Jesus tells us very clearly that if we don’t help the poor, we’re going to go to hell. Period. There’s just no doubt about it.
Archbishop Charles Chaput
(quoted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan on his blog about NYC poverty)
WOW. This is the trailer for a new film coming out from Grassroots Films... as high-quality a Catholic production as they come.
Enjoy.
In which it is empirically proven that Missionaries of Charity live in rough neighborhoods
Mother Superior: (unlocking the 3 locks on the front door)
Me: Goodbye! See you tomorrow! God bless you!
Mother Superior: I hope your car is still there.
Me: Mmm hmm.
Anonymous asked:
I am an Atheist, however I'm starting to doubt my Atheism as a lot of things seem to be coming into light that make me want to believe there is something bigger than us. I just wanted to ask your opinions on things such as poverty in Africa, abortion, gay rights, because they are the only things stopping me from believing there is a God. I just don't see how any good God could let innocent people die while others over-indulge, or let people be discriminated against because of their sexuality.
Well, if there is a God, he's definitely on your side, isn't he?
I think that's the key. If anyone wants to say that there is a Supreme Being who doesn't care about us, they would have a lot more explaining to do! What about all the beauty we experience, all the love we feel, all the good and wonderful things that happen to us? All of it really does outweigh the evil we experience and the questions that plague us: There are always more good people in this world than evil ones, more things that work out than those that don't.
And if Christianity is right, that Supreme Being wants us to know all about him and his love, and what he wants you to experience for all eternity. So this plot can be rocky for a while, but it ends like Hollywood always ends its films.
I'm not sure exactly where you're coming from on the abortion question, so let's tackle the two that are clearer.
Poverty in Africa? The simple answer is that God doesn't want it to happen. He keeps telling us that. He gives us all the means to turn this world around. The question is how much we're listening, and how much we're willing to give up a little of our comforts to help our brothers and sisters.
Discrimination? Well, we don't believe in that. Actually the Church has spoken out repeatedly against discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, based on what's said in our Catechism: “Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard [homosexual persons] should be avoided.”
This might be helpful to go deeper. So if that's the teaching of the Catholic Church, that there be no discrimination, what's keeping us from being better to each other? Us, apparently...
God bless you!
- Father Shane
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stephencuyos-deactivated2014082
Source: facebook.com
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Happy Feast Day of St. Nicholas!
May we remember his example of Christ’s passion for the poor and seek his intercession in our lives that we may learn to loosen the ties that bind us to this world and share with those in need.
One of the great things about having made a vow of poverty is that you can say on Tumblr, "Bye! I'm traveling for the weekend and I'll be back on Monday" without having to worry about your house getting broken into. Any stuff worth stealing... you were able to carry with you!
There are some more responses and things queued up for over the weekend, but I'll be gone. Back on Monday! 25 questions still to answer. :-( Thanks for your patience, but at least we've chewed through some of them!
God bless!
Our Lord took poverty as his bride, and invested the poor man with such dignity that now we'll never get him off his pedestal.
Georges Bernanos (from The Diary of a Country Priest)
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Mary, give me your Heart: so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate; your Heart so full of love and humility that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life and love Him as you love Him and serve Him in the distressing guise of the poor.
Mother Teresa (via gloria-in-excelsis)
Anonymous asked:
Dear Fr.,I have been talking to a friend who comes from a different denomination about the Prosperity Gospel. I know that it is unBiblical and I have tried to show them why but they rebuke whatever I say. Are there different types of the Prosperity gospel? I'm not too sure how to respond if this comes up again.
That's what the Brits would call a "rare bird": someone who can argue convincingly for the prosperity gospel. I'm sure that my understanding of it is a bit simplistic, but it seems to me that any one of the following (and more) refutes the doctrine that Jesus blesses believers with riches:
- It totally flies in the face of the Beatitudes... Luke's version is mostly about the poor being blessed and the rich not.
- The "anawim" (God's beloved poor) of the Old Testament make no sense in the Prosperity Gospel.
- St. Paul is constantly going on about how he was proud to have worked by his own hands, having taken nothing from the people he evangelized.
- "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you" (Acts 3:6)... faith doesn't imply riches, but something deeper.
- The riches we are promised are in Heaven, not here.
- Jesus died without a single possession. They took it all.
- Does martyrdom make any sense in the prosperity gospel?
- Oh, and I have a vow of poverty. :-)
Just some random ideas. God bless!
- Father Shane
A Retraction
Thanks very much to rsolis46 for pointing out a serious flaw in something I wrote too hastily yesterday (and to tenthousandangels for letting me know).
I wrote: Porn is "America’s biggest problem — yes, bigger than the economy and our wars — right now, though nobody wants to admit it." I've removed that sentence now from the original post.
The point I meant -- and failed -- to get across was this: Sin is our greatest problem. Always. Anything else is just circumstances. Sure, a tsunami and being out of work and living through Libya's civil war are absolutely horrible. I don't mean to take ANYTHING away from the anguish of them. But they can't affect my eternal destiny unless I let them. When I sin, I am choosing to do wrong in a way that puts my eternal destiny at risk.
So if you believe in eternal life, things like porn are actually far more urgent emergencies than anything else in your life. And God's mercy and forgiveness is the thing that all of us most need, always.
So that obviously wasn't very clear in what I wrote, and I'm glossing over the fact that wars come from conflicts which usually arise from someone's sin, and that economic problems can as well (sometimes).
That porn destroys the lives of its "actors" and "actresses" and slowly corrodes those who are enslaved to it in so many different ways is a tragic reality of our times that I think we should all be able to agree with. If you don't agree, just read this or this or this. Haunting.
My apologies! God bless you all.