what is faith?

When we see an object, light bounces off it, then reaches our eye and is refracted by the cornea and lens and focused into an image on the retina. But the image made on the retina is upside down and reversed. It's up to the brain to make sense out of it.
We can believe that our eyes work without knowing how they work!

Do we run for cover every time we see a 150,000 pound object fly over our head? Or do we trust that the plane will continue to fly?

If we are in an underground cave at 9:00am; do we know or think or trust that the sun is shining outside?

If we do not believe in such things as birds, will they suddenly fall from the sky?

Have you ever watched something extraordinary happen and wonder if what you saw really happened? Sometimes we can blink and something or someone disappears? At least that’s what we thought we saw.
Something that you previously thought was impossible.
But if you continue to badger the point; you’ll eventually chalk it up to a vivid imagination.

Why do we believe in things we cannot understand?
Faith is believing the intangible, and being absorbed into the mystery.

‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ Heb11:1

Year of the Priest: Pope Benedict Writes a Letter to Every Priest

'O, how great is the priest! ... If he realized what he is, he would die.' (St. John Mary Vianney)

ROME (Catholic Online) - Pope Benedict XVI has sent a tender, personal and theologically beautiful letter to every Catholic priest in the world. On June 19, the Solemnity of the Most sacred heart of Jesus, he will inaugurate a "Year for Priests." The year will be dedicated to prayer for the sanctification and renewal of the clergy. Using the words and witness of the saintly Cure of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, as a backdrop for this letter to his beloved priests he has broken open for all the depth and beauty of the priestly vocation. He has also invited all of the faithful to fully participate.

see article link

hospital for sinners

We can walk into a hospital and see people with all ranges of afflictions. Patients are preparing for a minor procedure and some for a life threatening operation. Walk around and you will find happy and sad people; those recovering or welcoming a newborn into their life, as well as those at the crux of end of life situations. Hospitals are full of many people with many reasons looking for a cure or a hope or alleviation of pain.

Besides the patients we can see the doctors, nurses and the hospital administration as well as those visiting. All walks of life are there, from destitute to the extremely wealthy. The hospital is a place that provides treatment for the sick or injured and those requiring assistance for health related issues.

It could be said, if we looked at the Church in an allegorical sense; that it is not a house for the saints, it is a hospital for sinners. We go to Church to be close to God, and many travel with a heavy heart. We go to receive diagnosis and be healed from our sickness of sins. To be nourished and spiritually strengthened with hope in our heart. We receive the medicine of the sacraments and enjoy ‘beginning of life’ and ‘end of life’ celebrations.

The priests and nuns can be our spiritual doctors along with other parishioners.
I remember a story from our priest when he was confronted by a person in a public setting. The person recognized he was a priest and came up to him and said “the Catholic Church is full of hypocrites”. He answered, ‘Yes, and we always have room for one more’.

Our Church is not reserved only for the pious. Sinners make up our Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, and none should be turned away. The ‘hospital’ will always remain open. We have our Lord’s promise, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew.16:18). Now we know that the gates of hell are definitely trying to prevail, both from outside and inside the church; but we can always enter this hospital for sinners, our beacon of hope.

poster's poster..

Change is Possible for Gays Says Catholic Psychologist

Summarized.. see link for article
Catholic Online By Genevieve Pollock 6/17/2009
Zenit News Agency

Change is possible... men and women can come out of homosexuality.

ENCINO, CA (Zenit) - A Catholic psychologist who specializes in reparative therapy with homosexuals says it's possible for those with same-sex attractions to change, despite agenda-driven ideologies that state the opposite. Joseph Nicolosi, founder and director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, spoke with ZENIT about his experience as a clinical psychologist and the former president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality ‘NARTH; (a non-religious & non-political organization).Nicolosi explained that NARTH has been actively working on a research project compiling scientific data to dispute the APA's claim on homosexuality, targeting three unscientific assumptions that form the basis of their policy. He stated that these are erroneous assumptions..

"court jesters"

When the ‘court jesters’ step out of costume; they should remain mute in the public square. The stage is not theirs to command, but theirs to portray.

Let me ask the question: What is a ‘court jester’?
Definition: a clown or buffoon employed by a noble or royal for ‘entertainment’; also called a ‘fool’.

This noted moniker of the past has clearly evolved into the ‘entertainers’ of today.
These ‘jesters’ are actors, ‘hollywood elites’, or so-called ‘celebrities’ that are being paid (actually overpaid) a king’s ransom to entertain society rather than a kingdom. However they (court jesters) feel that being a derivative of this royal lineage gives them justification and some intelligence via osmosis of privilege, to decree their opinions as if they themselves were ‘royalty’. They espouse topics such as politics, religion (or the lack of), and the environment; However, they declare so in such a gawking condescending way.

The unfortunate part comes from the fact that we live in a society that is drawn to the entertainment industry like moths to a flame. And in a reversal of fortunes; the ‘jesters’ of today are some of the world’s richest, yet spiritually bankrupt inhabitants on this earth.

the invisible war..

TV stations on satellite or cable or free
Media blogs on computers, ‘blackberrys’ you’ll see
Music on your head, your phone, or ipod
Movies at theatres, car, on demand you nod
Gaming for junkies, computer nerds and sport fans
Pictures snapped in every place not imagined..or planned


What is this sword’s edge we live on?
On what side shall we go?
Do we get split down the middle?
Halved or uneven, do we know?


Pick a topic
And think it through
Run from the noise
And choose what is true


What are these choices?
Why are they harried?
If options could form us
Would they be varied?


Off in the distance
Alone in the notion
Urge excess unending
Aligning this potion


These choices may drown us
The amounts are legion
This surplus screams prudence
In all of our regions


The battle is storming
This incoming tide
Our ship taking water
For the life of our ride


So batten the hatches
Bolt all the doors
Ready the castle
For the invisible war