Category: Forming Faithful Families

Was Vatican II an end point or a beginning?

     Vatican II was neither an end point or a new beginning but rather a harmonious balancing of aggiornamento (a spirit of renewal to better serve man’s present needs) and ressourcement (fidelity to the tradition and essential nature of the Church) stimulated by Pope John XXIII’s enlightenment through the Holy Spirit to see the signs of the times clearly indicated a rift between faith professed and life lived.  The Council Fathers sought an answer to the question, “What does it mean to be God’s Church today?”

In so doing, the Council Fathers focused on how best the Church can adapt itself so as to be a better servant to modern man yet still remain true to Christ.  Adaptation implies that the underlying reality stays the same. Never was it envisioned to throw out the old and start afresh.  Rather, the Church, as a living institution instituted by Christ himself, is to reflect God’s love for man so man can experience the Church as vital and relevant to his life and respond to the Church as he would to God’s love, with love in imitation of Christ.   Thus, the Council Fathers sought to bring the Church into step with her own nature and mission in order to serve modern man more effectively. St. Pope John Paul II saw the spirit of Vatican II as the spirit of healthy self-criticism leading to conversion, both for the Church and for modern man.

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Christian Meaning of Suffering:

A couple has come for guidance.  “We prayed that our baby would be born healthy.  We even prayed in Jesus’ name, but our baby was born with a handicap.  Why didn’t God hear or answer our prayer?  Isn’t our faith even the size of a mustard seed?”  The couple would be well served by a response that would offer them consolation based on Catholic Church doctrine, which is in truth pastoral.  “The pastoral approach expresses saving truth … in the very expression of doctrine” (Yves Congar, as found in the Second Conviction of the Handbook of the Institute for Pastoral Theology, 7)….

The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of Catholic Spirituality

The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic spirituality.  The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council state this in Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10: “Nevertheless the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord’s supper. The liturgy in its turn moves the faithful, filled with “the paschal sacraments,” to be “one in holiness”; it prays that “they may hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith”; the renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire. From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all other activities of the Church are directed as toward their end, is achieved in the most efficacious possible way (SC, 10)….

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A Mother of Fourteen Ponders Pastoral Theology:

As a mother of fourteen children ages twenty-four to four, at the age of fifty-one I was most providentially given a window of opportunity to obtain a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies, summa cum laude, from Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. My three year course commenced in August of 2011, six months after my husband survived a bone marrow transplant for stage IV leukemia and ended in June of 2014 with the folding of the program itself. What a blessing and a privilege to study from the original sources the teachings of the Catholic faith, instructed in person by truly devout and learned professors. For my part, even though I often felt lost and confused, yet at the same time convinced this is what God wanted of me, I can honestly say I gave every course my best effort, although my resulting work as will be attested hereto is far from perfectly scholarly! Yet I humbly share it for the good that may be gained for His glory alone.

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Dark nights are common in Scripture. They prepare, purify, and humble the subject to prepare him or her to be effective instruments in his or her missions given by God. We share several examples

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One enters closer into God’s light, which is overwhelmingly bright and painful for the soul. It is like coming from a dark room into a light one thousand times brighter than the sunniest day. The light actually overwhelms the eyes, causing pain and placing them in darkness. But what is really happening here is that God is giving the soul a special gift of purification, sanctifying the soul, drawing it more intimately closer to Him, pruning it so that it will be fruitful. It is the law of the cross. It is the Law of Agape Love.

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I thought I would start the new hour long time slot by introducing myself with my reversion story since some of you may not be familiar with our program. My reversion story gives credit to our Blessed Mother Mary. I tell the story of how I went from a man steeped in sin, alcohol, trouble and hedonism, likely to end up dead or in prison, to a father of nineteen and a daily Mass attendee all by the amazing grace of God. Answer: our Blessed Mother Mary led me to our Eucharistic Lord Jesus. My reversion is of course still a work in progress and will be until I draw my last breath.

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Humility is truth, that is the truth of who we are, including the good and bad. The truth is that we are beloved children of God, each of us, no one excluded. This is assured. The truth is also that God is God, and we are not. He is our creator and savior, and He is all knowing.

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We offer more Healing Scripture Blessings for inspiration, hope, and fortitude along with the countless movements of the Holy Spirit which He has in store for anyone who prays, especially when using Scripture. The selected passages only skim the surface of the blessings to be found in the Bible. There are incalculable additional gems beside these for each individual, salted throughout Scripture, containing new, unique insights and consolations that can never be exhausted.

 

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We offer more Healing Scripture Blessings for the New Year for inspiration, hope, and fortitude along with the countless movements of the Holy Spirit which He has in store for anyone who prays, especially when using Scripture. The selected passages only skim the surface of the blessings to be found in the Bible. There are incalculable additional gems beside these for each individual, salted throughout Scripture, containing new, unique insights and consolations that can never be exhausted.

Transforming Prayer for Married Couples:

Dear Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank You for the profound gift of the Sacrament of Marriage. Thank You for the magnificent gift of my spouse whom Your perfect providence planned for me from all eternity. May I always treat him (her) as royalty, with all the perfect honor, respect, and dignity he (she) deserves. Help me to be selfless in my marriage, to pour everything out for my spouse at all times, holding nothing back, expecting nothing in return, but recognizing and being grateful for all he (she) pours out for me and our family every day, and it is much! Please strengthen and protect our marriage and all marriages. Help us to pray together daily. May we trust You completely in every way, as You deserve. Please make our marriage fruitful and open to Your most perfect will in the privilege of co-creating and nurturing life. Help us to build a strong, secure, loving, faith-filled family, the domestic church. Dear Most Blessed Virgin Mary, we confidently entrust our marriage to your care. Keep our family always under your mantle. We have complete trust in You, Lord Jesus, that You are always with us, and are constantly seeing to the very best for us, bringing a tremendous good out of everything, including the crosses you have permitted in our lives. Dear (spouse’s name): You and I are one. I promise I will always love you, and always be true to you. I will never abandon you. I will lay down my life for you. With God and you in my life I have everything. Thank You, Jesus. You are the ultimate “Pourer.” We love you.

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We offer Healing Scripture Blessings for the New Year for inspiration, hope, and fortitude along with the countless movements of the Holy Spirit which He has in store for anyone who prays, especially when using Scripture. The selected passages only skim the surface of the blessings to be found in the Bible.

There are incalculable additional gems beside these for each individual, salted throughout Scripture, containing new, unique insights and consolations that can never be exhausted.

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When we let the name, Mary, emanate from our heart and lips one can envision with certainty our Lord Jesus, seated at the right hand of our merciful Father, suddenly leaning forward with rapt attention to our soul, all our needs, all our prayers, and intentions. For when we love His Mother, Mary we have suddenly become part of His special inner circle upon which He constantly lavishes extraordinary gifts through His Holy Spirit, her Spouse. Blessed be the name of Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of God!

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I would like to share some Christmas family traditions we celebrate as the Littleton Family. Perhaps this will help you to happily reminisce about your own traditions and the blessings of pervious Christmas’s in your life and the life of your family. Perhaps you will find yourself going back in time to your childhood and the beautiful memories you carry in your mind and heart.

Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven’s glory was made manifest. The Church never tires of singing the glory of this night:

The Virgin today brings into the world the Eternal
And the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible.
The angels and shepherds praise him
And the magi advance with the star,
For you are born for us,
Little Child, God eternal!

 

 

 

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We will talk, from a Catholic perspective, about the demonic dangers of the Occult including the popular Ouija Board.

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True death with dignity is trusting in our Lord God that He is seeing to the perfect timing of our personal death. We find dignity in God’s will. Nowhere else!

I’m afraid the so-called “death with dignity” movement has the potential to become a rapidly growing problem. We Christians and all those who wish to follow the truth of Jesus and His Church or even just the truth of natural law have a duty to do all we can to bring the light of truth to the culture on this vital life issue.

Jesus literally put the death we fear so much to death so we can be happy with Him forever. Nothing good comes from trying to take shortcuts form the cross.

Our heavenly Father is bringing a great good out of our pain and suffering when we unite it to Jesus on the cross.

As very horrible as it was I thank God for my cancer. It was a gift like no other gift that had the efficacy of bringing me closer to God than I ever would have any other way. It also brought my family closer to God. And there is no price too high to grow in union with God. I can frankly say that I would not trade my cancer journey for anything.

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If God asks something of us, He always gives us the help we need to complete our mission. We need more finishers in the world. Jesus did not desert His mission when the going got tough. He expected it and embraced it. Marriage can be challenging in many ways. What would we think of a soldier who enjoyed the benefits of being in the military during peacetime, but who deserted at the first sign of battle?

The love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses’ community of persons, which embraces their entire life: “so they are no longer two, but one flesh.”[i] They “are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving”

(CCC 1644).[ii]

[i] Catechism references: Matthew 19:6; cf. Genesis 2:24;

[ii] Catechism references: Familiaris consortio 19.

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Thanksgiving Special: May we all live each day as if our last and as the gift it is. May we each place God first, and slow down to enable ourselves to see the Face of God in others, especially in our family members, and be thankful for them.

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Tim Staples is Director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers, but he was not always Catholic. Tim was raised a Southern Baptist. Although he fell away from the faith of his childhood, Tim came back to faith in Christ during his late teen years through the witness of Christian televangelists. Soon after, Tim joined the Marine Corps.

During his four-year tour, he became involved in ministry with various Assemblies of God communities. Immediately after his tour of duty, Tim enrolled in Jimmy Swaggart Bible College and became a youth minister in an Assembly of God community. During his final year in the Marines, however, Tim met a Marine who really knew his faith and challenged Tim to study Catholicism from Catholic and historical sources. That encounter sparked a two-year search for the truth. Tim was determined to prove Catholicism wrong, but he ended up studying his way to the last place he thought he would ever end up: the Catholic Church!

He converted to Catholicism in 1988 and spent the following six years in formation for the priesthood, earning a degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania. He then studied theology on a graduate level at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for two years. Realizing that his calling was not to the priesthood, Tim left the seminary in 1994 and has been working in Catholic apologetics and evangelization ever since.

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Steve Ray would love to come to your parish or conference to share the truth and beauty of the Catholic Faith. From his conversion story to his adventures overseas, from his talks on St. Paul to raising a Catholic family, from teaching the Bible to explaining the Eucharist – he is excited and ready to speak to your group!

 

Steve has given seminars and talks all over the world: CatholicConvert.com

Follow Steve @Twitter.com/JerusalemJones

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In death we are actually born into eternal life. To borrow an analogy from the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a baby in the womb might tell himself that it is quite comfortable in there, and that he would prefer to stay there as the world outside that birth canal is mysterious, scary, and unknown. But eventually out he comes, born into life outside the womb, like it or not—and what a beautiful gift life is! Well, our birth into eternal life may seem scary, and we try to put it off as long as we can, but it will be immensely superior to being born of our mothers, as long as we choose to do our best to live and love, and to turn to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness for our failings. Jesus loves to pour His mercy out on us. Why else would He have died on the cross for us?

We may have very well have a stop over in purgatory to complete our purification before entering the presence of our King, Jesus, but we will eventually find ourselves enjoying the beatific vision, experiencing our Lord Jesus face-to-Face eternally. We want to be our very best before we come into His majestic presence, because we love and respect Him.

“That day will begin with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If his structure stands up to it, he will get his wages; if it is burnt down, he will be the loser, and though he is saved himself, it will be as one who has gone through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:13–15, JB).

See Fulton J. Sheen, The Greatest Novena Ever Preached! About the Simplest Life Ever Lived…St. Therese the Little Flower on the Occasion of the 100^th Anniversary of Her Birth, Given at the Carmelite Church, Whitefriar Street, Dublin, 1973, cassette tape, talk 4.

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In your prayer try to often return to the fond and true memory of your spouse when you first met, and on your wedding day. He or she is still that same loveable person. Perhaps life has presented many challenges you did not expect back then, but you have come through these together, and the providential fire of your tribulations and your love has forged you into the one body you are today, and that is a beautiful thing.

“So then, what God has united, man must not divide.” (Mark 10:9-10)

Never let anyone or any inferior thing tear you and your spouse asunder. God is one with you. He is love, your marriage is love, and love endures whatever comes, it does not come to an end. (see 1 Corinthians 13) Let’s be thankful to God for the gift of our spouses. May we be one with them in time and eternity.

 

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Ellen Salter and her husband Mike have been married for 22 years and have 4 beautiful children—ages twenty-one, nineteen, sixteen and twelve.  Ellen completed her college education at Western Michigan University with a degree in Criminal Justice; including a special emphasis in Juvenile Justice, with minors in Communication and Sociology. However, she has had a FULL TIME JOB as a stay at home mom for twenty-one years!

The Salter family has been blessed with a very special gift, as Jesus has called them to care for their nine year old daughter who has an undiagnosed medical condition which renders her unable to breathe, eat, or move on her own.  Meghan has been on life support for eleven years.  Through it all, Meghan has been an incredible blessing to the Salter family.  They have been called to defend life, most especially speaking out for and defending the handicapped and vulnerable in our society.

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Juliana Taimoorazy is the founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a non-profit organization in the U.S. that raises awareness about the persecuted church in Iraq and has helped Assyrian Christian (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) refugees resettle in Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts and Arizona.

Through her activism and media appearances (Sean Hannity radio, Fox News with Uma Pemmaraju, News Max with Ed Berliner, and many Christian radio stations) as a volunteer Taimoorazy has worked tirelessly to promote the cause of Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) Christians in the U.S. While volunteering for Catholic Charities, she has mentored young women arriving in the U.S.

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To sum it up, God’s will….. is. Yes, God’s will …is. It is what it is. There is nothing that is not enfolded in His perfect, loving providence. I can’t proclaim it enough! God’s will is perfect, it is wonderful, and it is bringing a tremendous good out of everything in our lives, out of everything in your life.

“We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him” (Romans 8:28, JB).

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More on Healing in Accepting Others:

We tend to be blind to our own shortcomings, but we can sure zero in on the faults of another from a mile away, and be ready to proclaim them from the rooftops. We all have a fallen human nature that is manifested in various ways. Not one of us is perfect. I am not perfect, and I hope you will agree that you are not perfect. We are all a cross to our neighbor to some measure, indeed myself included. Yes, we must love even our enemies: “love your enemies and do good” (Luke 6:35, jb).

Healing in Body:

I continue to trust my infinitely loving Father in heaven who is seeing to everything for my good, as He is most certainly seeing to everything for you good. I know that nothing can happen to me or touch me and that nothing can touch you, unless and until He says so. His timing and providence in our lives is perfect. Listen, don’t be afraid. You are a son or daughter of our Merciful Father, our Loving God. Abba, our Daddy. Call on Him! He loves you. He will never abandon you. Never!

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Truly profound self-knowledge and understanding is a gift that only God can give. It is available for the asking. We need simply to knock at God’s door.

“The one who knocks will always have the door opened to him” (Matthew 7:8, jb)

Yes, it will be painful seeing our faults and sins, but we need to acknowledge that we are sinners and repent so that the rivers of God’s mercy may be allowed to run free, and so that we will receive true peace.

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Jesus healed in diverse ways when He walked the earth, and He still today heals just as surely. As a matter of fact His healing power has spread throughout the world through His Church. We must bear in mind that The Church and Jesus are absolutely inseparable. Jesus never acts without the Church, and the Church can never act effectively without Jesus.

We see in the Acts of the Apostles at the very beginning of the Church, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, that healings continued. These healings were always effected through His Church, however. Could Jesus heal directly in some other way? Most certainly, because He is God. He can do anything and everything in any way He desires. However, He has chosen to act through His Church, through members of His Mystical Body.

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Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are good. They are very good! Jesus can still cure the sick, and He does in many cases. Believe this! It is totally within His power. All power belongs to Him. As God, He can heal us with a word, with a nod. We should have great confidence in Him!

“They may put their trust in their weapons and their exploits,” he said; “but our confidence is in almighty God, who is able with a nod to overthrow both those marching on us and the whole world with them” (2 Maccabees 8:18–19, JB).

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We need to remember that God is in supreme control. That is not negotiable. He is driving the car, and He is a good driver, much better than we are. We are called to exercise our free will to trust Him. We need to stop grabbing the steering wheel from Him. He is in the driver’s seat. You can let your mind rest and even take a refreshing nap on His shoulder while He is at the wheel.

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Having personally encountered crushing demonic assaults in our lives, we can assure you that the devil’s evilness and hatred are beyond words to describe. He has made it known that he does not like this ministry. Having said this, we have nothing whatsoever to fear from the devil when we place ourselves under the infinite power protection of Jesus Christ, and His Church, and the Sacraments. When we call on Jesus’s Name and ask Him to cover us with His Precious Blood we have no worries. Jesus has all the power. Praise Jesus, everything the demonic does will only end in a greater good and in giving glory to God.

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It is when we receive the gift of being in a situation without a human solution that we really learn to surrender to God. He wants our total detachment from creatures, things, and our sense of control. This is an indispensable means to achieve intimacy with Christ. He wants to be our All. It is when we are placed in a seemingly hopeless situation that we can learn to really live one day at a time, to live in the moment, with peace and assurance that since God created us, He will sustain us. We need to take the Lord at his word when he tells us,

“Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:33-34)

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Do you know what a joy it is to open up your Bible every morning, and experience the Word of God? Do you know what a love affair the Lord is aching to have with you each morning, each day? Do you know how He desires to lift your soul and spirit up to heaven? Do you have any idea how much He yearns for you to come to Him in prayer and the Sacraments?

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Not only do we get close to Jesus in the Eucharist, but we become one with Him, transformed into Him, divinized by Him, given eternal life by Him. This is the same Jesus we experience in the joy of receiving Him in Holy Communion, the same Jesus who walked the earth two thousand years ago, the same Jesus who suffered and died on the cross for us, the same Jesus who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Yes, Jesus is hidden from the senses. What we see, taste, feel, and smell seems to the senses to be bread and wine, but through the words of consecration by the priest in the Holy Mass these outward appearances have been truly and substantially changed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity. There is no longer bread and wine, only Jesus.

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Since our family’s reversion to the faith, God has moved us to understand and accept what we believe are His hierarchy of values. Simply, they are the following, with the first having the highest value:
1. God
2. Spouse
3. Children
4. Work
5. Service Work or Apostolate

We should integrate all of these important values into our lives, but the key is not to allow a lesser value to interfere with or do damage to a higher value. Examples of how our hierarchy of values can become disordered are endless…

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The Holy Spirit, Who is personified LOVE for you, associates us, through no merit of our own, to Christ’s self-offering to our Loving Father for our own salvation and for the whole world. What a magnificent privilege!

He is a sanctifying Spirit who literally divinizes us and incorporates us into the Body of Jesus. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, when the Father looks upon us He sees His Son Jesus! Awesome!

The Holy Spirit anoints us to know the very depths of God. As a matter of fact it is only through the Holy Spirit that we can come to know the depths of God.

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The Holy Spirit pours Himself out upon the Church, permeates, leads, and gives life to the Church, both as a whole and individually in each of its members. He pours Himself out into you!

“Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you [both] see and hear” (Acts 2:33).

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Our Mother, Mary, loves, protects and nurtures each of us at every moment whether we acknowledge it or not. The only element potentially lacking is our acknowledgment of and gratefulness toward our Mother, Mary. And should we ever ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for us in some way, we can be absolutely confident that she will, and that her Son, Jesus, will never refuse her anything for our good.

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God our infinitely merciful Father is always seeking us out, always ready to forgive, always, and constantly ready to pour His infinite mercy upon us. This reality is portrayed beautifully in the well-known “Prodigal Son” passage in Luke 15:11–24.

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There is no one beside God who cares more about us than our Blessed Mother Mary. What unfathomable empathy she has for us! And there is no one who has more influence to intercede for us with Jesus than His own mother, Mary. And yes, she can and does intercede! Again, would we ever ask a friend to pray for us? Well, we can most certainly ask Mary to pray for us! She is as truly alive as you and I are, full of life and full of grace.
Mary is our mother as well. She is the quintessential mother. And it was God, Jesus Himself, who gave Mary to us as our mother when He said to John (who represented us all )

“This is your mother” (John 19:27, JB)

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We need to create a culture that honors mothers. When we hear or utter the name mother, really we should bow or genuflect. In a sense, we are encountering God in a mother. I dedicate these thoughts and words from the depths of my soul first to the mother of all mothers, the Blessed Virgin Mary, then to my wife, who is a gift from God beyond words, and to both my mother Joan and Kathleen’s departed mother Rosemarie (may her soul rest in peace). I further dedicate these thoughts and words to all mothers, to all the mothers who have embraced so many sacrifices and sorrows, selflessly out of love for their children and for the world.

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Jesus draws near to these men because he cares about them. Let’s put ourselves in their place, these men who are so afraid. “Something prevented them from recognizing (Jesus).” What was this something? It is something that only Jesus himself and his Holy Spirit can fix. They are in need of grace. They could not raise them selves up from the mud of fear, doubt, confusion, and lack of hope. Their faces were “downcast”. They need supernatural help. Jesus sought these souls out. He has a deep interest in these particular souls as He has a profound personal interest in your soul.

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I used to worry about many things, rush through things just to get them out of the way, so I could get on to the next best thing; but as it turned out the current thing always was and is the best thing, the real thing, the only thing. This beautiful life is a gift, a gem, no moment or circumstance excluded. We have to live it to the full, as this life is passing quickly for all of us on our way to the inescapable reality of death, judgment, and eternity.

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God provides all that we truly need. He knows what is best for each of us better than we do about ourselves.
Yet I concede that it is very difficult to suffer. It is not easy for me. I want to recommend something to you, our listener. Keep saying, “Jesus, I trust in You!”… “Jesus, I trust in You!” Give everything over to Him and rest your mind and spirit. Rest in the most intimate Sacred Heart of Jesus, from which all of His love, purity, and divine virtues spring forth to us. Abandon yourself to Him, and rest. Put your feet up, “to live there [in His Sacred Heart] and never leave it; to live in purity as bees in the chalice of a lily.” (Luis M. Martinez, D.D., Only Jesus)

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“Be still and confess that I am God!” (Psalm 46:11).

I would like to share a personal story with you our listener so as to give glory to God who performs so many marvels of love for us.

I am so blessed to be cancer free as of All Saints Day 11-1-11 after a diagnosis of aggressive leukemia followed by many forms of chemotherapy and immunotherapy and an eventual bone marrow/adult stem cell transplant.

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The world itself is in grave need of the witness of strong and beautiful marriages today. It is desperate for this light. We must create a culture that esteems marriage and family. These words should be whispered with reverence. They are sacred sacraments or signs of God’s inestimable love for the world.

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As husbands and wives and as parents to our children we are called to most fundamentally be present to each other. Slow down. Unify. Spend time together. Nothing will substitute for our time, presence, and attention.

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When we recognize this poverty in ourselves, one could say that we have a right to the power and mercy of God to heal us, and use us for the good. We turn to Jesus and are made rich in the many gifts He wants to shower upon us.

And:

I would now like to speak briefly with you about something that is so necessary to our spiritual, emotional, and psychological health, but which has been virtually obliterated in the current culture in which we live. I call it Healing through a New Language.

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Perhaps you are struggling with the question “Does God exist?” The answer is an unequivocal “Yes!” By the way, His existence does not depend upon our acquiescence. He is! How can we sum up Who God is, but in His own words, too deep to fully penetrate with our weak mortal minds: “I Am” (John 8:58, JB). Not “I was,” or “I will be,” but “I am.”

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I would like to just touch on two more important moral matters pertaining to the sanctity of life:
Invitro Fertilization
And Embryonic stem cell research

We have to first reiterate what I presented in greater detail in previous episode.
That the gift and power of our sexuality is ordered toward marriage between one man and one woman and each marital sexual act must include both the element of unity, oneness, and pleasure… along with the potential life-giving side of the act. Should we accept one benefit and power of this awesome gift from God, while rejecting the other?

Invitro fertilization rejects the unitive side of this gift of our sexuality.
“Invitro fertilization eliminates the marriage act as the means of achieving pregnancy, instead of helping it achieve this natural end. The new life is not engendered through an act of love between husband and wife, but by a laboratory procedure performed by doctors or technicians.” (USCCB document)

Additionally, very importantly, in the process of fertilization:
“Invariably several embryos are brought into existence; [but] only those which show the greatest promise of growing to term are implanted in the womb. The others are simply discarded, (frozen) or used for experiments. This is a terrible offense against human life (and God). While a little baby may ultimately be born because of this procedure, other lives are usually snuffed out in the process.” (USCCB document)

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My wife, Kathleen and I have many times been challenged about the size of our family by people, even by relatives, who were often concerned and perhaps had the best of intentions. One of the greatest means of persuasion to help them understand that our choice to have a large family was right and good and in accordance with God’s will would be to take out a picture of our complete family, or to point the children out if they are near by. Then I would ask which of these children should have been our last? Where should we have stopped? Which of these children should not have been born? Which of these children do you think has been brought into existence in opposition to God’s will?

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What do you suggest for couples seeking to discern what God asks of them through the Church’s call to responsible parenthood?
Here we are discussing openness to life within marriage. The answer to this question lies in the law of love, and also, of course, in hope and trust as opposed to fear, which so infects the world today. Kathleen and I made the regretful mistake of beginning our marriage succumbing to the lie of artificial contraception, including the use of the abortifacient pill. By the sublime grace of God we converted from this error, and have been showered with the undeserved grace of having thus far 19 children, 14 living on earth and five in heaven.
The Catholic Church teaches that it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life — Catechism No. 2366.
Why would the Church teach this? What business it of theirs you might ask. Ok, I can understand this initial reaction. Let’s see if I can shed a little light on this question.
In other words, each marital act must include both the element of unity, oneness, and pleasure… along with the potential life-giving side of the act. Should we accept one benefit and power of the gift while rejecting the other ? This calls for openness to the gift of life and trust in God’s providence.
The Church does of course allow for couples to space the births of their children for just reasons via natural family planning, which could be the subject of another program.
So the subjective question comes down to married couples discovering the will of God each month, each cycle of fertility, regarding their openness and readiness to embrace and be open to co-creating new life in partnership with God, of bringing a beautiful new person into existence in time and eternity, an unrepeatable, unique human person with an irreplaceable and necessary mission for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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I am sad to report that Kathleen and I are potentially guilty of abortion ourselves in that we used the Pill for a period of time before we started our family. We long ago repented of and regret this objectively grave sin, which has been washed away in the Precious Blood of our merciful Jesus.
You see whatever you may think about the morality of so-called contraception, the scientific fact, that many are totally unaware of, is that The Pill as well as some other forms of so called birth control, does have an abortifacient property wherein break-through fertilization may occur while, while at the same time, the Pill has made the lining of the womb (the endometrium) hostile toward the implantation of the fertilized egg—which is indeed a very small, unique, gifted, unrepeatable human being—thus causing the death of the baby.
Some may argue that there is not a human life present; but if there is not a human life, what in the world is it? The Church teaches the truth that life begins at conception, which is further defined as fertilization. At that moment, when the sperm fertilizes the egg, God infuses an immortal soul into the child. When else would life begin other than at the beginning?
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5, JB).
And no matter how small, the life of the child is just as important as any other. Can we ever justly base the value of a human being on his or her size, or some other nonessential attribute? Is a thirty-year-old, two-hundred pound, well-educated, affluent man, dressed in an expensive suit, more valuable than a one-year-old toddler with a messy diaper? Of course not!

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When Jesus forgives He forgets. He does not hold our sins against us. Can our all-knowing God actually forget our sins? Yes, only because He chooses to do so, and promises that He will. When we repent, our sins are blotted out, erased. “I it is, I it is, who must blot out everything and not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25, JB).
What sins of ours do we think could possibly be too heavy for our infinitely strong God? Let’s not be foolish and proud! Come to His infinite mercy!
How much does Jesus love us? He chose to bear the scars on His hands, feet, and side into heaven. I believe He is constantly showing His wounds to His Father saying, “See how much I love them!” He tells us through His prophet, “See, I have branded you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16, JB). When Jesus looks at His hands, He looks at us through the holes with unimaginable love! How inexpressibly happy He is when we take advantage of His mercy, won at so high a price!

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In Matthew 18:23-35 you find the parable of the ‘king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.” This is depicted in some translators as an amount essentially so huge it could never hope to be paid back. This represents our debt to God. When we sin we offend the infinite, which creates an infinite debt. Being finite we can never repay that debt ourselves

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What it means to pour it all out for Jesus and souls (Matthew 19)
Consider Matthew 19:16-22: “Now someone approached him (Jesus) and said, ‘Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?'” Note the question. The man is asking about what good he himself must do. He seems to be asking what the bare essentials are that he is required to do. This, unfortunately, is an example of dripping as opposed to pouring. “He answered him. ‘Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.'” In other words we ourselves cannot muster any good. We are only able to be good or accomplish good through the One who is good, our Blessed Lord, Jesus.

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Forming Faithful Families is a faithful and trustworthy weekly radio program in service to the New Evangelization consisting of reflections and anecdotes pertaining to our Catholic Faith, Scripture, Sacraments, Eucharist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, prayer, Awe of life, marriage, family, parenting, openness to life, creating a Catholic culture, joy, healing, mercy, forgiveness, trust, hope, The Cross, the Resurrection, Providence, Etc.

We will reflect on the certainty of the infinite personal love of Jesus for each of us, that He is supremely interested and in control of every detail of our lives, and that He is always bringing the greatest good out of everything for us.

Forming Faithful Families is full of encouragement and imbued with an assurance that our awesome and Merciful Father is constantly performing “marvels of love”(Ps.31) in our lives. We will walk closely with you as we persevere down the road of Love together. When we have Jesus, we have Everything! Jesus we trust in you!