. 

Today, I feel that the Gospel truly expresses Jesus’ desire for our protection, well-being, and for us to belong completely to Him. That in and of itself is a powerful thought - that God does not need us, by any means. He’s perfect by Himself. The key is that He wants us; He sent His Son, in the person of Jesus Christ, because He couldn’t stand the thought of spending eternity without us.

Next time you feel abandoned, remember that you have a God who loves and wants you, and never stops praying for you.

From the YouCat:

The Church believes that “the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

Belief in the Immaculate Conception has existed since the beginning of the Church. … It is saying that God preserved Mary from original sin from the very beginning. 

So, from the very beginning, Mary had no original sin. This is not to say that Mary is divine - she is not. She is fully human, simply “preserved from original sin” at her conception. This was necessary for Mary to be the mother of God because Christ, who is fully human yet fully divine, could not dwell in a place where sin exists, since He Himself is perfect and without sin.

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact us with any further questions.

Grace be with you!

+Jordan

Sure! From “A Concise Dictionary of Theology” by Gerald O’Collins, S.J., and Edward G. Farrugia, SJ.:

Meditative prayer: Mental prayer that aims at union with God and insight into the divine will by reflecting on biblical  and other spiritual themes. As a form of prayer for beginners, the exercise of step-by-step meditation should lead to the higher and simpler stage of contemplation.

Contemplative prayer: That form of silent prayer in which the mind and imagination are less active, and the believer looks with love at God and the divine mysteries. Eastern writers speak of such prayer as “the mind descending into the heart.” 

So, essentially, meditative prayer is what leads to contemplation; meditative prayer uses more “brain power,” if you will, because you’re focusing on specific scripture or Biblical themes. Contemplative prayer is sort of just “being still and knowing He is God.”

Hope this helps! Grace be with you.

+ Jordan

"Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection"

— Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (1968)

Roman Catholics cannot receive the Eucharist or fulfill their Sunday Mass duty at an Eastern Orthodox liturgy.

While the Roman Catholic Church considers the Eastern Orthodox Church a true church - that is, the Roman Catholic Churchrecognizes that the Eastern Orthodox Church can tie its roots back to the Apostolic Church founded on Jesus Christ by the Apostles, and the Roman Catholic Church recognizes all seven sacraments in the Eastern Orthodox Church as valid - the Eastern Orthodox Church does not recognize the primacy of the pope and papal infallibility; Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize the pope as first in honor, but not unique in his authority in the Church.

The union between the two churches is real, but not complete as of yet because of the differences in belief regarding papal infallibility and the dogma of infallibility.

A Roman Catholic can, however, ask to partake in an Eastern Orthodox liturgy and receive a blessing during the distribution of communion and venerate the chalice. 

I hope this helps! 

Grace be with you,

- Jordan

A secular argument for why contraception is morally wrong

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Olivier answered this very well a few days ago. Check out his response here. 

Also, expanding on what Olivier said, a male priesthood is among the Church’s Apostolic traditions. These are traditions that were taught by Jesus directly to the apostles themselves, and therefore they cannot be changed. If a male priesthood were among the Church’s ecclesiastical tradition - or traditions that developed during certain eras of the Church, and that can be changed - maybe the Church would consider it. But it comes down to the fact that the Church does not have the authority to ordain women as priests.

If you have any more questions, let us know!

Peace,

Jordan

Sin, suffering, and how we’re never alone.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Instead of asking God why all these horrible things happen when I’m struggling, I try to remember that if I’m afflicted it’s because:

1. God is providing an opportunity for me to turn to Him.
2. God intends to use me as the subject for which someone to minister to.
3. He intends for me to use that affliction to encourage and comfort someone else some day.

This is why the past is never a curse.

No matter who you were or what you did, God is using you, and will continue to do so, to tell people that He can still love them even after you’ve sinned in the seemingly worst way.

We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, byt not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11

In suffering, we enter into the passion with Jesus, as He simultaneously helps us through it. In His suffering, He reminds us, “wherever you are, wherever you’ve been, I’ve been there.” Not only is Jesus with us to be our Simon and help us to carry our cross, but the ones we love and the ones who are close to us bear our pain as well. We are not abandoned in suffering; if anything, it is in suffering that we are in the greatest company. 

The last sentence of that verse is to remind us that while it was our sins that brought down Christ and condemned Him, and that repentance is necessary, we must never forget that it is in His death that we are brought to eternal life. 

They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony …”

Revelation 12:11

Through God all things are possible. With the blood Christ shed for us on the cross and by giving God the glory in all things, we can crush Satan; if you live your life in away that gives God the glory and brings others to Him, evil will be conquered.

St. Therese of Liseux writes in “A Story of a Soul” a story about how when she was a child, she saw two demons playing about in her yard. When she looked upon them, they became terrified and fled from her. She said that God made use of this situation to show her that a soul in a state of grace never has any reason to fear the devil.

To be in a state of grace, we must realize the importance of the sacraments, especially reconciliation. God’s forgiveness and mercy is unending, and if we witness to that mercy by showing how we’ve been forgiven, multiple times, for our wrongs, we will be unstoppable.

I don’t know about you, but after I go to confession sometimes I just feel like I want to run around to everyone and tell them how glorious the Lord is. While there is nothing wrong with actually putting that idea into action, we have to remember what St. Francis of Assisi said: “Preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary.” Actions speak louder than words; if we go about loving and forgiving instead of just giving lip service to God and His works, it is then that we will give all for the greater glory of God.

I think the most important word of that verse, though, is the word “they.” It does not say “I conquered him,” referring to John. It does not say “he” or “she conquered him,” referring to one singular person. It says “they,” referring to multiple people banded together in a battle against Satan, and winning, with the blood shed for them on the cross and the word of their witness as weapons.

This is the biggest reminder that we are not alone. We have each other. Instead of just saying, “I’ll pray for you!” when a friend is suffering (which has become kind of our “Catholic calling card,” has it not?) and then abandoning them to endure the struggle alone, why not say, “Let me pray with you. Your cross is twice as heavy as my own. Let me be your Simon.”?

No matter what sin you have committed, you are loved and forgiven beyond measure. No matter how you struggle with that sin or with situations in your life, you are never abandoned.

Grace be with you, brothers and sisters.

- Jordan