Truth without love is cruelty and love without truth is a lie.
Barbara McGuigan
Without truth, charity (love) slides into sentimentalism. Love becomes an empty shell to be filled arbitrarily. This is the fatal risk of love in a culture without truth.
Pope Benedict XVI
Deep within yourself, listen to your conscience which calls you to be pure . . . a home is not warmed by the fire of pleasure which burns quickly like a pile of withered grass. Passing encounters are only a caricature of love; they injure hearts and mock God's plan.
Pope John Paul II
The Culture of Death is dying (an excerpt)
I think it all boils down to poor catechism formation for decades. As JPII puts it we need to 're-evangelize the baptized'. For example, I don't think no one in their right mind would endure receiving the Eucharist with their hands, if they know its history, its miracles, its theology- how the saints have showed love and veneration to it, etc.
Also, remember the parable of the wheat and tare; how the tares were allowed to grow (with the wheat) precisely for God to weed them out. Ie. they don't have, never will they have the last word - but God. I also like this analogy: The culture of death is dying. First of all, they can't flourish, since they would practice what they preach themselves: they aim for small families; most likely in their immediate circles (families, friends) would espouse this ideology as well and would do the same (contracept, provide and procure abortions, same sex unions, promiscuous sex that leads to broken families and emotionally traumatized children), etc. In the end, (like GKC puts it) it's like a snake eating its own tail. It's a threat to its own existence.
Lastly, this is why I find the US unique. Amongst all developed countries (and a super power at that) I have never seen so many Catholics on fire for their faith. Wanting the truth itself - not the watered down catechism. The kind of Catholics we are having are those who love the faith from the heart, not something "imposed" to them. Because they know it aims for "life" and to build the "Civilization of Love." As JP II famously and correctly puts it, this is the "New Springtime of Evangelization."
If you look at early medical literature - even Planned Parenthood recognizes life begins at conception. There is in fact a book by Ashley Montagu an atheist, who wrote for Planned Parenthood in the 60s called "Life Before Birth". He gives the chronology of the life that unfolds from the moment of conception. This is what I call the "abortion distortion". It distorts law, philosophy, marriage, family, science; It's all distorted by trying to deny the personhood of the unborn child.
Dr. Paul Schenck, http://ewtn.edgeboss.net/download/ewtn/audiolibrary/jh_04252005.mp3
I think the term "reproductive health" is a misnomer because animals reproduce; people since they are moral creatures made in the Image and Likeness of God "procreate".
I just read from a review that the movie "No Strings Attached" had the characters w/blunt honesty say the words "use each other for sex only" hence the title. With Catholic morality, human beings are to be "loved" for their inherent dignity, being made in the Image and Likeness of God, not to be "used" or reduce to mere 'objects of pleasure'. I wonder if it'll ever hit us with the kind of moral degradation 'contraceptive mentality' has resulted in society.
Hello, I just came across your blog, and it seems you write about homosexuality and what it means to Christianity. That's great, and so I would like to recommend additional sources like 'Theology of the body' by the late Pope John Paul II. Basically, it's how our physical bodies are not just a composition of parts, but designed in such a way that it can communicate/express the language of love. Being made in the Image and Likeness of God, we are made to love and as St. John tells us "God is love" (sin distorts our vision of love); It goes on about the 'nuptial meaning' of the bodies, and I believe in that sense, it juxtaposes itself on subjects like homosexuality and the latter is better understood of what it really is. I could go on and on about it, but I do hope you check it out, it may help.
I watched both shows on tv and was able to find the mp3s for it:
1) The Theology of the Body for Teens http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=7142&pgnu=
2) Theology of the Body
http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=7064&pgnu=1
God bless.
A note I made for somebody. :)
The bodies of Adam and Eve, before the Fall, appear in perfect harmony. There is a language in them that they did not create, an eros rooted in their nature, that invites them mutually to receive themselves from the Creator, to be able thus to give themselves. In love, man is "re-created." [And the true appeal of sexuality is in this context].
But sin has also given the body a negative language. It speaks to us of the oppression of the other, of the desire to possess and exploit.
Pope Benedict XVI, http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=113315
ckc21-blog reblogged
Love is not just a moment of emotion. Love is a deliberate decision, a commitment of service to another for the rest of life.
Blessed Pope John Paul II (via xoxo-kristy)
It seems that you're practicing chastity- which I applaud you for. And if ever you feel awfully tempted to do otherwise in the future, I just want to share that that sort of temptation is our desire for Heaven, to be in perfect bliss with God. But due to sin, it comes out in that 'distorted' way. Also, I learned from various holy and wise people that temptations to be unchaste or any sin for that matter, stemmed from our fears, especially our uncertainty of God's love for us. As St. John tells us "Perfect love casts out all fear" [1Jn 4:18] Therefore, more of God in us, means more love in us and less fear which leads us to holiness and true freedom.
'God is love, whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.' [ 1Jn 4:16]
'There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. [1Jn 4:18]
ckc21-blog reblogged
theblogofaclosetcatholic-deacti
Dear bloggers, today’s post will be about our culture.
I finished my first ever Novena to St. Joseph. Praying for Chastity and true friendships to continue. I went to Panera Bread and realized that I was being quite judgmental about what the ladies were wearing. Before, I didn’t really notice...
ckc21-blog reblogged
Some of you may be tempted to take flight from responsibility: in the fantasy worlds of alcohol and drugs, in shortlived sexual relationships without commitment to marriage and family, in indifference, in cynicism and even in violence. Put yourselves on guard against the fraud of a world that wants to exploit or misdirect your energetic and powerful search for happiness and meaning. But do not avoid the search for the true answers to the questions that confront you. Do not be afraid!
Blessed Pope John Paul II, January 1, 1985 for the World Day of Peace (via jenjenrn)
[Pope John Paul II's] first book, on the ethics of married life, raises more than one clerical eyebrow by its celebration of human sexuality as a gift of God for the sanctification of husband and wife." (Note from blogger: You won't hear such elevation from the secular media!)
Witness to Hope
The face of state-provided safe sex education or RH Bill
When ppl from a young age are taught that sex is only for recreation instead of as a foundation for a strong family; & they attend a party, got drunk & had sex, & the condom fails & they get pregnant- they see the baby as a "threat", after years of being taught that sex is divorced from marriage/family; that's when they turn to abortion.
People who resort to abortion are mostly those who do use contraception but unaware of the failure rates of the condom or pill. Therefore, abortion is a form of backup contraception.