Many people claim to be saved already, as if the race was already finished. This is called the Sin of Presumption, and in doing this, a person places himself as the judge of his soul and assumes that power which is reserved for God alone. For Christ is our judge and He alone will call out the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25). For one to presume his own salvation he takes on a certain sense of pride, and this pride has the power to ultimately cause his downfall.  He compares himself to the “sinner” and calls himself good. But what is good? St. Paul tells us to rejoice in our weaknesses because only in rejoicing in our mistakes and our faults do we give glory to God.  St. Paul also tells us that we must persevere to the end of the race, and that we must train our minds and bodies to do only the will of God, lest after preaching to others we ourselves are disqualified (1 Cor. 9:24-27).

Here is an excerpt from Saint Augustine on the matter. This is from a letter he wrote against the Pelagian Heresy in 390 A.D. In this letter he states that no one is certain and completely secure of his own salvation, until he is received into the Gates of Heaven.

But, moreover, that such things as these are so spoken to saints who will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain whether they will persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise to hear these things, since it is well for them “not to be high-minded, but to fear.” (Romans 11:20) For who of the multitude of believers can presume, so long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that should be kept hidden; since here we have to beware so much of pride, that even so great an apostle was buffeted by a messenger of Satan, lest he should be lifted up. (2 Cor. 12:7) Hence it was said to the apostles, “If ye abide in me;” (John 15:7) and this He said who knew for a certainty that they would abide; and through the prophet, “If ye shall be willing, and will hear me,” (Isaiah 1:19) although He knew in whom He would work to will also. And many similar things are said. For on account of the usefulness of this secrecy, lest, perchance, any one should be lifted up, but that all, even although they are running well, should fear, in that it is not known who may attain,—on account of the usefulness of this secrecy, it must be believed that some of the children of perdition, who have not received the gift of perseverance to the end, begin to live in the faith which worketh by love, and live for some time faithfully and righteously, and afterwards fall away, and are not taken away from this life before this happens to them. If this had happened to none of these, men would have that very wholesome fear, by which the sin of presumption is kept down, only so long as until they should attain to the grace of Christ by which to live piously, and afterwards would for time to come be secure that they would never fall away from Him. And such presumption in this condition of trials is not fitting, where there is so great weakness, that security may engender pride. Finally, this also shall be the case; but it shall be at that time, in men also as it already is in the angels, when there cannot be any pride. Therefore the number of the saints, by God’s grace predestinated to God’s kingdom, with the gift of perseverance to the end bestowed on them, shall be guided thither in its completeness, and there shall be at length without end preserved in its fullest completeness, most blessed, the mercy of their Saviour still cleaving to them, whether in their conversion, in their conflict, or in their crown!

Ever since I made my decision to become Catholic I have slowly had to take on all of the things the Catholic Church teaches and try to make myself understand them. Not because these things were too hard to understand, it was just that I had been so brainwashed to believe certain things that had no real basis either in Scripture or in Sacred Tradition. I came into the Church because of a strong conviction that I did not fully understand, and I am still trying to.  I had to overcome some pretty big obstacles, such as the doctrines on the Blessed Virgin, the authority of Church Tradition, the Sacrament of Confession, and Transubstantiation just to name a few.  To learn all of these things I have had to read the Bible all over again, read book after book by Scott Hahn and Karl Keating, pray constantly for knowledge and understanding, and basically re-teach myself the Christian faith. 

Coming from a strong Protestant Bapti-costal background I remember my family being very upset about my conversion, especially my uncle, who is a hardcore Baptist, King James Onlyist, and my grandpa, who is an Assembly of God/Baptist/Pentecostal. My uncle accused me of being an idol worshipper because I prayed the Rosary. My grandfather even bought me a book entitled Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics, which contained no real Reasoning at all.  I know all of my family had the best intentions for me, but I knew things that they did not. I had come to discover things that would not allow me to be anything other than Roman Catholic. Going against what I had come to understand as Truth would go conflict with my conscience: The history of the Christian religion in all its manifestations, the origin of the Bible, the origin of many of the doctrines and traditions that most Protestants follow, not knowing that they originated in the Catholic Church, and most importantly the nature of the Early Church, which was as I had come to discover, undeniably Catholic.

The falseness of Sola Scriptura is one of the most difficult things to try to teach a good “Bible-believing” Baptist or Pentecostal. Sola Scriptura is the idea that all one needs is a good 1611 King Jimmy and a pair of reading glasses, and all of the mysteries of God and the universe, and the development of all Christian doctrine can be determined by each and every individual person who simply “lets the Holy Spirit teach him”.  If this is true then why are there over 33,000 different Protestant denominations in the world that cannot agree on what the Scriptures teach? Are they all listening to different Holy Spirits? Personally, and I mean no offence to anyone reading, I think they are listening to a different “spirit” all together, and I don’t know whether it is Holy or not.

I decided to become Catholic, while not knowing anything about the Most Blessed Sacrament. I had never even heard the term “Eucharist” in my life, which just so happens to be the center of Christian worship and devotion – your average Protestant is probably not aware of this. True Christian worship of the Triune God is only found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the feast of thanksgiving, which was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. This is how we are to worship God.  Throughout all of the Old Testament worship is identified with the offering up of a sacrifice, even the pagans identified worship this way.  In the Old Covenant an animal, such as a lamb, a bull, or even a dove was sacrificed as a blood offering to God.  There are many ways to worship God, but all of these other ways, such as, prayer, reading the Bible, and singing songs are all infinitely inferior forms of worship that we can participate in at any place and time that we chose. In fact, most Catholics would only identify these forms of worship as simply devotions.  The real worship that is due to God is the Sacrifice of the Mass, and man, what an experience that is!  Even after being a Catholic for a year I still get all excited and jittery when the priest begins the second half of the Mass…The Liturgy of the Eucharist! Nothing you can say or do could ever convince me to get off of my knees in presence of this Holy Sacrifice. Jesus giving us His body, blood, soul and divinity under the appearances of bread and wine! It is perfect.

My friend Thomas and I went to the chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ruston the other night and we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I had never really been attracted to these forms of prayer before, such as the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I believed in these prayers but I had never really practiced them until that night in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the real presence of Jesus Christ right before my eyes. Then I suddenly became so overjoyed to be praying this prayer literally at the feet of Our Lord, and I felt the Holy Spirit move over me in a very real and powerful way! I expect I will be practicing a lot more Eucharistic Adoration from now on, trust me.

There is so much to talk about when the topic is the Church that I expect all the books in the world could not hold all there is to know.

So I conclude for now and wish all who read this to have a most wonderful and blessed day, in the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  

May the Lord Jesus Christ, our most perfect giver, reward us for our labor in His Name.

Avoid evil and cast aside all dangers. Though we may be unworthy, we must never cease to pray to the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ and even to His blessed Mother so that we might receive anything we may need for our spiritual and our physical well-being.

 

We must fix our minds always on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. With a love we could never begin to understand He came down to us to save us from a death that was most certain. For us men and for our salvation he willingly endured pain and torment in both body and soul, never uttering a word of malice or anger toward those who beat Him, insulted Him, humiliated Him, and nailed Him to the cross. He is our perfect example of patience and love.

 

Put aside all of your hatred and bitterness. Bite your tongue and pray for God’s grace to avoid harsh words. And if you should say something to offend your brother, do not be too proud correct your mistakes, and heal your brother’s soul, since you where the one who caused the offence. Forgive one another so that later you will not remember the injury, because just the remembrance of a forgiven offence is in itself an offence. It adds to our anger and feeds the mad dog that is inside of us, thus making sin easier and salvation harder.

 

Remember to be a lover of peace. Peace is a precious gem that must be sought with the greatest of zeal.  We all know that our sins provoke God’s anger. We must pray for the grace to change our lives, so that God, in His mercy will pardon us from the fires of Hell.  We must never forget that our lives are a continual conversion towards God, and we must take up our cross in one hand and the sword of truth in the other, and follow Him daily. Then the peace of God our Father will be with us wherever we go.

This is a wonderful video demonstrating the Christians from all denominations united for a cause.

Father Frank Pavone speaking.

In response to the announcement that the pro-abortion “rights” President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame, CatholicVote.org has partnered with the Cardinal Newman Society to establish a web petition for Catholics and others who wish to protest the university’s invitation of the president.

Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.org, characterized the president as “a champion of the abortion cause,” citing his support for embryo-destructive research and taxpayer-funded abortion.

“Given President Obama’s utterly shameful record on life, how could a Catholic university honor him?” Burch asked.

“The University could have politely and quietly told the White House that their standing invitation to the President of the United States was not available this year. Better yet, they could have said that while they would welcome his contributions to the public debate over how to solve our economic crisis, his regrettable policies in favor of a culture of death make it impossible for them to welcome him.
”

Saying that CatholicVote.org has spoken with professors, students and leaders at Notre Dame in recent days, he said they together concluded that a massive protest will be “practically difficult and even counterproductive” and could “create exactly the wrong impression.
”

Burch explained that the university could act to prevent protestors from entering campus and might legally arrest those who do.

He then announced CatholicVote.org’s partnership with the Cardinal Newman Society to establish a petition at www.NotreDameScandal.com.

“Together our aim is to collect thousands of signatures and present them to University officials. Sign the petition now,” he exhorted, also asking those who are concerned to contact Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had more than 87,500* signatures.

He also encouraged local groups to organize for a May 17 afternoon prayer of reparation, adding that there would be a “peaceful and prayerful” gathering at the Grotto on the campus of Notre Dame.

*currently this number is over 130,000

Most Protestants have ideas about the Catholic Church and Catholic doctrine which are completely wrong. This is because some protestant churchs have made a concerted effort to discredit Catholicism.

The following are the correct views of what the Catholic Church really teaches.

1. Salvation comes through Christ and His work of redemption. There is no other way.
2. Christ established the church as a unified, visible institution composed of believers, the “body of Christ.” This is, of course, the Catholic Church.
3. The mission of the church is (1) to provide correct doctrine and fight heresy, (2) to provide unity among believers, and (3) to provide for the sacramental blessings.
4. Doctrine has developed over the centuries and that is what God intended.
5. The Protestant “reformers” in their zeal to address the corruption of church leaders went too far and corrupted essential doctrines such as the nature of sin, salvation, and the church. This destroyed the unity of the church that Christ intended which is evidenced by the continuing splintering and fragmenting of the Protestant denominations, each having their own particular doctrinal distinctives which contradict one another. How can we believe any of these?
6. The Catholic Church does not teach Catholics to worship Mary or the Saints, nor to worship idols.
7. The Early Church Fathers accurately received correct doctrine and passed it on to the next generation.
8. Even Protestants accept certain Catholic doctrinal formulations, for example, the Trinity.
9. Catholics do not believe in salvation by works.
10. Catholics do not believe that Protestants are unsaved.
11. Catholics do not believe that membership in the Catholic Church guarantees salvation.
12. Catholics look to the Church Fathers for the understanding of certain truths as do Protestants. Examples are (1) the list of books in the Canon, (2) the doctrine of the inerrency of the Bible, and (3) the formulation of the Trinity. The difference is that Protestants pretend that they don’t consider the Church Fathers as authoritative even though they really do in these important issues.
13. The Catholic Church is the true church as established by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Protestant denominations are the “separated brethren” because they have separated themselves from the one true church.
14. Protestants must believe that the first generation of Church Fathers after the apostles fell into apostasy and that this apostasy continued until the time of Martin Luther who restored the true teachings of Christ. If this is true then why don’t all Protestants become Lutherans since this is the church that Luther founded? And why do most Protestants deny many of the teachings of Luther if he was so wise or anointed by God to be the one person in 1,500 years who finally properly understood the Bible’s teaching? For example,Luther, Calvin and other reformers believed the same basic doctrines concerning Mary that the Catholic Church does.
15. When Jesus Christ came into this physical universe He imbued it with His Divine essence in a very real and mystical sense. Catholics seek to experience the divinity of Christ and use the various symbols, icons and other religious artifacts to assist. Catholics do not worship any of these things but worship the God who is represented in them.
16. The Bible is inerrent.
17. The Bible cannot be properly interpreted without an divinely-sanctioned interpretation authority (which is the Catholic Church). Protestants dispute this point, but if they were correct then all Protestants would agree on the proper interpretation of the Bible. Of course, they don’t agree at all, and each denomination has its own particular interpretations and set of doctrines and all claim that their own particular interpretation is the true, biblically based one.
18. When Jesus said, “this is my body,” He meant it. This provides the basis for the Eucharist. Catholics have a different perspective about what the words of Jesus mean – they believe His words are absolutely true in their very essence. In contrast, Protestants believe that Jesus is merely teaching principles of truth which we can apply in our lives. This robs Christ of His divinity and holiness.
19. Church leaders, including the pope, are human and subject to the same weakness and fallibility as anyone else. This accounts for the historical problems with the church. But just as the God-ordained, Old Testament nation of Israel was God’s true institution even though the leaders became corrupt, so the Catholic Church is the true church. The working and indwelling of Holy Spirit in the church guarantees that it will be free from error in matters of faith and morals, and this includes doctrinal formulations.
20. The church is free to change the rules regarding the practice of the church. These things are not absolute and unchanging as we see in the New Testament church, which went through three stages within that short time period.

A wonderful video presentation of the power and glory of the Catholic Church.

All men want to know God. Even the most devout Atheist, deep down within his soul, longs to know the LORD.  Saint Augustine once said: “Our hearts were made for thee, oh LORD, and they are restless until they rest in thee”.  Throughout human history, man’s quest for God has manifested itself in many forms, from the polytheism of the Romans and the Greeks, to the spiritualism of Buddha and Hinduism, and all the way to the monotheism of Zoroastrianism and Islam.  We are always trying to find a way to our Father.

God made man the way a potter or a sculptor forms his masterpiece; with love.  God also has a longing to be reunited with His creation, His children.  We see evidence of this troughout the Old Testament, and then finally we see it fulfilled in the New, as God trys time and time again to be with his people.  First, he chooses a people to be his own, and makes a covenant with them.  All of these covenants involve cooperation with God and with our brothers and sisters, the same way a family must learn to live with peace and harmony with parents and siblings, for that is the most perfect image of our LORD.  I think that is why the image of the family is so important to God and why he has so many rules and guidlines that we must follow concerning how we run our household.  The father, who is the leader and provider for the family. The mother who cares for her husband and children, and uses the raw materials that the father provides and turns them into something beautiful.  The children, which best represents all of us, who are subject to the will and care of the father and mother.

Like I said before, the LORD also wants to be fully reunited with his lost children, the same way the father in the story of the prodigal son so longed to see the face of his lost son again.  God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, a spotless innocent Lamb, as a sacrifice for us, so that through His perfect act of love and selflessness we might be reunited to our heavenly Father.  Only through Baptism and belief in the Gospel message are we finally adopted from this sinful world and made sons and daughters of the Almighty.  Like II Corinthians 6:16 – 18 states, ” and God said, ‘I will live with them and move among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.  Therefore, come forth from them and be separate,’ says the Lord, ‘and touch nothing unclean; then I will receive you and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me’.  Family and community are what is found at the heart of the Gospels,  because God = Family.  And if we are the Body of Christ then that is what we should be also.