The New Evangelization

As I have written before, I am always looking for topics for this blog and I look everywhere for topics especially matters of current interest.  Among my sources as you have seen from prior blogs is the local diocesan magazine and the Bishop’s message.  That is my source for this blog.

In his January/February message, Bishop Estevez writes about his attendance at the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican this past October.  He reports that the Holy Father advocated everyone’s participation in a New Evangelization.  The Bishop will tell us more in the future about our parishes being agents of evangelization.  However, each of us as Catholic Christians must spread the word of Christ.  I am a big advocate of the idea of St. Francis of Assisi that we do that best not by words but by our actions.  This must occur in all of our environments from home to everywhere we go outside of our homes and not just in church.

http://www.staugcatholic.org

The Bishop assets that we must do this evangelization by increasing our self-knowledge with an attitude of humility.  This occurs not only by what we learn from the readings at Mass and the homilies of the priests but, also, from our adoration and prayers and Christian living.  In addition, we must continue to learn and grow in our knowledge of our faith.  This is, especially, true in this Year of Faith.  The Bishop suggests that we revisit our Catechism of the Catholic Church.  He, also, reports that we can receive a daily email covering a bit of the Catechism by signing up at:

  www.flocknote.com/catechism.  

These emails will continue throughout the balance of the Year of Faith until November 24.

So, take it upon yourself to examine your own evangelization and what you can do to learn more and act upon your Catholic faith.  Who knows, your example might bring someone back to the Church or bring someone to it.  And, of course, I would be remiss, if I did not remind you to listen to Catholic radio - Queen of Peace Radio, AM 1460, radio for your soul, and a source of knowledge about your faith.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Concerning the Future Consequences

An ad came on television the other day by a physician who was advertising a “deal” for in vitro fertilization.  That got me to thinking how strange our world has become.  Let me expand upon that.  Imagine that you were time traveling into today's present era from, say, 100 years to 150 years ago and think about what you would find.  I am only going to discuss a few things.

You would find massive amounts of abortions by physicians in clinics which back in your world over a century before was not only unlawful but sinful and immoral.  And, on the opposite end, you would find physicians and fertility clinics where women were being assisted to have children!  Think what you would think about how strange these two “developments’ are?

Remember, now, that you come from a past where homosexuality was, in fact, “in the closet.”  Now, you would find men marrying men and women marrying women.  And, these same sex partners are allowed by law to adopt children. Again, what you think about how strange that is?

Now, you go back to your own time and tell your contemporaries about the future just about these two social events and not about any of the technological develepments which would be a whole different matter.  What would the past think about such social strangeness of the future?  

 

In addition, there is the huge turning away from marriages not because of the lack of ministers as on the frontier but from a disdain of the real legal commitment to the other person.  And, there is the huge disconnect from viewing unmarried pregnancies as wrong and not to be encouraged.  The lack of marriage and the increasing unmarried pregnant women has drastically removed the social anathema for bastardy.

So, here were are in this new modern era.  I, for one, do not approve of it nor like it and am very concerned about our future.  Did God flood the world or destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for these same immoral and dissolute behaviors?  He might not do that again but I am concerned.  

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Happy New Year! And, a suggestion....

Have a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to you, your family and friends!!! 

As at Christmas, I share this wish to you not only for myself but, also, on behalf of the officers, staff and volunteers of Queen of Peace Radio.

As we progress from the old year to the new, it is customary to reflect upon our goals, dreams and aspirations that we would like to see accomplished by this time next year.  We are motivated by such sayings that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  So, whatever you plan for yourself, I hope that you succeed so long as it is moral, ethical, and lawful.

I just want to give you a suggestion.  Add to your to-do list, this one simple thing - try each day to do one simple act of kindness.  Not a random act of kindness but one simple planned act of kindness for each day.  Just a smile or kiss to your family, opening a door for someone, letting a car into your lane, or a smile to someone. 

   

Now, this is very simple, I know.  But, think about it - if you do it, you will have done at least 365 acts of kindness by the end of 2013!  You will have made an impact on other people’s lives 365 times.  And, it will not have cost you anything more than a small act of planned kindness.

The strange thing about this is that it becomes habitual and a regular part of your life.  Just think how much this would accomplish if more and more people would do this on a regular basis. 

There was a story on television on a news program recently about a city where people regularly pay for the orders of the next person in line at drive through fast food restaurants and that it is not unusual to go for as long as an half hour with everyone paying for the orders of the cars behind them.

Maybe it sounds silly but I think that is great.  And, I think Americans are really that kind of people.  Look at how we step up for each other in fund raising and volunteer help whenever a bad storm or event strikes another community.  I just think that we all have it in us to do planned, not random, acts of daily kindness.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

THE Reason to Celebrate!

Merry Christmas to you, your family and friends!!! 

I share this wish to you not only for myself but, also, on behalf of the officers, staff and volunteers of Queen of Peace Radio.

On Christmas day, we celebrate the most remarkable event in human existence - the birth of God incarnate to live as a human on earth for the cause of the salvation of all humanity.  The love of God and His Divine Mercy is beyond our understanding.  But, as has been said since the annunciation - let us rejoice!

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Whither the devil, evil and sin?

The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, got me, like everyone else, to reflect about this incredible tragedy.  And, like so many of us, I was riveted to the television news programs to learn more about it.  Among so many other things, it really tragic that it comes during the happy holiday Christmas season for Christians and during the Channukah season for Jews.  The senselessness of these killings is certainly beyond our ability to fathom - a very young man shooting his mother in the face killing her and, then, killing the toddlers and their teachers at the school. 

Like so many previous senseless shootings, the media and politicians goes into their predictable tirade about guns and the need for more gun control.  Interestingly, the Governor of Connecticut admitted that his state has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country.  An interesting statistic is that over 16 million background checks for gun purchases occurred last year of which only 0.47% resulted in rejections.  In this case the guns were registered - to the mother of the shooter.  So, after so many similar shootings over the years, more gun control laws definitely do not appear to be the answer.  But, this is not about the pros and cons of more gun control legislation.

Parenthetically, it is interesting to consider that these same gun control advocates who are offended by the killings of these innocent are, at the same time, open advocates for abortions and assisting the  suicide for the elderly.

But, let me get back down to the point of this missive - no one, I mean no one, in the media coverage from the investigators to the friends and family to the politicians ever mentioned sin and the devil!  There were some mentions of mental derangement of the shooter in this case and of the shooters in other cases.  This is, most likely, a reasonable explanation for these shooters.  But, where does the stimulus for their actions to kill come from?  The devil?  No one mentions it despite our Judeo-Christian backgrounds?  Why not?  In other earlier times, it would have not at all unusual to think that the person who did such a thing was possessed by the devil.  But, in our contemporary 21st Century, ridicule will flow to those who suggest the role of the devil and of sin. 

I, certainly, do not know the answer in this instance, but pose the idea that, yes, the shooter was mentally ill.  But, what caused him to act upon that illness and kill people?  Even more so, what caused him to kill these harmless little children especially this otherwise happy time of year?  Is it so totally out of our 21st Century modernistic and cosmopolitan thinking to consider that the impetus and the stimulus to move this mentally ill man to such horrible actions was the devil?  Why do we not want to recognize the face of evil and the devil anymore?  Because we do not want to be viewed as being old-fashioned, primitive, unsophisticated?  But, we still go to our churches and proclaim our faiths.  And, our faiths recognize not only God but, also, a God who speaks to us about avoiding the devil, his evil, and sin. 

Every year during the Easter Mass we, Catholics, renew our Baptismal promises which cover the following: that we renounce Satan who is the author and prince of sin, his works, all his empty show, sin so as to live in the freedom of God, and renounce the lure of sin so that sin may have no mastery over us.  So, why do we not view this evil from the devil as the impetus to these shooters keeping our Baptismal vows in mind?  Even the media and the politicians call murderers, terrorists, child abusers, and like evil.  But, where does that evil come from?  Satan, our Baptismal vows would assert so why is that not mentioned in the public debate?  There was a public memorial for these victims which show our belief and faith in God and the rendering of our prayers to him.  There was a mention of free will by a rabbi.  But, where was the discussion of evil and the devil? 

Where is the discussion about the rejection of prayer at public governmental functions, the declining morals of our society, the declining attendance at religious services and the increasing ridicule of the faithful of all religions?  This, I posit is where the discussion for solutions in the public debate should be rather than in the tedious repetitions of gun control, more security at schools, and the identification and treatment of the mentally ill.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Wednesday, December 12, 2012, marks the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This follows Saturday’s Feast of the Immaculate Conception which follows the celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  All of this is very appropriate this month in which we celebrate the birth of Christ.  After all, the baby comes from his mother.  Here, the baby Jesus comes from the mother Mary who bore him for 9 months.

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and her appearance to the native peasant is very remarkable in so many ways.  She appeared to a peasant nearly 500 years ago outside what is now Mexico City and not to a Spanish conquistador.  The Bishop did not believe Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin ("speaking eagle") who reported the miracle to him.  The Bishop, the story goes, asked for a sign that the lady who appreared to Juan Diego was, indeed, the Blessed Virgin.  It was December and roses did not grow in the vicinity but, as Juan Diego walked along, he came upon a rose bush full of roses.  Juan Diego, put these in his peasant apron called a tilma and took them to the Bishop.  When Juan Diego emptied the roses from his tilma for the Bishop, there appeared the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma.  The tilma was made from fibers from a cactus plant and do not usually last very long.  The tilma of Juan Diego with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe still remains in tact and shows no sign of aging.  

This is truly an amazing story and a true, indisputable, miracle.  A few years ago, Catholic scientists with digital cameras asked for and were granted permission to further photograph and study the tilma.  Their cameras discovered an amazing thing - on the retina of Our Lady’s eyes on the tilma shows what she observed which included the Bishop and those with him in his room!

This story never ceases to amaze me and my reverence for Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to grow.  I hope that you think the same.

Share your thoughts with me and please...

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Advent, The New Year and You

Advent has begun this Sunday and it is the new liturgical year.  This, also, brings on the anticipation for the birth of Christ and the celebrations.

In the northern hemisphere, it is a time of shortened days where Christmas and the beginning of longer days almost coincide.  Like Lent, this should be a time of reflection in which we should consider the blessings of the past year and contemplate what a new year will bring to us. It is a time to reflect upon what our new year resolutions will be.

So, instead of the dreads and the stresses over the right presents to buy, the reunions with family members with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye, and the financial demands of the season, take a break and reflect upon the blessings that each of us do have.  And, think of those blessings and the consolations of God and His strength through bad times over the past year.

Try to keep in mind the admonition of Jesus to “not let your heart be troubled.”  All is certainly easier said then done but take a moment to do so each day.

In Jesus Beloved Son: Daily Advent Meditations and Prayers by Henri J. M. Nouwen, there was a prayer for the day yesterday that we should, probably, keep in mind and say daily, “Dearest Lord, help me overcome my insecurities and discover what it is you want for me.”  At all ages and stages in our lives, this would certainly be appropriate for each of us. First, to overcome our insecurities which we all have in some respect would be a wonderful blessing from the Lord.  Second, to discover and learn what it is that He wants for each one of us.  This part of the prayer is interesting.  The first part of the prayer is paying to Him for His help so we are, in so doing, doing the talking to God.  The second part of the prayer is asking Him guidance for our life so, in this part, God will be doing the talking and we will be doing the listening. 

In praying, we are usually doing the asking of God but do we spend enough time in listening and meditating upon His desires for us in our lives?  I suspect not. Most likely, we think that the listening is only an activity the saints do.

Plus, we do not think we are worthy for God to speak to us.  Well, we do believe and accept the concept of inspiration.  And, the word comes from the concept that the idea or prompting comes from the spirit - divine inspiration?  The Holy Spirit?  Find out for yourself and let me know what you discover. 

Since the last blog I have been reflecting on how to deal with the beginning of Advent ane the new liturgical year and now you have it.  Share your thoughts with me and please...

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer