The Vernal Equinox

There is so much that holds us upright upon two legs on this place we call Earth.  The science of the universe and all of its puzzle pieces has inspired Aristotle to Benedict XVI.  The vernal equinox is a yearly event when night and day are supposed to be closest in length. It is a balance of the tilt of the Earth toward the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere and it also officially summons Spring. Roman Catholics will be in the midst of Lent on March 20th this year when the equinox occurs.  In a sense, the tilt of the Earth which allows for the seasons is much like the changing seasons of our faith life as we revolve closer toward the Son.

Madeira Beach, FL  Copyright GalacticCatholic

God intends for our joy in this life with the hopes that we would grow closer to Him, but at a much faster rate than the Earth moving toward the Sun. Our sun is a medium sized start that has a long time to go before it reaches a point of becoming supernova.  What is fascinating is that, we are in a galaxy where stars are far enough away so that human life has been made possible on this planet.  It is pretty amazing that all of these factors have been designed for our existent to work harmoniously with the universe.

The time of Lent is a Catholic season of a call to 'meet various trials' and 'let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' James 1:4     Christ beckons night and day, no matter the length and He never forsakes and never leaves you.  He is divine and has a much greater capacity for divine light than our medium sized sun.  Therefore, our Son lights our universe with love and the same gravitational pull that keeps our feet on the ground is designed by our Savior's Father in Heaven. 

We may tilt away and rotate affections and revolve this way and that, but ultimately we will meet the Son as the Earth will meet the Sun.

Yay!

I received Dr. Brant Pitre's book in the mail today. Awesome!

ADDICTION: The Climb Upwards

Recognizing addiction's impact on your family

This article is the last piece of this small series on addiction.  I am not a doctor or psychologist, I only know what I have discerned and experienced from those in my family who have had addictions.  Family members I never met have made the largest impact in my thoughts on this topic because of the destruction of addiction and how it then affected those around me today.

The other aspect of my experience, is the unconditional love of Jesus Christ in my life.  Because I have sought Him regularly in my own failings, it is possible for me to have gained an insight in the love that He bears for the weakest in His sight.

Addiction affects generations

I have spoken about the pain and lies that come from the slow trickle into addiction.  Along with the present situation that a person can create by their fall, there is a long lasting generational effect in a family.  For example,  the trauma created for a young child in a home with an alcoholic or a drug abuser, creates a lasting impression of anger and resentment in the child and others who are traumatized.
Also, the direct influences of the care giver for a child are effected by a traumatized lifestyle which manifests in stress related outbursts, physical violence and verbal abuse to others in order to relieve the powerless feeling they themselves are experiencing.

Steps for atonement and peace after generational addiction

Atonement of the heart, mind, and soul is necessary for true recovery.  After recognizing and contemplating the manifestations of trauma from addiction in your family history, even if it is a current history, make a choice to atone.

For some reason, God's grace has allowed me to forgive repeatedly the sins of my grandfather and his family.  It is hard and I have harbored anger in the past and still work through it.  But when I came to know Christ better, I sought understanding. I prayed for understanding repeatedly for a long time.  This was originally for me to be able to not judge others, but Christ knew I needed to forgive within my own family before I could love others as much as He wanted me too.

The effects of addiction show up in small ways that satan uses as leverage over your soul.  Remember that he is the great lier and he desires fully to turn your heart from Christ the Savior.  The great lier will use the anger and resentment of those affected by addiction to continue to break down family and love of the Divine Father God.  These ways include the hurt that a loved one may cause from continuous verbal abuse or manipulative means of gaining affection or things.  I have found that recognizing these events or actions, is a way to recognize the cry of that person's heart for the True Love of the Sacred Heart of Christ, which we are called to share.

Before I go on, here is the review: Recognize generational affects, seek understanding, forgive and love like you have never been hurt before.

It may seem very, very hard to continue to forgive over and over, someone you love that you cannot ever step away from like a family member.   It is not meant to be easy to suffer, but this struggle is a means to an end.  Consider the path that you take as a minute part of the Cross of Christ which he carried all of our own sins upon.  The end result was Eternal Salvation.

When you choose to love instead of hate, to forgive instead of resent and to understand rather than despise, you are the light of Christ for your whole family.  Because, even though their may be many family members that feel darkly about others, you can be a loving light of Christ bringing them together in love.  Love and Joy will always, always defeat darkness.

The person you love may never express sorrow or seek forgiveness from you.  But I think, you can see it in their eyes that they know you know Christ.  Therefore, they may lash out at you till the very end, but you must endure because you will have witnessed to Love.

Reasons for Hope

Hope is not a vague mist in the wind.  Hope is a very real fruit of the Life and Cross of Jesus Christ.  I have seen how the love of Christ has changed members in my family for the good.  By God's grace alone, the Holy Spirit has brought those in my family who have struggled with addiction, back toward the right path.  When one family member struggles, we all struggle, no matter if we are attached to the person or detached.  It is best to recognize this generational inheritance and accept the truth of it and move on in acts of love, understanding and forgiveness.

Addiction Part One
Addiciton Part Two

Galactic Catholic Universe Photo of the Day: Madeira Beach

The God Timeline

Time is catching up with me today.  It was one of those days where a little longevity pill would seem to help in the larger scale of things.  I feel like I will not have enough time.  This feeling has been building for a couple of days.

Before I become ridiculous in my worry, I try to focus on the ones who walked before in Scripture.  My favorites are Job, Elizabeth, Tobit and Jonah.  The crap they went through makes my easy life seem pretty simple.

Job always amazes me when he calls out to God even though he has lost all.  Elizabeth is amazing just for being able to bare a child.  Tobit's sense of duty strikes my shallow selfishness to the ground and Jonah's denial to do God's will and subsequent thrashing resonates with my pridefulness and harbored anger.

I am young and there is happiness in more knowledge as each year comes, but frustration also because I wish I would have known more sooner.  Luckily though, I don't believe in regrets. I never have.  God is the orchestrator of all things, it's just up to me to follow the tune or make it sound flat.

The Travel Bug

I have the travel bug.  It is very hard to get rid of it.  I think it is because I have been watching this wonderful drama from South Korea, that now I want to go there.  It would be so much fun to go and teach at a school and learn a new language.

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Besides, I love the food!  We shall see. God is in the details.

Galactic Catholic Universe Photo of the Day: Florida

The Winning Defeat

"Yahweh, set a guard at my mouth,

a watcher at the gate of my lips.

Let me feel no impulse to do wrong, 

to share the godlessness of evil-doers."

Psalm 141 NJB

Which side do you take when you sin? What argument do you use to justify your actions?
Though we may have a clear and present mind not to sin, it inevitably happens. Always the attacks, always the subtle and blatant reminders that we are so far from God's will when we try to accomplish our will.  Our selfishness is the first battle that must be waged.  The front line combats laziness, relativity and poor formation.  These can be defeated, but it is a long drawn out battle of wills and underground treachery.

I am often reminded of Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the way in which she told her sisters that more time in prayer is the way of finding more time in service to others.  The concrete act of prayer  fights fatigue and dissatisfaction with life.  There is more meaning in the forgiveness of sin when you truly seek to know Jesus.  There is more opportunity to love and obtain grace when you strive for sincerity in supplication.

Christ is always, with total devotion to our souls, compelling us with his divine love to practice more devotion to God the Father.  It is in the times of recognizing sin, that we may realize the time we have not spent with Christ in order to know the Father.  It is hard to find extra moments when you can seem so busy, and then spend 'catch-up' time in order to beg Him for something.  He does not wait for us though, because He is a constant presence in the heart that seeks Him.

The next time you cry out for forgiveness, beg for the grace of a convicted heart that will long for Christ.  The prayer is the easy part, it's the practice that takes time and effort. Anything worth the effort is worth the wait.  How much better is it to hope in the fruits of heaven?

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day approaches. I will probably forget that it's happening, as I usually forget my own birthday sometimes.

But this year I am approaching several things a little differently. One of them is diversity. I never really thought of a type of guy that I would like before. Mostly because I didn't care. The only guys I really like are those who love Christ and could maybe keep up with my pace of life. (Haven't found one yet who is as spontaneous as me!!) But maybe I need to look beyond my fellow Caucasian Americans to Asians, Europeans and what not. I don't know of any specific traits, because you really can't judge a book by it's cover. There's always good and bad everywhere. So I will stick with piety.


Diversity is a pretty cool idea though, coming straight from Our Lady of Guadeloupe. The Spanish conquistadors did not know if they should marry the conquered natives of South America until, it was believed, that Our Lady appeared with her hands in two different colors. This appearance encouraged the bond of the marriage sacrament for the Catholic Spaniards and the natives of the land.

The scripture today also mentions the importance of shining a true Christian light on everyone. It is so tempting to move to China and try to evangelize but for the threat of sure imprisonment. So prayer and sacrifice will have to do for conversions for now. So many Saints traveled so far for the mission of the gospel. Therefore love cannot be limited to one race. If it was, none of us would get salvation.

So for Valentine's Day, if I remember which day it is, I will open my eyes and try to spread the love of Christ to everyone I meet with a smile.

Pray for Life

www.nationalprayerforlife.org

The Black and White Sin: Lies

LIES in Addiction

We lie in our daily lives if we regularly allow an ill-formed conscience to be mastered by sin.  These lies build in different forms, but all can thicken a wall between your soul and God.  Lying to others, lying to yourself and trying to lie to God are all ineffective for achieving gain or happiness in this life.

Before the gravity of a lie becomes apparent, it is often released.  Into the wind, it haunts the one who spoke it until it finds rest upon a guilty heart, covering like a blanketing mist the light that otherwise would bare all.

All lies that affect the soul, affect others as well.  This is harmful and dangerous for loved ones in our lives and therefore it is imperative that lying ceases.  Lies of omission, lies for thorough deceit, and lies that hide sin are harmful to the fragile grace that God provides for the human heart.  Lies are small deeds with large impact that break down the will and open your reasonable mind to believe untruths.

Lying to yourself is one of the first steps to falling into sinful addiction.  When you lie to yourself, you create in your mind a false righteousness or false entitlement that you are owed something in this life that will make you happy.  But if you have ever experienced and known that you have sinned, you may know that happiness is not found in earthly treasures.  The way beyond this falsity is a simple matter of calling upon God to help you by asking for 'knowledge of your sins.'

People try to hide from God even though their souls are blindingly bright within and seeking the love of God.  It is hard for someone who has chosen to live in sin to choose God because God is so forgiving and knows all truths.  The weakened mind and heart cannot always get past the lie of drug abuse, the lie that feelings of a high are the way, or the lie that hatred of others is the only way to survive.  But it only takes 'the faith of mustard seed.'

It is therefore, the Christians duty to pray and sacrifice for those who are most in need of prayer. 

St. Therese of Lisieux prayed for a man in jail when she was a young girl.  He had harmed others by his actions.  At the last moment, he chose to choose Jesus Christ before he was put to death for his crimes.  In the same way that Christ invites the thief on the cross to "be with Him in paradise this day", we are called to look upon those that live a lie in addiction and sin, and pray, if not witness, to the full truth that is the message of salvation in Jesus.

"St. Therese of the Child Jesus, look upon and pray for those who most need to see Our Lord Jesus in their lives right now.  Especially the men and women that wander the street and know no way back to God's grace.  Pray for me, that I might shine a small light where I go, so that they may know to seek Christ who saves and reveals all truth and love. Amen"

The Black and White Sin

I have had this reflection on my heart for some time, which is why I haven’t written here in a month. It is about the addiction to the small sins that happen in our daily lives. White lies, gossip, and anger make up part of what pierced Our Lord at Calvary.

“We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the Spirit of God.” St. Vincent de Paul

Part One:

ADDICTION
Addiction is a crippling, demoralizing slope that shatters the true beauty of the heart of man. Drug addiction, anger addiction, sexual deviance and self-idolatry are sicknesses of poor souls that Christ longs to embrace in his ever forgiving arms.

These addictions may begin with small lies or outlets for stressful experiences. But they affect not only the physical mind and body, but the very real and very present spirit of the soul within. You may ask yourself, ‘What leads a man to become so wretched?’ You may think of these addictions as the worst of the worst.

But that is a lie also, because the devil is always trying to trap you into a sense of security and relativistic ‘self-talk’ that logically provides a path to greater sin.

SIN
Consider the slippery slope of sin. While the addictions mentioned are sinful and have components of sin spun throughout, the beginning of the fall into the addiction always starts with a choice made from an ill-formed or well-formed conscience. Even then, it is a battle against the dark forces in this world.

Many people claim to have no idea what is wrong with their lives and why things don’t always go their way. It becomes plain in conversation with them that they have made certain choices. I will be the first to say I have made poor choices. It is the next and the next and the next choice that continues to spiral further along what road you choose.

But know, sin is always a lie of something good twisted before us.

To be continued.

A Prayer Request

When you work in large or small schools, the inevitable happens and a child's parent or a child becomes gravely ill or looses their life. It is somewhat common, every two years or so, to encounter these events.

Please pray with me for a lady, Anna Diesem, whom I have met once or twice that has gone into a coma today. She has a fifth grade daughter and another younger child.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace,
The Lord is with You.
Blessed are You among women,
And Blessed is the Fruit of
Your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.

Sweet Mary, please bring the healing that God wills in the Diesem family and for Anna. Amen

The Blog "Loving the Church"

A great article written by Father Patrick Murphy LC. Read more at his blog, Loving the Church.

My favorite part:

"How many people today struggle with resentments, wounds from the past, and find it too hard to forgive, forget, and live life to the full. They simply no longer see all the good in people and in the world. The universe is much larger than one’s personal grudges!"

The Greater Setback

I had a little personal setback today, but it doesn't compare to 200 years of progress in health and wealth. Can we also do one of these for the growth of Christianized countries?

Galactic Catholic Universe Photo of the Day: Louisiana

New Orleans Museum of Art Sculpture Garden

The View of 2011

This year is a year of change.  Not political, not social, not physical.  It is a year of moral change. 

The discussion of sex and its repercussions is either combated or ignored depending on which is the opinion of the day.  It is combated by a small poll that says teen pregnancy is down because of a television show on Mtv and ignored by thousands of articles that suggest love is when you make room for the other persons clothes in your closet. 

Maybe it's just me, but I am noticing that the worldly sentiment toward sex has taken hold of even our young innocents of 12 or 13 years old.  The prolific life of inappropriate television and movies is viewed over and over inundating our future adults with what??  Everything that is not what an intimate, loving relationship is about. 

The blind eye to the 'soft porn' of tasteless clothing showing all parts of a woman or girl to the 'funny' old woman boobs on a birthday card, is the blind eye that sees a future adult treat women and elderly with disrespect.


Tolerance of soft porn or the subtle approach to promiscuity is not just about immorality.  It is a turning of society to a reality where pornography is laughable and dignity is lost. 

History shows that this type of change is not new.  Well it's new to me, and to every generation born into this world.  I have always believed that an innocent mind is better than a knowledgeable one in the eyes of Jesus Christ.  It is impossible to be innocent in today's world, which is a crime against souls that from their very first cry, cry out for the joy and love of God the Creator.

As we watch this disgusting reality take place, we can pray.  God can do all things.  He can choose to protect a soul that can only be fulfilled in a religious vocation.  With our prayers, God can answer and lead fallen souls back to Him with one touch of his loving hand.  With our acts of evangelization and preaching of the Word of God, grace can flow through to the one who most needs love to combat an addiction or even despair.

It is our duty to love even those that have fallen away from Christ.  No person can say they have not sinned, so it is easy to meet a sinner on the street with love if you want to be forgiven yourself.

Even though I am disheartened by the current 'worldliness' of my nation, there are some things I know I can do and I ask you to try also for the sake of souls.

First: Forgive Others. Pray to love more.
Second: Study the Word of God. Be objective but be rooted in the truth of the Holy Church.
Third: Pray Always. Apostolic action cannot be fruitful without the grace of God. 

Catholic Underground [dot] Com

This priest is so cool!! Check out the awesome high def videos he's doing.  I gotta get a program like that! And the exciting news of the Vatican going high def is cool too, but I'll believe it when I see it.

The Mirror of Man Reflecting a God

We are visited by God in a very special way at the Nativity. The 'Horn of Salvation' Lk1:69 and the 'Bringer of the Rising Sun' Lk1:78 is declared by Zechariah at the Presentation of the Lord, where a small child rests in the arms of a wondrous mother in the face of these words.

This visit by God, manifested in human form impacts creations' perception of philosophy, psychology and methodology.  When before there was complexity in gaining favor of the various gods or kings, Jesus is the simplicity of a child and exemplifies the love and innocence that a child is.  Jesus' thoughts, though divine, are mirrored to our own in life as shown by his thoughtfulness before beginning his public mission and thereafter in encounters with all others.  The approach he then takes to share the work of Salvation is methodical yet simple in procedure.  The actions he takes are the same that we try to mirror even through our weakness in setback and suffering.

What are we here for?  To practice a ritual worshiping a child born? The philosophies of man have developed over time, growing from a child-like questioning to a complexity of reason that borders beyond what is rational reason.  Christ verifies that we are here to live.  He comes into a 1st century world to exist, and here we are with essentially the same trivialities in the 21st century. Life and breathe happen in the dirty, poor manger where an infant Messiah makes his first pleading cry for the world.
In the years that follow and the decisions that are made, the 'Horn of Salvation' is  'filled with wisdom'. Lk2:40  Christ lives out the struggle of right and wrong, knowing of both, but always choosing the right.  The psychology of his actions are made in the heart of Jewish teaching and exhibit a tenacity to live past the deficit of the human form in his thoughts, words and deeds.

He broke that barrier of weakness of the flesh by the study of sacred scripture and the confirmed habit of prayer.  This method locked in place a simple but narrow path to follow for those who attempt it.  The very action of silent contemplation of God is the way to know and connect with one who made himself weakest of all in the hands of a sinless handmaiden.

Notations are from the 1966 Jerusalem Bible