Jim Carrey Explains Suffering

Your being here is an indication that you’ve made that decision already. You’ve made the decision to walk through the gate of forgiveness to grace. Just as Christ did on the cross. He suffered terribly and He was broken by it, to the point of doubt and a feeling of absolute abandonment, which all of you have felt. Then there was a decision to be made. And the decision was to look upon the people who were causing that suffering with compassion and with forgiveness, and that’s what opens the gates of heaven for all of us. I wish that for all of you. I wish that for myself.

While Carrey’s, a former Catholic, the speech was not totally in line with Catholic theology he did captured an essential truth that many do not, the transformative power of suffering and the transformative nature of grace.

The Rev. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. More on Homeboy: click here

Thanksgiving Is An Action

In Matthew, we are told the story of one man’s faith. After healing the leper Jesus instructs him; “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (The gift of Moses refers to the Lamb of God)

In Luke we see Jesus healing ten lepers:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

-Luke 17:11-19

Lepers were the isolated outcasts of their day. They had an ugly deadly disease that ate away at their bodies.

Note that the lepers cried out to the Lord from afar. They were not intimate with him. Nevertheless, Jesus heard their petition and asked them to take a step of faith.

They were all made clean.

I certainly believe that all ten felt the emotion of gratitude. You cannot have something like leprosy lifted without feeling great exaltation But the only one continued inaction. The only one returned to offer thanks. And the response of the Giver was, “Were not TEN cleansed? Where are the other nine?”

Thanksgiving is not a mere feeling. Real Thanksgiving is an action.

Honoring the Gospel

Contrary to what some claim—the Catholic Church— places the Bible at the center of its beliefs. The General Instruction Of The Roman Missal nos. 273 and 277 speak of the special veneration of The book of the Gospels.

Usually carried by the Deacon or Lector, it is carried slightly elevated but not above the head and it is placed on the altar until the Alleluia. After the seconding reading, the celebrating Priest or Deacon will take the Book of the Gospels from the Altar and raise it up while proceeding to the ambo in order to proclaim the Gospel.

Followed by one Old Testament, one New Testament, and the Responsorial Psalm, the reading of the Gospel is the high point of the liturgy of the word.

Sorry Mr. Kaine The Catholic Church Will Never Change Its Teaching

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is predicting that the Roman Catholic Church may eventually change its opposition to gay marriage.

Kaine is a devout Roman Catholic as well as a U.S. senator from Virginia and a former governor of that state. He told the Human Rights Campaign during its national dinner Saturday in Washington that he had changed his mind about gay marriage and that his church may follow suit one day.

“I think it’s going to change because my church also teaches me about a creator who, in the first chapter of Genesis, surveyed the entire world, including mankind, and said, ‘It is very good,’” Kaine said. He then recalled Pope Francis’ remark that “who am I to judge?” in reference to gay people.

Sorry Mr. Kaine

Jesus is the way the truth and the life…his teaching does not change with the time … the truth is the same today as it was yesterday and it will be tomorrow continue reading

The First Female President May Have Been Aborted

That is what Mother Teresa told Hillary Clinton…

In 1994, Hillary Clinton met with Mother Teresa during a National Prayer Breakfast. Crisis Magazine reported that Clinton asked Mother Teresa why the United States had not had a female President yet.

“Because she has probably been aborted,” Mother Teresa responded.

Nearly 60 million babies have been killed since Roe v Wade made abortion legal. Please help put an end to this barbaric killing.

What You Probably Did Not Know About Communion In The Hand

If you ever felt funny receiving Communion in your hand, standing up, rest assured you are not alone. You are perfectly allowed and encouraged to still receive Communion on your tongue and kneeling if you desire.

“Despite the widespread practice of Communion in the hand, the universal discipline of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue has not changed. A bishop, for example, may forbid the practice of Communion in the hand but not the practice of Communion on the tongue. The Church strongly encourages the latter but not the former. ” Fr. Richard Heilman

Read Fr Heilman’s article and learn why the Church began to allow Communion in the hand: TRUTH ABOUT COMMUNION IN THE HAND WHILE STANDING

Even In The Beginning, There Were Heretics…

After the martyrdom of Saints Peter, St. Linus was appointed Bishop of Rome, and after eleven years, succeeded by St. Cletus. Upon his demise in 91, St. Clement was placed in the apostolic chair. According to the Liberian Calendar, he sat nine years, eleven months, and twenty days. Pope Saint Linus was the second Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. His pontificate endured from circa AD 67 to his death. Among those to have been Pope, Saint Peter, Linus, and Clement are specifically named in the New Testament.

The Fathers of the Church spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, defended the Church in apologetic writing and fought the many heresies of the first six centuries of Christianity. These men, also called Apostolic Fathers, gave special witness to the faith, some dying the death of a martyr. Like Jesus who referred to Abraham as a spiritual father (Luke 16: 24) and St. Paul, who referred to himself in the same terms (1 Cor 4: 15), the Fathers were zealous for the word of God. Their writings are a testimony to the faith of the early Church, yet many Christians are unfamiliar with the work of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin the Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Athanasius, Ephraim, Cyril of Jerusalem, Hilary of Poitiers or Gregory the Great to name of few of the early Fathers.