Vain and Repetitious Prayer

Are vain and reptitious prayers as discussed in Matthew 6:7-8 against Catholic prayer practices such as litanies or the rosary?

Medjugorje: The Video They Don´t Want You To See

I don´t think that there is any clearer evidence than this video that the "apparitions" are not from God.

Medjugorje

Medjugorje

For any that don’t know Medjugorje is a small village in Bosnia where the Blessed Virgin Mary has allegedly been appearing over the past 25 years with a total of over 35,000 individual apparitions and messages. Millions of people have visited this place (most of whom probably against the Church’s strict teaching, although most likely without realising it).

I’ve written this blog to discuss the Church’s position on Medjugorje and how the faithful should react to it according to the Church’s teachings - if there are errors please correct me and I will be more than happy to make any necessary changes.
 

So is the Virgin Mary really appearing at Medjugoje?

Perhaps a little disappointing to hear but the answer today is maybe yes, maybe no. As faithful Catholics it is not our job to judge the worthiness of apparitions since only the Church has this authority.

Therefore those who believe it ardently and those who have large doubts should both do so with care, particularly in how they present the alleged apparitions to other. Those who believe it should NOT preach it as though it were a truth, for example they should make clear that the "apparitions" have not been verified by the Church, and in the future should be prepared to humbly reject their own private view should the Church condemn the apparitions at some point in the future. Conversely, those who do not believe in the alleged apparitions should also be open to the Church’s authority on the matter. Although at no point in the future will anybody ever be required to actually believe the apparitions since the Church can only declare that apparitions are “worthy of belief” and as such can never be declared as Dogma but rather fall under the category of private revelation. Examples of apparitions deemed worthy of belief include Fatima, Lourdes and Knock.

Are Catholics allowed to make pilgrimages to Medjugorje?

Yes and no, it would depend on what you mean by pilgrimage. Any Catholic is free to make a pilgrimage to any Catholic parish in the world and therefore Catholics are free to travel to Medjugorje. According to the Church a pilgrimage can be made to Medjugorje in the same way as you would take a pilgrimage to your own local Church, another Church in your own city or any other city for that matter – in the eyes of the Church there is nothing “special” about Medjugorje, it is simply a parish like any other and Catholics are free to visit.

Whilst Catholics are free to travel to any parish this free however comes with certain conditions so as not to place our own authority on these matters above the Church.

1)      First of all, since the Church hasn’t made a decision on the alleged apparitions no pilgrimage can be organised at a parish or diocesis level and can only be of a private nature. This means that Medjugorje should never be mentioned or promoted in an official way and as such should never be mentioned during homilies, the Mass etc. to do so would be a grave disobedience against the Church.

2)      Any pilgrimage made to Medjugorje cannot be made should it be an affirmation that the Virgin Mary is indeed appearing there as the Church has not made a decision on the events and we do not have the authority to declare it worthy of belief, only Holy Mother Church does. In the same vain it is also worth nothing that a pilgrimage cannot be made to investigate and see if it is indeed true or not, again we do not have this authority.

3)      The journey should only be based on prayer and the Sacraments and be unrelated to the alleged private apparitions that are taking place – making a pilgrimage on the basis of the Virgin appearing is not allowed if your visit is an affirmation that she is appearing. Doing this can cause great confusion within the Church and can cause divisions among the faithful.

I’ve already booked my trip, what should I do?

Go but with great caution and not allow yourself to be swept up by events there. Certainly you’ll encounter a great number of believers there, maybe some with great conversion stories or possible miracles, but remember that this doesn’t prove there is any supernatural Marian related activity (we should remember that even the devil himself can perform miracles).

In any case the place is holy because the sacraments are celebrated there with frequency. Before departing read up on the issues, read the local Bishop’s pronouncements (links below) regarding these matters and just be on your guard reminding yourself of the Church’s authority on determining the events. Go and enjoy your trip, pray, be open to the Lord, but remember the rules that the Church has put in place regarding pilgrimages and adhere to them. They are there for a reason.

The Bishop said “Therefore I responsibly call upon those who claim themselves to be “seers”, as well as those persons behind the “messages”, to demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public manifestations and messages in this parish. In this fashion they shall show their necessary adherence to the Church, by neither placing private “apparitions” nor private sayings before the official position of the Church.” And this is how we should act – with obedience to the Church authorities and remember that our allegiance will always be with Holy Mother Church and the local Ordinary above any seer or alleged private apparition.

How should we respond to firm believers?

With charity and love. They may have indeed had a great conversion to Christ and we should give thanks for this. However if someone preaches the apparition as a fact, that it must be believed or possibly even that it has been approved by the Church (or certainly will be in the future), simply point out that as Catholics we believe that only the Church has the authority to declare whether the apparitions are worthy of believe and it is not their place to decide this. Remind them too that as such they should not preach that the Virgin is appearing there as though it were a truth and that they too should be open to the Church’s final decision and judgement on the matter on the “supernatural” developments. This of course, also applies to any firm non-believers that you may encounter, whom are also numerous.

Do conversions and good fruits mean that Mary really is appearing?

The majority of people that have gone to the place that I know have come back strengthened in their faith, reporting an atmosphere of peace there which they haven’t experienced before. Praise God that their faith has been strengthened! Any step towards God is a great thing. It should be noted that a “feeling” or even a strong conversion is no evidence however that the Virgin is appearing. History tells us as much. We have seen similar things in Garabanchel and Palmar de Troya over the past 40 years and both of these places whilst not condemned have been declared as having “nothing supernatural”. Indeed in the latter example there were huge conversions which unfortunately ended with someone declaring himself the Pope; a disaster for the Church and all those involved which causes a great loss of faith. With this in mind we should all be wary of events at Medjugorje, and not presume that because there are conversions (even miracles – although none have been proven) that this constitutes proof of the apparition.

How should Catholics respond to the messages of the Medjugorje?

Again with great caution since the Church has not made any official pronouncement. It should be noted that no private revelation is ever part of the deposit of faith; it can only help one to lead a more Christian life. There has been no new revelation since the death of the last Apostle and as such the messages of Medjugorje (or any other private revelation) do not add to what Catholics are required to believe. The messages of Medjugorje should be read with caution and never above the doctrine of Holy Mother Church which must always take precedent over personal belief and feelings. If a message of Medjugorje conforms to the Church’s teaching then it is fine, if it goes against the Church’s teaching it should be discarded as heresy. It should also be noted that conformity to the Church’s teaching in some messages in no way verifies the apparitions.

As Catholics we should also be cautious of the huge publicity train that comes from Medjugorje and as there are many half truths and falsehoods that have been told. A perfect example of this would be the "messages", "comments" and "special blessings" from the Pope´s that have never been verified by the Vatican. Their origins are unknown.

Conclusion

As Catholic, faithful to Holy Mother Church, we must proceed as Catholics with great caution regarding Medjugorje, especially since both Bishops (Zanic and Peric) under whose control falls Medjugorje have rejected the alleged apparitions since they were claimed to have begun.

Whether you believe or not they should be humble with regard to the Church’s pronouncement and we must always remember that it is not our place to judge these alleged apparitions and for believers especially not to place their judgement above that of the Church.e

Statement by the Bishop regarding the events at Medjugorje:

http://www.cbismo.com/index.php?menuID=98

http://www.cbismo.com/files/file/ZanicMedj_May1990.pdf

http://medjugorjedocuments.blogspot.com.es/

Fighting Sins of Impurity

Tackling Sins of Impurity

For young men especially sins of a sexual nature are among the most difficult that we face. They are often the most difficult to defeat for many reasons. For example, often it’s a taboo subject and therefore difficult to speak about with fellow Catholics, it is also very personal and can be embarrassing, but also it involves tackling deeply rooted bodily desires and these are often the most difficult to control. Here is some practical advice regarding this subject, and some tips for overcoming them.

1) Stay close to God.

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before a million times. Pray, go to Mass, go to confession etc. but it really does help. We can only overcome this by the freely given grace of God. Particularly important is prayer, each morning, each night and I’d recommend at least some time spent in prayer during the day too. Second of all, read the scriptures! Spend time reading the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God, and by reading it we obtain graces and also get to know Jesus in a real and personal way. If you’re with a partner pray together each time you meet, ask God for purity in your relationship and He will give it you.

2) Keep Active

Sins of the body are most likely to happen when you’re not busy. Maybe after school when you’re home alone? Or when you’re relaxing before you go to bed? When you’re watching a movie alone with your girlfriend? Think about when you tend to commit these sins, and then do something during this time preferably outside the house. If it’s with your girlfriend stop watching movies alone together, stop lying down next to each other. Do not be afraid about the impact it will have on your relationship because you‘re doing God‘s will. And hey, what’s wrong with just hanging out with each other in the company of others and outside the home?

3) Tackle the Root of the Problem

Often these problems are so deeply rooted that it will be unable to stop unless you really weed out every part of it. This doesn’t mean you need to become a nervous wreck every time you see a pretty girl on the street, but don’t let your eyes follow them. Try to look at them purely, but if you feel you can’t, simply look away, once they’re gone the temptation will go too so all you’ll really be doing is looking away for a few seconds. Start with the little things, as just mentioned stop looking at girls, stop talking about girls with your friends in this way (do you talk about how “sexy“ or “hot“ girls are? Show respect in your speech), stop watching them on TV, just change the channel, stop looking through pictures of girls on Facebook (yes even the pretty ones!) and try to keep your thoughts pure. When you fall into any of these things, don’t worry it’s not a problem, but once you’ve realised that you’re doing them try to stop and do something else.

4) No passionate kissing

What?!!! Yep! This can be tough, but it’s the easiest way to stop it going any further with a girlfriend. When a man kisses a girl in this way it’s like a switch that tells his brain that more is going to happen. You don’t think this affects you? Well I’m pretty sure most of the times something happens with your girlfriend, this is how it all starts, so be confident in God and give this up.

5) A New Mindset

If you’re in a relationship try not to think in “how far can we go without it being a sin?”  Instead try to think “how pure can we make this relationship?” or if you’re single “how pure can I make my life?” Pray to God and ask Him to show you how, and for the grace to do it. Yes it will be tough, and you might have to give up things you never thought you would, but it will be worth it. Never be afraid about what your partner thinks because if you’re doing it for God, then you have nothing to fear. If they’re not willing to stop? Think about if this is a relationship you really want to be in.

If you’re single perhaps you are having problems respecting you own body and perhaps watching pornography too. The devil is smart and will tempt you in many ways, making everything seem okay, think how many times will you have said to yourself “I’ll just have a look, but won’t do anything else?” or "who does it really hurt?" etc. If you get into this situation try to leave the computer if possible. If not, then remember that you’re not giving up these things for the rest of your life, but only really until the urges go, a minute? Two minutes? It’s not very much when you think about it.. 

6) Learn about It

If you’re serious about anything be it history, art, music, languages you read and learn about them. The same with this. If you’re serious about giving up, listen to talks online, read testimonies, read advice articles, watch videos, talk to people; your friends, other Catholics. There really are so many ways you can learn, and so just take the time to do it.

7) Become a Better Christian

Although it can often seem that it’s impossible and that this is making you a terrible Christian, know that this is not the case. Sins of impurity (while they can certainly leave a lasting impression) only take up a small part of your day, possibly only minutes! So it’s important to still go about trying to lead a good Christian life the rest of the day. With an injury, a doctor will say build up the muscles around it, the same applies here, try and improve all the areas of your Christian life; help out around the home, help people in your parish, give food to the homeless in your area, do all your school/university work etc. This is only a small part of your life, and so strive to give the rest of your day to God.

Finally don’t become dismayed when you fall. There are many people in heaven who have battled exactly the same sins as you have and remember that God loves you exactly the same whether you do it or not, so when you fall go to Him in prayer and “Let Him love you in your ugliness”. It takes most people years to overcome these sins and the important thing is that your heart remains strong. All us Christians, little by little and with God’s help, can overcome any sin no matter how tough it seems at times.

Stay strong and know that anything given up for God, is not really given up.

God Bless,

Paul.

Prayer during Adoration

Oh my Lord,

How great it is to be in your presence in prayer. Silently listening to you truly is the fountain of all the love that I have. To be in Your presence gives me life & makes me free, free from the chains of sin. For true freedom isn´t the ability to do what I want but the ability to choose You over all things, even those things which attract me the most.

Lord, let me selflessly throw myself at your feet, at your mercy, at the foot of Your most holy cross. Let me look no-where else but only set my eyes towards that battered & bloody man who emptied himself so that the world could know the Father´s love; that no matter how far we turn, no matter how much we hate Him, no matter how far we run from Him that he will still come for us and will break through our sinfulness & break the chains that hold us to all earthly things and bring us back to Him if only we let Him for one moment.

In this world following you can sometimes seem so hard & yet by Your grace we keep going. Oh Good Lord, let me only focus on heaven and have my gaze fixed firmly on it and not on all things which pass. Oh Lord, let me not pass you in this life without giving you my all. Let me see as you see, not as I wish to see. Let me perceive Your goodness in everyone & everything. Let my eyes see even when all is dark. Let my heart rejoice when there is nothing earthly to rejoice about. Let my ears be attentive to your voice, even when it seems I´m surrounded by silence. Let my mind ascend to you when all the world tries to drag it down. Let my body become secondary to your love and all that you have in mind for me.

I thank you Lord for all the gifts in my life, truly you have blessed me. I pray that I may not fall into sin, not by me because truly I am the weakest of all, but because Your love consumes me even with all my sin.

Curious Things About Spain

I’ve been living in Madrid now for around 2 months and I have to say it’s awesome! I’ve noticed a few strange things and it was supposed to be 10 things but it’s a weirder country than I thought..so here are a few things I've learnt during my time here:

1) Spanish students complain all the time about how much they have to study. They all claim to spend at least 3 or 4 hours studying a day although their definition of studying as far as I can tell is sitting in front of the computer watching How I Met Your Mother with their textbook open somewhere near them or doing something called “pasar apuntes” (passing notes) which as far as I can tell is just copying hand written notes onto the computer without ever actually reading them properly.

2) G & T is a real man’s drink. Yes, famous in England for being Pat Butcher’s tipple of choice here it’s about as manly as it gets! Probably not helping the view that Spanish men tend to be a bit girly..

3) Cups of tea don’t exist. It’s basically impossible to buy a cup of tea here. Despite explaining to the bar staff exactly how it’s made i.e. a bit of milk & hot water (not exactly rocket science) you inevitably end up with either hot UHT milk with a tea bag, hot water with a tea bag in, or milk & hot water without a tea bag.

4) People have gotten fat! When I was here in 2009 studying I remember noting that it was the skinniest part of the world I’ve ever been in, I hardly remember meeting anyone overweight and now it seems that more and more people are a bit well, chunky! Apparently it’s because of the financial crisis and people are shopping in worse super markets with lower quality food. Personally I blame it on the fact that at everyone’s house I’ve been to for dinner they seem to eat chocolate, natillas & ice cream for dessert on a daily basis!

5) There are homeless people everyone – in my neighbourhood there are at least 10 or 15 people sleeping rough, and various others begging outside of shops and they’re in every single neighbourhood in Madrid as far as I can tell.

6) Long working hours - apparently the Spanish work an average of 2 hours longer per day than their European counterparts but as far as I can see they’re also the least productive. The working day seem to consist of arriving, getting a cup of coffee, having a chat, working for 30 mins then having a breakfast break, bit of work, smoking break, one more hour then home for over an hour & a half for lunch, followed by an afternoon drinking coffee. And they wonder why their economy is so bad..

7) Football – the Spanish are obsessed with football! They have 4 dedicated national football newspapers including the best selling paper MARCA & in almost every bar you go to their will be someone talking about football & there are kids playing in the street wherever you go. They also play really well in general although they are incapable of dealing with a nice hefty English style long ball..I scored 5 goals last game all in this way!

8) Awful TV – apparently British TV is known all around the world as being pretty bad but it’s nothing compared to the rubbish they put on here. They’re obsessed with Question Time style round table debates but being Spanish they all just end up shouting over each other and there’s no David Dimbleby equivalent to keep the peace! They also have TV shows which last hours discussing reality shows like Big Brother. Imagine Big Brothers Little Brother but lasting the whole evening. Spanish soap operas make Home and Away look like a Spielberg production. Their comedy shows are like our comedy shows except with all the funny bits taken out. Their adverts are like something from the 80's. Their most famous late night TV show is “La Hormiga"(The Ant) which is a puppet conducting interviews & they have women commentating no the football which wouldn't be bad if those women actually knew anything about football, which they don't. I think the only criteria for them getting the job is that they are skinny, attractive & willing to wear very tight clothes.

9) Rubbish collection – rubbish is collected on a daily basis..sound good, right? Not when they do it 1am in the morning..who ever came up with that bright idea deserves to be shot..which wouldn't surprise me seeing the amount of extremists there are here.

10) It stinks – Madrid is the worst smelling city I’ve ever been in. The drains smell, there’s dog poo everywhere, and the wheely bins on every street stink. Everyone told me it was because of the rain, then it rained, and it still smelt. Conclusion: the Spanish smell.

11) Public Transport is AWESOME. Cheap, clean, on time and an extensive network of trains & buses (which never break down) and a great metro system which costs around 80p a journey if you buy a 10 pass ticket. England should really use it as an example.

12) Spanish people have the curious ability to be able to speak for a long time, without actually saying anything at all. The first minute of a story can go something like “oye, pues a ver, es que, sabes lo que pasa? Joe tronk, ya ves..me refiero..lo que quiero decirte es queeeee joe sabes tia, a ver. Pues nada ya te digo..yo que se..” all they’ve really said is "I’m going to tell you something" yet they spend a minute telling you that.

13) And finally if you don’t speak Spanish don’t go to parties here! You just end up getting left with the guy that speaks English on the basis that well, he can speak English! He also tends to be the weird guy at the party that no-one else wants to speak to hence why they’re happy to leave him with you, and he can only speak English because he spends his time alone in his room studying English leaving you with the English language as the only topic of conversation..

Note: I actually love living in this country!!!!

Thought of the Day

Here´s my quick thought on "Atheism & Free Will" and whether an atheist can logically criticise a religious person on the basis of being irrational/stupid/mistaken etc. based on their own world view...it'll be a little confused as I'm thinking about it whilst writing!

Okay, so atheists only believe in the material world that can be studied by science. Humans are part of that material world & consist of cells which are matter. Matter is governed by the laws of physics and reacts in a specific way according to the information going into it (much like if you drop a ball on our planet is can only fall due to gravity acting on it) so too our brain cells can only act in a certain way in any situation. Therefore any "decision" that we make is simply a process of chemical reactions in our brain which, since each reaction is governed by the laws of physics, couldn´t have been any other way. Any notion of "thought", "choice" & "free will" are therefore simply by-products & illusions created by a collection of reactions of each cell which could only have reacted in the way it did.

Therefore for an atheist to call any religious person "stupid" or "irrational" for believing in God is actually itself "stupid" and "irrational" as according to their own world view those that believe in God really couldn´t have believed anything else given their cells which are totally governed by physics, and neither could the person who that "rejected" God have done anything else but that. Neither have chosen to follow or reject anything, it´s the only thing that they could have done given the laws of physics acting on the individual cells in their brains. More or less, seeing as there is nothing separating us from our genes, and that those genes are controlled by the laws of nature which can only behave in a certain way, there's no free will and therefore you can't criticise or praise anyone's actions as they are behaving in the only way they can..as a ball falling would.

So if you believe in God, next time you get insulted for believing in God simply say that according to their atheistic world view you really couldn´t have done anything else and any illusion of a choice is simply the by product of reactions in our brains that couldn´t have been any other way and therefore your "decision" to follow God is equally as rational as theirs to reject God and is as rational as a ball falling to the earth when dropped due to the gravity acting on it; it´s the only way things could have been given your cells & the information going into them.

Protests to Pope's Visit to World Youth Day

World Youth Day is a Catholic event for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. Over one million young people have arrived in Madrid, Spain to celebrate their faith and to grow in their love of Jesus Christ together as a community. Over the next 3 days there will be plenty of news coverage on what is a great event for all Catholics, and a great spectacle whether religious or not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14568707

Some of the peaceful events of WYD have however been marred by some ugly protests centered around Plaza del Sol in the centre of Madrid. There have been reports of violence, intimidation and threats.

First of all, if people want to protest whatever they want they're perfectly entitled to although it should be done peacefully always. The main reason for the protests has been the reported burden on the public finances which are being used to cover the trip with the message being that in a time of economic cut backs public money should not be used to finance such an event. As some of the media coverage has been incredibly one sided, I wanted to share some information you may not have heard which shows that maybe the reasons for the protest aren't in the cause of public finances:

1) In Spain you can choose NOT to have your taxes given to Church on your ballot paper. If you don't want any of your tax money to go towards these activities, you don't have to, it's completely your choice so if any public money is being used for this trip, it has been raised through people voluntarily donating their tax money.

2) Whether you agree with it or not, this is officially classified as a state visit and as such the Spanish government is required to meet its security obligation which would be afforded to any other official state visit.

3) Each official Catholic pilgrim is paying over 200euros towards the costs of the visit, which will make up 70% of the total cost, the rest will be made up from donations from large companies such as Banco Santander & Coca Cola.

4) There are estimates of around 1.5million people flooding into the Spanish capital and participating, using services, hotels, restaurants etc. which will outweigh the costs (around 100m Euros some believe).

5) I wonder what these protesters, who are so concerned about their tax money, would think about their tax money going on policing and clean-up of their violent protests?

6) They didn't seem too concerned about the clean-up costs for example of the M-15 protests, Gay Pride etc. I've been in Madrid during Gay Pride and the streets in the centre of Madrid get absolutely ruined. Will they call for these to be cancelled this year? I think not. Maybe these protests aren't really about money?

In conclusion don’t be fooled by the news coverage that these protesters receive, they are not being motivated by concerns over public finances. They are motivated by their hatred towards the Church. The media may focus upon these protests but they are in the tiniest majority, as was the same with Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK for the Beatification of Bless John Henry Newman. Spain is still a very Catholic country and anyone in Madrid at the moment will tell you that the streets of Madrid of full of Catholics, and the protesters are a small minority despite the disproportionate coverage they will receive.

Again if people wish to protest peacefully for any reason they are more than welcome to, we live in a free society! But these protesters are woefully ill informed about the finances of World Youth Day.

Inbetweeners Movie: A Christian Response

The 17^th of August will see the release of the movie version of hit TV show, The Inbetweeners. It follows the lives of four teenage school boys during their sixth form years and has been a large success over its three series stint attracting a wide and mostly young audience. I have watched a couple of episodes of the series and certainly there are some genuinely funny moments, the relationship between Will and Mr Gilbert being one of them, but it is a series mostly based on lude comments, around attempted sexual conquests and general vulgarity.

As said in my previous blog the main objective of a Christian life is to follow Jesus Christ with all our strength, he calls us personally to live a life of love for God and for all. A lack of chastity (selfless love for others according to our specific situation in life) has warped our society’s view of love, and as Christians we find ourselves in a constant battle against society in our quest for purity. If we are to strive to live out true purity of heart we must control what we are exposed to. What goes into us (via the senses) forms our consciences and makes us who we are. Someone who is serious about being an athlete wouldn't spend their time consuming junk food and neither should we as we train to be holy. If you don’t think that watching a movie about a few teenagers trying to have sex will affect you, well imagine the opposite; a culture where the only sex spoken of in the media told of the joy and beauty of waiting for marriage, where having sex before marriage was seen as the “weird” thing to do. Would that shape you? Yes. The same is true the other way around and we must take care of what we watch if we are to live pure and chaste lives.

I’m certain that virtually all of us will know people who will go to see it indeed we may be looking forward to going and seeing it ourselves. However when faced with movies of such content, as Christians we should act with caution. In western society we are surrounded by impurity in all forms of media (adverts, television, internet, magazines, newspapers etc.) and as Christians we should do our best to avoid it however difficult. We don't need to be pedantic about it, for example an hour and a half movie with one sexual scene which can easily be skipped is okay, but this movie is something different. Judging from the series and the trailers it can be deduced that this won’t be a movie with only some sparse references of a vulgar nature; drinking, lust, sex etc. will be the main focus.

St James in his letter said that with a horse, if you control its mouth you control the whole animal and the same is true with our eyes. In a Christian’s journey to chastity we must control what we look at as images are difficult to get out of our mind, and what we look at trains our body. If we hammer such images into our minds, which images and messages will we recall when we are faced with temptation? This is an opportunity for all Christians to be “in the world, but not of it” as John Paul II said and to set an example by not going to see this movie which is part of a wider trend of a normalisation of self gratifying sexual activity where any talk of chastity or waiting until marriage is scoffed at. The question for Christians really is are you willing to give God your eyes, give Him your ears and give Him your tongue? Even if it means missing out on something you were looking forward to? Love takes sacrifice.

If you do choose to abstain from watching this film due to its vulgar content, it should only be a reflection (or perhaps a start!) of what each of us should be trying to do in our own lives; remove all stains of impurity in thoughts, words and actions. I hope that I don’t come across as speaking down to anyone, I’m simply asking the Christians reading this to pray and reflect on this decision because it’s a battle that I have been deeply in and it is a tough battle which can only be won through a radical and total change in what we watch, how we speak, what we allow ourselves to think, but it's a battle we all must face if we truly aim to give our lives fully to Christ. Ask yourself a simple question: will this movie further or hinder you in your journey to purity and holiness and towards love of God? Reflect and pray about it before going to see the movie.

As Catholics we use the examples of Saints as guides for living out the Christian faith and so I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes from one of the most recent Saints we’ve had in the Church, San Jose Maria Escriva:

“Never talk of impure things or events, not even to deplore them. Look, it’s a subject that sticks more than tar. Change the conversation, or if that’s not possible, continue, but speaking of the need and beauty of holy purity – a virtue of the men who know what their souls are worth.”

“When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph”

To find out what Christian chastity is, please visit:

http://www.chastity.com

Let us pray that by God’s grace all may come to desire and live out the virtue of chastity.

Paul.

Events in Norway: A Christian Response

A report on how the terrible events unfolded can be found here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14254705

Anyone who has been following this story will be very confused by these events. What kind of person could do this? Was he mentally ill? Where does the motivation to perform such an act come from? I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what was happening in this man’s mind but I’m certain that we will hear plenty more over the coming days, weeks and months. Unlike other similar attacks, he did not turn the gun on himself and so perhaps we will be able to get some answers to the questions we all have. Whether Christian, atheist or whatever else, I think we all share in the complete shock that this event has caused. This will be a more difficult time for all those involved than any of us can really imagine and we all hope and pray that they will get through it.

As a Christian however, I feel it necessary to comment on these events as the suspect’s claim to be a Christian has been used in certain (thankfully small) quarters of atheism as another reason to attack religion and as another explicit case as to why religion is bad despite the attack seemingly being politically motivated.

My first reaction on hearing that he was a Christian was simply to deny it; “he can’t be a Christian because Christian’s don’t do this kind of thing.” But the more I’ve thought about this response, the more uncomfortably it sits with; could the same accusation not have been thrown towards Peter when he denied Jesus? How many times in our own life could a similar accusation have been thrown towards us? So if it is wrong to judge this man's faith and relationship to God, how can we react to these claims against Christianity?

First of all, it should be pointed out that the act of a man committing such an heinous act, whether atheist or religious had no bearing on the validity of the thing which he professes to be. If a self-proclaimed atheist or as can seen in recent times Muslim had committed this act of violence, it would be equally absurd to say that because the man was atheist or Muslim that that means that atheism or Islam is wrong or evil. There is no correlation between this man committing such an act and the validity of Christianity. It would be more prudent to discuss what Christianity actually has to say on non-violence rather than what one man who professes to be Christian actually did.

So what does Christianity teach about violence?

As we know Christianity is all about following the life of Jesus and we are called to imitate him in our own lives. One of the core components of Jesus’ message was that of complete non-violence, even in the face of persecution and violence against you. This is why not once in the New Testament can we find any instances of Jesus' disciples killing other people, yet we read much of Christians being persecuted and killed and more importantly not resisting this. Jesus himself walked willingly to the cross (see bottom for details of how brutal the torture was that he endured). He was an innocent man and yet he let this happen to him without fighting back, Jesus did not turn to violence, he simply accepted it with love and prayed for his persecutors.

Jesus’ message was one of non-violence, loving thy neighbour as thyself, even under persecution. Indeed the only case where a disciple of Jesus attempts to fight back in the New Testament is when Peter attempts to stop Jesus being arrested (surely a noble cause to protect the most innocent man who has ever lived?) and yet Jesus rebukes this seemingly "worthy" act of violence!

The simple truth is that the tragedy in Norway wouldn't have happened had this man calling himself a Christian had actually followed Jesus’ message and example of non-violence acceptance of persecution and troubles and of love towards thy neighbour.

Let all those who believe in God pray for all involved including the suspect that they can find peace and healing even in this most difficult time and that all may follow the example of Christ in their lives, Our Lord and Prince of Peace.

(To read just how brutal an act of torture it was, Jesus’ passion can be followed here by clicking through the sections of the link below.)

http://www.frugalsites.net/jesus/gethsemane.htm

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visiting my blog, they'll be plenty of posts coming soon!

God bless!

Paul.