The Necessity for Truth – A Guest Post

The Necessity for Truth 

Stephen Smith

Greek Philosopher, Aristotle states that we, as rational human beings, are oriented toward the truth. In our modern day and age, it can be difficult at times to discern what this truth is. Our senses are being pulled in various ways, causing us to second-guess what we already know, the truth.

I recall one particular time when I had the opportunity to visit New York City. I was baffled and amazed at the motion that never seemed to stop. In my three days there, I do not think there was a moment when I didn’t hear someone scream, talk loudly, hear the sound of sirens or car horns. Being from a small town, this was quite the noisy experience. I don’t think I slept at all. My distinct memory as we boarded the bus and drove out of this city was heavenly: silence. Not a word was spoken. The hum of the engine was soothing, and the snoring passengers played a melody. I sat there, eyes closed, and thought.

It is in these moments of silence God comes to us. Although God is with us at all times, it is difficult to hear his whisper over the sounds of society. This is not to mean that we must extract ourselves from society in order to hear God’s call, rather we must find a place within society that we can see and hear God. My place, at that time, was on that bus.

I remember sitting in quite prayer, spending time with Our Lord. As in nature, we grow in silence. The sound of the trees growing, or the flowers blooming is not heard. For it is in peaceful silence they grown into the fullness of life. So it is with us, in silence, we are able to connect with our Lord, hearing His voice. It is in this that we grow. As the philosopher Aristotle states, we are indeed oriented to the truth. It is in silence, our conversations with God, that we come to know this truth. For it is God who is Truth.

We as Catholics are called to grow in this Truth. How then do we do that? Saint Jerome gives us great advice when he says: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” It is in our knowledge of God, given through the Church, that we come to know and love God. It is Holy Mother Church that brings us from the darkness into the Light of Christ. The truths the Church teaches, and has always taught are what gives us the ammo which we are called to use against the works of the devil. Knowledge of sin should make us desire to be sinless. Knowledge of faith should make us desire to be faithful. Knowledge of truth should make us desire the Truth. It is for this reason that we as Catholics cannot stand by and refuse to know. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance can, and will lead us to the fires of Hell. Ignorance of God draws us away from God. Knowledge brings happiness, ignorance brings hurt.

So what then shall we do? The simple answer is to strive to learn the truth. The best and surest way to attain this truth is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Our relationship with God has its foundation in prayer. Why then would we avoid the greatest and surest prayer? The Mass is God’s sacrifice of Himself for us. It is He who has opened the gates of Heaven. It is He who teaches us the Truth.

God has ordained the Church to to be the gateway for truth. It is through the Church that we come to know God. It is through the Church that the perfect prayer is prayed. It is through the Church that we are given the truth, leading our souls to heaven. It is for this reason that we must adhere to the teachings of the Church, for it is through the Church, that we come to know the Truth. Overseen by the power of the Holy Spirit, founded by Christ himself, we on earth are given a great gift in the Church. We must take advantage of it! It is through our obedience to the Church that we are obedient to God. It is through our love of the Church, that we love God. It is through our defense of the Church, that we defend God. It is through our work in the Church, that we become soldiers for Christ. Such a wonderful gift!

It is easy to say this, but unfortunately, as we well know, it can be more difficult to live. As stated previously, our senses are pulled in every direction. Society tells us that our wills are what determine our happiness. Although we have the gift of freewill, it is a gift given, in order to chose the Truth. It is a freedom for Truth, not a freedom from Truth.

It is for this reason that the Church asks us to look into our conscience when we make decisions, or support those who make decisions for us. Supporting something or someone who is, or teaches something contrary to the truth, makes us just as culpable. When the Church asks us to look into our conscience, we are to look into our conscience, oriented toward the truth, our Catholic conscience, not the conscience we think we have, which is oriented by society.

We know that through the sins of Adam and Eve that we are a fallen society. We have created a chasm between God and ourselves. It was through our desire to be free from God, that this has been done. Christ builds the bridge over the chasm, allowing us to return to the Light of God, the Light of Truth. It is in this truth that we see clearly. False truth is what leads us away from God. As we walk across this bridge, we are held back by a rope, tied around our waist. The other end of this rope is being pulled by the Fires of Hell. It is our decision whether or not to use the scissors of truth to cut the rope, allowing us to fall into the arms of our loving Savior.

We are called to be soldiers of Christ, to fight for this truth. The mark we receive at our Confirmation gives us the graces, and the power of the Holy Spirit needed. Our decision, our love of the Truth, our obedience to God through the Church is what will determine the fate of our souls. We must, therefore, be diligent in our actions, be faithful in our thoughts, and be truthful in our works.

Filed under: Catholic, Guest

Don’t Cross That Line

As readers of my blog and those who know me in real life,  know I seldom back down from a fight. I usually don’t mind a little back and forth and I do, contrary to what others might want to believe, listen to what others have to say.

However, today, a line was crossed. 

After Mass, while we were standing in front of the church, I was approached by a fellow parishioner and was told that I need to watch who I am associating with and called those of us who support Ron Paul rabble-rousers, he said a few other things as well, about how the Ron Paul people will betray me.

Excuse me? There is a time and a place for discussions about politics (and threats) but following Mass, while standing in sight of the Tabernacle, after receiving our Lord in the Eucharist is not that time.

Also, both my husband and I are Ron Paul supporters, so why did not he not speak with him as well? Why just approach me? Why not speak with the both of us? I honestly feel that there was some bullying tactics going on there.

If you want to discuss politics with me, ask me for my phone number, ask me to meet you for coffee, ask me if you can talk to me, but do not blindside me, while standing outside of the church (where we just received our Lord) and talk to me as if I am some sort of idiot for believing in liberty and supporting the candidate who will truly defend the Constitution of the United States.

I wrote this last night and for some reason it didn’t post when I hit publish. That is fine because it gives me a chance to add this part: 

I have never discussed politics with this man, nor anyone else, at church. This man has never said more than 10 words to me. Our formal introduction was at the District Convention for the Republican Party, we exchanged pleasantries and went on our way, we have never spoken at church.  I doubt he reads this blog and I know he can’t see what I put on Facebook.  Also, at the District Convention, it was pretty clear that we were Ron Paul supporters (who are following the Party rules). Why didn’t he approach us there? 

That all being said, I still support Ron Paul for president, but what’s more, I have guaranteed God given rights under the Constitution and I am not going to sit back and shut up while those rights are being taken away from me.  

Filed under: General Stuff

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

I hope that you all had a homily today about vocations to the priesthood and religious life. We also have a brand spanking new bulletin board in our parish vestibule with information about religious orders and the vocations poster for our diocese.

In his homily, Father mentioned the lack of support for those discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. When we are told by a young man or woman that he or she are discerning a vocation, we need to offer our prayers and support. Entry to the seminary is not a life long commitment, it is a time of discernment, as is the entry to the convent. We mustn’t discourage those who are called to labor for the harvest.

Pray, pray with all your might for laborers!

“The discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.”

—Pope Benedict XVI, Response to questions by the bishops of the United States in Washington, D.C., April 16, 2008

Filed under: Catholic

Love Songs

MamaHen over at Long Days Short Years, has a post about love songs. It is a great little post and I felt compelled to respond. (I usually read but seldom comment on blogs anymore) but here is what I came up with:

I’m probably going to have to sit back and overcome my embarrassment of sitting around listening to songs and dreaming of my future love before I could even come up with that “one” song.

There were songs that were “our song” with previous boyfriends. There were songs in between boyfriends that tore my heart apart because I wanted a boy friend. Then there were the anger filled break up songs, because some guy had wronged me.

I seldom listen to the radio anymore, but if I happen across one of them, I either cringe, or a laugh, because my husband and our marriage is more amazing than I could ever have dreamed about while listening to one of those songs.

I’ve actually turned off the radio before out of sadness because of how much one of my previously beloved love songs fails to even come close to describing the real thing.

Filed under: General Stuff

Chickens and Possums

One of our chickens was attacked by a possum on Monday. I had Karol go out and check on the chickens (mainly their water and food) and the poor kid came in crying, saying that one of the chickens was dead. Karol was so upset and worried how we were going to have enough eggs.

Joshua wasn’t home when Karol discovered the chicken, so I called him while going out to check on things. Sure thing, one of the chickens was dead.  It was a bit surprising as we have had them since January, and they’ve been outside since March (first in a hutch, then in an open pen, where they have lots of room roam).

Karol spent the rest of the day talking a bit about the chicken he found, then playing make believe about chickens who die. I figured this was probably healthy.

When Joshua came home, we assessed the situation and buried the chicken.

That evening, another chicken was attacked, and Joshua discovered it was a possum that was doing the attacking.

The other chicken is still alive though, in the house (in a box), relaxing, receiving tlc from the Facekids (and well, their parents too).

The other chickens have to be put in the hutch at night now, something I am not sure they are fans of and something we aren’t excited about. (We want them to be able to stretch out and peck about as much as possible.)

It looks like we might be needing to get a dog, to protect the chickens. We are looking around for something, but most dogs here that are in our price range (free) are mixed with bird dogs (not good with chickens) or a dangerous breed like pit bull.

 

Editing this one to say that we did lose the second chicken….but we haven’t seen the possum for a while either. 

 

Filed under: Home Schooling

Bread of Life

“I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
(John 6:35)

If you ask me why I am Catholic, I will tell you it is because of John Six. How could He mean anything other than what is written there?

Sweet Sacrament

Filed under: Catholic

Then There Were Three

With Santorum out of the race, where do his supporters turn? I have been told that we all need to unite behind Romney, but I am not willing to go there. Romney still has major issues that I cannot move beyond and I still don’t feel that he is the “one to beat Obama”.

One of those issues is his view of torture. I posted this link before, but wanted to update it, now that things have changed a bit in the race for the Republican Nomination. I urge my readers and friends who have yet to vote in their state’s primary. (ahem, Indiana)

Positions of The Republican candidates on torture and related issues

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted anything on this blog; life has simply been busy, but I hope to remedy things as the 2012 election season heats up.

For today, I’d simply like to post the position of the various Republican candidates on the issue of torture/enhanced interrogation and related issues. I’m drawing my summaries from various sources, so I’ll include a selection of links at the bottom of the post. (the links are in the link I posted up there. baf) 

The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

Gingrich: Has been quoted as saying that waterboarding is something America shouldn’t do. Believes that Guantanamo should remain open until the terrorists disappear.

Huntsman: Opposes waterboarding; calls Guantanamo an “imperfect solution” but criticizes Obama for breaking his promise to close it.

Paul: Opposes torture and waterboarding as illegal and immoral; opposes Patriot Act; thinks Guantanamo should be closed.

Perry: Says he opposes torture but approves of enhanced interrogation which includes “any technique” used to save American lives. Supports keeping Guantanamo open.

Romney: Favors enhanced interrogation techniques and will not say whether waterboarding qualifies as such a technique. Has said Guantanamo could be doubled in size if needed.

Santorum: Voted to renew Patriot Act. Would continue using Guantanamo for terror suspects. Says that waterboarding is effective. Said John McCain didn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works, that the object is to break a man so he will become cooperative.

Here is what the Catholic Church teaches about torture:
THE CATECHISM ON TORTURE

“2297 Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.”

Furthermore, this stance has been reiterated by Pope Benedict XVI and Blessed John Paul II:
Public authorities must be ever vigilant in this task, eschewing any means of punishment or correction that either undermine or debase the human dignity of prisoners. In this regard, I reiterate that the prohibition against torture “cannot be contravened under any circumstances” – Pope Benedict XVI  September 2006
Filed under: General Stuff