Silence leads us Closer to God

Today, life is constant communication and noise, from media, social media, smart phones, email, texts, work oncall we constantly are being distracted and not for only our well being and time with those we love but more importantly it can take us away from God.

What is the importance of silence and taking breaking from distractions when we can, and find a way to put effort into it.

Fr. Francis Fernandez notes: "We have to learn to come closer to Our Lord through mental prayer,recollection and contemplation.  Look at Mary , she always recollected and that is how we should learn to be. The Virgin ponders and meditates, she understood that interior spirit of recollection which enables her to evaluate and keep her heart all the happenings of her life, big or small Prayer always enriches us - even in that silent dialogue before the tabernacle in which we do not use any words. It is enough to watch and feel ourselves watched.

Dietrich Von Hildebrand states the importance of contemplation and recollection, and how to work on it

"For man in his fallen state, the process sanctification - of transformation in Christ - is dependent on a systematic effort towards a moral formation of self and is thus inseperable from s set of ends and means"

God presence the "vacare et videre" to rest and see that effects a regeneration of our souls, enabling us to realize the further elements of contemplation. Not unless we again and again pause to take breath, abounding ourselves to contemplation, can we escape the danger of losing oursleves in the peripheral and of allowing deeper meaning of our life be swamped.

The act of recollecting oneself requires a rudiment of contemplation, in this respect recollection is a preamble to contemplation, contemplation  is the restful immersion of self as apposed to purposeful tension (example day to day work). Recollection is not limited to moments of contemplation, it may continue to be present while we are active. We live in uninterrupted tension, never ceasing to be concerned about what is next to be settled and many of us no longer know any alternative to work except recreation and amusement.

First we should consecrate every day a certain space of time to inward prayer., we must guard from performing the inner prayer as though we are dispatching a business among others, assimilating it to the  rhythm of current tasks.  - loose the spasm of activity and dominate your conscious toward superior realm of ultimate being. Inward prayer is the out most antithesis to all tense activity., we cannot practice fruitfully our faith unless we succeed in extracting ourselves from the rythem of affairs

Silence is of great help to recollecting ourselves, it is why is plays a powerful role in monastic life.. Silence fulfills an important function in mental regeneration.  Silence alone evokes that inward calm which is a prerequisite of recollection.  by silence we do not mean have a mere outward abstaining from speech, coupled with its mental continuance. We must also cultivate an inward stillness. Not only silence but solitude is requisite for concentration.  Moments of solitude that the intensity of this spiritual contact will build itself up and bud in the depths of our soul.

Once we accomplish the mode of silence and solitude., the we can recollect and contemplate ; by virtue of recollection alone we can reduce everything to the common denominator to Christ and make it possible for us to keep awake in ourselves the basic attitude of charity, ignite melting fire of Jesus love and nourishes simplicity.

Unless we cultivate a recollected mode of life and recognize the primacy of contemplation, we remain essentially unfit for receiving the holy imprint of Chirst

Contemplative rhythm of of life is a process of transformation in Christ.

What is the Trinity

Trinity reflection from book "Faith Explained" Chapter 3 from  Leo J. Trese

There is a limit to what the human mind can reason for God in revealing to us the truth about himself.  Be content with simply telling us what the truth is. There are three divine Persons - Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit . there is only one divine nature but there are three divine persons

When we try to think of God as three Persons possessing one and the same nature, we find ourselves battling our heads

Is is why we call such truths that the blessed trinity a mystery of faith.  We believe it is so because God say it is so

Theologians do of course cast some light upon the mystery for us. They explain that the distinction between the three Persons in God is based upon the relationship that exists between three Persons  There is a difference between our knowledge and God’s knowledge of himself. It is of the very nature of God to exist. The only real definition we can give God is to “ he is who is” like to Moses “ I am who am”

God sees of himself.  God the Father is God knowing himself 

God the Son is the expression of God knowledge of himself. Son is the expression of God knowledge of himself thus the second Person of the blessed trinity,  the son of God precisely because from all eternity he is generated he is begotten in the divine mind of the father. Also the silent word he perfectly express himself, whom we call God the Son. He is also called the word of God because he is the mental word in which the divine mind gives utterance to the thought of himself

Nature of God must be a living love and infinitely intense living love which flows externally from father and Son is he whom we call the Holy Spirit.

In Summary

 

• God  the father God knowing himself 

• God the Son is the expression of Gods knowledge of himself

• God the Holy Spirit is the result of Gods love for himself 

Example of Trinity in best possible human reasoning:

Lets use a full length mirror. You see there an image of yourself, a living image but it is just an reflection in the glass.  There would no be two of you, there would be just one you, one human nature.  There would be two persons but only one mind and one will, sharing the same knowledge and same thoughts. The self-love is natural to an intelligent being, there would flow between you and your image an ardeen love. This love would be a third person standing between you and your image.

Even if these remarks or example don't help, we should not get frustrated when dealing this mystery of faith. However one error must guard, must not think God the Father came first, God the Son  or Holy Spirit later. All three equally eternal, equally timeless with God's nature and also God the Son and Holy Spirit are not in anyway subordinate to God the Father.

We can attribute individual divine Persons certain works such as God the Father for work of creation or the generator, the Son of God's work to make know the truth on earth for all of us and heal. and finally Holy Spirit works of sanctification of souls

Who is God

Who is god - Nobody

The philosophers express it by saying, “Every efect must have a cause”. There must be someone who always existed, someone who never had a beginning. There is such a someone whom we call God

No one made God. He always was and he will always be. He is the supreme being. The very word “supreme” means above all others. If there were two equally powerful gods side by side, then neither can be supreme.

There is but one God and he is spirit. Philosophers distinguish two kinds of substances: spiritual subtances and physical substances.

Physical subtances has different parts (example air with nitrogen, which then made of molecules, contain atoms, , then neutrons and so forth)

Spiritual substance has no parts and can never be broken up, corrupted or divided. Its a simple substance. And that is why spiritual substance is immortal. There is three classes of the spiritual substance, they are

God

Angels

Human Souls

For human souls when they get dis-united from the body at death will still function and we will love more freely and contain all the memories and knowledge we have gained on earth, we will still be “me” but with the body gone. That is until the end of time we will be re-united with our body.

With God there is no limits of an kind, no limit in direction.We usually say God is good but should really say God is goodnes. God is wisdom. Mene and angels may be said be enternal in so far as they never die, but they had a beginning and are subject to change, not God because he is absolute.

So why does God allow evil and sufering in the world. Both came in the consiquence of mans sin in both physical and morally. God does not keep stepping to snatch back the gift of freedom and free will he gave us. Evil is mans idea.

However God is all mercifull, as long as we repent

The perfections of God

Blessed Mother's Grace and title "Mother of God"

Review from Bishop Gibbon - Early Church Teachings Book Chapter for Blessed Mother's Grace

If the land of Judea is considered hallow ground because Jesus dwelt there or the apostles were considered model of holiness because he chose them, then how peerless must have been the sanctity of Mary who have him birth

Review Luke 11:27

Why is it that our fellow Christians that are not Catholic struggle with Mary's grace of being sinless, when they seem to accept the grace God gave to Moses to speak with authority or the prophet Jeremiah was to herald God's word or John the Baptist filled with the Holy Spirit, apostles received graces by tongues and other privileges yet the Blessed Mother is exempt even the though once again bear the Lord. How can she ever be profaned in sin like the rest of us?

Howe is it inconceivable to call Mary Mother of God.

1. her son Jesus Christ is  true man; else she is not a mother
2. he, Jesus is true God else she is were not the Mother of God

To further expand on first point, Jesus came from her maternal womb thus same substance as her., in other words we affirm the Second Person of the blessed Trinity

However the Blessed Mother is not the mother of divinity, did our Mother have any production of our soul, no but we couldn't say she is the Mother of our body and we simply say she is my Mother just as a child is adopted calls their adopted parents Mom and Dad.  The general Counsel of Ephesus in 431 vindicated the title "Mother of God", so this concludes that the title Mother of God has been around very early part of the Church, nearly right after the Canon of Scriptures were decided and introduced , so in no way can be proclaimed by any Protestant that this is something that was made up by the Church recently.

Rest is needed to refresh our ourselves and faith

Jesus also got tired which is part his sacred humanity. We know this from scriptures from Mark 6:30-31. Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while. "And they away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while" And they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves.  There are other area's in scripture noting how Jesus & Apostles are tired through their apostate  An example is a time Jesus was sleeping in the boat during the storm, it shows how tired he was.

There are times when real bodily weariness can effect us and Jesus who is redeeming mankind show his weakness of being tired that should help us to bear our own weakness and co-redeeming with him.  We must learn to recover our strengths close to him we can use regular leisure activity be sanctified.  Love does not take holidays.  An example from Jesus is when he rests near Jacob's well and with that time converts the sinful woman so we should try not to fail offer up times when exhaustion  makes us feel useless or stop helping other people, tiredness teaches us to be humble and to live in charity , weariness helps us to live in detachment from things.

A Christian should consider his life beneficial gift because it doesn't belong to that person and which has responsibility to look after and live the years God wants .Among the norms of leisure be properly employed to refresh the spirit and strengthen the health of mind and body subjecting oneself to a timetable, dedicating sufficient time to sleep , going occasionally for a walk or simple outing. 

We have a duty to rest, in order to serve God and other people better.  We should learn to rest and avoid becoming totally exhausted, God wants us to look after our health and know how to recover, its part of the Fifth commandment.

However rest doesn't mean to do nothing at all, it is to relax in activities which demand less.  We should not confuse rest with laziness.  It should be leisure that provides an opportunity for interior enrichment and this is where a retreat is good where it not only rests or body and mind from hectic or daily busy lives with work or chores, but also enrich our relationship and spirituality with God.

We also can get burn out serving with the church or any other charity activities, this is when we really need a retreat. Keep in mind Jesus rested out of obedience to the law of Moses, he rested as a result of demands made on him and his family or just because of weariness, he would have been tired of serving others but never isolated himself and he did make himself available to others no matter what, so we make sure we are close to God and don't make your leisure time a total pagan time, all the time.which means keeping being distinct and separated from interior life.

Reflection from Fr. Fernandez

Angels are part of our faith

 Angels are a Dogma of our Faith as Catholics; you cannot be a Catholic if you do not believe in the existence of angels. The Catholic Church states in Paragraph 328: The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls "angels" is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.

They are spiritual beings who were created by God to serve Him. They can appear in human form and interact with us, but those bodies are only temporary illusions and pass away when their interaction with certain humans ends sin

The purpose of all of the angels is to serve God, praise God, worship God, and pray to God. In the process of serving God, they also protect us, pray for us, inspire us, encourage us, and guide us during our journey on Earth. Some early Christian traditions indicate that even after our death, the angels continue to guide us in our journey to our final place, whether it is to Heaven or to Hell, this is for baptized and non-baptized alike.

We can pray to our guardian  Angel to intercede for us and bring out petition before God. The special angel of each person even of the most insignificant within the church - as he always contemplates the face of God who is in heaven and sees the divinity of our Creator, unites his prayer to ours and co-operates as much as he can to obtain what we request

Holy Scripture and Tradition rightly give the name of angels to those pure spirits who chose God, his kingdome and his glory, when they were given the fundamental test of freedom. They are charged with protecting all men

According to Daniel 7:10, there are so many of them that the angels cannot be counted by human standards but they and God know how many of them there are. And yet, as Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, each angel is unique and no two angels are the same. Every angel is as distinct from one another 

We know the names of the seven archangels who lead the angelic host (Tobit 12:15, Revelation 8:2); three are mentioned in Scripture and four from historical tradition. They are Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, and Remiel but the Catholic Church officially only acknowledges the names of three of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael because they are the only ones mentioned by name in the Bible.  Both in Old and New Testimant, both Jews and Christians, Angels are disclosed and beleived, in the new Testament in Acts 12:7-11.  Peter is freed from an Angel while in prison, when he went to the house of Mary where people were praying for him, Rhoda answered the door of the gateway, when she heard the voice of Peter , she ran to the people praying to say Peter was standing in the gate, even though she didn't open the door yet, the people praying said she was mad and that it was an Angel.

All angelic beings have a purpose and perform different functions. According to theological traditions inspired from what the Bible makes reference to in various passages, there are nine choirs of angels organized in a heavenly hierarchy: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Virtues Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. The Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones mediate upon the Person, Wisdom, and Judgment of God. The Dominions, Powers, and Virtues govern the forces of nature and the Universe as a whole. Finally, Principalities are guardians of nations and cities, Archangels are guardians of special people, and Angels are guardians and messengers to us all.

Through the free will of angels and human beings. Angels and humans were created with the gift to choose to serve God. With that choice also comes the option of not wanting to serve God.

Evil came into “being” because of the choice of one angel who chose to sin against God by not wanting to be obedient to His Authority as Lord and Creator. That angel, a high ranking cherub angel, was named Lucifer. And once he chose to rebel against God, he took about a third of the angels with him in rebellion (Revelation 12:4

But why did Lucifer sin against God and dare to say “Non serviam!” (“I will not serve!”)? Because of pride (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:17, Proverbs 16:18) and envy (Wisdom 2:24 – But through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it). Lucifer was prideful of his high status, power, wisdom, and beauty, but what he had was not enough for he wanted to be adored and worship like God. Therefore, he did not want to be second to God in honor and so he chose to not serve his Master. Somehow, this rebellious idea of not serving God then appealed to the other angels who sided with Satan.

According to Canon 1 of the VI Lateran Council in 1215, the fallen angels were good. Does any goodness still exist within these demons and can they repent since God is merciful to sinful humans who repent of their evil?

Sacred Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called 'Satan' or the 'devil'' No. 391)

We believe that in the beginning, God created Satan as a good angel: The Lateran Council IV (1215) stated, "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing." These angels irrevocably chose through their free will to rebel against God and not to serve Him. For this rebellion, they were cast into hell. Sacred Scripture attests to this belief: Our Lord, speaking of the final judgment, said, "Then [the Son of Man] will say to those on His left: 'out of my sight, you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels'" :(Mt 25:41). St. Peter wrote, "Did God spare even the angels who sinned? He did not! He held them captive in Tartarus [the term in Greek mythology to indicate the place of punishment in the underworld]â¦" (2 Pt 2:4).



References

http://www.catholic365.com/article/2043/the-catholic-teachings-on-the-angels-part-1-the-angels.html

St. Joseph and Family Life

The Messiah wanted to start his redemptive task in the bosom of a simple, ordinary  family. The first thing that Jesus  sanctified with his presence was a home, the one in Nazareth

Joseph was the head of the family, he way a father according to the law and it was he supported Jesus and Mary with his work

Joseph was the head also because of his obedience and fortitude, the trust he had in God. When Joseph was called in a dream from an Angel "To rise up and go to Egypt and take the child Jesus and Mary" . Joseph obeyed immediately, he showed fortitude at this moment and taken charge. Mary listened and both followed what was said, but Joseph made the initiative to leave, this is not easy because they had to leave most everything and it's a long and hard journey to Egypt.

St. Joseph is for us many examples of virtues of intelligent and rapid obedience, of faith, of hope, of hard work and of course fortitude again because of the difficulties and hard situations he had to deal with to support the holy family.

Between Joseph and Mary there existed a holy affection a spirit of service and a mutual desire for each other's happiness.  This is Jesus family was sacred, holy, exemplary model of human virtues, ready to carry out God's will exactly.  A Christian home must be an imitation of the house of Nazareth; a place where there is plenty of room for God so that he can be the centre of the love that members of the family have for each other.

IS your home like this?
Is Jesus its centre?
Do we live for only the others?

These are some questions we can ask ourselves in prayer later on.

The family is lead by parents by word and example are the first heralds of faith with regard to children. In the case of the Holy family, Jesus learned the meaning of the things around him from his parents, Joseph and Mary.  The holy family would have devoutly say or recited their traditional prayers,which were said in every Jewish home.  In that house, everything that refereed to God had a new meaning and content.

Family is a school of virtue and the ordinary place for us to find God.  Husbands and wives will achieve this aim by exercising the virtues of faith and hope, facing serenely all the great and small problems which confront any family. and will be persevering in the love and enthusiasm with which they fulfill their duties.

They will learn to smile and forget about themselves in the order to pay attention to others.  Husban and wives will listen to each other and their children, showing them that ehy are really loved and understood., they will forget about the unimportant frictions that selfishness can magnify out of al proportions.  They so lovingly all the small acts of services that make up their daily life together.

The aim is sanctify family life, while creating a true family atmosphere, many Christian virtues are needed such as prudence, loyalty, sincerity, humility, cheerfulness and more. These virtues will strenghten the unity that the church teaches for the family.

Family is very important, its the simplest and most basic form of society, society is driven by family.
Second , united in Christ, family is a member of the Mystical Body and have been called the domestic church, the christian family proclaims aloud both the present power of the kingdom of God and hope of the life to come.