The Arrow's Path

 I had a question about praying to Saints, which I will include here:   Hello, why am I reading on here, that some Catholics are praying to Mary and certain saints , instead of God the Father..I've not read in the Bible anywhere that you pray to Mary and Saints instead of God. So some Catholics pray to Mary and there chosen saints first above God and Jesus..I'm looking into the Catholic faith and I'm finding this very confusing I know some people will say , we are not praying to them but asking t hem to pray fir us and intercede for them , but I actually read that some Catholics are actually praying to them above God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ and I don't feel comfortable with that. It's like they are believing that the prayers to them will help them, but why not pray to God the Father who is the creator of us all..I'm not a Catholic but one who's looking into the faith but now losing hope in bothering now , because I'm reading people ...

 

 I had someone query about being on the journey to join the Church but was afraid if she died before being Confirmed and receiving the Eucharist, she might go to hell. She was baptized in her current Protestant denomination, but still battles with the dread doubt that she might not be saved even when validly baptized. She asks if she is crazy for thinking this way.  This is my response: No, you are not crazy at all. In fact, this very topic is one of the major driving factors that fueled the early Reformation. One of the, I think, quite valid criticisms of the Medieval Church on the practical day-to-day ground level in normal parish life was a lack of catechism and understanding amongst the everyday laity about certain central topics like Salvation. This was not true all over Christendom. Some places were better at catechizing and preaching everyday people better than others. But, it was a big enough problem that large groups of people were living in perpetual fear a...

     The centrality of the Trinity in Christian life is a profound and transformative reality that shapes our understanding of God, our relationship with Him, and our interactions with one another. Today’s readings illuminate the dynamic interplay of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, revealing how this relationship of the Triune God is foundational to our faith and existence.     In Proverbs 8:22-31 gives a poetic depiction of Wisdom, often interpreted as a prefiguration of Christ. Wisdom is portrayed as being present with God at the very beginning of creation, participating in the act of bringing forth the world. This passage highlights the relational aspect of the Trinity, where the Son, as the embodiment of divine Wisdom, is eternally in communion with the Father. The imagery of Wisdom rejoicing in creation underscores the joy and love that characterize the divine life. In recognizing the presence of the Son in the creation narrative, we are reminded that ou...

 I had a question on how to approach the Second Vatican Council. Here is my reply:  The most simple and direct way to approach Vatican II is to read the actual documents the Council produced. None are very long. All of them are actually quite interesting. Be open to what they are actually  saying, and to the idea the God was in control and did not go into hiding during the Council.  Secondly, (and I don't mean this to sound uncharitable) don't listen to the cranks. And I say that on both sides of the spectrum. There were and are those who took the actual documents and misused them as a blank check to justify chucking anything the. Church taught they didn't like, theologically and liturgically. That is not what the Council said. Read the actual documents for yourself. Vatican II was not a blanket invitation to burn the Church down, despite what people say. Now, the same is true on the other side of the spectrum. There are those who did and still do think Vatican II wa...

There has been much ballyhooing in the media the last few weeks over a finance bill working it's way through Congress. The bill has captured much media attention namely because President Trump, ever the showman, refers to it as his "Big, Beautiful Bill." This bill is a massive hodge podge of tax cuts, governmental cuts (mostly to baseline budgeting), and other blow out spending pork.  Baseline budgeting is the primarily guiding philosophical principle to most Federal spending. If you are unfamiliar with this boondoggle of an accounting system, b aseline budgeting uses current spending levels as the "baseline" for establishing future funding requirements. On it's face, that seems innocuous, but such a philosophy assumes future budgets will equal the current budget times the inflation rate times the population growth rate. In other words, it factors in percentage growth to the yearly projected budgets en perpetuity. This is how Congress has gotten away with ...