Free Catholic Audio

Many times we don't have time to read. We have to go to work, to pick up our kids from school, we have a doctor's appointment, and many other things that take time away from us. That's why today's post is dedicated to giving you websites where you can download free audio downloads for almost any topic regarding Catholicism. If you are trying to explain your faith to someone, but might not know much about the topic, or if you just want prayers to hear on the go, then the chances are that there is an audio for that.

Apologetics
There are many audio files available for those trying to understand the Catholic faith better, or for helping other people understand the faith better.

Bible Christian Society
Fulton Sheen
Contraception Debate

Catholic Audio books
These are some free Catholic audio books that are available. These audio books are made by knowledgeable  Catholic authors.

Search and Rescue
Pope Fiction
The Lamb's supper
Our Father's Plan

General Audio
These audio files are for simple Catholic prayers, talks, and general Catholicism.
Sonitus Sanctus
Salvation History
Peter Kreeft
Ewtn Multimedia




 

The Friday of penance

                                     
It is Friday today and thus we are called to treat it as a day of penance for the preparation of the Lord's day on Sunday. Many of us abstain from meat today, yet many of us forget, or fail to do this as well. There are many we could practice penance on Fridays, this ways include what make up penance, praying, fasting, and alms giving.

We must first come to know what penance is, this way we could practice it. Penance is a sacramental mean instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sins. During Lent we practice penance and are also called as baptised Catholics to renew our baptismal commitment. Friday is ought to be our weekly Lent, and thus Friday is meant to be our weekly Lent.

Praying

Prayer is one of the most important aspects of penance. we are to pray a decade of the rosary, and to read scripture. We thus surrender ourselves to pray and to read scripture. We should do our best to pray when we can, and to read even a small passage of scripture.

Fasting

We are called to fast from certain periods of time, and should fast certain foods. We are told not only to abstain from food, but from certain activities as well. There are many foods that you can abstain from for the Friday penance. One thing that I do, is to abstain from candy and soda. These are thing that I eat and drink a lot, thus fasting from these things are a big offering for me.

abstaining from meat is something we should all do more, including me. I usually fail at this. We could substitute eating red meat and instead eat fish for example. If we are running late and need to get fast food, instead of getting a hamburger, substitute it for a fish taco instead.

Alms giving

The last thing we ought to do for penance is to give alms. The giving of alms is meant for us to share the given to us by God with others. Giving alms doesn't just include money, but sharing our time, and our talents with others as well.

After all penance is not only refraining from sin, but also includes the conversion of our hearts to Christ.

Rosary Series 1: Is the Rosary biblical?

Many Non-Catholics claim that the Rosary is not only unnecessary, but that it is also unbiblical. They fail to see the biblicality of the rosary and the importance of it.
  
   What is the Rosary?

The rosary is merely a reflection on the life of Jesus and Mary, thus there is nothing unblicical, nor unchristian about it. The first 18 mysteries of the rosary which make up the joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and the beginning of the glorious mysteries can all be found directly from scripture. This includes the nativity of Jesus, his passion, and his resurrection, which are all biblical. The last two mysteries, the Assumption, and the Coronation of the Virgin Mary can be taken indirectly from scripture.

As to the assumption of the Virgin Mary it is to be noted that there are passages in the old testament that give a glimpse to the possibility of an assumption, this includes Enoch and Elijah. In 2 Kings 2 it says "And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal." This passages is saying that although Elijah was probably not assumed into heaven, it is possible for this to happen.

The quotes below can be of use

   "That privilege has shone forth in new radiance since our predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, solemnly proclaimed the dogma of the loving Mother of God's Immaculate Conception. These two privileges are most closely bound to one another. Christ overcame sin and death by his own death, and one who through Baptism has been born again in a supernatural way has conquered sin and death through the same Christ. Yet, according to the general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul."
  
"Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body."- The Vatican

As for the coronation of the Virgin Mary

In revelations 12, scripture depicts a woman in heaven with a crown in her head. This can be alluded to the Coronation of Mary. Paul then says in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 " As to the rest of us there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the lord will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love is coming. These two verses can allude that we can in fact get coronated once we are in heaven, and thus explains that Mary was in fact coronated.

   Prayers of the Rosary

   The Our Father
  
One of the main prayers in the Rosary besides the Hail Mary is the Our Father. Not only is it biblical, but it is one of the most important Christian prayers. In Mt 6:9-13 and Lk 11:2-4 Jesus tells us the way we should pray, and thus gives us this prayer.

   The Hail Mary
  
The second prayer of the rosary, the one most people know, The Hail Mary, is made up all from biblical passages.  In Lk 1:28 The angel Gabriel greeted Mary and said "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you. Then in Lk 1:41-42 it says "And Elizabeth filled with the holy ghost, And she cried out with a loud voice, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

   Glory be

Finally as for the Glory be, doesn't the bible mention praising God and the Lord many times both in the Old and New Testament. In Psa 150:1 It says "Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power." So how could it be unbiblical for the rosary to have this prayer included. What better method to pray the rosary than for praising our Lord.

This is to say that both the purpose of the rosary, and the prayers in the rosary are all biblical.

 

Defending Mary

    
Many protestants tend to be opposed to Mary in many ways. This includes their opposition to Mary's perpetual virginity, including from the time she had Jesus, to after she had Jesus. The second opposition comes from the claim that Jesus denounced Mary and his family.  This is commonly seen in the verse of Mt 12:48 "Who is my mother and who are my brethren? This can also be seen in other passages including Mk 3:32-35, and Lk 11:27-28.
  
What Protestants don't know is that these verses are talking about the eternal family of Jesus. If you look at the verses after Mt 12:48, Mt 12:49-50 Jesus says "Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." Jesus explained that any one who does the will of God is considered to be part of Jesus's eternal family. This passage helps explain that rather than denounce his mother, he is saying that more important than biological connections, are those who do God's will and keep his word. Thus this explains that Mary is important to God, not just because she is the mother of God, but because she does the will of God.

As for the attack on Mary's perpetual virginity, including losing her virginity while giving birth to Jesus, and her having more children comes from the passage of Mt 13:55 " Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude?"

These two claims can be refuted by knowing other passages of the bible that help explain how this is simply not true. One of this passages comes from Lk 1:34-35 While Mary was talking to the angel Gabriel  And Mary said to the Angel : "How should this be done because I know not Man? And the angel answering, said to her: The holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, And also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"

This passage helps explain that Mary's ignorance of men is the reason why God had given her the grace of bringing the child of God into the world. St Augustine takes notice that if Mary had not made a vow to God of remaining a virgin, then it would not serve a purpose to be given her this grace. Notice that the angel is telling Mary that God has no limit, and if God wills Mary to remain a virgin it will be done. It is not that sex in marriage is sinful, but it is that virginity is much holier and special than sex. This is the reason the blessed Virgin Mary was given this special grace.

As for the passage about the brethren of Jesus, it is to be noticed that it is likely that they are to be his cousins or part of his extended family. both Hebrew and Aramaic, which are the languages spoken during Jesus's time did not have a word for cousin. cousins and people of an extended family were all called"brethren".  Another thing is that Jesus gave the care of his mother to the disciple John. If Mary did have more kids, then it would make sense for one of them to be the one taking care of her. Rather Jesus gives John the responsibility.

In the end Mary is the mother of God and for this reason deserves our attention. If you have respect for your own mother, then it is that we should have even more respect for the mother of God. It is not that we should worship her as many believe Catholics of doing, but rather it is about giving a devotion to one who was close to God.

  

  

Why did God make me?

  

One of the many questions asked by people is why did God make me? People want to understand the reason for life, the reason for us being here. It's not until we learn that we were created in God's image that we may know and love him that we start to understand the purpose for our creation.

Yet many people don't know how we are supposed to know God. For many people today God is someone who doesn't seems to play a role in one's life. To many people he is simply the "Unknown God". But rather we get to know God through his son Jesus. We see the work and life of Jesus and through him we know God. It is by the love we see in the cross, as Jesus says "Greater man no man has than to give your life for your friends"

 By coming to know Jesus and living how Jesus lived we get to know God, and we get to know the purpose for our creation. We can see that Jesus was born in a manger, someone who rejected worldly comfort, and recognition, as Jesus said that we are not to be of this world but of the world to come. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give his life for his brethren. In the last supper Jesus told his disciples to do the same. Jesus told his disciples as he was preaching "What you do to the least of this my brethren you do to me". By serving and knowing Christ we are called to be another Christ, meaning that we are to act as Jesus Christ and serve as Jesus served. We are called to be the salt of the world, giving purpose for all of life. It is through love, charity, and kindness that we follow Jesus.

This is why by living as Jesus lived, and by living by what he told us is when we start to know why God created us. It is so that we may know and love God, and it is through his son Jesus that this becomes possible. through his son Jesus we know who God is, as Jesus said that he is the answer and only through Jesus do you know God.

A Lack of Faith

In this generation it seems that there's a lack of faith. Recently the other day I heard a guy say, " I don't understand why you would have faith, it doesn't make sense to me", he later went into saying both how if something doesn't make sense to him he will be skeptical about it, and how many times people have done very wrong things because of their faith to something. He used the example of mass murders, and mass suicides because the people committing them had faith that what they were doing was right. What he needs to understand is that the faith that these people had is difficult to decipher, all one could say is that it is not faith that caused this to happen but ignorance.

This kind of mentality is souring in today's world. The if I don't see it or if it doesn't make sense to me I won't believe in it. If you think about it, it makes sense why this mentality is normal in today's world. First you have a lot of products and services being sold in the market which makes big promises. People become skeptical about this. The second reason is that we are living in a practical world. People have gotten used to thinking scientifically, practical and mathematically. This is not something wrong, and it can be very useful, but the problem is that many have gotten used to only what makes sense, or what they have seen with their own eyes.

The problem with living in a world where we only allow ourselves to believe in what we see, or what makes sense to us is that many times we need faith that something is real or that something works, without seeing. We need to get out of the I believe only what I see mentality. The second thing is that we are in essence putting limitations on God, when we say that miracles and unexplained things can't happen because it doesn't fall under logic. It is true to say that there are scientific and mathematical formulas for stance, but these are limitations that only humans and worldly beings are subjected to. God is beyond what is created, as he is the creator. This makes God immune to all this.

It is time that we take notice of this observation, and realize that having faith doesn't have to make sense to us, at least not right now. It is like believing that an idea or an Epiphany works. We don't have to fully understand it right now, or at least not right now. Just have faith, and maybe it will make more sense later on.

Combating Scrupulosity

  ( David Castillo Dominici)

As a sufferer of scrupulosity I decided to make this blog to help others dealing with this same problem. I will describe my advice that I would give others who suffer from this same problem. I will describe what I have learned, and what I have seen work for dealing with this type of problems. I will also write down some websites and publications that will help people learn a little bit more about scrupulosity.

 What is Scrupulosity?

Scrupulosity is a psychological disorder, usually involving a neurological problem or chemical dysfunction. It usually involves a pathological guilt of moral or religious issues. It is a form of anxiety and stress for Catholic faithfuls. Scrupulosity is usually considered to be a form of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD).

A scruple is described in Latin as a pebble or stone, and in English it is describe both as a weight, and as a doubt or hesitation about a moral course of action. Scrupulosity makes sense if you put all the definitions together. A person with scrupulosity tends to doubt whether they committed a sin, or not. People with this problem also take in all the small details as small as a pebble, and they weight them to try to see if anything was done wrong. They will take all the smallest of details into context. The problem with this is that it may make a person with scrupulosity feel as if they committed a sin when they did not. If a sin was committed it may make a person with scrupulosity over-exaggerate the gravity of the sin committed.

People with scrupulosity have a hard time evaluating between a venial and mortal sin. Many times they will see sin when it doesn't even exist; as previously mentioned. People with this problem are encouraged to see a psychologist or a spiritual adviser. These professionals can really help guide people with this problem.

Another problem that scruples have is that because of all the small details that they evaluate, they might start a prayer such as the "Our Father" and begin to go through it half way and soon find themselves repeat parts of the prayer multipe times before finishing the prayer. This is because they feel that the prayer wasn't said right the first coupe of times.

People with scrupulosity have a hard time when confessing. Many people that go to confession give themselves a harder time that they ought to. For the reason that many of the people that suffer from scrupulosity tend to feel really bad about the sins they committed, or atleast about the sins that they feel they have committed, they feel that the priest didn't give them a harsh enough Penance. They may feel that the priest just doesn't understand the gravity of the sin they committed, or they may even feel that the priest is too liberal. The reality is that the person with scrupulosity is just taking it too hard on themselves.

One of the hardest problems with a person suffering from scrupulosity is the fact that they suffer from unwanted thoughts or rather "intrusive thoughts". Many times these types of thoughts occur in the most  random times. They usually occur when praying, when looking at a crucifix, or when looking at any sacred object, or image. People that get these thoughts feel like they are somehow perverted or " not normal". This is simply not true. What must be done is simply to acknowledge that the person having these thoughts don't want them, nor are they consenting to the thoughts, thus given the name unwanted thoughts. We get random thoughts throughout the day, thoughts that are not logical, or thoughts that we would never want to think about. Yet when we have this thoughts we simply ignore them. This is what one must do with unwanted thoughts about sacred things as well. Many of the most devout Catholics who try their best to not sin, or to think bad thoughts usually get these thoughts; as do I. The best analogy to use is, Suppose I told you not to think about carrots for a day, what is the first thing you are going to think about? Carrots right? For this reason people who suffer from scrupulosity, or any Catholic doing their best not to think about these type of thoughts will most likely get an unwanted thought. Just as with any random thought you might get during the day, the best thing to do is simply to ignore them. Unwanted thoughts have been described as an annoying mosquito in your ear. All one must do in this case is to slap it out. This is the same when it comes to these unwanted thoughts.

Websites and publications that will help
   
The websites listed below are all helpful for people suffering from scrupulosity. I use most if not all of these websites and publications. Besides this, I urge you to check with a trained professional as well, as they can be of great assistance. The websites are listed below.
  Scrupulous Anonymous - Scrupulous Anonymous
  Crown of Thorns- Crown of thorns (Good article for unwanted thoughts).
 Countering Scrupulosity- Countering Scrupulosity ( Good mp3 audio for understanding scrupulosity)

 the Scrupulous Catholic- Podcast Blog