Perspectives of a Wanderer

I mean, the majority of use were not properly catechized  and, other than some of the basic tenets, we now very little about the teachings of Catholic Church.

There is a rich history of writings that go unread due our hectic lives.  I recently picked up a book The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan by the late Fr. John A Hardon S.J. to give me some additional Catholic writings (at least a couple hundred) and authors.

Even that source is only the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the writings of the Catholic Church.  It does not even touch the official documents (like encyclicals) of the Catholic Church other than the Catechism and a few other documents.

To really know the Catholic Faith, we explore these writings.

As for myself, I am making a reading plan that will include both titles mentioned in Fr. Hardon’s book and the official documents of Catholic Church.  I am going to begin with the Social Teachings of the Church and work out from there.  Yes, it is a daunting task, but it will keep me out of trouble (or maybe get me in more trouble, who knows).

I have written in the past about forming a separate society while living within the confines of present society.

With the events of the past couple of months, I believe it more imperative that we do so.   We must remove ourselves by avoiding the perverse trappings of Materialism and Relativism that have in ingrained into society by Liberalism and Socialism.

We must be very careful about who we interact with and, if they do not measure up to the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church, refuse to associate with them.  If this means setting up alternative sources of necessities, so be it.

In fact, setting up alternative sources of goods may be preferable in all cases since Global Capitalism, which supplies the bulk of goods these days, is a miserable failure and is mainly responsible (along with intrusiveness of Socialism) for the economic turmoil going on.  Only when production is returned to the local/family level and the intrusiveness of government regulations that prevents returning to this state, will true social justice be possible.

The only time this will not apply is when evangelizing the non-Catholic, (and even the misinformed, fallen away, and heretical Catholic) about the Truth of the Catholic faith and how we should live our lives according to the Social and Moral doctrines of the Church.    However, we must live our lives according to these doctrines if our evangelization efforts are to be effective. As Our Lord taught:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:14-16 RSV)

We are a light, now live that way.

And I mean Literally.

While on retreat this weekend, I started reading Catholic Controversy: St. Francis De Sales Defense of the Faith.and what I have read so far, I have found intriguing.

For those who do not know, St. Francis volunteered to re-evangelize the Chablais region of France that converted to mostly to Calvinism after the Protestant Revolt. In his first attempt he failed.  He then resorted to writing pamphlets (tracts) which he would distributed in various ways.  This was successful and within four years, almost the whole region came back to Catholicism.

The book is a collection of those pamphlets and I can see how they can directly be used today for the evangelization of non-Catholic Christians (our wayward brethren).

It has been a week since I posted on it and so far, everyone I have talked to is open in one way or another about a prayer campaign for the conversion of Obama.  In fact, I am not the only one who has thought about it and it has also gotten exposure on other sites:

• From What Does The Prayer Really Say?: Check this out
• From Te Deum laudamus!: In Obama’s Pocket: Miraculous Medal
• Finally, there is a prayer thread on Catholic Answers Forums: Miraculous Medal Prayer for Obama

We still have a long way to go, but we must continue.  This is too important to let fail.

Another posting that I would not normally make, but it is too important to pass up.

On a well known Catholic Forum, there was a thread on what Obama carries in his pockets.  Two items of not stood out.  The first seem to be a Miraculous Medal and the second seem to be a metal of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus.

One caution, the web site quoted in the thread is of specious origin due to what they promote but the picture is from the French magazine Paris Match.

However, if these are what they seem to be, we may have a weapon (yes, I know it is not a good choice of words, but another term escapes me at this time) for the conversion of Obama. That weapon is the Miraculous Metal Novena. If we can get enough people to say a perpetual novena for the conversion of not only Obama, but his family, we could go a long way in fighting the Culture of Death he so epitomizes.

I will be contacting some on this and will be posting this in other places. The sooner we can get this started, the sooner we will be able to save many from the policies of the Culture of Death. Pray that this takes off and succeeds.

If one thing has come out of the current situation is that Materialism is not conducive with the goal that one should have in life. That goal is that we should live our lives in accordance with God’s Natural Law based on the teachings of Our Lord.

The greed of Materialism, along with its cohorts Relativism and Liberalism, has all but destroyed today’s society. We must look long and hard on how we live our lives and make changes that will not only bring us closer to God, but also hopefully help mend society.

Although I have not been caught up as much as some in the cult of Materialism, I still am guilty of participating in it and I do not like it. In the next couple of months, I will personally be looking at how I live my life and make changes that will not only wean me further away from many of the trappings of Materialism but also, hopefully, bring me closer to God. Some of the things I am looking at:

1. Look at what I have and get rid of anything I absolutely do not need.
2. Not eating out as often and, when I do, stay away from the more expensive restaurants (which I only eat at once or twice a month as it is). This includes taking my lunch to work instead of eating at the Cafe that is in the building where I work.
3. Taking less expensive vacations and even not going anywhere or doing personal retreats when I take time off.
4. I was looking at buying a new car in the next year or so, but I will look at keeping my 7+ year old compact a little longer and, if I need to get a car, look at use cars first.
5. Instead of going to the mall, bookstore, etc., spend time in prayer (including Eucharistic Adoration), going to Mass, and/or spending time at home reading.

I know, some of this look like I am cutting back due to the economy. However, I have been debating a lot of his for quite awhile. In addition, the above list is not, by all means complete. There are some things I have probably forgotten and more things I will think of.

The goal is to make Materialism a thing of the past and God the most important thing in my life.

This is a brief follow up on the post “Rejecting The World”.

WorldNetDaily has an article titled: Record 259 corporations honored for ‘gay’ support.  In it there was a link to the companies that made the list.

Part of rejecting the world is to avoid (if possible) those who knowingly support and advance the perversions of the world and are so inflexible of their support that it is doubtful that they will never change that position.

While I am not saying we need to immediately boycott these companies, we need to be careful on how we do business with them.  At some point in the future, we may have to cease doing business with them until they change.

It may even come to the point were we will need to set up a separate societal/economic structure separate from the perverse one we now live in.  That is a topic of a thread/poll that I have opened over on Catholic Answers Forums.

No. I am not talking about a complete removal of one’s self from the world.

From St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8: 2-8 RSV)

What I am talking about is the rejection of worldly things and serving God.  I seems the world today is one big temptation.

Materialism, for example, is one of the greatest obstacle to obtaining eternal life.  People these days are obsessed with obtaining as much wealth as they can get, just to have more than the next person.  Sorry, but, as the saying goes, you cannot take it with you.  Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and must be guarded against. This does not mean one cannot earn a living and save to retire from the toils of working at some later time.  It does mean that one must be prudent in what they do with this money.

A second area, and just as dangerous, seems to be the sexualization of today’s society (especially when it come to the entertainment industry) whether it be porn, homosexual marriage, or the likes, it seem everything is coming down to a perverse level that society wants to “normalize”.

A third area, is the “death culture”.  Today, abortion, embryonic stem cell, and euthaniasia are all becoming more and more acceptable.  These are all forms of murder which is expressly forbidden by the Commandments.

Underlying all of the above is Relativism.  Relativism allows one to say there is no real moral truths and everything is acceptable if one believes it is “all right”.  When the Seven Deadly Sins are not considered sins anymore, society is in big trouble.

We must all reject the immoral trappings of the world to better serve God.  There is no way around it.

As Our Lord says:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Mt. 6: 24-25 RSV)

I have been in discussion with a couple of members of a forum I belong to on this topic. There seems to be some interest, but right now it is very disorganized (mainly posting on various forums). I am hoping that one of them will start a dedicated site so materials and progress can be recorded.

In the mean time,  I will start recording some information here.

No. I am not talking about in the “classical” definition of “crusade”. What I am talking about is more on the level of Evangelization to combat the ravages of Relativism that is imploding our society.

It seems more and more that we are not allowed to express our opinion anything these days. Yet, other are allowed to make outrageous and slanderous claims against the Church and we are expected just to take it. More than once, I have been told not to “push your morality on us”. However, they have no qualms about “pushing their immorality on others”.

We need to start fighting back in the public forum even it means going to jail. This includes openly ignoring “positive” laws that are is direct opposition to God’s Natural Law.

Another major threat to todays society is Islam who wants to conquer Christianity and turn us into third class citizens (i.e. Dhimmis or slaves). It seems that, again, they are free to impose their threats and will on us and we are not allowed to complain. We are threatened with threats of violence and arrest if we even attempt to evangelize Muslims.

Note: I will expand on this later, I just wanted to get this entry started.