You Are What You Eat

                                                                  


Just yesterday I went to a group at my church that I go to on Thursdays, " The Brotherhood of Saint Dismas". It is a local group where we get together and grow in our faith, as well as do charity work.

As I was in the group, my friend and I were talking about Eucharistic miracles that have happened in our lives. My friend told me about how recently that he had lost some close members in his family, he has seen the Eucharist in a new light. He has felt the real presence of the body of Christ.

I told him that I too have experienced Eucharistic miracles, and not too long ago neither. I suffer from what is known as scrupulosity. It is something that makes daily life difficult to cope at times. It is easy for people with scrupulosity to have intrusive thoughts, see sin where there is no sin, and have a hard time remembering past sins.

I told my friend that about just a week ago I made the decision to do my best to go to daily Mass. The thing is that each day that I received Communion, the more I felt God's presence. It was out of a sudden easier for me to deal with all these obstacles that I have because of scrupulosity. Somehow I was not disturbed by all these things, be it the intrusive thoughts, or even the remembrance of past sins. I just felt at peace, and I felt God's mercy. I felt closer to God.

It was not until another of my friends in that same group spoke and said " you are what you eat". Once his said these words, I thought about it for a moment; not really getting what he was talking about, but finally it all made sense to me. Just as people say this phrase to describe someone's diet, this same phrase can be attached to the Eucharist.

The Catechism of The Catholic Church 460 states

 

460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":⁷⁸ "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."⁷⁹ "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."⁸⁰ "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."⁸¹

 

 



This passage is describing a theological concept known in the west as Divinization, while in the Eastern churches, and the Orthodox Theosis. I have to say that this concept has been one that I recently learned about, and probably one I will struggle with my whole life. This passage does not mean that we become God himself, or even equal to God. It means that we share in the divine nature of God, meaning that since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we begin to share in the Beatific vision. This means seeing God face to face as he really is, The Trinity itself would be a great example.

 

The more that you take the Eucharist which is the body of Christ are you not taking him in? Are you not sharing in his divinity and having him with you? For this reason it is that the more we take the Eucharist, the more that we become in a way as Christ is.





Woman writes against abortion



Living in the society of death, where the right to have an abortion has been added to the civil rights movement. A time where many people have felt that it is not the lives of others that matter, but rather that of their own. That is the selfishness we find in today's world. This is the result of feeling that kids are a burden to our success, rather than a blessing from God.

Yet some people have graciously still seen the wrong in abortion. This story starts with a woman named Abby Johnson. She is one that although born into a conservative family in Texas and, a Christian upbringing, had worked in planned parenthood after seeing a booth at a college fair. She started out volunteering, and letter got promoted to community service director, welcoming clients to the operation room. She worked for planned parent hood for 8 years. She later saw an operation via an ultrasound, which reminded her of the abortion of her own daughter. Abby says that she saw the baby squirming and turning, as to avoid what was happening. Abby did not think that the baby would feel a thing.

Abby has later joined the Pro-Life movement and has authored a best selling book Unplanned. In this book Abby describes her story from both sides of the abortion clinic. She discourses life and death scenarios, courtroom battles, as well as her transformation from pro-choice to pro-life.

This is a must read for anyone who treasures the sanctity of life. This is a book I plan on getting home for Christmas as well.

An Era of Apologetics

I don't think there has ever been a time that people have been defending the Catholic, or even the Christian faith than the time that we are living in today. With over a dozen Catholic apologist and authors this really is the era of apologetics.

This is a great thing, and it is something that both Catholics and non Catholics should take advantage of to learn about our Catholic faith. I wish I could have learned about all of this a long time ago. In that case I would have come closer to my faith sooner.

There are a lot of really good apologist, as well as websites and publications coming out defending the Catholic faith. The question is which ones stand out the most? There are just so many, most of them good and some even really good. Just below I made a list of some of my favorite apologists, as well as websites that I think are really good for any one Catholic and Non Catholic who wants to learn more about the faith.

Apologists

Scott Hahn - Many call him the main apologist, the reason being that he was one of the ones who really helped people understand the Catholic faith. He has written wonderful books about the Catholic Church, such as Rome Sweet Home, and The Lamb's Supper. He has published a great website for explaining Catholic beliefs, and finally has even helped publish a great study bible The Ignatius Study Bible. Scott Hahn was not always Catholic. He was a Presbyterian Minister who at one time even boasted of having had converted some people from the Catholic faith. It wasn't until he was convinced at the error in things like contraception, as well as other theological beliefs that he saw the truth in the Catholic church. I am admired by the fact that he chose to follow the truth.

John Martignoni- This is another of my favorite apologist. If it weren't for him I would not know what I know about the bible. He is really good at explaining Catholic teaching as scriptural. This is a must if you are to debate with many protestants and evangelicals. If you take time and listen to him, you would be much more able at defending your Catholic faith.

Websites

Catholic Answers- You can't go wrong with this website. This website is what helped me come back to the Catholic faith after I was in depression and confusion. They just have a lot of useful resources that will help make you want to be a Catholic. They have Catholic Answers Live which is a great radio station to listen to. They also have a really good forum that comes really helpful when you want a quick answer about a question you have about the Catholic Church. It is also good just for making new friends and sharing your faith.

EWTN- This is another great website and a classic. You can watch reruns of many great Catholics like Fulton Sheen, and Mother Angelica. They too have a great radio station as well as T.V. programs that are there to help the average person.

BrandonVogt- Finally the last and one of my favorite websites besides Catholic Answers Live and EWTN. This website is a blog by Brandon Vogt who is a Catholic convert. He converted from being an Evangelical Christian. He started not knowing much about God and throughout the time became really close to God and eventually entered the Catholic church. His website is really great for anyone who wishes to learn about the faith. Brandon shares a lot of the same saints and heroes that I have. These include Saint Therese of Lisieux, Mother Teresa, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and C.S Lewis.

I hope that we all make use of all these things and people that God has inspired to lead people to his church and the truth. May we use all these things to lead others as well to Him.

God does everything for a reason

 

Yesterday I went to confession and was looking forward to it. I left my house to my parish church to attend the confessional. There was a bit more people than usual, as it is the season of Advent. Many people attend confession this time of the year, as to get ready for the Christmas season.

There was a person in front of me and he was the last person before the priest had to leave. I was a little down and even felt a little selfish that I didn’t get to confess. I know I should not have felt like this, but rather I should have felt the opposite. I should have felt happy for the guy in front of me that he got to confess. I asked God for forgiveness for feeling like this and headed home.

A little after I got home I saw my sister who entered my room. Something told me to tell her that I didn’t make it to confession. I told her that I was just going to go next Saturday. My sister told my that she would accompany me to next Saturday to confess. A big delight entered me. The reason was that my sister had been delaying confession for about 4 years. At that moment I knew that God does everything for a reason. I realized that if I made it to confession that Saturday then this opportunity would have never come up, and most likely my sister would not have told me that she wanted to go to confession.

It’s funny to think about the way that God does things. Everything really does happen for a reason. I remember a priest once telling me that the reason that God allows evil and suffering to happen is because good comes out of it. Sure I didn’t make it to confession this Saturday; which is a bad, but this gave me the opportunity for my sister who had not gone in so many years to go back. There are many other times where God allows things that are bad at that moment to happen, but in the end good comes out of it.

There are other examples of when God allows evil to happen, that good comes out. One simple example would be the economical collapse of 08. Many people got laid off and lost their jobs. This devestated many families. Yet I like to see the good that came out of it. Didn't the recession bring families closer together. It sure brought mine. My mom, my sister, and I were forced to move in with other my uncle's side of the family. Many other memembers in my family, as well as friends had to do this as well. This I believe was a good thing as it brought unity amongst the family.

A more bigger example of this has to be the crucifixion of Christ himself. Why would God allow this? Wasn't it his own son? Well sure God could have easily prevented this evil from happening. If God did do this, then we would have had Christ for a longer time, and an evil would have been stopped. Yet the greatest act of love would have been prevented. This act of love is the sacrifice of God himself for humanity.

Suffering with Meekness

First of all sorry for not posting in a while. I have been busy with College.

Well today I had my wisdom teeth taken out. Ouch I know right? Well it wasn't the procedure that was painfull, but the after part. It is the recovering part that is. My cheeks are swollen (as you can see from the picture below), I have had a small but annoying headache, my throat hurts, and the worst part about it; I can't eat that much. I love to eat and not being able to eat is really hard for me.

This suffering has been more of a blessing than anything. Why? Well first of all I can thank God that I will never need to worry about having problems with my wisdom teeth in my life. It was a surgery that could help me later in my life. My wisdom teeth were impacted and thus that means that they were crowding my mouth more that it already was. By doing the surgery I saved myself the trouble of getting migraines that could have resulted from this excessive crowding, as the wisdom teeth would have forced the teeth to be pulled and trigger bad headaches.

Second of all about the suffering. I know that this suffering is only going to be temporal and better yet I can always offer this suffering to God for someone. I could always offer it up for The holy souls in Purgatory, or my uncle who has left the Catholic faith. What better joy can you get than by suffering out of love and compassion.

Jesus said " Blessed art the meek for they shall inherit the land"

Being meek is not an easy thing, it is hard. It involves having patience which is also hard. That is why it is something we should all strive in being.

May God bless us and help us to be meek all of our days.

Saints that have influenced me: Augustine of Hippo

This is the fourth and last article about certain saints that have influenced my life

                                                                              

No other saint has shown that God stays with us throughout our life, and that conversion can happen at any day, than Augustine of Hippo. Augustine used to live a loose life of partying, entertainment, and worldly ambitions. He later converted to be one of the most well known saints of all time, through his preaching, philosophy, theology, and life of penance for his past sins.

Background

Augustine was born in November 13, 354 in Thagaste. ( present day Algeria) His parents were Particius a pagan, and Saint Monica a devout Christian. Monica prayed daily for the conversions of her husband and son. Particius converted to Christianity shortly before his death, Austine would convert later in his life.

Carthage

Augustine moved to Carthage to study rhetoric. It was on Carthage that Augustine fell for immorality, which he would later describe in his book "The Confessions".

Augustine was influenced by Manichaeism. ( A Gnostic sect of Christianity) During the same time he began an affair with the woman whom he was to live with for 13 years. Augustine would bear a son with her, Adeodatus.

Conversion

Augustine eventually moved away from Manichaeism and would terminate his relationship with the woman who he lived with. He would devoted his life to God.Augustine would sell his patrimony and give the money to the poor. Augustine was ordained a priest and became a great preacher. Augustine became one of the best theologians would become a doctor of the church.

Augustine had influenced my life a great deal, because I can relate to him in many ways. Augustine was not always close to his Christian faith, as was I. Augustine was side tracked by many false beliefs before being converted to Catholicism. I too had wrong beliefs, as for a while I believed in the New Age movement before being brought to the True Faith. At the same time Augustine lived 13 years in fornication and lust. I myself had an addiction to lust for quite some time. Converting to the Catholic church and leaving behind both false teachings, and lust made me admire Augustine as those were problems that I myself faced.

Saints that have influenced me: Pier Giorgio Frassati

This is the third article of certain saints that have influenced my life

                                                                
This is one of my favorite saints and have been greatly influenced by him, his compassion for the poor, his sense of humor, and his piety and devotion to God. Pier Giorgio Frassati has shown me how all of us can be devoted to God, and have good old fun at the same time.

Background

Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy in 1901 to a well to do family. His family owned a newspaper called La Stampa, his father was an atheist but Pier dedicated his life to God. He belonged to the apostleship of prayer, Catholic action, and was a Third Order Dominican. He established a newspaper Momento. Pier was also part of the ST Vincent De Paul society.

Charity

Pier Giorgio Frassati gave most of his money to people he saw as more needy than he was. He would often give to the poor part of his cloth. Many times he came back home without his coat. Most of the time he would give his fare money to those who needed it, coming home late in the day.  Pier Giorgio Frassati never took a vow of poverty, nor lived in a poor area. Yet he showed that you can have compassion for the poor, regardless of your social class, or where you live.

He once said "charity is not enough: we need social reform" It is something that he showed through his merits and deeds. At another time someone asked  him why he rode third class he replied with a smile " because there is not a fourth class." Yet still another time during graduation, was given the choice of choosing between getting money or a car. He chose money and gave it to  the poor.

 

There has not been many who I have met nor heard about that has done such great charities as he did. He did not only do these charities, but would often keep them to himself not telling anyone. Because of him I have learned the value of charity and social activism.

      

Sense of Humor

Pier Giorgio Frassati was known for having a good sense of humor, and evangelized with his constant laughing, as well as his pranks. Pier Giorgio once placed a donkey on a student who was being   unstudius. He was giving him a sign that he was being an ass. Pier Giorgio was ordinary, he hanged out with ordinary people, went to school and hiked.

He taught me that you can be ordinary and be a saint. It is through devotion to the Rosary, to the holy Eucharist, by serving God, and helping thy neighbor that we become so. Doing so does not need to be impossible, but it does require wanting to. Pier Giorgio showed me that you can find joy and gladness in serving God.