The Purity Samaritan?

What can we do with people that seem pious and live a different life, so they seem hyprocritical? Like people that say yes to purity and such, but end up in situations that arent?

To be honest I keep getting stuck with situations people find themselves in, and I want to get angry sometimes, cause it just doesnt help that people dont live the lifestyle they proclaim they want to (or do).. and I know the feeling isnt right... cause it is in many ways passing judgement on people.. people I love..

Then I am reminded about Like 10:11

About the man on the side of the road

and I think.. you know.. we cant judge.. cause then we are just like the priest and levite who pass the dying man..

We have to be the samaritan.. because otherwise, we have fallen into this trap.. or a confusion.. what I mean is:

We want to love and be Christian, but when we see a Christian fall, we want to disown and judge them, but by doing so, we too loose our right to be truly called followers of Christ,

Jesus said the neighbor was the one who treated him with mercy.. a hard lesson to swallow, cause it sounds right, but really really hard to always do..

Like knowing friends engaging in premarital sex, or drunkedness, or other inpure actions..you want to just slap them and say.. why.. did you not go to the same teachings, hear the same things, see the same words in the Bible.. yet here you are.. on the side of the road, robbed of your dignity and honor..?

Yet Jesus said, and as the commandment "Love they neighbor" ..to be merciful..

I pray by God's grace we can all achieve such a pure thing..

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Lost Sheep

Service, it is voluntary

I don't think it should be assigned
But I believe the fire in ones heart should be burning for service and therefore should be a desire stronger than the pressure of the deepest ocean.

However, if the eye does not see what the Lord has asked of us to go out and the many that can harvest to the lost sheep, than it is easy to see the service as works, and not as service

so.. perhaps our strategy as lay persons is incorrect in the sense we expect and believe to empower people by assigning, but in that defense, do you not also see that a loving leader would serve to the ends of the earth, and seek only happiness in your heart before theirs?

Perhaps its a matter of perspective

For example
you go to church on Sunday
the priest greets you with a homily that we must strive to be holy..as it is said in the Gospel of Matthew, strive to be perfect like your father.. but people then disagree because , in the end its their life, so who is to tell them what is holy and what is not..

In this case the mentality is merely a presentation of relativism
Its only relative to the truth you subscribe

I think forcing it upon someone is an issue if that person does not realize the honor it could be..

Just like a baby would not appreciate the $100 bill you give them, but a young man would realize its worth and potential

In that case, we as leaders, entrusted to serve, have been arrogant in assuming all would appreciate the same things as perhaps it has been presented as light in our eyes

I think this therefore can be a extension of seeing a piece of wood in the ye of a brother and not the log in our own.

Growth is Growth, and not in any way is it possible to be imposed onto others..
not every flower grows and blooms together, some are faster, others take their time, yet in the end.. every flower is just as worthy as the next
does it make it wrong to want people to see that?

Maybe we are impatient about that.. but is the intent not honorable?
It makes you wonder doesn't it?
What would make people step up,.. obviously not because of obligation or pity, nor should it be cause of guilt or repayment, nor kinship or friendship.

What lacks in the approach is the ability to pass on a flame.

We all have it.. no doubt
We all made some sort of commitment to follow God's latest covenant to love him and serve him.

Yet many Catholics sit back and don't participate

"Catholicism is not a spectators sport"

But how can people see that?
Personally.. I at times throw my hands in the air and say.. God.. your turn..

Like a farmer, who carefully tills the soil and prepares the seeds, plants them then looks up to heaven and says, God if you want them to grow, you have to provide the rain and sun.

He knows that he can only do so much, and the Lord will take over the things he cannot do

Perhaps, even the simplest act of seeking people to step up, we need to surrender it to the Lord even more.

At the end of the day, if you follow God's word, you will bloom into a more perfect flower, your salvation is there if your faith and works show the desire of your heart

My enthusiasm..comes from the same thing in MT 9:36-38
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepard. Then he said to his disciples, " the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest""

To me, the most striking word there is compassion

He was saying to them that help is needed, not cause he pitied the lost sheep, but because it was his duty, or his job or cause he wanted bonus points with his father, but out of Love

Even if they didn't understand the bigger plan, it was because of love he did it..
later He would be put to death for shepherding the lost sheep, all of us, and it was because of Love..

If we are to witness to that, than even our leadership and service to others..should give us zeal enough to pass it on..
That is my enthusiasm

There are many out there, and cause I love them all, as I have been asked by God my father and as compelled in my heart, I wish to help Jesus reclaim His people

I am just sharing with you where my zeal comes from, and why I consider my day job as just that, cause there is something greater for us to do, and the only way I know how to do some of that, is through my service to others..

even this weblog, is service. Is it not? allowing us to speak of our faith in truth and understand our motivation? is it not a tool of witnessing?

Amen
May God Be Praised.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Understanding Culture of Life

In Matthew 5:15, we are told that we are to not put a candle under a basket, but to raise it up for the whole world to see. In 1Peter 3:15 we are asked to be prepared always to explain the hope in our hearts.

What does this have to with the Culture of Life and the upcoming March For life?
For starters, why is it that we say the truth is twisted in our world today?

Lets take a look at the past 90 years of human history.
In the early twenties, thinkers and ambitious people that were on a mission to change the world thought it would be best to impose on society a new concept of living our lives. They embraced self pleasure and wanted to create a freedom for women to receive pleasures and take on any issue of equality to their male counterparts. Birth Control was born and then some 50 years later was widespread during the sexual revolution, as a freedom from authority and rules.

Little did society realize it was actually putting itself further in chains.
Freedom comes from the ability to choose no to a desire, not to be owned by it.
This explains plenty why shows, media, schools and even our own Catholic families tend to portray real sexuality and real freedom in a twisted message.

As the thought of sexual pleasure without pregnancy became a norm in this world, many subscribed to the concept of artificial contraception even more, it seemed like the risk of pregnancy had gone away or at least lowered. Woman believed they were building themselves up in equality cause they could work without a pregnancy leave, but a lot of parents didn't realize this contraceptive theory also entered their families, their very homes. Teen pregnancy rose to new heights and many people started having "unexpected" pregnancies.

Of course the only reason it was unexpected was because they had thought they could control what only God controls. This has lead to an increase in a new phenomenon which became legal in the early 1970's: Abortion.

Either due to an inconvenience, an ignorance, guilt, shame or some other unworthy feeling, woman started adding abortion to their vocabulary. Many young woman found the unexpected suddenly intruding on their life which they had not planned completely.

From that historical Jan 22nd Court decision sprung out a new movement, Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit started raising a grand army of followers, an army that has every year grown in size and passion. They gather because they believe in the real truth of life, in the real sanctity and honor that life brings. They have realized that woman were in fact not free, but enslaved in a selfish desire, that only turned most of them into sexual objects, not real women as God intended. They realized that Men were enslaved as well, and their dignity had been stripped from them. They could not control their lustful desires, the selfish living and constant use of women not for companionship but as objects. The real man should have complete control and freedom from such things, and should be able to be strong and courageous, to stand up for what is good and right and to offer respect and support to women.

This was a call for an army to stand up and witness Life. And in order to that, they learned they had to witness Christ. It is the divine love that we find in Christ that truly saves us and frees us from bondage. So here we are, today in 2008, with all these things in our society that have pulled us down and twisted the truthful desires of our hearts. It is here that we must heed the words found in Matthew and 1 Peter, we must shine Christ's light to others to show them the truth, to take away the darkness and bondage. But we must know the truth, we must know Christ and be able to tell people the hope in our hearts, for it is this hope that we will witness during our walk on Tuesday at the March for Life.

With over 50,000 in attendance at the annual rally for life mass at the Verizon center, and with over 300,000 pro lifers marching on the mall alone, isn't it time we all join the army of truth, the army of light, the army of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

"7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit."

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