Thanks, And A Bit More

I would just like to say thank you to everyone for your prayers, donations, and all your help in my recent situations.

Thank you also for your purchases of Mystic Monk Coffee from my links on my blogs, as well as your purchases from "Faith of the Fathers Catholic Gifts" (our online store powered by Zazzle), and for your visits to our other sponsors.

Speaking of Mystic Monk Coffee, I have a request. When you get ready to make your next purchase of Mystic Monk Coffee, I would appreciate it very much if you would come here and click on my links to Mystic Monk to make your purchases. I know the good monks send out emails once or twice a month informing customers of their special flavors, unique coffees like Monk Shots, and teas. When you click on my links to buy that special coffee or tea, you not only still get the specials, you also allow me to make a commission from the sale, and this helps me out a great deal.

If you could do that I would be very grateful!

May God Bless you, and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Better Late Than Never....I Suppose

Yesterday was not a productive day for me, blog wise.

The state is installing guard rails along the highway near where I live, and the local phone company had marked for them where the phone lines are buried.

Apparently they either didn't pay any attention or didn't care. They cut the phone lines, and there was no telephone nor internet service for the several thousand residents of my area.

So, the posts for The Pope and Church News, Daily Catholic Mass Readings, and Saint Quote of the Day, just got posted.

I hate that this happened, but it was out of my control. I especially like to always post the Mass Readings the night before if possible.

So please excuse the delay.

Oh, and I am still in need of your prayers for my personal situation.

Thank you, and God Bless you all!

I Need A Prayer Umbrella

Are you familiar with the old saying, "when it rains it pours"?

Well, it has definitely been pouring for me. Again

About a week ago this past Friday, I noticed a small bump on the inside of my upper right leg, when my pants rubbing against it brought it to my attention. It began growing larger by the hour (or so it seemed), and then the next day there was also one high on the back of my left leg.

I ran a fever on the Sunday night following, and had to call out of work the next day. I called my doctor, and had an appointment on Wednesday. It turned out that I had 2 boils.

The one on the right leg was about the size of a golf ball, and had started to drain. The other is still there, and has not changed yet.

The doctor did a swab of the drainage, and it turns out that I have a staph infection. Lovely.

And to make it even more lovely, this staph infection is what is known as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which in layman's terms, means that it is resistant to certain antibiotics, which include the penicillins and the cephalosporins.

My doctor prescribed 2 antibiotics, one is Doxicycline Hyclate, and the other is Cephalexin.

So, after 2 doctor visits (with a third coming up Friday), missing 8 days of work, and several antibiotic doses later, I would once again appreciate your prayers.

I will tell you this. As much as these boils have hurt, if I had been the Pharaoh, and I had been afflicted with boils, that would have been enough for me to let Moses and the Hebrew people go.

I wouldn't wish these things on my worst enemy!

Thank you all for your prayers.

May God Bless you all!

Thank You!

I want to thank all of you who prayed for me, and who were so generous with your donations!

I was able to get my power bill paid, and I am greatly relieved to say the least!

God is good, and I ask His blessings for all of you!

Thank you again, so very much!

A True Personal Story

My mom, from a photo taken in 1993

This is just a personal story that I would like to share with all of you.

My mother, passed away in November of 1995, after a long 4 year battle with rectal/colon cancer. She was first diagnosed with this terrible disease in 1991. After what seemed like success against this disease, it reappeared in the spring of 1995, and became worse day by day. When my mother was told that there was nothing else the doctors could do, she asked that we get in touch with Howard Shockley, a Presbyterian minister whom we came to know during my dad's illness due to a malignant brain tumor. Howard himself had been diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was in his late teens, and he had promised God, that if He would heal him, he would go into the ministry. God heard his prayers, and Howard was healed.

So, my brothers and I contacted Howard, and being the good Christian man that he is, he came to visit my mother, and continued to do so on a regular basis, sometimes coming by as many as 5 days a week. On his first visit, he had decided that he was going to give my mother a Bible verse to memorize, and that he would give her a new one to memorize each week. That first, and as it turned out, only Bible verse, was from Philippians 4:13- "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."

You would not believe the amount of faith my mother placed in that one verse. It became her all purpose verse, if one can claim such a thing for any one Bible verse. She placed so much faith in it, that Howard later said that it became a blessing for him, and he decided there was no need to bring her any others to learn.

One of the last times that she was in the hospital, she was having a very difficult time being helped in and out of bed. She had weakened to the point, that she did not have the strength to get up without help, and she experienced a good bit of pain from being gotten up, and then helped back into bed. She would be literally exhausted afterward. I was in her room, spending the day there with her, and she knew she they would soon be coming to help her out of the chair, and back into bed. She was dreading it, because she knew how tired it made her, and how much it hurt. She looked at me, and she said, "Steve, pray for me. Pray for God to help me. Ask Him to help me, so that it doesn't hurt, and so that I won't be worn out". So, I prayed, and as I prayed, my mother's eyes were closed, her hands stretched over her face, as she repeated over and over again, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me". Just as we finished our prayer, they came to get her out of the chair, and into bed. They put a strap around her waist, to enable them to help her up. When the time to make the attempt came, she came up out of that chair as if it was nothing at all, and got into that bed with no pain or trouble at all. None! One of her nurses made a comment about how that time it had been so easy, and mom told the nurse, "it was because we prayed".

Just 3 weeks later, my mom had gone into a coma at home, and my two younger brothers, Mike and Randy, were staying at home with us. We would be taking mom to the Solace Center at Mountain Area Hospice the next day, and none of us was looking forward to it as you can imagine, because we all knew mom would be leaving home for the last time.

We had been sitting up talking, sitting up late, in fact. I guess we thought we could ward that time off , keep it from coming too quickly, if we stayed awake rather than sleep. Mike decided he wanted something to read, and he found a book, called “The Bible In My Everyday Life”. It had not been taken down off the bookshelf in many years.

Now, that old book had belonged to an aunt who had died at a very young age. It was written in 1932. She had used it somewhat like a Family Bible, recording births, deaths, and other events in it. Mike handed it to me to show me something that was written in it. After looking at what he wanted me to see, I noticed that in the back of the book, it listed every day of the year, and that it gave a Bible verse for each day. I looked at the Bible verse for each of our family's birthdays, and then decided to look at the verse for the next day, which was November 7. Do you know what that verse was? "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me".

Now, I was a little bit surprised to say the least. I showed it to Mike, and he had a total look of shock on his face as well. I now know, I should not have been surprised. I know that Mike being led to choose this book was no accident, even though some narrow minded people might think it purely coincidence, I know it was purely a blessing. For when we were at a point, when we were sure that all was lost, that it was just us alone, facing this hard time, God was telling us, "I am here. I have not forsaken you. I will be with you, and I will be with your mother".

So, no matter what happens to you, to your loved ones, or to anyone else that you know, remember, God is with us always in everything, and in every way. And remember this verse, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me". I know He strengthened us.

Ex-Catholics....

Did They Ever Know The Faith?

Being a person who works in retail with the public, you meet all kinds of people. Some, who are regular customers even become good friends/ Some are just people you see every day.

Inevitably, among the people you meet, something or another will lead to a talk about faith, and I am not shy about telling folks I am a convert to Catholicism. Some see all Christians as brothers in Christ, and some see Catholics and Protestants in a state of constant opposition as to what is the truth. (To those I say, Jesus Christ is the Truth, and that is all the Truth any of us should be concerning ourselves with.)

Some Protestants are taken aback, when I suggest that they visit a Catholic Church, and find out for themselves if what they have been told by their pastors, neighbors or friends about the Catholic Church is factual. Many, if not most, act as if I had suggested they walk barefoot across a bed of hot coals.

I have heard several ideas of what Catholics believe, where I have had to restrain myself from smirking, if not laughing out loud. For instance, one man, in all seriousness and with sincerity, asked me if I belonged to the branch of Catholics that believes in Jesus Christ, or to the branch of Catholics that doesn't.

So, I try to explain things, and hopefully help them to better understand.

Then on occasion, I come across, someone who will boldly proclaim to me (as well as to others whom I know) that they are an "ex-Catholic" who found a church that believes in the Bible, and where they also found Jesus Christ as their "personal Lord and Savior" at some denomination or another, and then proceed to tell me what is "wrong" with the Catholic Church.

Every time one of the ex-Catholics starts telling me what is "wrong" with the Church, I consistently find that there is not something "wrong" with the Church, but there is something wrong with their understanding of what the Church is, and what she teaches.

One of these is, that they don't “need to confess my sins to a man” but that they confess to Jesus through prayer, and receive forgiveness from Him.

I tell them that Catholics also ask for forgiveness in prayer, and that when we go to confession, we are confessing to Jesus through the priest who is physically before us in Christ's place. Christ hears our confession through the priest, and when the priest gives us absolution, he is following the teaching of Christ from Holy Scripture: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." -- John 20,23.

They will usually follow this with, we just don't need to confess to men. I then tell them that since their church follows the Bible so closely, then they confess their sins to each other? I'll get a strange look usually and I quote James 5,16:"Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much."

The worst one I have ever heard though, was where a self described ex-Catholic told a friend of mine that he stopped being Catholic because “Catholics believe that the Pope is Jesus Christ on earth”. I couldn't keep quiet, and told him no, he had it wrong. Catholics believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, he is the visible head of Christ's Church on earth, who acts for and in the place of Christ.

Any way, the thing I keep seeing again and again, seems to answer my question, i.e., “did they ever know the faith?” It is all too apparent that these people were just nominal Catholic's and never understood, nor ever bothered to try to learn about the Church and it's teaching.

I don't want to sound as all knowing, or as “another knows it all convert”, but I am thinking, shouldn't catechesis be a continual, ongoing part of our faith? Not just in the parish, where this should be happening, but, also ideally in the home, and within the community of the faithful as well.

Teaching the faith is like growing a garden. We don't plant the seeds, and then think the job is finished, complete. We plant the seeds, and then we water, fertilize, hoe, weed, and prune, so that we have a garden that grows, becomes stronger, and is fruitful.

After all, we are all called to share the faith, and we all can learn something new as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we mature in our faith, and help others to mature in theirs.

Catholic News Herald - Former Lutheran pastor converts to Catholicism - Catholic News from around the country and world

The following excerpts are from the Catholic News Herald of Charlotte, N.C. by reporter SueAnn Howell:

HENDERSONVILLE — Dr. Paul Cates is proof that you are never too old to follow your heart and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Cates, now in his 70s, is a doctor and former Lutheran pastor who is an avid reader and researcher. He and his son, Dr. Kirk Cates, are in practice together, working with patients who suffer from attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities.

Cates has also been active in homeschooling initiatives for more than 35 years and runs Faith Christian Ministries, where he is known as "homeschool's education doctor."

He will be the first to tell you that he's not one to shrug off the truth when it stares you in the face.

"I have been a pastor for 50-plus years. I have always believed in the Eucharist, that it is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ," Cates said. "I have always preached that and celebrated it as such."

Read more by clicking below:

Catholic News Herald - Former Lutheran pastor converts to Catholicism - Catholic News from around the country and world

Cardinal Francis Arinze On Three Videos From The 2011 Eucharistic Congress in The Diocese of Charlotte

The following three videos are from Franics Cardinal Arinzes keynote address to Diocese of Charlotte, NC, USA Eucharistic Congress, in September 2011.

I wasn't able to attend, but I enjoyed the good Cardinal's talk, and learned a great deal. I thought you might enjoy them as well.

Part one of three from Cardinal Francis Arnize's talk

Part two of three from Cardinal Francis Arnize's talk

Part three of three from Cardinal Francis Arnize's talk

Take A "Catholic I.Q. Test"

Today, I took the "Catholic I.Q. Test" online. It is a fun and interesting test to take. You don't have to be Catholic to take the test, either.

It makes you think about what you know (or think you know) about the Church history, scripture, the Sacraments, the heresies, the clergy, the Mass, the Holy Eucharist and more.

It takes about 2 hours (roughly) to complete the test. You can register (not required), and start the test, and then log back in with your registered name and password to complete the test later.

Also, when the test is completed, it will show you your score automatically, and they will email you the results if you'd like, with reading suggestions for the areas you are weaker in, which is a nice touch.

Another nice feature is, it will allow you to post your score, according to your parish, country, and your parish location, too.

A perfect score on the test is 202. I scored 181.

So go take the Catholic I.Q. Test here.

Chicken if you don't!

Addendum: The blog visitors from Canada, Alabama, United Kingdom, Norway, and West Virginia are NOT chicken!

The remaining 50 of you who didn't go...I hear the sound of flappin' wings...

Need Your Prayers

I find myself still in need of your prayers for my needs. Please keep me and these blogs in your prayers.

Thank you all! May God bless you and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Prayer Request

I am in need of your prayers, please. My eyes seem to be getting worse, at least it's more noticeable to me, especially at night. Hopefully, I can get them checked in the next few months, and find out what I can do to have the cataracts removed. Thanks, and God bless you.

Most Recent Blog Visits (Makes My Day)

The image below shows what country the most recent visitors to my bogs came from. 

You will see near the bottom, Vietnam as one of those countries. That visitor went to the "Daily Mass Readings" blog. So did visitors from Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Russia, and more. Some went to "Saint Quote of the Day" and "Favorite Prayers and Scripture", like the visitors from Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

When you start feeling doubtful that anyone is reading your blogs, you can look at these, and see why it is important and worthwhile to keep on keeping on.

Thanks So Much!!

Thanks to all of my blog readers for your purchases of Mystic Monk Coffee. The commissions I have earned will help pay my power bill.

The good monks from Mystic Monk Coffee have not yet decided what flavored coffees they are going to add for this summer. So, for a limited time, they have samples of six flavors available, and will base their summer offerings on the flavor best liked by you, their customers.

Here is what they have to say:

• Strictly limited number available!  Available for the next 2 weeks only!
• This year, you can decide what flavors we will have this summer!  Once you place your order, you'll receive an email with a link to vote for your favorite flavor!  At the end of May, we will tally the results and showcase the most popular flavor!  
• We'll send you six 2 oz sampler bags of our summer flavor contenders.  You can choose your favorite from: Blueberry Muffin, French Silk,Vanilla Ice Cream, Banana Rum, Coconut Margarita, and Creme Brulee.

So hurry and go here to get your sampler pack, and then vote for your favorite. I can tell you that the two top contenders as of this post, are Blueberry Muffin and Banana Rum.

Once again, thanks for your purchases of Mystic Monk Coffee. Your purchase helps support The Carmelite Monks of Wyoming and this blogger, too!

If you'd still like to make a donation, then click the button below. Thank you, and may God Bless you all, and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Evangelization: Something We Should All Do

Spirit Daily has a most interesting article entitled: "EVANGELIZE, EVANGELIZE! IF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CAN GO DOOR TO DOOR, WHAT ABOUT US CATHOLICS?"

The article begins as follows:

"On occasion we hear the admonition from Rome or the local pulpit: evangelize. Go forth and speak of Catholicism. Spread authentic Christianity!

We hear that good notion (part of Christ's own admonition) but usually with little advice on how to do it [this was written before the Pope's recent remarks].

Yet, ways there are.

The most basic: go to homes; door to door; visit people in your community; show them what Catholics look like and act like and believe like, as opposed to the conceptions they may have from the media.

If Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons can do it -- if evangelicals can, with substantial results -- why can't the world's oldest and most authentic form of Christianity?"

(You can read the entire article here.)

Indeed, why can't Catholics....or even more importantly....why don't Catholics go door to door?

I have asked this question many times, and the only response I have ever gotten is a shrug of the shoulders.

It makes one ask questions. Do Catholics not care if no one else comes home to the Catholic Church? Do they not care if people come into the Church, only to disappear a short time later?

It would seem on the surface at least, that many, if not most, don't care. I did have one person tell me, that if a person came into the Church, only to disappear later, then perhaps the new member had decided that the Catholic Church was not for them after all.

I think, that many Catholics think that this is something that should be entirely left up to the priests and bishops, and that the laity has no role to play. They believe that such evangelistic work is best left to the clerics, and to others like The Legion of Mary, and Catholics Come Home.

This line of thinking is in itself entirely wrong. All of us have a role to play, by witnessing to our Catholic faith, and sharing the full truth of authentic Christianity with others.

Let them see what Catholics are like, what we believe, and how we care. Whenever one shares even one truth about the Catholic Church, he or she may be planting a seed that will bring forth fruit, and lead someone home to the Catholic Church.

Remember, the Holy Spirit can use you or me as the tool to lead someone where they truly need to be, and that is the One, Holy, and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church.

Just a thought from me:

Heaven and earth...all who are in them, and all they contain... are God's creation. To have hatred for one person, is to hate all of God's creation.

Thanks!

I would just like to say thank you to all of you have sent me a donation to help me pay my $373.00 power bill.

I only have $150.00 to go to be able to pay it by April 24. 

Thanks for helping me not only have lights, but also it lets me have water, too, as I am on a well.

Thank you all, and may God Bless you and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I have created a small "banner" to show support for our Holy Father, Pope Francis. If you would like, you may have a copy of it for your own blogs, web pages, etc., by right clicking on it, click Save As, or Save Image (depending on your browser. Right click the image below, it is 400x80.

A Need

Once again, I must humbly ask for your prayers and assistance if possible. I have a power bill  due by April 24, that is over $370.00. I don't know where the money is going to come from. 

Last month, my power bill was over $417.00, and my landlady graciously allowed me to pay only one half of last months rent so that I would be able to pay THAT power bill. The other half of the rent will be paid over the next 2 months (that is this month and May).

So, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I had my power disconnected almost one year ago, and I would like to avoid that scenario again, if at all possible. Not having lights is one thing, but I am also on a well, and would have no water without electricity. 

The good thing is, the weather has been very warm, and so I don't have to be concerned about heat right now, which is good because the home I rent has electric heat.

Anyway, please forgive my request, but I do especially covet your prayers, and would appreciate any assistance (even if it's just $1) or suggestions you might be able to offer.

Thank you, and may God Bless you all!

UPDATE: Thank you to those who have sent me donations through my PayPal donate button. Those donations have got the amount I need now to just under $300.00. Thank you again, and may God bless you all!

John Henry Newman on Christian Holiness

In this video, Father Juan R. Velez author of "Passion for Truth: The Life of John Henry Newman" tells us how "Cardinal Newman was not only a scholar and a theologian; he was a man of prayer who lived the Christian virtues. He taught that holiness, which is attained through grace and the practice of the virtues, is necessary for future blessedness in Heaven."

Urgent Help Needed For A Catholic Blogger And Friend

One of my good blogging friends, Lisa Graas, is in great need of your prayers and a financial boost if you will.

Lisa is the author of  the blog "Catholic Bandita", and is on twitter as @CatholicLisa. She always reminds us in her blog posts that our identity as Christians is, and should be in Christ, and nothing else.

Lisa and her children have been going through some difficult times...physically, financially... and I am sure the emotional strain is not easy either. I have been there myself. 

Some other blogging pals, including Sofia Guerra of the blog "Always Catholic", George Vogt of the blog "A Talking Donkey", and Father Z of "Fr. Z's Blog – What Does The Prayer Really Say?" have all posted about Lisa's situation here... here... and here.

You can go to Lisa's blog here, and scrolling down, look on the left side for a PayPal Donate button similar to mine. It will say "Hit The Tip Jar".

We all are asking you to give of both your prayers and money to help out Lisa and her family at this time. Please.

May God Bless you and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Too Smart For The Church?

There are many traps, dangers, and pitfalls that we as Christians must face in our daily lives. Events happen to us that are often out of our control. Sickness, accidents, natural catastrophes, even financial difficulties or hardship are often beyond our control, or not due to a self-inflicted cause. Yet, there is one trap that we must be on guard for, and that we must not allow ourselves to fall into our spiritual growth. That trap is, when we begin to think that we have all the answers regarding our faith, and that there is nothing more that we can learn.

We have all seen those individuals or groups of individuals, who think that there is nothing more for them to learn about our faith, that they have grown spiritually as far as it is humanly possible for them to grow. These self-assured people think nothing more can be acquired by them from the study of Holy Scripture, the writings of the Saints, nor from the instruction and guidance of the Church. We have even seen some proclaim themselves the only “true Christians”, the only “true Catholics”. They have fooled themselves into thinking that they have all the answers, that they have all the truth, and that anything other than what they know, what they believe is inherently wrong or ill conceived. As a very holy priest I know says, “some think themselves more Catholic than the Church”.

We should remember, that there is always something new for us to learn. It is not from our own understanding, our own intelligence that we learn, but, what we learn is what is revealed to us through Holy Scripture, the writings of the Saints, and from the Church by the actions and teaching of the Holy Spirit. No one man or woman has had all revealed to him or her by the Holy Spirit, but, each has had some revealed unto them by the Holy Spirit.

Now we all know that the fullness of revelation is in Christ,and He has revealed all. Yet there are aspects of the Faith, and of God that we do not fully understand or comprehend, because as a creation of God we are limited as to our ability to comprehend and understand God. For God is infinite, He cannot be contained or limited by space or time, we on the other hand, are finite, confined by both space and time. In Romans 11:33-35 we are told, “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?”

Further, there are aspects of God and the Faith He has given us, that have been revealed to us, but, because of our limits, we do not fully grasp those aspects. These are what we call the Mysteries of Faith. In “The Pocket Catholic Dictionary” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., we are given this explanation for mystery, “a divinely revealed truth whose very possibility cannot be rationally conceived before it is revealed and, after revelation, whose inner essence cannot be fully understood by the finite mind. The incomprehensibility of revealed mysteries derives from the fact that they are manifestations of God, who is infinite and therefore beyond the complete grasp of a created intellect. Nevertheless, though incomprehensible, mysteries are intelligible. One of the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith, i.e., to develop an understanding of what God has revealed”.

That last sentence within that definition is by far the most important instruction to all believers “the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith,” and to “develop an understanding of what God has revealed”. We should therefore always strive to learn and grow in our faith and belief, and we should always remember that when we pray, when we study, and when we experience growth in our faith, it is because God, through the Holy Spirit has been our teacher, our instructor.

If we fall into the snare set for us by the enemy, into the wrong thinking that we can grow no more, that we have learned all there is to know of God, then we endanger ourselves, we endanger our faith, and we endanger those around us and their faith as well. Many is the man or woman who have followed the teachings of one who gives the appearance and assurance of having found all the truth and been led astray into the errors of heresy, apostasy, and schism. When we think there is nothing more to be revealed to us, through scripture, the Saints, or through the Church, then we are in effect saying that God through the Holy Spirit cannot teach us or guide us, as we need no teaching or guidance from Him who has all Knowledge.

Now we all know that when Saint Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus, that he was a Pharisee, and that he himself had been trained in the Law of Moses. He had been a great persecutor of Christians, and was converted by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus. Yet, Paul who was an intelligent and well educated man, had to be instructed on the “Way” by Peter. Of Paul's instruction after his conversion we read in Galatians 1:17-18, “Neither went I to Jerusalem, to the apostles who were before me: but I went into Arabia, and again I returned to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went to Jerusalem, to see Peter, and I tarried with him fifteen days.”

We know that when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, and when they gave testimony to the Sanhedrin regarding Christ, we realize that they were taught and led by the Holy Spirit, as Acts 4:13 says, “Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, understanding that they were illiterate and ignorant men, they wondered; and they knew them that they had been with Jesus”.

Do not allow yourself to be led astray into thinking that you know all there is to know of God and His Son. We are all always learning. Something may be revealed to you, that I have not yet understood. As well, something may be revealed to me, that you have not yet understood. There are things that have been revealed to the Church, and things yet to be revealed to the Church by the Holy Spirit for the knowledge and understanding of all. We dare not think, we dare not believe that we have reached the pinnacle of spiritual maturity, for there is still much growing we must all do. The Holy Spirit is not stagnant, the Holy Spirit is always moving, always teaching, always enlightening.

The seed of faith is planted in our hearts. Do we water and feed that seed, or do we let it wither and die? Do we let it grow a little, and then turn all attention from it, allowing it to grow for awhile, then wither before it can bear fruit? Do we allow it to grow, then let our pride fill us up with our falsely perceived “perfect knowledge”, and kill that faith after only a little fruit was born from it? Would you who are parents want your child to be raised with no instruction, no correction, no guidance, no discipline? No? Then why do you think God would want His children to do so?

Some who are parents of teenagers get exasperated, when those teenagers try to grow up too fast, and begin to think they know more about what is best for them than their parents do. What I like to call the “13 going on 30 Syndrome”. That is the same thing that happens to us, when we begin to think that we know more about faith and God than the Church, or anyone can teach us. We know what is better for us than they do. Well, we don't. The bottom line is, no matter where you, I, or anyone else is on our path of Faith, we are still immature children that should always seek, always search for, that truth, that maturity, that is God.

Copyright © 2006 - 2013 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.

Some quotations below to reflect on:

"The Word of God is in your heart. The Word digs in this soil so that the spring may gush out."--Origen

"You are reading? No. Your betrothed is talking to you. It is your betrothed, that is, Christ, who is united with you. He tears you away from the solitude of the desert and brings you into his home, saying to you, "Enter into the joy of your Master."--Saint Jerome

"If one carefully reads the Scriptures, he will find there the word on the subject of Christ -- de Christo sermonem -- and the prefiguration of the new calling. He is indeed the hidden treasure in the field -- the field in fact is the world -- but in truth, the hidden treasure in the Scriptures is Christ. Because he is designed by types and words that humanly are not possible to understand before the accomplishment of all things, that is, Christ's parousia (coming)." -- Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

“You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.” -- Saint Augustine of Hippo

“The Scriptures are in fact, in any passage you care to choose, singing of Christ, provided we have ears that are capable of picking out the tune. The Lord opened the minds of the Apostles so that they understood the Scriptures. That he will open our minds too is our prayer.” --Saint Augustine of Hippo

"Anyone who wants to be always united to God must pray often and read the Bible often. For in prayer it is we who are speaking to God, but in the readings it is God speaking to us.”--Saint Isidore of Seville

"Let us study while we are on earth that Reality which will stay in our minds also when we are in heaven".--Saint Jerome