Religious Freedom Going Backwards

This doesn't give Freedoms, it is supposed to protect them



Ok, so I can’t ignore this. The US State Department released its report on religious freedom. The government uses this report as both a PR thing and as a guide to implement economic sanctions, which they are still doing to seem as if they are strong on the human rights issue of religious freedom. The comments made by Secretary Clinton are particularly important. The report and her comments are full of irony… so here it is. This article is courtesy of Vatican Insider. My comments and emphasis:

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The U.S. Department of State has presented its annual International Religious Freedom Report: more than one billion people across the world live in countries where their rights are repressed

alessandro speciale
rome

“To think, believe, or doubt. To speak or pray; to gather or stand apart”: these are the verbs of faith listed in the U.S. Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, published yesterday. Today, more than ever, gestures and actions such as this can put those who practice them at risk.

“More than a billion people live in countries that systematically suppress freedom of religion,” said the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, as she presented the Report for 2011. The world is “sliding backward” in terms of religious freedom, she added.

The main “usual suspects” responsible for religious repression are: China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Burma and Uzbekistan. These have been designated as “Countries of Particular Concern”.

Almost all religious groups are at risk in one part of the world or another: The Baha'is and Sufis in Iran, Christians in Egypt, the Ahmadis (a Sunni Islamic movement) in Pakistan and Indonesia, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists in China and Muslims in numerous European countries.

The Report highlights the worrying increase in intolerance and mistrust shown towards the Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.

In its report, the U.S. Department of State also documents “a rising number of European countries, including Belgium and France, whose laws restricting dress adversely affected Muslims and others,” the so-called “anti-burka laws”. Belgium and France people, not just Iran and North Korea, France has a history with restricting the practice of reoligion. Europe’s demographic evolution what with increased immigration and the ageing of its “native” population, gives rise to forms of “xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and intolerance toward people considered "the other."” The report also documents “a global increase in anti-Semitism, manifested in Holocaust denial… and growing nationalistic movements.” How sad this is, we are supposedly in an enlightened age, where intellect reigns supreme... but people are just becoming more ignorant. By the way growing nationalistic movements contributed to the back draft of World War II, just a thought to ponder.

In some cases, as in Egypt, the changes resulting from the Arab Spring have made life very difficult for minorities, particularly Christians and despite the transitional government’s moves to promote greater integration, the violence against Copts continues. Similarly, in Nigeria, efforts to stop Boko Haram’s anti-Christian attacks have proved inadequate.

Methodologically, the report does not only consider episodes of “repression and violence” but also analyses the legal status of minorities and their actual ability to practice their religion. Well, that’s just brings irony front and center! How about the US? How is the actual ability to practice religion... have there been any laws recently which restrict a person from freely practicing his or her faith, in particular by violating their consciences which are formed through their faith? No that would never happen in the country which is supposed to be the ideal for religious freedom... oh wait, HHS Mandate... In this sense, the report points the finger at the blasphemy laws in Indonesia and Pakistan, which are often used to repress religious minorities.

Of the countries included in the U.S. Department of State’s “blacklist” , China - which will publish a similar report in about a year’s time interesting ideas in that - was the one which reacted most fiercely. Official news agency Xinhua stated that the report published by the U.S. Department of State was “unimaginative” and “counterproductive” as it was “largely based on unconfirmed media reports and groundless allegations from outlawed groups and organizations with ulterior motives.” The report “is nothing but a political tool used by the U.S. government to exert pressure on other countries, mostly deemed as its rivals.” Well, I for one am looking forward to the depicition of religious freedom in the US inChina’s report. In all fairness, we are very quickly about to become hypocritical… or apparently it is ok to force the violation of conscience when it comes to the right to life and natural law itself, but it’s not ok when telling a woman she can’t cover her head? Ok sorry just seems like a double standard to me, but hey what do I know?

 http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/stati-unitiunited-states-estados-unidos-17218/   

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So there it is. Well Madame Secretary, is there any irony or hypocrisy in this? Is there in fact a double standard?

Maybe instead of examining what is going on, which most of us already knew, we should start looking into why this is happening?

Perhaps if the world is slipping backwards in the field of religious freedom, we should look at the country that is supposed to be the flag bearer of all freedoms. Let alone the first freedom listed in that nation’s own constitutional Bill of Rights!!!

What can we do, well write your public officials let them know you have the freedom of religion, not simply that of worship! Yeah bet you thought I was just going to say pray… well do that too… but this whole thing is about respecting the youth and their place in the world. You have a voice, use it.

God Love you,

AMDG

Peter James d`Aquino

Go Be Love, The World Needs You

Have you ever walked down the street and passed someone while you both awkwardly pulled out your cell phones and pretended to be texting someone else?

Well, I want you to make a point of it to look the next person you pass on the street in the eye, smile, and say hi whether you know them or not. It will affect the person's life. It may seem bizarre that your saying hi to someone could affect someone’s life, but I promise you it will. The person could be having a bad day or could be feeling lonely or who knows what they may be feeling. Once you smile and say hi to that person, he or she will probably say, "Wow, that person doesn't even know me and yet still cared enough to smile at me and say hi." Now, not every person you say hi to will think this, but they will think something similar to it.

It's not always as easy as a smile, though. I find that as I walk past someone on the street, that person looks down, pulls out his or her phone, or looks in another direction. Everyone, including myself is guilty of doing the same. However! Do you think Jesus ever looked in the opposite direction of someone walking past Him on the street? We can't know for sure, but I think it's pretty safe to bet that He didn't. I bet Jesus greeted every person He came across with a tender and loving smile.

My challenge to you is to look the next person you pass on the street in the eye, smile and say hi to him or her. After the first time you try it, it will become easier! Act excited to be alive and excited to show love! It may be all the love that person receives that day and this world desperately needs love.  Be sincere just like Jesus would have been. It may seem awkward but I promise you it is actually quite rewarding. To me, it's a reassurance that I'm not alone. It reminds me that there are other people on this journey with me through this crazy world.

-The Heart You Set Free

What are you doing next summer?

357 Days. 8 hours and about 30 minutes.

At that time the next World Youth Day will begin!!!!

I was in Madrid last summer for World Youth Day and I promise you it was incredible. I suspect I will be sharing stories as time goes on!

This time around, getting to Rio is not going to be as easy, in reality the cost is going to really hurt, especially for a guy like me who cannot really work too much during the year. But if at all possible I implore you to go! Start saving up, look for parish groups going. Fund raise!!! It is worth it.

World Youth day is a Festival for Christ. When I was there I was blessed with meeting Bishops and Archbishops, and future Bishops! I spoke with Catholics from all over the world, including some from the underground church of China. It was so spectacular. I was about 60-70 yards away from the Holy Father at the night time Vigil on the eve of the closing mass (do I have stories from that night!). The blessings I received were so numerous I doubt I can recount them all.

So here is a video link to YouTube, get pumped and start saving... if it is possible be there... I am doing everything I can to find my way to Brazil!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8u7XG-eSoQ

The Electric Coming Together of Two Passions

Prayer and spirituality are inseparable in their communion with each other.

The spirit (or the soul) is attracted to and made for affinity to God. Prayer contacts the divine in an effort to petition and ask grace to nourish and sustain our souls. Just like a child needs to be nurtured, loved, cared for and tended to, so do our souls in order for them to stay zealous and wanting of God. The soul is our link to God and our spiritual life is characterized by our relationship with Him. As Catholics we have a truly unique connection with God. We can use Scripture, tradition, devotions, confession, the sacraments, sacramentals, prayer, and much more to enhance our devotion and love for God and become servants of Him and through His loving mercy, invited to friendship. In order to enter into friendship with Our Father we must humble ourselves and love God. One simple way that this can be done is with prayer.

In prayer we invite God into our day and bring Him into our home. We offer God our thanks for helping, loving and supplying us with everything we need for the spiritual journey. In this spiritual journey we grow in faith, hope, love, charity and humility, learning to completely depend on God and walk the narrow path with nothing, but the things God has given us. With our prayers God prays in us changing us from the inside out, making us Christ like, but completely different from everyone else.  We acknowledge Him as our God who is righteous, merciful, and loving in all aspects. In prayer we adore, sing, and offer sweet discourse of love and affection praising his name. We ask for all that we need from him, petitioning God for purity of body and soul. We ask for our "Daily Bread" showing our faith in His ability to give to us all we need and more this day. In prayer we repent and offer our tears and sorrows to God for his infinite mercy, and love, and grace. In all of this we recognize Him as the one and only true God and in this act we humble ourselves and open our hearts to Him, which is infinitely pleasing to God.

Prayer and spirituality takes persistence and grace, faith and hope, love and zeal in order for your spiritual life to grow. Pray often, praise often, and ask often, open yourself to Him and he will surely give to all that you need. I pray that this will be of some assistance on your spiritual journey

God Bless You,
Alfonse Amante de Dios

Verbum Domini: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

So here is another idea. I know a lot of people are doing this already, but every Sunday I am going to talk about one of the readings from mass.

Today I was really caught up by the second reading (yes for those of you who attended the ninth Sunday after Pentecost at a Traditional Latin Mass parish... this is from the New Mass. For your information I attend both!). So here is that reading... courteous of the USCCB website:
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                                                                                                       Eph 4: 1-6
Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
one body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
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Lets start with what St. Paul has to say about himself, "I, a prisoner for the Lord,"... I think that is one of the most awesome things I heard this weekend. I am now describing myself as a prisoner for the Lord. Most people would criticize that because fairly prisoner has justly a negative connotation. But this is different then being imprisoned out of punishment. In that case one becomes a prisoner of, yet St. Paul describes himself as a prisoner for. That's the difference. One chooses to be enslaved in loving supplication, the other is forced into confinement. How beautiful it is to choose love. Imprisonment should make one lose everything, but in choosing enslavement to Christ, St. Paul would gain everything. That one little change in preposition changes everything! God's love is so clear in the details! But enough on one appositive, lets get to the reading on whole.

The next part which really caught my attention was, "I ...urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received". I think this bit is particularly important for us, the young people. It shouldn't come as a surprise if I were to detail the disgusting escapades of a great number of high school and college kid's weekends, but I would disgrace the blog in writing them here. It suffices to say they are sad and undignified. St. Paul talks about living in a manner worthy of our call. Now Paul is writing to a Christian community at Ephesus, not to one person, so he can't be talking about a specific call. So in translation to modern times he isn't directly referring to some one's call to marriage or religious life (though the principle still applies). St. Paul is referring to something we call the common call to holiness, the vocation we all share.

We are created in the image and likeness of God, give favor above all creatures, even the Angels. In addition, we have received the Gospel, we know the Truth, we know Christ. In addition to our responsibilities to human dignity (not just that of others but ours as well) we are also responsible due to our gift of faith. Of those with many gifts, much is expected. We have received such a great calling and therefore great things are expected from us. We are responsible for fulfilling these responsibilities. So promiscuity, a lack of chastity, a lack of modesty, a lack of temperance, etc... these things are all unbefitting of a people called to such high dignity.

As Paul says, we must be humble and gentle, patient and peaceful, we must be engulfed in love. Do not forget his exhortation on HOPE! "you were also called to the one hope of your call" Our hope is in the Lord, who made Heaven and earth. We have but one hope, and it is God. Our hope is in our one baptism, the one truth, the one faith. We are called to hope! So my friends, no matter what happened this weekend, or even this Summer, or even since your last confession, do not despair. God saves! So have hope, for it is beneath your dignity to allow hope to escape you. There is so much to hope in. Bring your fear and despair to the one from whom hope comes! In Him, there is no despair and their is no undignified manners. In Him is always hope and Love, so have faith, have hope, and have love. No matter where we have been, Paul is telling us we are called to live in a dignified manner, with hope in the Lord. With that hope, no shortcomings can ever prevail. Sin will fail to conquer, for we choose to be prisoners for hope, prisoners for Love. Let us henceforth be slaves for Christ!

Remember on Holy Saturday, when the night seemed the darkest and the Light furthest from sight, Easter was only a few short hours away. The risen Lord is just there in front of you waiting for us.
Do not be afraid.
Do not lose hope.
Regain your dignity.

God Love you,

AMDG
Peter James d`Aquino

Introduction to Armchair Mysticism

I can never become a saint, I sin too much, and Aren’t Saints Super-Humans who never sin? Look, I live a normal life, I can’t pray like the monks, priests, or nuns do, it is simply too hard.

All of the above statements I have uttered to myself and others in one form or another however, they are ALL false. EVERYONE IS CALLED TO SAINTHOOD, but you don’t need to be a martyr or Mother Teresa or the Pope to do it. I am an average teen but I have learned to pray well and so I love to pray. I have all the distractions and obstacles of a normal college student, so how is it that I can pray well? The answer is simple practice and practicality; these are the Hallmarks of a great prayer life.

Practice, Practice, Practice! Every Coach in the world drills their team to perfection, until they can do their drills without thinking. Prayer is the same way, if you keep praying and keep practicing you get to a point where you can slip into prayer whenever you find the time or need. THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND A LOT OF UNCOMFORTABLE OR ROUGH PRAYER!!!! If you don’t have trouble telling the Almighty Creator of everything your trivial troubles, and they do seem trivial compared to God, you most likely are either crazy or maybe you just don’t truly understand God’s power and glory. So the goal is to keep at it.

Practicality is also a huge part of praying in the modern world, I DO NOT have time to go to a cathedral every day and spend 2 hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament surrounded by an array of holy statues, icons, and frescos. I’d like to note that I would love that opportunity, however, instead I have a humble “prayer corner” in my room for daily devotions. I pull out a candle, a statue of St. Michael, an Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and a small bottle of holy water. I put all of this on a little cardboard box, sit on the floor and spend 5-10 minutes in prayer. A prayer corner can be really simple, It could be your favorite chair and all you do is put a cross there when you praying or place a candle there and light it. THE WHERE IS NOT ALWAYS AS IMPORTANT IN PRAYER AS THE PRAYER ITSELF.

I am going to propose that as your “first step” in praying like a Saint you find a prayer corner, find a way to make it special for when you’re praying, and say a rosary. Now, don’t say just any rosary say it for a deepening of your prayer life and REALLY pay attention to the words and focus on your prayers. The familiar rhythm of a rosary is perfect for people who have trouble silencing their inner voice as they pray. Focus on only one thing, the words your speaking, think and reflect on them as you speak. Try not to let your mind wander but if you do then just re-focus and continue. Try and say a whole rosary every day in this fashion. If a whole rosary is too much then just say a single decade a day and then try and find time at least once a week to say a whole 5 decades. A rosary can be said almost anywhere in less than 20 minutes, a single decade takes but 5 minutes, I give my Dog and even people I don’t like more attention than that a day.

                                                                                 for the greater glory of God,

                                                                                         Joseph Child of Mary

Saturdays: Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

Well today is Saturday, thank God! I think everyone loves Saturday because it is typically the day with the least amount of responsibilities, or at least we pretend like it is. But I love Saturdays for another reason. Saturday is Our Lady's day!

Oh yes, we Catholics have a whole day of the week in which we traditionally remember the Blessed Mother of God. Now here is the beginning of what I intend to make at least a weekly habit. On this day, I am going to talk about Mary, in all her greatness!

Seeing as we at LMB invoke her under the tittle Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, I thought a good place to start would be there!

Mary has numerous titles, so many that I haven't even heard them all, and I do love to read on Mary. One particularly strong devotion I have to her  is to Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. That sadly isn't as common as it used to be, or at least that's the way I see it. Why do I have this strong devotion ? Well one reason is the old testament similarities I find in this honorable title of Mary, and I am definitely and Old Testament fan!

Do you remember David who was the great King of Israel... Yes the guy with the slingshot who took down Goliath! Well he was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, the nation of God. Well David did quite a bit more then throw stones! (we'll come back to that). Well, following David his son, Solomon, was anointed king. Solomon is famous for several things, but most commonly is he referenced for his wisdom. There are stories which demonstrate just how wise he was (consult a bible for proof!). Solomon was allowed to ask God for anything he desired as a reward for the service he granted to the Father. Solomon chose wisdom! He could have chosen anything and yet he chose wisdom. Sounds like he was already pretty wise to me. So God granted Solomon great wisdom. Here it is vital to see that wisdom is a virtue, and thus a gift of God. Wisdom itself is of God for wisdom is really just the internal willingness to know the just will of God so that you might follow it. And so we have the great king Solomon, the son of David, enthroned on a man made chair from which he attempted to rule his kingdom justly and save his people.

Now do you remember Jesus?.... yes the One who died on a cross for you, and oh yeah He is God! Jesus is the Messiah, He is the Christ. Thus in English, He is the One who saves, and He is the anointed one! Jesus is the anointed King of Kings. Jesus is the perfect creation, the Son of God, the eternal High King. Jesus is also the Son of David, for through David's descendants do we arrive at Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth, the adopted father of the Christ. Jesus is famous for, well everything He did, there are stories just consult the Gospels! Thus the Father gave us Jesus, the Son of David and the only Son of God, who is enthroned in His great celestial Kingdom and on earth, from which He rules all things justly. It is through His love and the will of God that we are all saved. Since He is God, then wisdom is of His very nature. And like the wise Solomon, the wisdom of Christ too has a Chair from which He rules us, and that is His great Mother, Mary, Seat of Wisdom. Christ comes into this world through the only other perfect creation of God. Mary is the perfect example of creation, created for all times. She is the new creation of woman who led humanity to the fall, she is the new woman, the ideal woman, through whom redemption would come to this world. We are brought salvation through the same way we lost it. Eve the first woman gave the apple to Adam, and Mary (the New Eve) brings us Christ, True God and True Man, so that we may be saved.

Mary is the Seat of Christ, for Christ is wisdom. Mary is that which the Lord sat upon, Mary is that throne of creation which we all must approach in order to come before the austere presence of the King. Better yet, unlike Solomon whose man made chair embedded no part of Solomon's virtue, Mary is a perfect Creation by the Hand of God, who has all virtues of the Lord. Notice the wisdom of the Seat of Wisdom in her total acceptance of the Father's will, her great Fiat! "Let it be done unto me according to thy word", Christ is the Word made flesh, and Mary in her incredible wisdom accepts the will of the Father and in a perfect accord of wills, becomes the Seat from which the Son enters this world. Mary is so like the great David who composed hundreds of psalms to please the Father, but David often wrote out of repentance. Mary had no need of repentance for in her perfect wisdom she never faltered for the will of God and so her composition, the great Magnificat, would suffice for the eternal praise of God. Christ is mildly like Solomon, for He is the Son of David, Son of the King. But Christ is wisdom, Jesus is great King of Kings, and His Kingdom will reign forever. Unlike Solomon, Jesus sat upon a chair which we can still approach in humility and ask for wisdom as the Israelites went to Solomon, and this chair never decayed, it sits now at the foot of her glorified Son! Mary is the perfect Seat of Wisdom and so much more then a chair, she is a heavenly masterpiece.

One more thing... Mary rarely holds the infant Christ facing herself. Any image you see should depict Mary holding her Son facing outward, facing the people. That is because Mary shows us Christ, and so we go to her to see our Lord, for she is all to happy to bring us to Him. The Christ came to us through Mary now we go to Him the same way! (Just a bit of Marian apologetics)

So this is why I have such an affinity and devotion to Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. Everyone knows I can always use some wisdom. So I approach the merciful place from which the Lord came  to us. For the Lord is above time and what once stood shall always stand if it be in His reign! I go to Mary! Out of Love for the Son, for the great King, I cannot help but love His most beloved mother and most perfect Seat. In Mary do I find wisdom, willingly and mercifully dispensed. The wisdom that is Christ is in His Mother. Mary I come before you, humble and sorrowful, begging for wisdom, so that I may be an instrument of the Father's will, so that my soul too may rejoice in God my Savior.

Trust in God...Trust in Mary.....Ad Iesum Per Mariam.....Our Lady Seat of Wisdom... ora pro nobis!

God Love you,

AMDG
Peter James d`Aquino

Holy Mass - The Ultimate Love Story

“If we truly understand the mass we would die of Joy”. 

This quote of Saint John Vianney is something we all should remember whenever we attend Holy Mass.  Mass is something so beautiful and gives God so much joy and we simply cannot understand it.  If you want to make God happy then go to Mass! Even if you think mass is boring, don’t you want to make the God that gave his only son for you happy.  We all owe God love and praise and there is no greater expression of that then praying Holy Mass.

We should also remember what the mass is! Even though we cannot fully understand nature of Holy Mass we can somewhat understand what is going on during mass, the representation of the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.  The same sacrifice he made on Good Friday is made present everyday on altars all over the world.  Jesus comes down from His celestial throne and lays redeemer for our sins.  He willingly allows Himself to be humiliated for our sake and for our salvation.  What Love the Father has for His children to sacrifice His only Son! He dies for you so that your soul might be saved.  And His message of Love is proclaimed every day on the altar. Christ is the ultimate Love story. “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host.” ~ Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

At Every mass, Christ is made truly and physically present, allowing for Him to truly come into our hearts and work within us if our souls are prepared for this union.  It is something that I personally cannot go a day without. To be in perfect union with my Savior who loves me so much and gave up His life for me on the cross. Never forget that after you receive communion, He is truly and physically inside of you. You are a living tabernacle of the Lord and treat those few minutes with uttermost reverence and respect and know that Jesus is with you.

I cannot stress enough the importance of mass for the spiritual life.  Mass brings you so many graces that it is hard to imagine life without it.  Mass is “the source and summit” of the worship of Our Lord in which we partake in as members of the Communion of Saints. Even if you dread going to Holy Mass now, if you truly want to grow in the spiritual life then you must stick through it, and God will do the rest. Keep this story in your heart when you attend mass: Once Little St. Theresa had an amazing overwhelming awareness of God’s grace. She asked him how she could thank Him and He responded “attend one Holy Mass” 


AMDG
God is Love


Peter Martin

New Evangilization: Why a blog?

Why a blog?

That's a fair question, or at least I think so. Why are groups of people starting blogs? and why especially are Catholic youth blogging about their  faith?

To understand this we have to look at something else. These two words are being tossed about all over the world by Catholics. The phrase is New Evangilization. What in the....? Well lets brake it down.

Evangilization: This is the spreading (or more formally the propagation) of faith. Now seeing as the Catholic faith is the one and true faith, seeing as we are the one true church, it is our duty to spread the gift around! We take this responsibility from our Lord's great mandatum. Yes if you have read my other post I mentioned it last night too. The mandatum is going to be a theme for me and my blog posts. Mandatum is Latin, "having been ordered/mandated". Christ himself makes the mandatum, therefore making it a requisite to authentic faith. Now the mandatum again..... "go out and make disciples of all nations".... simple enough, but read into it deeper then face value (although that too is important). Jesus is saying that those 'who believe in me, and better yet those who love me, will never be satisfied if they are not battling to bring souls to my tender and awesome embrace'. That's what evangilization really is. It is an aspect of the battle for souls, which takes place on every front of existence.

The Battle for Souls is an expression used less and less over the last century but it is absolutely vital to our faith. The simple truth is Christ himself tells us of His Kingdom in Heaven, and He forewarns us of the eternal absence of His Love by choice which results in eternal damnation. Yes Heaven and hell, there is a possibility of both (don't forget purgatory, it's not particularly relevant here but it is important). Satan, the Prince of Darkness, has his armies, the souls he successfully lures away from the Father, but God has His forces in the Communion of Saints, those attached to the Body of Christ as described by St. Paul. Do not be fooled, at every moment the war is being waged by both sides, and it is our responsibility to serve the Body of Christ and bring souls to the side of Christ. For though the battle wages, the Lord will prevail and all souls not protected by Him will be lost. So we are truly battling now, to save souls! That is what evangilization is about.... we must be sure to bring people to Christ and give them every chance of salvation. If they don't find Christ will they perish? I can not say, I have not the power to save nor damn, but I can tell you that those who find refuge in authentic love and faith in the Lord will never be lost. So we follow the will of Christ and spread the Way the Truth and the Life, so that less may be lost, and not to neglect the virtue of obedience!

I know that may sound bleak but it should give you hope, because the will of God is to conquer evil, then "the gates of hell shall not prevail against us". See, one thing leads to another, and to think I was supposed to be talking about blogging and the new evangilization.... oh wait I am! 

We can see what and where evangilization is and why its important, but if I am saying its been going on at the very least since the issue of the Lord's mandatum, then how can it be new? Well, in the past, we encountered groups of people in the world who had never been introduced to the truth. Even the protestants are for the most part ignorant and therefore hostile to the Catholic church. Fulton Sheen once said, "not a hundred people hate the Catholic Church, but countless people hate what they believe to be the Catholic church". Ignorance is what we aim to eradicate through traditional evangilization. Now, we have a group of people who walk away from the truth, those Catholics who for one reason or another stop practicing their faith. The second largest single religion in America (following Catholicism) is that of former Catholicism. These people chose to walk away, and now we need to sort of re-evangelize them. We can't be settled with their loss, never shall we be content with losing a soul while there is still work to be done. So now we bring in the "new" part. We need new ways of reaching these people, so that we can help God to work in them and help them return to the Light. Blessed John Paul II cried out for this new evangilization and Benedict XVI has continued the great sentiment. It's important. We cannot lose the traditional evangilization, but we must inspire a new evangilization to reunite lost members to the Body of Christ.

Now to connect it with this blog. We here at LMB think that the youth get a bad rap. We are the largest unrepresented and disrespected demographic in the world. But it's ok because we'll grow out of it? NO! When we see something that we can do to further the authenic cause of Christ, we have an obigation to fulfill it. We are not exempt from the great battle for souls simply because we are young. That is a pathetic excuse! No if anything our youth is exactly what the NEW evangilization needs, new blood! The current Holy Father has sought the involvement of the youth in this endeavor and we here at LMB can not stand to neglect his cry. The internet is a source of great evils, but it can very easily become a tool of great good! That is what we are doing, writing so that we can reach someone, anyone and bring them to AUTHENTIC CATHOLICISM (that phrase isn't going anywhere!). We are battling with every word we type, every minute we spend, and ever prayer we say. And I promise you, we are not going anywhere. So keep reading I promise, this is just about to get interesting.

God Love you,

AMDG
Peter James d`Aquino

Archbishop Muller: we must make shine out

Archbishop Muller, Prefect for the CDF

I came across this article on an interview Archbishop Muller, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave to the Vatican newspaper ‘L'Osservatore Romano’. Here is part of it with some emphasis and comment. Special note, I came across this on news.va, the Vatican news website. A good place for some decent articles every now and then.

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The crucial factor
We must make what has been entrusted to us shine out
“We can always learn something new and acquire an even deeper under standing of the riches of the Revelation.” These are the words of Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in an interview with the Vatican newspaper, ‘L'Osservatore Romano’.
In his conversation with reporter Astrid Haas, spoke about his new position.
“The problems we seem to be facing are immense, if we look at the universal Church, with the many challenges to be confronted and in the face of a certain despondency which is spreading in certain milieus and which we must overcome,” he said. “We also have the problems of groups – right- or left-wing, as people say – which take up much of our time and attention. This often gives rise to the danger of losing sight of our main task, which is to proclaim the Gospel and to explain the doctrine of the Church in a practical manner. We are convinced that there is no alternative to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The Revelation responds to the great questions of the people of our time”.(I would say of all times)

“Faith is characterized by the greatest openness. It is a personal relationship with God which contains all the treasures of wisdom. For this reason our finite reason is in perpetual motion towards the infinite God. We can always learn something new and acquire an ever deeper understanding of the riches of the Revelation. We shall never be able to exhaust them”.
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When the Archbishop was appointed to head the CDF, it brought quite a bit of controversy. His controversial comments on such things as the true presence and the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother brought a host of questions. However I think the early signs are good. His Excellency acknowledges the serious problems in the Church and better yet says they are detracting from our true mission, the mandatum as it is known, go out to all the nations. His explanations of faith are exciting. He calls it the container of "all the treasures of wisdom". Still he admits the immense infinity of God and the need for total reliance on the Revelation of Christ. These are words of unity. These words do not specifically call out one group, but they incite the whole church as complicit in our failures.

But it was the title exclamation of the Archbishop I took notice of, "We must make what has been entrusted to us shine out". On this day in particular when we are launching this new blog, the Prefect of the CDF tells us to shine out. This fits perfectly with our theme. We have been entrusted with the Truth, with the Gospel, and it is our duty to let the light that is Christ shine out from us. It is time to stop attempting to dim His light (as if we ever really could). What we have done is distort the Light of Christ by making everything about us! Challenge after challenge, we have made it all about us, about our relationships, about our preferences and our feelings! How sad it is that we have forgotten the great mandate, "go and make disciples of all nations." It is time to stop being lost in our own selfishness and let the Light shine out from us. "We are all missionaries," as the late missionary apostolic to France Blessed William Chaminade once said. Please, no more disunity. Yes there are problems, for Judas (one of the twelve) truly did betray the Lord. But instead of accusing each other, let us put our faith in Christ and His Church, and return to work! The Light of the World (Lux Mundi) must shine out through us. As for the Archbishop, I reserve judgement, so far he seems to be doing the will of the Holy Father. However, he is quite right that we must make the Light of Christ shine out, and better yet we must refrain from shielding our eyes!

AMDG
God Love you,

Peter James d`Aquino

Welcome to Lux Mundi, a Catholic blog written by Catholic youth for everyone.

This is our first ever post! We thought we would take this opportunity to set out the basics: who we are, what we believe, how this blog came about, and what we intend to do.

First of all we are all young people and proudly Catholic. We are a group of close friends in college and we are lively and practicing young men and women who have devoted our lives to the service of Christ and His Church in whatever way the Lord sees fit! That is partially the most exciting part of this group. We all went to high school together, and we met in our senior year.  A string of circumstances brought us together to pray and discuss our faith. It was a truly incredible time! For now there are only a few of us working on this blog but we hope some others will join us as time goes on.

 This Blog was my idea. I have been looking for a way to get involved in spreading the Gospel in a real and effective way for two years. I cannot stand being on the side lines. One day some inspiration came to me: A blog by Catholic youth for everyone. Since I can remember there has been a lack of an intense youthful presence in the Church. That is most certainly changing, and I want to be part of it! In my many experiences with catholic blogs, I have had to go to several places to read all the information and discussion I wanted, so my thought was to create a one stop blog, simple and easy, which has several “voices” with one directed sound. I don’t know if that makes sense. I want to have one direction with several different authors and perspectives but all young. I also don’t want the writing to be overly elevated nor obsessively analytical, which can sometimes scare people away. But we also can’t dumb down the faith; to do that would be an insult to the one true faith. That, for the most part was the idea! There are things similar, but none like what I was really hoping to do. One night I was blessed with this inspiration. But I have been frightened to take it on, that is one of my faults, misguided fear. The idea wouldn’t go away and I figured I needed to try but I couldn’t do it alone.  There was only one group of people who could help me do this and so I enlisted the help of my friends; and here we are.

A little bit on our beliefs: We are most definitely and unapologetically Catholic. So, although this may be a cliche, if you need more information, google the phrase Nicene-Constantinople Creed.  That  should sufficiently point out our doctrinal backgrounds. One thing we do wish to express explicitly is our total reliance on the authentic authority of God, both in Heaven and on Earth. We commonly encounter that which is on Earth,  although it is eternally united to that of the Lord! What we are saying is we submit ourselves to the judgment and guidance of the Holy Father and the Magisterium. That is of the utmost importance.  Many Catholics today neglect authentic Revelation (i.e. Tradition) and authentic authority! But that is for another time!

We love Christ and His Church. We are not perfect, in fact we are sinners, and I particularly am quite the sinner! However we are striving for holiness and to live a saintly life so that we might in the next life be rewarded with entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We hope you find your way to an informed faith through this blog. We don’t expect to reach millions but maybe a few will find us and be inspired, maybe someone will find us and through the grace of God find his way to authentic Catholicism. If but one finds this to have made a positive impact in his life, it shall all be worth it! But we will be careful; we don’t wish to have a negative effect on anyone!!!

In all sincerity thank you for visiting this page and we hope you will return. We will pray for you.

God Love You,

AMDG

Peter James d`Aquino

Memorial of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin, 2012.                   Ad Iesum Per Mariam