everythingcatholic

For many people sin can drive their lives from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep. As humans because of Original Sin we can not escape its clutches. If we were to live without God in our midst sin would dominate our lives. It is the very nature of humans. How do you stop this viscous cycle? To stop the cycle you must change your life. You must embrace Jesus and learn to pray. Then you must go to church and use the sacrament of reconciliation and the sacrament of the Eucharist. To some this may be a no brainer but you must remember as Catholics we all come from different levels. Some may not have discovered the power of these sacraments.

Terri’s blog might help those Catholics struggling with sin to embrace the Lord. Here is a Christian that wants to be Catholic so much that she weeps when she sees her close friend receive the sacrament of the Eucharist. Terri will be entering the RCIA program shortly at a local parish close to my home. Please pray for her. Her words I hope inspire us all to be better Christians:

We all sin everyday but many times we don’t even care. The moment we commit the sin we know we are wrong, however we rationalize it and continue along with our day. Since my decision to become a Catholic I am becoming more aware of the sins that I commit. There is not only the feeling of wronging God but also increased guilt. I know that I can ask for forgiveness and God listens to me. I always feel better after talking to him and admitting my sins. One of the things I have learned is to admit your sin and own it. I long for the day that I can accept the Eucharist and I must admit that I am sometimes jealous because I can’t yet.

This week I learned a powerful lesson. I am not alone in this feeling. I live for my blessing every week. I often can hardly contain myself because I know it’s coming and I feel so good after I receive it. This week I watched a good friend struggle because they couldn’t make it to confession. My heart wept for her. I could feel the pain because the thought of not receiving the Eucharist was becoming a reality. Luckily confession was attained and she was allowed to receive the body of Christ. I have been blessed and acknowledge the power of my blessing and the Eucharist. I see how strong the act of confession is. I wait for the day when I can go to confession and receive the body of Christ. I continue to grow stronger with the love of the Lord. I can definitely see his power in all I do. I know that since I have started my journey home I have been shown many new paths to take. I also know that God is giving me the choice. It is up to me to follow the right one. I thank him everyday for his many blessings. If my choice seems difficult I know to look up and ask which way to go. I am lucky because he answers me. I just have to listen even if it’s difficult.

I think this is why we spread the word. It is very fulfilling to hear people talk about their experiences with the Lord and how they feel. Many times as cradle Catholics we lose the “thrill” of being Catholic. Many times in the past I lost the feeling of being “in love” with Christ. If you embrace Christ, your love for him will be so great that sin will no longer dominate your life.

I think now that I have regained the feeling of being in love with Christ, I will never lose it. I have lost it too many times in the past. No more. I love to teach and now that I am no longer doing it, to help teach a friend about Christ really inspires me to do more. A close friend of mine once told me that once you cleansed your soul of sin and have built a close prayer relationship with the Lord, sinning becomes harder to do. Since I have had so much going on in my life recently I have found this to be true.

For long time Catholics to get involved in missionary work where we preach the gospel and live the gospel with close friends and seek out friends that need help, this can be very inspirational to the soul. Think of it as going to a Sylvan Learning Center where you do not go there to relearn something rather you go there to learn another way of doing something or a better way of learning something. This is Life learning. Often times we can get in a rut. For example, for years I just did the same sin everyday. I did it because I did not know any better and this sin was a part of my life. I did this for years before I realized this sin dominated my life and I needed to change. As Catholics we are all called to live our lives as example to others. This is being a missionary of life. I started to do this and changed my life patterns and began re learning to embrace the Lord. In other words I learned to love Christ in a different way. To this day it has helped me see things in a different light. It is harder for me to sin now. It is easier to be one with Christ.

The Pope came out recently and stated that condoms are not the way to go to curb the huge HIV problem in the small African country of Cameroon. There was a big outrage over his comments. I am not quiet sure I understand this reasoning. The Pope is saying abstain from sex and you will see a decrease in this disease. The People who are outraged are saying no, we need to pass out condoms, which is promoting sex. In other words promote the activity which is causing the disease. Their twisted reasoning is this, let us not change the behavior that causes the problem but rather because human beings are too weak to change they need to continue on having sex. We must not take away their sex! People then get on the Pope’s case for promoting abstinence which is his job to do. People, this is his job. This is a belief in the Catholic Church! This is what us Catholics do. We abstain from sex outside of marriage. Why would the leader of the Catholics go out and promote having sex outside of marriage? clink on this for link to Pope story.

Perhaps I just do not understand something here. Here is what the pope was promoting: “The pope framed his answer in terms of the church’s service to those with AIDS and its efforts to promote what he called a “humanization of sexuality” that includes the elements of fidelity and self-sacrifice.”(CNS news service March 18) I guess in an age where we promote sexuality on every corner the Holy Father’s message is not being received with open arms. I believe here in the United States things can change. Our young people are ready to receive such a message they are just looking for a leader to lead them. We need to hear the World Youth Day messages of Pope John Paul II for the youth are starving for his message. In the John Paul II era, Pope John Paul II went to the third world with the very message that Pope Benedict now carries. We saw an increase in Catholics in the third world and a decrease in the developed world.

I believe the United States is starving for Jesus. The time is right for a dynamic leader to come out and say we need to adhere to God’s word. We need to follow Jesus. Jesus we are ready for you. We need the love of Jesus more then ever during these times of uncertainty. I believe this will come about. Let us pray about our Holy Father’s words. We need to back him now during these times.