tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post7641151663060948621..comments2023-12-23T00:19:35.005-08:00Comments on ADAM'S ALE: GUARDS AND METAL DECTECTORS VS PRIESTS AND CONFESSIONALSFr. Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13201561855047420853noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-90829473108322534112018-02-23T05:31:44.663-08:002018-02-23T05:31:44.663-08:00Fr. Loya, our spiritual director at the seminary, ...Fr. Loya, our spiritual director at the seminary, noted this in a conference he gave us once:<br /><br />"The first person harmed by sin is the sinner. The first person healed by forgiveness is the forgiver."<br /><br />Your post helped me to recall his lesson. <br /><br />We need more forgiveness in our culture. Blame just keeps us, at best, at a level of cultural mediocrity which diminishes the likelihood of great numbers of people finding any true happiness. In place of actual contentment, you will have an nagging sense of, "blah", following your life around. Do you feel that today? Go out and forgive someone. The greater their offense, the more you have to gain from forgiving them. Blame by its nature can only lead to division. Forgiveness by its nature leaves the path open to reconciliation and union which surpasses the "mere" ideal of ending hostility going past it into an actual Communion, one that leads everyone to peace. And, to your point, no one really learns to forgive unless they have come face to face with their own need for forgiveness. The place par excellence that this lesson occurs is in our Baptism and the celebration of the renewal of that forgiveness every time we participate in a Sacramental Confession.Father Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429211862126217332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-48339481969406149722018-02-21T08:21:14.680-08:002018-02-21T08:21:14.680-08:00Father -
I frequent the Facebook page of an organ...Father -<br /><br />I frequent the Facebook page of an organization, which, as a Secular Franciscan, I am forced to support via my annual Fair Share (dues). They are behind a variety of causes I do not think fall within the teaching of the Church, so I am very unhappy about it. However, one post, seemingly on this subject, was featured on their FB page on 2/15, makes me extremely unhappy.<br /><br />With a ringing endorsement from the organization who featured it (and the Secular Franciscans, who by extension support this organization), the quote was from a fallen-away Catholic actor: "Prayers without accordant action are silent lies told to oneself, heard by no God, amounting to nothing. Action is the language of truth, the prayers of the Saints."<br /><br />Now, I am a very poor Catholic and an ignorant Franciscan. But I have always believed that God hears *everyone's* prayers, whether we support that person or what he/she is praying about or not. And whether they take action, whether they can or cannot. And that it is for God to judge the pray-er's motives.<br /><br />To me, this negates and renders worthless the prayers of the sick, the imprisoned, the persecuted, the handicapped, the very old and the very young.<br /><br />The organization in question is very liberal, and amounts to a political action committee. They featured and endorsed this quote to deride politicians and other individuals who offered "thoughts and prayers" in the wake of the school shootings.<br /><br />Please Father, I have no one else I can ask - am I right to think this quotation is not Church teaching? I am very unsettled about this.<br /><br />I am not one of your parishioners, but I do appreciate your insights and have great respect for your vocation and education. I am so tired of the blame for every bad thing that happens being put on one political party or another, and am discouraged by the fact that no one can discuss anything in a civil manner anymore if they do not agree.<br /><br />God bless and protect all of you at St. Sebastian<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-85347181990873242132018-02-21T07:41:37.259-08:002018-02-21T07:41:37.259-08:00Dear Father,
You have written some brilliant and i...Dear Father,<br />You have written some brilliant and insightful blogs in the past but today's blog tops the list. Thank You.<br /><br />I have no children in school but these school shooting make me ill for days. I will bet school shootings keep you up at night, saying 400,000 rosaries a night for your children.Stephennoreply@blogger.com