A Catholic Mom in Hawaii: The Manhattan Declaration - National Religious Leaders Release Historic Declaration on Christian Conscience

A Catholic Mom in Hawaii: The Manhattan Declaration - National Religious Leaders Release Historic Declaration on Christian Conscience

Did You Know: What happened BEFORE original Sin?

It is commonly known that the big event that changed our relationship with God happened with Original Sin, but what we totally missed was the answers to the age-old, million dollar question, "Why am I here?" Way before Original Sin came into the picture, God had a plan, which is the purpose of our existence. Let me explain:


When God created the world, He put man on the earth to rule and have dominion over all the creatures and amenities. He and man, Adam, had a relationship that was unique from the other creatures of the new world. "God...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," Adam shared in God's being with having a divine soul. In His own image, God and man shared an intimate relationship that no other creature could enjoy. After awhile, however, man realized that he was alone, his only kind.

Original Solitude was both a good thing and when Adam realized that no other creature resembled himself or met his kindred needs, man experienced loneliness, a fact that needed rectifying. God then made Eve whom Adam found to be completely satisfactory.

Original Unity was when Adam, knowing how it felt to be alone and unfulfilled, was presented with a help-mate who was truly like him and different from him in a pleasing way. He was attracted to her and he brought her to himself and they became one flesh. Man was then fulfilled and no longer a solitary person. They were meant for each other and naked, they were not ashamed.

Original Nakedness was the natural state for Adam and Eve. They were not created by God with fig leaves or shown where to find covering for their bodies. They were not inclined to be ashamed of themselves and needing to be shielded from each other. They were freely given to each other, free to give themselves to each other, and bound by no guilt of sin, dividing them from each other's love and attention. Full-throttle, wide-open, no pretenses, no games or folly, just love.

Now why does all this answer the question of why we are made? By going back to the beginning, as Pope John Paul II knew, in writing his "Theology of the Body" we would discover our roots, the relationship that man had with God in the first place. By us going back and seeing our history just a little bit closer, we can see what God wants for us: happiness and freedom in our relationships, both with Him and with others.

Aggie Catholics: Religion In the USA#links#links

Marcel is so thorough in his assessment of the Catholic society of today. Check out his post at: Aggie Catholics: Religion In the USA#links#links

My Ode to Autumn

Summer days are great fun, but as the months go by and the temperatures begin to calm down into the 60's in the evenings, I get excited. Each night I wait for the weather on TV (not wanting to watch any other part of the news), I haven't the timing skills my knight has who just calls out 'Weather!" and it's there. Then I just sit and watch as all the fronts, highs and low systems come through, and the temperatures begin to cooperate with my heart strings.

The summer days are hot, with the sun shining so brightly, my hair needs to be up in a perpetual braid or ponytail 24/7, and sweat seems to be a way of life. When the temperatures cool down and the sun isn't quite so bright and intense, I release my hair from it's imprisoned state and layer on the sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, and beloved jeans! As an avid crocheter, all my crafts come to life now from scarves, wraps, and favorite wrist warmers, I am all to happy to adorn!

Colors, textures, smells, and sounds are incredible in the autumn season, from the crunchy golden leaves, to the crackle of the fire, and the smell of delicious wood burning in fireplaces throughout the neighborhood just gets me high! Spices come alive during these cooler days which seem to warm the body and soul with each meal. My family waits for all the spicy, meaty meals and rich rolls and desserts with cinnamon, cloves, and allspice intermingled.

Pumpkins orange and nubby, apple cider warm with a sprinkle of allspice or just cold out of the fridge, deer corn for sale road signs, and the trees become such spectacles of color everywhere! Their colors of red, yellow, gold, orange, light green, brown, flicker in the breeze and dance off rooftops, roll across the streets, teasing the neighborhood cat make Sunday afternoon drives so enchanting. I just can't help myself in autumn! God gave us the spring to be renewed and peaceful, the summer months to reel in vitamin D and lemonade, but He gave us the autumn to fall in love with His creation again with all the techno He can throw at us!

Oh! there is so much to say about the autumn! Have I already begun or should I start now? Days when you just can't get warm and more layers are needed, days turn dark much sooner and lends to families tucking in sooner, sipping hot tea and honey. The children rake up leaves to jump in or hide in as the temperatures give way to invigorating walks that get longer and longer together with my special guy.

Not being too silly to think that Autumn needs to be year around, as it is only too missed and so welcomed when it comes back. Others may not agree with me and that's totally ok all of God's seasons have a purpose and benefit, truly. As for me and my favorite season, I would only be too thrilled to yell from the rooftops, out the car window, or sing a glorious song through the open windows as the autumn smells whirl into each room, yeehaaw it's fall!

Everywhere I turn, violence, hatred, Godless people

Pope: Give God to the World That's Forgotten Him
Urges Italian Bishops to Make Education a Priority

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is telling Italian bishops that their biggest challenge today is "presenting God again" to a world that has forgotten about him. The Pope affirmed this in a message to the prelates, who have gathered in Assisi for their 60th general assembly. The papal statement, made public today, was directed to Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the episcopal conference.

The Holy Father took up two main themes: the educational crisis and the ongoing Year for Priests, relating both of them to the new evangelization.Regarding education, the Pontiff classified it as a challenge that "concerns all sectors of the Church and means that the great questions of the modern age must be faced with decision: the question concerning the nature of man and his dignity -- a decisive element in the complete formation of the person -- and the 'question of God' which seems ever more pressing in our own times." Taking up his exhortation from last July in Aosta, Italy, he continued:

"If our fundamental relationship with God is not living, if it is not lived,
then none of our other relationships can take their correct form. [...] If we do
without God, if God is absent, we lack the compass [...] to show us the path,
the direction we must follow."

God!

We must bring the truth of God back into the world, make him known, make him present," the Holy Father declared. And he urged the Italian bishops to "place the formation of new generations at the center of the attention and efforts of each one, according to each person's respective responsibilities.""Education is a constitutive and permanent need in the life of the Church," the Pope affirmed.

Priests

Linked to the question of education, Benedict XVI highlighted the need to reinvigorate priestly ministry, saying, "In order for this to happen we [...] first and foremost and with all our being, must become living adoration, a gift that changes the world and restores it to God.""This is the profound message of the Year for Priests," he added, "which is an extraordinary occasion to go the heart of the ordained ministry, redirecting toward a unity, in each priest, [his] identity and mission."He recalled that the history of Italy "is also the history of a countless number of priests who bent over the wounds of a lost and suffering humanity, making of themselves an offering of salvation.""I hope that you will be able to glean abundant fruits from this common prayer and meditation on the gift of the priesthood, flowing from the heart of Christ for the salvation of the world," the Pontiff added.

Funeral rites

Benedict XVI also mentioned the new Italian edition of the funeral rites."The funeral is an important moment in which to announce the Gospel of hope and to reveal the maternity of the Church," he said. In a world that shuns the idea of death, or that reduces it to a spectacle or transforms it into a "right," the Pope observed that "it is the task of believers to shine the light of Christian revelation on that mystery."

Keep Eyes on Eternity, Pope says

Celebrates Mass for Deceased Prelates
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- "The departure of loved ones is painful. The event of death is a disquieting enigma. But, for believers, however it comes, it is always illumined by the hope of immortality."

This was a reflection made today by Benedict XVI when he celebrated a Mass for the prelates who have died over the past year. Although death "might occur in humiliating and painful circumstances that seem to be a tragedy; in truth for those who have faith it isn't so," he explained. "Faith sustains us in these moments humanly speaking full of sadness and uneasiness," and in all difficult moments.

The Holy Father acknowledged that in this life, "there is no lack of difficulties and problems." "There are situations of suffering and pain, difficult moments to understand and accept," he said. "All this, however, acquires value and meaning if considered in the perspective of eternity. "Every trial, in fact, accepted with steadfast patience and offered for the Kingdom of God, comes to our spiritual aid already down here, and above all in the future life, in heaven."

Sacrifice of love

The Pope said that, "mysteriously associated" to Christ's passion, life can be "a pleasing offering to the Lord, a voluntary sacrifice of love." This "perseverance in the good," will make our faith, "purified by many trials, shine one day in all its splendor and return to our praise, glory and honor when Jesus manifests himself in his glory," he affirmed. "Herein lies the reason of our hope."

The Holy Father remembered in particular Cardinals Avery Dulles, Pio Laghi, Stéphanos II Ghattas, Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, Paul Pham Dinh Tung, Umberto Betti and Jean Margéot. "We remember them with affection," the Pontiff said, "and thank God for the good they did."

European Courts deem crucifixes a violation of freedom

The Vatican expressed "astonishment" and "regret" at Tuesday's decision from the European Court of Human Rights that crucifixes in public school classrooms are a violation of freedom.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, gave a brief statement today to Vatican Radio in response to the decision."

The crucifix has always been a sign of God's offer of love, of union and of
welcome for the whole of humanity," the spokesman said. "It is to be regretted
that it has come to be considered as a sign of division, of exclusion and of
limitation of liberty. It is not this, and it is not so in the common feeling of
our people."

The Italian government protested the ruling, having contended that crucifixes -- often hung in Italian public schools -- are national symbol of culture and history. Father Lombardi echoed this idea. He called particularly grave

"the desire to set aside from the educational world a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture."The Jesuit added that "religion makes a precious contribution to a person's
formation and moral growth, and is an essential component of our civilization. It is mistaken and myopic to want to exclude it from the educational realm."

"It is astonishing then that a European court should
intervene weightily in a matter profoundly linked to the historical, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people,"

the Vatican spokesman stated. Father Lombardi said decisions like this one do not make a person

"attracted to love and share ever more the European idea, which as
Italian Catholics we have strongly supported since its origins."

"It seems," he suggested, "that there is a desire to ignore the role of
Christianity in the formation of European identity, which instead has been and remains essential."