Unsure

Lately, I've been thinking about a friend of mine with whom I had a slight falling out.  I've known her since the fourth grade, but her family moved when we were in high school.  So, we've been in contact over the last 30 years or so through mail, phone calls, and the very rare visit.

Over the years she had not been interested in any particular church.  In fact, I had the feeling she did not go to any church or believe in any particular faith.  I, however, have always been open about my faith, but I have never pushed it on anyone else.  I try to live the Gospel and win others for Christ by example.

When my family and I moved to Oklahoma, it was the closest I have been to my friend, who lives in Kansas City, in many years.  I suspected that she was getting involved in some kind of church a few years ago when she called and asked me about a Catholic funeral she had gone to.  She asked about a prayer that many of the people in the church were praying.  After asking her a couple of questions, I understood the "prayer" in question was the Rosary.  The Rosary is actually a set of prayers for the meditation of the life of Christ and His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  There was no rudeness, no judgement--that would come later.


I invited her to a couple of my kids' First Communions--she made it to one.  It was a nice visit and I enjoyed answering any of her questions about it and the Church.  I wonder now if she was already involved in the "church" that has now turned her against her long time friend.  She seems to be convinced now that my soul is "in danger."  Supposedly the Holy Spirit came to her and told her to let me know I was in danger.

What I am unsure about is where to go from here.  I received several emails over the last several months with such ridiculousness like her asking about church authority and comparing Mormonism to Catholicism because Mormons use words such as bishop.  The fact that Mormonism isn't actually Christianity seems to be beyond the thought process of radically anti-Catholic "Christians."  Christianity is supposed to be about knowing, loving, and serving God.  The Church is the Body of Christ in which to do that.  We know God through Scripture and the Sacraments.  We love Him in receiving the Eucharist.  We serve Him by doing works of mercy, such as clothing the naked, housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and the like.  We absolutely do these things for God, and not, as Mrs. Osteen so dramatically put her foot in her mouth about, for ourselves.  We do these things as offerings to God.

Now to have a long time friend sending me messages of condemnation and accusation was hurtful.  I did try to answer her questions as thoughtfully as possible.  I'd get back messages about how I was close minded.  Of course I'm close minded.  I made a long, thoughtful journey to the Church.  Why does a friend, who seems to have fallen in with a radically anti-Catholic "charismatic" church, think she knows better in a few months better than a 2,000 year old Church?  It is one thing about the Protestant "churches" I no longer understand.  The intolerance and lack of charity of these groups really floor me. 

When I did try to defend the Faith and answer her questions, I was told that I was being emotional and therefore deep down I must know I am wrong.  What?  Where did that come from?  Let me get this straight, if I am passionate about Christ, about His Church, and about my Faith, then I must be wrong?  I fail to see how that works.  It is circular reasoning to me.  On the one hand, protestant groups want one to be passionate and loud and outgoing about their faith and evangelizing others, including other Christians.  But on the other, if one IS actually passionate and loud and outgoing about their faith, if "they" don't understand it, then one must know deep down they're wrong.  How does that work again?

I am passionate.  I am sure.  I am knowledgeable.  I feel deeply. 

No, I don't believe I am wrong to be a Catholic.  I became a Catholic when I was 36, having been a Baptist of some flavor since I was very young.  I read, I studied, and I joined RCIA.  I prayed a lot and I do believe the Holy Spirit answered my questions and moved me in the direction I was supposed to go.  When one, friend though she may be, questions your integrity, your passion, a very important part of your self, it is not only hurtful but it makes it clear that she doesn't really know you at all.  It is hard to trust such a person and hard to carry on a friendship with her.

I am unsure where to go from here.  Charity and patience is what I need but can be hard to muster when ever word you say is judged in a negative light.

My January Rant

Wow!  Being on some of these "discussion" groups where protestants and Catholics are debating, can be so tiresome.  Them repeating the same anti-Catholic propaganda, day after day, forum after forum.  When do they ever listen?  When will it stop?  Even the Scriptures and doctrines that aren't just Catholic are now being denied.  Here is a sampling:

1.  The Body of Jesus is not a miracle.  His body is human like every one else's; only his conception was a miracle.

A:  Really?  So there was NOTHING different about Jesus' body?  Nothing, say, like housing God's soul, right?  Nothing like everything He endured, beating, whipping, torture for hours on end before He was forced to carry His own cross, before He died, nailed to that same cross.  Any body could have done that?

2.  Manna, bread from Heaven, was not the type of Jesus' Body but the type of our faith in Him.

A:  Really?  So, when Jesus talks about manna as the bread from Heaven, then calls Himself the Bread from Heaven, He does not actually mean that comparison.  He's just joking.  He says, "You must eat My Flesh...Drink My Blood...to enter Heaven."  But, He didn't really mean what He said.  One (manna actually eaten in the desert) has nothing to do with the other (Bread from Heaven, His Body, is to be eaten).  Wow!  Are you blind if you can't see that!

3.  Physical baptism isn't "technically necessary."

A:  Really?  So, He didn't really mean it when He told His disciples to "Go, preach and make disciples of all people, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."  Guess He was just kidding about that, too?  And there really was no reason, at all, that He was baptized Himself by His cousin St. John.  And they call them selves Bible believers, and/or sola scripturists (Bible alone)?  But when push comes to shove they just completely ignore Christ's own words--His commands--and make up their own doctrine.  "Baptism saves us now."  Obviously that line in the Bible MUST be ignored!

4.  Repetitious prayer is a sin.  Catholics always repeat prayers so they are sinning.

A:  For one thing St. Paul was talking about PAGAN prayers to PAGAN gods.  He was not talking about heartfelt prayer to God.  Isn't Jesus the One Who said the one who asks and asks and asks will be answered?  I do believe it was.  Funny thing is, when I was a protestant we repeated the "Doxology" every Sunday.  That is not repetitious prayer?  Many prot churches repeat The Lord's Prayer.  That is not repetition?  Memorized prayer is for the faithful, especially the young and immature in the faith, to have a way to pray from the heart especially when one cannot find your own words or your own expressions to God.  God wants to hear from us, no matter what the form. 

5.  Praying to saints is a sin.

A:  Number one, Catholics (BTW, Orthodox and other churches pray to saints also) ask the saints to pray for them;  we all know they cannot do anything on their own.  One is erroneous in thinking Catholics do anything but ask a member of the family--God's family--to pray for them.  If you object to this, then you better NOT be asking ANYONE to pray for you--your mother, wife, pastor, friend--ANYONE--because you are doing the EXACT SAME THING you are accusing us of--asking someone else to do your praying for you. 

Number two, Catholics do not worship any but the true God.  Never have, never will.  Have there been Catholics and other Christians who have done this wrong?  Of course, there have.  There has never been a Protestant who has had his "flock" kill themselves, follow them out into the desert to wait for Christ on a certain day, follow him to hell?  Of course, there has.  But all Catholics, at all times, must be perfect or the Church is blamed.

Number three, saints are our family.  Statues, paintings, icons, stained glass windows are the EXACT SAME THING as your FAMILY PORTRAITS--EXACTLY THE SAME.  I know that a lot of prots don't want to see it that way.  That is their problem and their error.  If you have a picture of your grandmother on a shelf, stop by it and think of her, you are just as much an idol worship as a Catholic who stops in front of a statue of Our Lady and thinks of her and asks for her prayers.  It is the same thing.

I really get so sick and tired of prots who say, "Show us where it says that in the Bible."  We do.  Then they do their little prot dance, close their eyes, plug their ears, and say, "La, la, la, la, it's not there, it's not there, it's not there."  All Catholic doctrine was developed in the Early Church long before the NT Scriptures were collected by the Church and put into a Bible.  All the beliefs, all traditions,  and all practiced can be seen in the Scriptures and in the writings of the early Church.  We still believe and practice what the 1st century Church did.  Those who cannot and will not believe that, deceive themselves.

Christmas Rant

Christmas used to be my favorite time of year.  Now it is just full of frustration and stress.  I hate being a wife and mother at Christmas.  I usually get few if any presents.  I never get what I want.

What I don't enjoy:
1)  A messy house.  Not one person cleans up after themselves, not one.  Chore chart you say?  It's on the wall--now what?  It is my responsibility to remind everyone? 
2)  The School schedule ignored.  I've tried very hard to stop being angry all the time.  Consequently, the kids no longer take me or their school work seriously.  We are one week from Christmas Day and not one of them is done with their semester's work.  Today, on my schedule, would have been the last day of school until the New Year.  Sigh.  Now I can't enjoy baking and decorating next week.
3)  The fact that I cannot do housework and have any of the children do their school work at the same time.  Even when I am cleaning in the same room, they stop working.

4)  My husband who gets up at o-dark-thirty, wakes me up every time--even on SATURDAY, the only day I could sleep in, but can nap anytime he pleases.
5)  The fact that I am about 30 pounds over weight (since about 17 years ago, when I started having kids).  I am so stressed and tired, I cannot motivate myself to exercise.
6)  Feeling guilty about feeling stressed and angry.  I sure have a lot more than most in my situation in life. 
7)  Have almost no friends at this time of year.  My sister was once my best friend, now I never even hear from her.  Their was someone who I thought was a friend who, apparently, has no time for me.  I have been cultivating a relatively new girl friendship but we're so busy, it is hard to get together. 

Now, I'll see if I can count my blessings:

1)  I can receive Christ in the Eucharist.  In this way, Christ is always with me in a very tangible and real way.
2)  I have become involved in Catholic Apologetics in the last year or so.  And, even though he was condescending, one prot 'apologist' actually called me (well, not me personally but a group I belong to) one of the "new crop of Catholic apologists."
3)  I completed my first class on my way to receiving a Bachelor's degree in Theology.  I have yet to receive my final grade, but I'll just be happy to pass.
4)  My oldest son is still with us.  My son has survived four St. Nicholas Days after he was hospitalized in a near coma.  Type 1 diabetes is a serious illness not taken very seriously any more, mostly because the treatment usually results in a lifelong treatment.  Only a few short decades ago it was a death sentence.  Praise God for the timing.

5)  My five year old is learning his letters.
6)  A couple of my kids have problems in school but none have learning disabilities. 
7)  My oldest got 162 on his PSAT.  Yeah!  A full 30 points higher than on his practice test at home.
8)  My parents are still alive.  I should call my mother more often.
9)  I have lovely new white counters in my kitchen.
10)  I will enjoy making the planned gingerbread village this year. 
11)  There's a beautiful $20 Douglas fir tree in my living room.
12)  We can get the kids at least one thing they really want for Christmas.
13)  I have a long distance friend who trusts me enough to be a contributor and an editor on his blog.  Thanks S.W.  I appreciate the trust.
14)  One son will be an altar boy at Christ's Mass on December 25th.

Second list outweighs the first.  Praise the Lord!  I've got nothing to complain about.  Rant done.

Let us remember the "Reason for the season"--Our Lord Jesus Christ.