Sunday, December 20, 2009

Watch the lies...

From Divine Ripples
This is a disgrace!



Sunday, December 13, 2009

Our Reason to Live

12 Days

















The 12 Days of Christmas
- begins on Christmas Day & includes the Octave of the Christmas season
- 12 days of celebration & feasting.

This carol originated as a Hebrew hymn, which begins, "In those twelve days..."
In the Middle Ages, the song was rewritten in Latin with Christian images.
By 1645, an English version of the Latin ymn had appeared.
By the 18th Century, it had, in turn, become the Christmas carol we know today.

The song goes, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me..."
The true love is God and the following are His presents:

1. The first one is the partridge in a pear tree which means Jesus Christ who died on a tree.

2. Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

3. Three French hens were faith, hope and love - three virtues of the Holy Spirit.

4. Four calling birds were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation.

5. Five golden rings were the first five books of the Bible - the Pentateuch.

6. Six geese a-layin were the six days of Creation.

7. Seven swans-a-swimming were the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

8. Eight maids-a-milking were the eight Beatitudes.

9. Nine ladies dancing were the nine choirs of angels.

10. Ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.

11. Eleven pipers piping were the eleven faithful apostles, or the eleven stars seen by Joseph.

12. Twelve drummers drumming were the twelve articles of the Apostles Creed.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

VACCINES using Human cell lines from Aborted foetuses












Certain children vaccines (mainly Measles, Mumps, Rubella & Chicken Pox/Varicella), may be prepared using human cell lines from Aborted foetuses.

If so, there are no alternative vaccines available to Australians for the examples mentioned above.
Therefore, there may currently be no moral vaccines for Christian/Catholic people who want to protect their children against Measles, Mumps, Rubella and/or Varicella.

HERE is the website with the Vatican statement in response to it all.

HERE is another website I found of an Australian Catholic Dad who has done some research on the matter.
He has most of the information on his website and all his References at the bottom of his page.
This website has included a letter to the current Minister of Health that we can use.
Please check this out!

HERE is another website from the Australian Vaccination Network.

HERE is another website to check out. Once in the website, click on 'PROVE IT' on left hand side.

HERE is a website from Right To Life(RTL)Michigan.

An interesting quote from HERE:

"It is crystal clear that the real motive behind producing the rubella vaccine in this manner was to justify the benefits that would come from the use of aborted fetal tissue research."

We as parents have a right to demand ethical alternatives be used, or reject the vaccine if an alternative is not available.

Disclaimer: This video (below), is not meant to convince you, but to move you to do the research.
This video may not be perfect, but it's a good place to start, to get the word out.

A thank you to: click HERE.




Vaccinations - too much, too soon?


















Below is an interesting video.
Something else to think about doing some research on:



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Santa v's Jesus



Some key things to compare from the video:

"In the end, I keep going back to Santa's naughty or nice distinction.

Jesus came because none of us are nice enough.

Santa is about 'ME'and the stuff I so desperately WANT.

Jesus is about something more...the grace I so desperately NEED."


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Funny comments from No. 2

















These are some of the lyrics to the song, "Last Christmas"...

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart,
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special


No.2 sings it like this...

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart,
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to stop me from having tears
I'll give it to someone special










Mum - "Come on kids, please eat your dinner."

No.2 - "I am eating...I'm shovelling it in!"


No.1's funny answer...














Mum - "Pearl, get off the road, you'll get run over!"

No.1 laughs...

Mum - "You won't be laughing when you get hit by a car and killed."

No.1 - "Yes I will, coz I'll be in Heaven with Jesus!"

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Did you know...?



Saying No!
















Question from Chastity.com
Isn't it hard to say "no" all the time?

Answer:
As I see it, there are two ways to live and to love.
One sees temptations as obstacles to virtue, demanding a constant need to say “no!” in order to obey all God’s seemingly burdensome laws.
It is a life that is based upon “Thou shalt nots.”
Every day is an exhausting struggle to avoid offending God.
If we live like that, then it will be pretty hard to say no all the time.

Here is the alternative:
Instead of living life trying not to offend God, live life trying to glorify him.
Live each moment as an act of worship to God.
Instead of seeing temptations of lust as obstacles to holiness, see overcoming them as the very means to holiness.
Certainly this involves avoiding temptation and saying no to sin, but the motivation is the yes of true love.

As Mother Teresa said, “Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives.”
Or in the words of Pope John Paul II, a young heart feels “a desire for greater generosity, more commitment, greater love.
This desire for more is a characteristic of youth; a heart that is in love does not calculate, does not begrudge, it wants to give of itself without measure.”
“There is no place for selfishness—and no place for fear!
Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands.
Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice.”
“Real love is demanding.
I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so.
Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God.”

Therefore, the virtue of purity is not first a no to illicit sex but a yes to authentic love.
It is not a prolonged series of noes but a continual yes to Jesus.
Since we receive more grace each time we say yes to God, we soon see how possible and joyful this life really is.
The Blessed Mother offers us the perfect example of how to live this, when in the Gospel of Luke she gives us the recipe for holiness: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
The more we are able to imitate her yes, the more joy and peace we will find in our lives.
When asked how we could become saints, Mother Teresa replied: “Whenever Jesus asks something of you, say yes.”

Living the virtue of chastity now means that you cherish your future marriage (or religious vocation) more than passing pleasures.
It also prepares you to be a better wife or husband because you will learn how to express intimacy without always needing to be physical.

It has been said that when a couple has healthy intimacy, the closer the two become, the more they become themselves.

When a couple is experiencing unhealthy intimacy, they usually feel as if they are losing their identity.


The yes I have spoken of is possible with God, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).
Tap into that, and ask God for the grace to be pure.
Have confidence, because with God’s grace anyone can achieve sexual purity.

As you work toward the virtue of chastity, know that the desire to become pure is not something that comes from your body.
There is no chastity gland located near your spleen, secreting abstinence hormones.

Chastity arises from the will and is awakened and made possible by love.

Granted, there will always be a tension between the desire to please God and the desire to act on our impulses.
In the words of Christopher West, “Winning this battle takes faith in Christ, dedication, commitment, honesty with ourselves and others, and a willingness to make sacrifices and deny our own selfish desires. But love is not afraid of those things; love is those things.”

One practical note:
Take a look at what surrounds you.
If you constantly have to say no to various temptations, this implies that you end up in tempting situations on a regular basis.
There will always be temptations, but we should work to avoid the occasion of sin.
If you listen to music with sexually explicit lyrics, watch MTV, spend time in risqué chat room conversations, look through swimsuit or Cosmopolitan magazines and so forth, you are pouring lighter fluid on the fire that you are trying to extinguish.

As the Bible says, “Who will pity a snake charmer bitten by a serpent, or any who go near wild beasts? So no one will pity a man who associates with a sinner and becomes involved in his sins. . . . Flee from sin as from a snake; for if you approach sin, it will bite you” (Sir. 12:13–14; 21:2).

If there are bad influences in your life, replace them.
Find better music and decent books to read.
Also, increase your time in personal prayer, Scripture reading, and other devotions, and you will be surprised at how much easier chastity becomes.
Never forget that purity is a gift from God; you have to ask for it.


It's about the Birth of Christ!



Thanks to Divine Ripples.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A Miracle

The Miracle of Christmas
is that....

GOD SHOWED UP!


Think about it...

















Christ is The Reason...

















'Twas the month before Christmas'
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying,
Nor taking a stand.

See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.

The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday '

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, now Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me...

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

Please, all Christians join together and wish everyone you meet during the holidays a MERRY CHRISTMAS.


Christ is The Reason for the Christmas Season!


Thursday, November 19, 2009

Do you love Gay people?

This is a LOVE issue.



Here are some questions to think about from the video:

* Do you treat gay people with hatred?

* When someone doesn't believe with your Christian world view, do you become unloving?

* When you stand up for what you believe in, do you still love?

* Do you judge and condemn people outside the Church?

* Do you love people who believe differently to what you do?

* Do you love like Jesus?

The Catholic Church holds that, as a state beyond a person's choice, being homosexual is not wrong or sinful in itself.
But just as it is objectively wrong for unmarried heterosexuals to engage in sex, so too are homosexual acts considered to be wrong.


We should still love the sinner....Jesus is in everyone.

There is a world dying out there...
Would you rather be RIGHT or offer them LOVE?


History of casual sex



Females with history of casual sex report most depressive symptoms






According to a study featured in the Journal of Sex Research, various studies have shown that a majority of adolescents first engage in sexual intercourse before they graduate from high school.
Furthermore, other studies have shown that 70% of college students report having had sexual intercourse with individuals they did not consider to be their romantic partner.

Casual sex is a sexual relationship in which the partners do not define the relationship as romantic or as their partner being their boyfriend or girlfriend.


These “relationships” are mainly based on sexual desires or physical attraction alone and commonly involve drugs or alcohol.

In this particular study, the researchers aimed to identify the factors and circumstances associated with those engaged in casual sex and sought to examine the link between casual sex and depressive symptoms.

Researchers used a sample of 404 undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course at a large university in the southeastern United States.
Each student completed a Sexual Behaviors Questionnaire which was designed by the researchers to investigate sexual behaviors in romantic relationships and it was modified for this study to also include sexual behaviors with casual partners. Through these questionnaires, the researchers found that casual sex was a fairly common occurrence among the participants in the study.

76% of the sample reported having engaged in intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex, and more than half (53%) of those who were sexually experienced reported having engaged in sex with a partner with whom they were not involved in a romantic relationship.

The majority of males and females who engaged in sex with a casual partner reported knowing that the encounter was casual and had no expectations other than a physical affair.

The researchers also focused on the link between casual sex and psychological functioning.
They found that for females, as the number of sexual partners increased, symptoms of depression also increased.
Female partners who had the greatest number of partners had the highest symptoms of depressive pathology.
The researchers noted that the association of casual sex and depressive symptoms in females is worthy of further investigation.

Article found HERE.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Pornography












The Harmful Effects of Pornography:

1. Harm to the Soul

2. Harm to Personal Morality and Chastity

3. Harm to Public Morality

4. Harm to Marriage

5. Harm of Violence Toward Women

6. Harm of Degradation of Women

7. Harm to Children

8. Harm of stimulations resulting in Rape

9.
Harm of Contracting AIDS and other Venereal Diseases in Peep Show Booths and spreading the same to the Public

10. Harm to Performers in the production of porno films and videos

11. Harm to Performers in Nude Dancing Establishments

12. Harm to innocent persons criminally assaulted and murdered by those stimulated by porn, including Serial Murderers

The available evidence from testimony, research, social science studies, and interviews with sexual offenders indicates that the production and consumption of pornography causes grave harm to society and individuals.


Click HERE for an explaination of each of these effects.











For those who desire to break their addiction to pornography, lust, and sins of the flesh, click HERE at the PornNoMore.com website and find help.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Homosexuality

A conversion story told by a woman who 'was' living a homosexual life.



It is important to know that the Church (and God himself), loves each and every person (even homosexuals), and how it is only when one participates in homosexual behaviour that it is wrong.

A great story of how...
God can make 'all' things new!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Question on Birth control

















Question: Isn't using birth control better than having unwanted teen pregnancies and abortions?

Look at both these issues and judge for yourself if contraception is part of the solution or part of the problem.

Because of the widespread use of birth control, more people than ever have sex without intending to have children.
Sex out of wedlock has become far more common, and more sex means more babies.
Some argue that teaching people how to use contraceptives will alleviate the problem.
But research shows that “programs in safer sex education and condom distribution have not reduced the out-of-wedlock birth rates among sexually experienced teens. The fact is, increased condom use by teens is associated with increased out-of-wedlock birth rates.”

A few years ago in Colorado, one school began passing out condoms to the students. Within three years the birth rate rose 31 percent above the national average, and in one school year one hundred births were expected among the twelve hundred students. The administrators were described as “searching for explanations.”

When unwanted pregnancies occur, many turn to abortion as a solution.

In fact, studies show that about half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion.
Some argue that increased use of contraception could have lowered these abortion rates.
However, the research institute of the nation’s largest abortion provider admits that most women who receive abortions had been using birth control during the month they became pregnant!

Such couples feel that the “fault” of the pregnancy can be blamed on the failed contraception, but by contracepting they have already set their wills against new life.

Since contraception treats pregnancy as if it were a disease, many people conclude that abortion must be the cure.

I once saw a condom advertisement that called pregnancy “the mother of all nightmares.”
With this mentality it is no surprise that the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey said, “At the risk of being repetitious, I would remind the group that we have found the highest frequency of induced abortion in the group which, in general, most frequently used contraceptives.”
Even a former medical director of Planned Parenthood admitted in 1973, “As people turn to contraception, there will be a rise, not a fall, in the abortion rate.”
Fifty million abortions later, no one can dispute his prediction.

Lastly, it should be noted that anyone who believes that contraception decreases abortions ignores the fact that hormonal birth control can cause abortions.
Click HERE for details on that.

Mother Teresa did not need to see the statistics.
She was well aware of the connection between contraception and abortion when she said in a speech in the presence of Bill and Hillary Clinton:

“The way to plan the family is Natural Family Planning, not contraception.
In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self.
This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her.
In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other.
Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily.”

This question was from Chastity.com.

Friday, November 6, 2009

The Pill Kills Babies



Go HERE for more information about how the PILL KILLS BABIES.

Why Catholics go to Confession



Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Devil is afraid of you!

















An American exorcist has said the film The Exorcist led people to believe wrongly that the devil could "come and zap them" when in fact the devil is afraid of the power of Jesus inside them.

Mgr John Esseff, retired exorcist of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, told an audience of 400 students at Bowling Green State University, Ohio that the power of Jesus within them was "enormous".

He said: "The devil is afraid of you - if you would just awaken to who you are."

In describing one of his exorcisms, he said: "As she came in, she saw me and she shrieked - and the language and the growls - and then she slithered across the floor and was going up the wall. Well, there was obviously a force here, a presence. And I just simply silenced her in the name of Jesus."

Mgr Esseff said that each baptised person was united to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He read passages from the Gospels in which Jesus exorcised demons and then sent his disciples to do the same.

He said that Jesus ultimately defeated Satan through his death and Resurrection and then sent the power of the Holy Spirit to his Apostles at Pentecost.

"When God looks down, he sees Jesus in you," Mgr Esseff said. "You have that power as baptised, confirmed Christians. And so when he [Satan] sees you, he hates what you would discover about that power that is within you."

He suggested that each audience member had been tempted that day because temptation was the ordinary activity of the devil.

"Your soul is a battlefield because there is also someone who hates you," he said. "That one is the devil. The devil knows who you are and what you have. God passed him by. God did not choose to become one of the angels. God chose to be one like us."

But just as each person was tempted, Mgr Esseff said, another spirit also was at work.

"In your life today, this very day, has been the Holy Spirit," he said. "God is in you. God the Holy Spirit is operative in you. God the Holy Spirit wants to bring into your heart love. God wants to bring you peace."

Mgr Esseff also told students of the power of angels and encouraged them to renew their devotions to their guardian angels.

"His [the angel's] job is to protect you all through this world. And when you close your eyes, he wants to deliver you to God," Mgr Esseff said.

After the talk Megan Dowell-Howko, a first-year student, said she now had a better understanding of how she experienced temptation, and that she would remember she could say no to the devil.

She said: "I guess I'm taking away a renewed confidence that the devil only has as much power over me as I give to him," she said.

Before the event Mgr Esseff said he saw three indications of Satan's presence in the world: money, lies and war.

"I think one of the greatest things he has done is have people forget he exists. People deny he exists," he said.


Read the whole article HERE at the Catholic Herald.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

What is the purpose of Prayer?









REASONS TO PRAY (from Prayer for Beginners by Peter Kreeft):




1. Praying keeps your soul alive: Prayer is real contact with God, and God is the life of the soul as the soul is the life of the body. If you do not pray, your soul will wither and die, just as, if you do not eat, your body will wither and die.

2. Because God commands it: Three reasons he commands us to pray correspond to our three deepest needs, the fundamental needs of the three powers of our soul: prayer gives truth to our mind, goodness to our will, and beauty to our heart. "The true, the good, and the beautiful" are the three things we need and love the most, because they are three attributes of God.

3. Prayer changes us: We pray, not to change God's mind, but to change our own; not to command God, but to let God command us. Prayer is our obedience to God even when it asks God for things, for God commanded us to ask.

4. We do not have an infinite amount of time: We are one day nearer Home today than we ever were before. I guarantee you that after you die, you will not say, "I spent too much time praying; I wish I had watched more TV instead." We must learn to pray because infinite and uncompromising Love will not leave us alone until we do. If we do not learn to practice his presence with our whole mind and will in this life, we will have to learn it in Purgatory, where it will be much more painful - or else we will never learn it, and that is Hell.

5. Learning to pray is dress rehearsal for eternal life: What you do when you rehearse a play is actually to practice it, to do it; and what we do when we pray is actually to practice what we will be doing in Heaven.

6. Prayer is delightful: Brother Lawrence says, in The Practice of the Presence of God, "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it."

7. Prayer is the way to know God: One moment of prayer, of weak worship, confused contrition, tepid thanksgiving, or pitiful petition will bring us closer to God than all the books of theology in the world.

8. Prayer is the only way to spiritual progress: We must pray in order to grow, and we must grow because Infinite Love will not, cannot, settle for less than the greatest joy of which his beloved creature is capable.

9. Prayer is necessary because without it we cannot attain the meaning of life, the end and purpose of our existence: Becoming saints is the meaning of life. It is why we exist. It is why God created us. Prayer is our first step in becoming saints. The second step is charity, a life of love, the ecstasy of giving ourselves away over and over again forever, as each Persons of the Trinity do. But this is prayer, too, or an extension of prayer. This is practicing the presence of God in action.

From: Catholic Answers.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Why are many graces being lost at mass?

Fr. Bill Casey makes us think about these questions...

How well do you prepare before Mass?

Do you talk, joke or socialize before or during the Mass?

How do you act during Mass?

Do you forget about the 'Real Presence' during Mass?

Do you genuflect?

Do you make a thanksgiving after recieving Holy Communion when Mass is finished?



Monday, October 26, 2009

It is Time for a Real Sexual ‘Counter-Revolution’












I figure now’s a good time for a radical discussion about sex.
We’ll never change the way we view abortion until we change our attitudes about sex. It’s time for a sexual counter-revolution.

The sanctity of human life from the moment of conception throughout all of life up to and including a natural death is the only foundation our society will ever be able to stand upon if we hope to flourish as a truly free people.
It’s quite obvious our foundation is crumbling.

To repair it, we must go back to square one and correct our ideas about sex.

Unless we give sexual intercourse its due reverence, we’ll never give human life its due reverence.
The two can never be separated.

If we don’t regard all life as sacred – and thus the creative act of sex—then we will always find ways to rationalize and justify the murder of a child as a “right.”

I’m not naively suggesting that prior to 1973 people were all living chaste and faithful lives and that sex was held in the highest esteem by all, to be expressed within the bond of marriage.
I am saying that the decision to legalize the killing of our preborn children cemented a poisonous shift in our mentality, and that poison has corroded every aspect of our society, especially our treatment of sex.
We replaced responsibility with “rights” and it’s been a downhill race toward insatiable debauchery ever since.

One criticism I hear often from people is that I and other Pro-Life folks ignore the real cause of abortions: unexpected/unwanted pregnancies.
What needs to be addressed, they say, is the “tragedy of unexpected and unwanted pregnancies.”
Do you see what I mean?
Pregnancy is a “tragedy” – not a miracle of life.

There’s that poisonous shift in our thinking.

The creation of a new human being is a tragedy if we didn’t expect it or want it. The tragedy isn’t the new life; it’s our self-centered, warped perspective.

There is a solution to the problem of nearly all unwanted and unexpected pregnancies, but it’s the only one that nobody wants to talk about or consider seriously.
The answer is so obvious, it just begs to be shouted out, but no one wants to do it because it’s the action that requires the most of us.
As soon as I say it, I’ll be laughed at and called an idealistic nincompoop (or worse).
I don’t care.
It might not be politically correct, but it must be said!

We all know exactly how babies are made so if you are unwilling to lovingly accept a child into your life, then don’t have sex! Period.

Sex isn’t a right; it’s a profound gift that serves a profound purpose.


It isn’t just a healthy, human activity; it’s also the ultimate expression of love and selflessness.
It’s not a recreational pastime with no strings attached.
Sex comes with some huge responsibilities, and if we’re not willing to accept ALL those responsibilities, we have no business having sex.
It’s that simple.

The tragedy isn’t that women are unexpectedly pregnant; it’s that people are selfishly indulging in sex and then refusing to accept the natural outcome.

Women do not simply “find themselves” pregnant, as though they had nothing to do with it.
It isn’t magic that happens without their involvement.
(In no way am I speaking here to women who are victims of violent assault. No woman chooses to be raped.)

Our real freedom and power lies in that very first choice: to have sex or not.

Why are women only free and empowered if they have the “right” to kill their babies? Are we not capable of using our brains and connecting the dots?
“If I choose to do this, here’s what will probably happen.
It’s my life and my choice, so I’d better make the wise choice.”

It seems to me that a woman who’s truly interested in preserving her choices will be smart and not put herself in a vulnerable position in the first place.
I never said it was easy – only that it was simple.
Our choices need to be made while we still have our clothes on.

Next comes the argument that not having sex is completely unrealistic and impossible, so we must have better birth control.
Here again is the poisonous shift in our thinking.
Birth control simply further engraves on our hearts the idea that pregnancy is a tragedy and babies are a burden to be avoided.
When unexpected/unwanted pregnancy occurs, it isn’t because our birth control has failed, it’s because our sense of morality and responsibility has failed.

The creation of new life should always be expected because that’s what sex is for!
That’s why even married couples are called to abstain when they have serious reasons for not conceiving a child.

And let’s stop buying Planned Parenthood’s talking points that say many women have abortions because they think they have no other choice. Baloney.
There are other choices, but they won’t be as convenient as killing the baby.
It’s in Planned Parenthood’s best interest to portray women as pitiable, helpless, forgotten sufferers without any recourse besides abortion, but it’s a lie.
Women need to stop wearing the victim mask and take responsibility for their life’s choices, the most important of which is whether or not to have sex.
Where is a woman’s personal accountability in all of this? Where is a man’s?

It goes without saying that society must step up and care for the needs of pregnant women and their babies, encouraging all mothers to choose life.
(I believe the Church works very hard to do that.)
It also goes without saying that men and women need to think about the consequences of their actions and be willing to accept responsibility, and responsibility does not equal abortion.

Is everyone expected to be "perfect", in the sense of never making a mistake or exercise bad judgment? Of course not.
I’m simply saying that when it comes to sex, we all know what happens!
Our lapses in judgment can never, ever justify killing preborn babies.
Once a new person enters the equation, the only choice that remains is LIFE.

We need to return to the knowledge that sex is sacred because life is sacred.

It’s time for a radical revolution of responsibility; a revolution of reverence for sex and reverence for life.
It is time for a sexual counter-revolution which liberates men and women, honors marriage and reaffirms the beauty and dignity of human love in the Divine Plan.

By Jennifer Hartline
9/16/2009
Read the article at: Catholic Online

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Perseverance in Prayer

Seven simple Rules:

1) Be constant - a daily routine is essential.











2) Try to improve the quality of your prayers.








3) Never doubt that God hears your prayers.











4) Avoid distractions but don't become depressed.











5) Listen as much as you speak.









6) Learn from others about prayer.








7) Don't forget - NEVER give up!

















Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Worth a sacrifice - an important decision

This powerful and moving video thanks to Divine Ripples shows what God did for us all (using this example).

What a sacrifice!

Thank you God for saving us all.



What would your decision be?


Hell













Does Hell Exist?

CCC1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of unrepentant mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."

Who goes to Hell?

Persons who die in unrepentant mortal sin.
Such souls are devoid of sanctifying grace and charity - the love of God.
God sends nobody to hell, they go there of their own accord, to that which they have 'loved'.

Why did God create Hell?

God did NOT create Hell.
Hell is the result of sin and free will.
Self love v's God's love.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Slow Fade

Lead singer/songwriter Mark Hall of the Casting Crowns comments on this song:

"When we're in the church and spending time with God, we know what we're supposed to do and how to live.
Everything is black and white.
But somewhere between the altar and the door, when we leave and go out into our lives, it all leaks out.
Everything gets gray again.
It's like we have these two lives, and the Christian life is the journey between the altar and door....trying to get the things you've got in your head, into your hands, into your feet, and into your life.
"



Mistakes, regrets, wrongs, sins don’t occur all at once or in a single day.
It is gradual.
It is based on small decisions we make day to day.
We find ourselves often having done something or at some place we didn’t expect to be, not because we woke up one morning choosing to do something, but rather little by little our daily choices and decisions led us there.

"Be careful little eyes what you see..."