St. Paul Center For Biblical Theology
the real campaign...by scott hahn
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
For All Good Things - St. Thomas Aquinas
Loving God, who sees in us nothing that you have not given yourself,
make my body healthy and agile,
my mind sharp and clear,
my heart joyful and contented,
my soul faithful and loving.
And surround me with the company of men and angels
who share my devotion to you.
Above all let me live in your presence, for with you all fear is banished, and there is only harmony and peace.
Let every day combine the beauty of spring,
the brightness of summer,
the abundance of autumn,
and the repose of winter.
And at the end of my life on earth,
grant that I may come to see and know you in the fullness of your glory.
Amen.
Loving God, who sees in us nothing that you have not given yourself,
make my body healthy and agile,
my mind sharp and clear,
my heart joyful and contented,
my soul faithful and loving.
And surround me with the company of men and angels
who share my devotion to you.
Above all let me live in your presence, for with you all fear is banished, and there is only harmony and peace.
Let every day combine the beauty of spring,
the brightness of summer,
the abundance of autumn,
and the repose of winter.
And at the end of my life on earth,
grant that I may come to see and know you in the fullness of your glory.
Amen.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com offers an interesting commentary ...
He asks what has brought about the collapse of more than two hundred years of a Christian moral consensus and gives five reasons:
Conservative Americans have for decades been more concerned with politics and economics rather than with defending fundamental moral values.
From the 1960s onwards the entertainment media, rather than family, school, parish or church, became the arbiter and shaper of public views and attitudes.
The courts and the legal system have gradually reflected the views of the new liberal and secular electorate.
Conservatives tend to comply with the law rather than rebel against it; they obey rather than protest.
Finally, Voris notes, Christians of all denominations have gradually abandoned traditional moral teaching. Contraception has become completely acceptable in the Protestant churches and in the Catholic Church her wise warning about the separation of sex from procreation has been largely ignored by the Catholic faithful. In America we now see the result; what Christians chose to regard simply and casually as a matter of individual choice is now, in the workplace and in the relationship between employer and employee, being forced on them by law.
All this reminds one of an obvious truth: if we are not permanently vigilant in defence of our fundamental beliefs, they will be swept away from under our feet.
He asks what has brought about the collapse of more than two hundred years of a Christian moral consensus and gives five reasons:
Conservative Americans have for decades been more concerned with politics and economics rather than with defending fundamental moral values.
From the 1960s onwards the entertainment media, rather than family, school, parish or church, became the arbiter and shaper of public views and attitudes.
The courts and the legal system have gradually reflected the views of the new liberal and secular electorate.
Conservatives tend to comply with the law rather than rebel against it; they obey rather than protest.
Finally, Voris notes, Christians of all denominations have gradually abandoned traditional moral teaching. Contraception has become completely acceptable in the Protestant churches and in the Catholic Church her wise warning about the separation of sex from procreation has been largely ignored by the Catholic faithful. In America we now see the result; what Christians chose to regard simply and casually as a matter of individual choice is now, in the workplace and in the relationship between employer and employee, being forced on them by law.
All this reminds one of an obvious truth: if we are not permanently vigilant in defence of our fundamental beliefs, they will be swept away from under our feet.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
NEWS FROM SPIRIT DAILY
NEWS FROM SPIRIT DAILY...Panicked Catholics flee violence in northern Nigeria
Monday, January 16, 2012
How to Pray Like Jesus
During a recent talk, Fr. Thomas Richter explained that praying like Jesus requires one thing: to desire for God to have his way in your life.
As the vocation director for the Bismarck diocese, it would seem that Fr. Tom knows about answered prayers. Bismarck has the second highest per capita vocations in the country, up from twenty-fourth in 2003 and twelfth in 2004. But Fr. Tom would say it’s not a matter of God answering his prayers as it is for him to be answering God's will in his life. They key to prayer, according to him, is to get out of the way.
Fr. Tom identified the important elements for Christian prayer. “First, you can only pray to the degree you have faith,” he said. “In order to grow in prayer, you have to grow in faith. No matter how many prayer techniques you use, if it’s not in faith, you’re not praying.”
“Second, the heart and soul of faith is this: God is your father and everything that you could possibly desire, he already wishes to give you. God is your father and he can only desire what is best for you. Prayer becomes a grace activity where I allow God to act, where I allow God to do the good for me that he wishes to do. “
Fr. Tom stated that since God wants what is good for us, prayer is about allowing God to remove the obstacles so that he can do all the good he wants in our lives. Too often, people fall into the trap of praying to get God to consent to what they want. “That is not Christian prayer,” he said.
Give God his Way
“God has all kinds of good things he wants to do and Christian prayer is God getting us to consent to him. Do you see the difference?” He asked.
Fr. Tom pointed out that coming up with a plan and then asking God to help us with it, is a very limited way to pray. “No one in the history of mankind ever asked God to become a man and come and save us,” he pointed out. “We never would have thought of it. That was all God’s activity.”
According to Fr. Tom, the key is how you look at what God is doing in your life. “What God desires every minute of every day is to make you like Christ,” he said. Quoting St. John of the Cross, he added, “God acts for one purpose—to make our souls great.”
For parents, Fr. Tom advised for us to desire for God to get his way with our family. He instructed us to pray, “ God, I give you permission to do whatever you want with me, even if it makes me suffer. May your kingdom come, may your will be done.” Fr. Tom explained that such a prayer describes the Blessed Mother’s prayer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your word.’”
Fr. Tom stressed that the husband needs to fall in love with the desire to be like Christ. “The wife cannot be under his mission until that happens. Otherwise, she’s submitting to someone other than Christ,” he said. “And then, she’s not in a Christian marriage.”
He said that praying like Jesus will ignite enthusiasm because your thoughts will be, “I cannot wait to see what the Father is going to give to me today!”
For some people, such a prayer can be scary or not seem like enough, so Fr. Tom suggested asking God to remove obstacles that prevent you from desiring God’s will. In addition to total surrender, he brought up that there is the question of intercessory prayer and asking God for your intentions. He explained that people came to Jesus for healing and God wants us to ask him for help. The key, according to Fr. Tom, is that in all your petitions, your greatest desire should be for God’s will—for you to desire to be like Christ.
The Treasured Place
Often, your own self will can interfere with your desire to do God’s will. Fr. Tom explained that the place in which God can work most powerfully is “the treasured place”—the place where you need God the most. It could be an insecurity, or a need, or some other area where you recognize your need for God. At such moments, he said, “God pulls you to places where there is an unfilled desire and you have to rely on him acting in your life.”
In the end, he said that since God does only what is good for us, we can trust that God will bring good out of all things for those who want him to get his way.
During a recent talk, Fr. Thomas Richter explained that praying like Jesus requires one thing: to desire for God to have his way in your life.
As the vocation director for the Bismarck diocese, it would seem that Fr. Tom knows about answered prayers. Bismarck has the second highest per capita vocations in the country, up from twenty-fourth in 2003 and twelfth in 2004. But Fr. Tom would say it’s not a matter of God answering his prayers as it is for him to be answering God's will in his life. They key to prayer, according to him, is to get out of the way.
Fr. Tom identified the important elements for Christian prayer. “First, you can only pray to the degree you have faith,” he said. “In order to grow in prayer, you have to grow in faith. No matter how many prayer techniques you use, if it’s not in faith, you’re not praying.”
“Second, the heart and soul of faith is this: God is your father and everything that you could possibly desire, he already wishes to give you. God is your father and he can only desire what is best for you. Prayer becomes a grace activity where I allow God to act, where I allow God to do the good for me that he wishes to do. “
Fr. Tom stated that since God wants what is good for us, prayer is about allowing God to remove the obstacles so that he can do all the good he wants in our lives. Too often, people fall into the trap of praying to get God to consent to what they want. “That is not Christian prayer,” he said.
Give God his Way
“God has all kinds of good things he wants to do and Christian prayer is God getting us to consent to him. Do you see the difference?” He asked.
Fr. Tom pointed out that coming up with a plan and then asking God to help us with it, is a very limited way to pray. “No one in the history of mankind ever asked God to become a man and come and save us,” he pointed out. “We never would have thought of it. That was all God’s activity.”
According to Fr. Tom, the key is how you look at what God is doing in your life. “What God desires every minute of every day is to make you like Christ,” he said. Quoting St. John of the Cross, he added, “God acts for one purpose—to make our souls great.”
For parents, Fr. Tom advised for us to desire for God to get his way with our family. He instructed us to pray, “ God, I give you permission to do whatever you want with me, even if it makes me suffer. May your kingdom come, may your will be done.” Fr. Tom explained that such a prayer describes the Blessed Mother’s prayer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your word.’”
Fr. Tom stressed that the husband needs to fall in love with the desire to be like Christ. “The wife cannot be under his mission until that happens. Otherwise, she’s submitting to someone other than Christ,” he said. “And then, she’s not in a Christian marriage.”
He said that praying like Jesus will ignite enthusiasm because your thoughts will be, “I cannot wait to see what the Father is going to give to me today!”
For some people, such a prayer can be scary or not seem like enough, so Fr. Tom suggested asking God to remove obstacles that prevent you from desiring God’s will. In addition to total surrender, he brought up that there is the question of intercessory prayer and asking God for your intentions. He explained that people came to Jesus for healing and God wants us to ask him for help. The key, according to Fr. Tom, is that in all your petitions, your greatest desire should be for God’s will—for you to desire to be like Christ.
The Treasured Place
Often, your own self will can interfere with your desire to do God’s will. Fr. Tom explained that the place in which God can work most powerfully is “the treasured place”—the place where you need God the most. It could be an insecurity, or a need, or some other area where you recognize your need for God. At such moments, he said, “God pulls you to places where there is an unfilled desire and you have to rely on him acting in your life.”
In the end, he said that since God does only what is good for us, we can trust that God will bring good out of all things for those who want him to get his way.
Monday, January 9, 2012
• Full Wolf Moon – January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.
Full moon rising...Jan 9,2012:
Full moon rising...Jan 9,2012:
The White House Bed
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
The White House Bed
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
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