Quick Question

from This Rock

Q: "In a discussion with a non-Catholic, I pointed out that his beliefs were incorrect or unfounded according to Catholic Church teaching. He accused me of being judgmental. But failure or refusal to accept the truth could have eternal consequences. What constitutes being judgmental?"

A: "First, pointing out the truth is not judgmental. Here are a few more examples of what does not constitute being judgmental:

It is not judgmental to make a moral appraisal of whether a person’s actions are sinful or whether the person is likely culpable for them.

It is not judgmental to have a negative emotional reaction to what is objectively evil.

It is not judgmental to bear in mind that a person you have forgiven has committed harmful actions in the past and may commit them again in the future.

One way to avoid being judgmental is to avoid making rash judgments.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way: "Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved" (CCC 2478, cf. St. Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises 22).

Matthew 6:1-13

1 Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

3 But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.

4 That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

5 And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

1 "Your justice"... that is, works of justice; viz., fasting, prayer, and almsdeeds; which ought to be performed not out of ostentation, or a view to please men, but solely to please God.

6 But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

7 And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard.

8 Be not you therefore like to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him.

9 Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Quick Question

from This Rock

Q: "If a person asks in prayer for assistance but no answer comes, should the person just give up on the prayers? "

A: We all like our prayers answered yesterday. But the Lord knows the best time. He’s the only one who really knows what time it is. To keep praying is to keep trusting him. To keep trusting him is to keep loving him. St. Monica spent 30 years praying for her son’s conversion. When he finally converted, he became a great saint. But all the while she had been praying, she herself became a saint. Don’t give up on God.

Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens (atheist) and Peter Hitchens (Christian)

The heart of the man who lives for God knows peace, joy, and happiness. The heart of the man who lives for the world knows fear, sorrow, and misery.

Amazing Grace & Protestantism (WOW!!)

A New Favorite

I discovered today that my favorite apple is the Golden Delicious. I had always thought it was the Gala apple, but the GD is way better.

I know, not the most thought provoking post, but it's what's on my mind.

What's your favorite apple?

Seriously??

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Faith (Do I.........?)

Questions to ask yourself:

Do I make an honest effort to grow in the virtue of faith by daily mental prayer on the mysteries of the faith, as revealed in the life of Jesus Christ?

Do I make at least a short act of faith everyday?

Do I pray daily for an increase in faith?

Do I ever tempt God by relying on my own strength to cope with the trials in my life?

Do I unnecessarily read or listen to those who oppose or belittle what I know are truths of my Catholic Faith?

What have I done today to externally profess my faith?

Have I allowed human respect to keep me from giving expression to my faith?

Do I defend my faith, prudently and charitably, when someone says something contrary to what I know is to be believed?

Have I helped someone overcome a difficulty against the faith?

from Catholic Prayer Book

Possible Obstacles

7 Possible Obstacles to Our Sanctification:

1. Mortal sin
2. Deliberate venial sins
3. A lack of generosity in pursuing God's will and uniting our will to His.
4. Lack of bodily mortification.
5. Lack of interior mortification.
6. Lack of spiritual reading.
7. Lack of mental prayer.

"All the saints became saints because of mental prayer."

A Good Read

Gina at Life Matters has made a great post, one that I think should be passed around so that maybe someone who fits into the catagories named will read this, stop, and think about their lives.

Although the article is directed towards men, I think it applies to women as well.

Read post HERE.

The Word Hypocrite

Without actually looking up the meaning of the word "hypocrite" I'm going to talk about what I think it means & how I feel others use it.

My example of a hypocrite: Someone who speaks publicly about how a particular action is wrong, immoral, or just shouldn't be done to make themselves look good, but has recently participated in what they're speaking of (without owning up to it), or knowingly plan to in the near future.

How I feel too many people use the word hypocrite: Someone who speaks against any act that they feel is wrong, immoral, or just shouldn't be done, but has at anytime in their past participated in what they speak of.

Many people do things when they're young, uniformed, and misguided. Does that mean that they should live their whole lives according to the past, that once they realize that what they did was wrong that they have no right to speak of it, or prevent others from the same mistakes.

NO! No matter how small the incident, if it is wrong, it is wrong, and if any of us can possibly save someone from making the same wrong choices it is our MORAL obligation to do so.

I encounter people too often who I feel don't use this word correctly and I find it so frustrating, and I pray for the strength to speak up more when I can.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Ben Stein

This was sent to me in an email. It's worth reading.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events.... Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.... The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace..

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

amen, amen, amen!
I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late ! !

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

The Ant and the Grasshopper

This was sent to me in an email, and I just couldn't resist sharing.
____________________________________

This one is a little different......
Two Different Versions..................
Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

Come winter, the ant is warmand well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so hedies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Beresponsible for yourself!


MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a pressconference and demands to know why the ant should beallowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to avideo of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's housewhere the news stations film the group singing, "Weshall overcome." Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken overby a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood. The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.


MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Amish Peace

Lately I've been reading a lot of novels about the Amish written by Wanda Brunstetter & a few by Beverly Lewis, and I've really enjoyed it. Really they are love stories with a more wholesome setting, and I'm a sucker for love stories.

Today I just started a book called Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and so far I love it. Each chapter is a small story about an Amish person or family (real stories) telling about the benefits of their simple yet hard working lifestyle. At the end of each chapter are some questions for the reader, and suggestions on how to live a simple life in our modern & very busy world.

I know, I know, what's with all the Amish books? In fact, when Paul saw I bought this one he asked "are you planning to go Amish?", of course he was kidding. While I would love to visit Amish country I have no wish to join their community, I do enjoy reading about their culture though.

It's amazing what all can be accomplished in a single day & pretty much all meals are made from scratch. Prayer is encouraged for every little decision, which to me just serves as a reminder to ask God for help, always. Men & women have their roles, and that's that!! Nowadays (for the most part) we modern folk are not brought up knowing the difference. We are taught that men should help with the dishes & a woman should want a career because being a wife & mother isn't good enough.

Over time I will make little posts with the reflection questions in the book, but not yet. Here are some pictures I found online.

10 Years Ago

Here's something interesting to do. Compare who you were 10 yrs ago to who you are now...I'm sure you'll find it amazing how much you have changed in someway or another.

I know that I am a completely different person now, and that's a GOOD thing.

Thanks be to God!!

For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

Movie Screening

I was discussing the movie Slumdog Millionaire with a friend a while back and since then I have been thinking about seeing it, but I had some concerns. I know the movie won or was nominated for all kinds of awards, which sad to say, made me sceptical of it's content. So today I asked Paul to do a search on the content of the film. Paul ended up finding a website he's never used before and I thought I would share it with all of you.

It's called Kids In Mind.

I often wonder how many ADULTS actually screen a movie's content for themselves & not just for the kids. I admit that sometimes I let the theme of the movie get me so interested I almost don't bother to look into it, but that is extremely rare nowadays.

Now I'm not saying it's always easy to make the choice of skipping a movie simply because it may show more than you'd want your child to see, especially in situations where you're around friends who couldn't care less about the inappropriateness of the film. I did not grow up in a "you can't watch that" household, but now as a grown woman I realize what damage is truly done to our minds and our souls from constant exposure to sexual content (even implied), extreme violence, etc...

If we are to remain pure of heart and childlike we must make a conscious effort to screen what we watch, listen to, and read at all times.

Please share your opinions/stories on this topic.

Added Later:

After making this post I starting thinking how over the last few years I have eliminated movies, books, and music that I thought were unsuitable. But now that I think about it, I realize there was one thing I hadn't given up: Grey's Anatomy. But from now on NO MORE Grey's. While I've grown attached to the characters, I have to admit that the storylines are a bit much.

Autistic Basketball Player

Do you want to smile?? Watch this.

Overpopulation!

This Made Me Cry!