Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism
I want to wish you all a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. If you are travelling, please be safe. Remember, keep calm and Catholic on.
What are you thankful for?
Myself?
My faith, my wife, my job and my relationships.
We all have things to be thankful for.
Almost two months ago, Pope Francis gave an interview in the Italian Newspaper “la Repubblica”, with atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari. In short, it was a disaster. Things were said that didn’t sound Catholic, let alone Christian. It was drenched with wishy-washiness that seemed unfitting for the Vicar of Christ to say. I wrote about my reaction to it here.
Well, Pope Francis corrected some issues with that interview and a few other issues in regards to what he has said having been misreported. Sandro Magister has the piece on his site (read that first, then come back here for my take):
Apparently, Eugenio Scalfari took some liberties when writing his piece. He didn’t write down notes, he didn’t tape it, he did it from memory and on top of that, he rewrote what Pope Francis originally said and put it in his own words: “…And that some of the things that I attribute to you you did not say. But I put them there so that the reader may understand who you are.”
What a joke.
Even more sad is that during the entire time, many were saying that “no, this is what Pope Francis really says, we need to figure out what he means”. This, as it turns out, was all a waste. If the interview wasn’t Pope Francis’ actual words, than any energy spent trying to understand what Pope Francis meant is all but gone, because it doesn’t even matter. The lens that was used to interpret the Pope is a lens with a bad prescription, it is to be thrown out, because this lens doesn’t even exist.
Meanwhile, those who actually did question the Pope were persecuted. Their faith and loyalty to the Catholic Church were brought out in question. They were dragged out into the open to the sounds of screams and shouts of “how dare you question the Vicar of Christ!?” And yet, they were correct in their assessment that it was wrong.
On top of that, a frequent argument used was “You can’t criticize the Pope!”. However, Pope Francis disagrees:
Pope Francis not only listened to the criticisms of his friend, he welcomed them. To the point of thanking him, in the letter he had read on November 12, for having helped him in “correcting an error or imprecision on my part.”
It seems that there is much dishonesty going on in the Vatican, a corruption, if you will. I’m happy that Pope Francis is at least taking ownership over this, and correcting it. It shows a great deal of humility to publicly come forth and admit that one is wrong.
To me, it seems that Pope Francis may be realizing that as a Pope, there are many more eyes on him. The Main Stream Media, will take any inch that he gives them, and stretch it for a mile. They are relentless, because they are in the pocket of the Devil. However, these are just three errors that he has corrected.
I think that this shows a turning point. He can’t correct every single error overnight (though, I know some would disagree), but I think that based on this, we are once again heading in the right direction. I give huge kudos to Pope Francis.
I have also been very careful as to not read anybody else’s take on this article, so that you will get my own opinion. Again, I could be wrong, and there are many others more knowledgeable and smarter than I.
Let’s see what the next few weeks have in store (especially Evangelii Gaudium).
“What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines.”
― St. Ignatius of Loyola
Whatever the Catholic Church teaches, through her Magisterium, is Truth. Because Christ gave Peter the keys, and built the Church upon him, the Church has the authority to proclaim what is and what isn’t true.
An example.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared that the new calendar to use for everyone, would be the Gregorian Calendar. It is the same calendar that we use today, and in fact, every single person (whether Catholic or not) uses this calendar. Catholic monks had a special observatory built so that they could study the stars. During this study, they realized that the Julian calendar was not an accurate representation of how the solar system operated. The Gregorian Calendar fixed this, making the year about 365.25 days long. The Church declared it thus, and it was.
This also shows to, that religion and science can and should work together. There are many other examples of that, but, that is for another discussion.
Since Jesus Christ, is THE Truth, THE Way and THE Life (c.f. John 14:6) and Jesus Christ gave the authority to the Church, the Church has that authority to declare what is and isn’t True, through the Magisterium, that is the teaching aspect of the Church. If the Magisterium taught that 2+2=5, that would be what was true. Though, I don’t think we have to worry about that.
What is truth? Pontius Pilate asked this to Jesus during His trial, during His passion. Pontius Pilate didn’t care what truth was, because he had a majority on his side. Unfortunately, this is what society will try to argue. Truth is what the majority believe. If the majority believe that abortion should be legalized, than let’s legalize it. If the majority believe that gay “marriage” should be legalized, let’s legalize it. If the majority believe in x, then that should be legalized because that is what the majority believe and thus must be true. This is the major problem with a democracy or a republic, that if the majority is wrong, than that wrong becomes legal.
God is the supreme law-giver. He never changes. What He has said in the beginning is true no matter what.
I have written time and time again about going to confession often and as needed. The Church teaches that all Catholics are required to go to confession once a year as a minimum. This is only for those few souls that don’t commit any mortal sins throughout the year, how blessed are they! The Church teaches though that if you do commit mortal sins, you need to go to confession as soon as possible, and are unable to receive Holy Communion, until you have confessed said sins.
How often should we go to confession?
I would say that since we aren’t perfect, at a minimum, we should go once a month. I also would say that if you have mortal sin on your soul, go immediately. Make a sincere act of contrition, and sin no more. Confession gives us the ability to grow in holiness, so the more often you go, the better.
If we really understood the gravity of our sins, we would want to go daily and we would confess all of our venial sins as well. It is not required to confess venial sins, but, it is a good and pious practice to do so. The graces will come forth and even venial sins will become avoidable.
We are all called to make it to Heaven, but when we are unrepentant of our sins, we can not go, but eternal damnation will await us. Confess as often as you need to.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for
having offended you, and I detest
all my sins, because of Your just
punishments, but most of all because
they offend You, my God, who are
all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of
Your grace, to sin no more and to
avoid the near occasion of sin.
Atheism isn’t a smart ideology, but an ignorant one.
Atheism boils down to a belief that there is no God, yet they get angry at others who believe in a God. It bothers them. Why get angry at something that you do not believe exists? I’m sure there are some atheists that don’t give a care in the world to it. I’m not speaking about them. I speak about those who are adamant about it. They brag about it and want to debate you. They obsess over it.
I’ve even seen that apparently they are starting to start congregating to have some sort of “mega-church” service. Say what? Do they realize how ironic that is?
We live in a world where it is becoming more and more hostile to be religious and congregate, but to be irreligious and congregate is seen as normal. Oh, the irony.
But, remember, we are still called to Evangelize them. Interestingly enough, they seem to like Pope Francis. Interesting times indeed.
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