Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

December 13, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

“Socrates had no one to foretell his birth. Buddha had no one to pre-announce him and his message, or tell the day when he would sit under the tree. Confucius did not have the name of his mother and his birthplace recorded, nor were they given to Men Centuries before he arrived, so that when he did come, Men would know he was a Messenger from God.

But, with Christ it was different.

Because of the Old Testament Prophecies, His Coming was not Unexpected. There were no Predictions about Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tze, Mohammed, or anyone else; but there were Predictions about Christ. Others just came and said, “Here I am, believe me”. They were, therefore, only Men-among-Men and not the Divine in the Human. Christ alone stepped-out of that Line saying, “Search the Writings of the Jewish people and the Related History of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans”.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

Why does it matter if you leave the Catholic Church?

December 10, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

Why does it matter if you leave the Catholic Church?

It matters because as Catholics we think it is important to belong to the Church that Christ founded 2000 years ago. It matters because when you leave the Catholic Church, you leave the Eucharist – and all the sacraments that Christ Himself instituted. It matters because as Catholics we believe the Church contains the fullness of the truth, because it was founded by Christ Himself. This does not mean that we think other religions and Christian denominations do not contain any truth, for they do. But the Catholic Church, since it was founded by Jesus, contains the fullness of truth, so we think it is very important to belong to the Catholic Church and share our faith with others.

Does this mean that Catholics are holier than non-Catholics? Absolutely not. Some of the holiest people I know are Catholic, and some of the most unholiest people I know are Catholic. We’ve been given this beautiful gift of our Catholic faith, and yet too many of us have taken it for granted (guilty as charged!) or have not appreciated what we have.

The Catholic Church is both human and divine. Because it is divine, it will last forever. Because it is human, it will have scandals, and sinful people in it, just like what you will find in all denominations and religions. Scandals do not prove that the Catholic Church is false. They only prove what is obvious: that the Church contains sinners as well as saints.

Despite humans messing things up at times, the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, and will FOREVER be guided by the Holy Spirit until the end of time, as quoted in scripture:

“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:12-13

“I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Among all the Christian churches, ONLY the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots, each with their own man made traditions.

Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.

Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches to which door-to-door missionaries belong are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.

The Catholic Church has existed for 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members—even some of its leaders—have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy. Any merely human organization with such members would have collapsed early on. The fact that the Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church (and the largest, with about a billion members) is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.

If you have never studied Church history, study it now and see what the early Church was really like, what Catholics believed, and what they practiced. If you study it you will see that the early Church was totally Catholic. The early Church believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; Early Christians did pray for their dead; Christ did give the apostles the power to forgive sins; Peter was clearly chosen by Christ as the leader of His Church; Mary was loved and honored by the early Christians; Whole households (including babies) were baptized. Think about it – if you are looking for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you can’t get more personal than when you receive His body, blood, soul, and divinity in the holy Eucharist, and are a part of the actual Church that Christ founded.

It’s important to know history, know why we are Catholic, and embrace the beauty and truth of our faith. So many people converted to the Catholic Church after studying Church history, particularly regarding the issue of authority. (Two great books to read on church history are: “Four Witnesses”, by Rod Bennett, and “The Father Knows Best” by Jimmy Akin.)

The Catholic Church, founded by Christ, contains the fullness of Truth. Be grateful for the beautiful gift of our Catholic faith, and then pass on our beautiful teachings and traditions to your children and grandchildren. If you don’t, who will?

Gentle Woman

December 8, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

Gentle woman, quiet light
Morning star, so strong and bright,
gentle Mother, peaceful dove,
teach us wisdom; teach us love.
…
You were chosen by the Father;
You were chosen for the Son.
You were chosen from all women
and for women, shining one.

Gentle woman, quiet light
Morning star, so strong and bright,
gentle Mother, peaceful dove,
teach us wisdom; teach us love.

Blessed are you among women,
blest in turn, all women, too.
Blessed they with peaceful spirits.
Blessed they with gentle hearts.

Gentle woman, quiet light
Morning star, so strong and bright,
gentle Mother, peaceful dove,
teach us wisdom; teach us love.

Remember – Holy Day of Obligation this Monday, December 8th!

December 7, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

Remember – this Monday, December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and a Holy Day of Obligation. Many think it is about the conception of Jesus, but it is not. This Feast is a celebration of Mary’s immaculate conception. Here is some more information that helps to clarify this feast:

God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation

December 7, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral–a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation. What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this; to be a mother? — Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

Catholic gift idea – Shining Light Dolls

November 19, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

Hi Love Being Catholic Friends,

A friend of this page shared with me another great Catholic Christmas gift idea! Check out these Catholic dolls – perfect for Christmas, Confirmation, Holy Communion or Baptism gifts. Each of these precious dolls come with a little card telling a little bit about the saint and a beautiful prayer. They are so unique – and precious. What a cute way to teach your children, grandchildren (and yourself!) about the Virgin Mary and saints! They sell these at many Catholic bookstores nationwide and on Amazon. You can find more information at: http://shininglightdolls.com/Shining_Light_Dolls/Home.html

If we don’t stand up for life, who will?

November 1, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

As a Catholic, when you say you are against abortion, but respect a woman’s right to choose to have one, think about what you are really saying. You are saying that you personally wouldn’t abort your own child, but it’s fine if someone else does. In other words, the life of the child really doesn’t matter to you. This is not being Catholic. If you are a Catholic, and not in name only, you are for all life – from conception to natural death. You certainly are free to believe other wise, but if you think abortion is okay, you are going against the church that Jesus Christ Himself founded – the Catholic Church. Abortion is not of God, thought the secular world is very good at convincing you otherwise.

We don’t get to pick and choose who lives and who dies. God is the author of all life. By being okay with abortion, this is exactly what you are doing. We are not God, as much as many in the world would like to think that we are. Science has proven that life begins at conception. Even atheist acknowledge this. When Jesus was in His mother’s womb, He was an embryo. Think about this and how valued the life inside the womb must be to God. God, being God, could have chosen a different way to come down from Heaven and dwell among us. But he didn’t. He could have come to us already full-grown, with no family. But He didn’t. Instead he chose to come to us through the womb of a woman, as a vulnerable baby. Pretty powerful example to the preciousness of life in the womb, of babies and of families.

Do not believe the lies the secular world tells you. Do not believe everything you hear on television, or read in the paper. There is a powerful agenda out there and they do not have your best interest at heart. God does. Many, many young women are vulnerable to these lies. Help them, protect them and encourage them to give life to their child. They need your support. They need your help. Don’t abandon them. Catholics need to step up to the plate, help the mothers, protect the little ones, and stop falling for the “It’s my body I can do with it what I want to” lies. With this logic, why don’t you go out and support women being prostitutes? It’s their body – why not? Go ahead and encourage drug use – it’s their body – shouldn’t they be able to use drugs and do whatever they want to with it? Abortion is big business and makes a lot of money for the abortionist and Planned Parenthood. You’ve been sold a huge lie, and by buying into it millions of children have been dismembered and destroyed. Dismembered. This is reality and the truth of abortion. Human children are being destroyed every day in our world, and yet we listen to the lies rather than God. Your children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will never exist because of a lie. We are all better than this.

Do the right thing and truly live your Catholic faith. If you don’t understand a hard teaching, pray for understanding and then read, study and find out why the Church that was Jesus Christ founded 2000 years ago teaches and believe what it does. These teachings aren’t mean or old-fashioned. They are of God, who has our best interest and our eternal souls at heart. Jesus founded our Church and left us the Holy Spirit to always guide us in truth. Know your faith and stand up for life. Be Bold. Be Catholic. Be good, holy, moral people. Stand up for truth. Stand up for life. If we don’t, who will?

Why does God allow suffering?

October 21, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

The Pieta is my favorite sculpture. One time in a dream Mary let me feel what it was like to actually hold her son in my arms after He was taken down from the cross. It felt so real. I felt the weight of Jesus’ dead body in my arms. I felt His blood and saw His wounds. I felt the painful and deep sadness of what it must have felt like in Mary’s heart to mourn the death of her Son and hold Him in her arms. It was a pain like no other. It made me think about suffering – and why God allows bad things to happen to good people. Why do our loved ones have to die, and why is there so much suffering in the world?

Think about this – if God (remember Jesus is God) allowed His own mother to suffer, why not us? God, being God, could have prevented Mary from suffering, but He didn’t. There IS meaning in suffering, though we may not fully understand the meaning of it during our lifetime. Like Mary, we need to embrace our cross. Nobody is immune from suffering. If you are human, you will suffer. Your suffering could be physical, spiritual, emotional, or financial. Regardless of what kind of suffering it is, we will all experience suffering during our lifetime. Mary suffered greatly, and yet she embraced her cross and continues to leads us to Her son. There would be no Easter, without Good Friday. No resurrection without the crucifixion. God always brings good out of suffering – even if it means because of what you are going through someone else is praying more, loving more, or turning back to God. God is outside of time, and love for us is eternal.

Michelangelo at age 24, sculpted the Pietà from a single block of marble. It is the only one he ever signed. What he hoped to convey in the Pieta was what the term really meant: pity, sorrow.

The Pieta is a representation of the horrific nature of Jesus’s crucifixion, and the reality of a mother losing her child. The death of Christ is essential to Christian doctrine and the juxtaposition of Christ’s human and divine nature is alive in the Pieta. The Christian community can relate to The Pieta on many levels, both in their walks of faith as well as their family relationships.

It is said that he had been criticized for having portrayed the Virgin Mary as too young since she actually must have been around 45-50 years old when Jesus died. He answered that he did so deliberately because the effects of time could not mar the virginal features of this, the most blessed of women. He also said that he was thinking of his own mother’s face, for he was only five when she died: the mother’s face is a symbol of eternal youth.

If you are going through a hard time, look at the cross, or meditate on this sculpture, and know that your God loves you eternally. This earthly life is filled with both great joy and great suffering. We are all on this journey that can sometimes be unbearable, but know you are not alone. Embrace your cross and know that God is right there besides you, our Blessed Mother understands your pain, and they are both helping you carry your cross, giving you comfort, love, and strength along the way.

Dear “Love Being Catholic” Friends

October 20, 2014 | Love Being Catholic

Dear “Love Being Catholic” friends,

My mission is to help you grow deeper in your love for Christ, His Church, and our Blessed Mother, while at the same time give you some easy-to-understand answers to questions you might have been asked by others about our faith. Through the grace of God, this blog and my Facebook page combined now have over 83,000 friends and are reaching several million people around the world.

It takes hundreds of hours to research, write and maintain this site, and any support is appreciated! If you’re enjoying this page, and it has been a blessing to you, please consider supporting it with even a modest donation of $5.00 or $10.00 is wonderful – every little bit helps!

If you have donated already, I thank you wholeheartedly for making all of this possible. If you find any joy and value in Love Being Catholic, please consider supporting me in my efforts. Please also keep me in your prayers – you are all in mine!

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In Christ,
Liz