Semalsia Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 What is it like being catholic? You know, having faith and all that. Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extra ecclesiam nulla salus Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 its great what relegion are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateri05 Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 its pretty fantabulous : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avemaria40 Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 (edited) the best decision i've ever made in my life! it's worth it! Edited September 10, 2005 by avemaria40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 It's a struggle. It's very hard at times to have faith in anything, especially when trials come our way. Thus is the importance of choosing to believe in something greater than ourselves. When we weigh all the options, I am confident that there is no better thing in which to place our trust than this: God is who is. From that flows all love and truth. It is a daily struggle and a daily conversion of heart...but God loves us and desires the best for us. This makes every day worth living and gives us the strength to do even the impossible. First it must be established that you exist. Then, logically, it is established that someone made you. Since there cannot be an infinite regress, there must be something that is eternal, which made you. This thing, being eternal, must exist more perfectly and more completely than all else ("I am who am"). Therefore, it must also be all good. Being all good, it is perfect in all good things (and, in fact, the perfection of all good things): love, order, justice, mercy, compassion, honesty, fidelity, communion. If it is perfect in love, then it must have something to love, for love requires an object. However, creation cannot be the sole object of the love. This would require creation to be eternal (because this entity, being perfect, never changes, and therefore loves for all eternity, thus, by necessity, the object of love must exist for eternity). Therefore, if this entity is all loving, it must have both subject and object in itself. Thus, there are two Persons in this entity. However, love is also self-giving, and this entity, being perfect and complete, is perfectly and completely self-giving. If this is true, then the love itself holds the whole essence of this being, and therefore, is a third Person, because it is distinct. The Second Person, likewise, shares this nature with the First. Thus each of Three Persons holds and possesses the entire divine nature wholly on His own, and Each gives it completely and perfectly. Therefore, we have the Triune God. Now, being infinite, this God of ours seeks to love abundantly. Though He already loves infinitely within Himself, He adds to infinity (there is a mystery!) and creates. Being perfectly and completely ordered, He makes a world with order. Any order in the world will reflect Him, of course, since He is all order. Therefore, He makes angels, He makes man, He makes animals and plants of every shape and kind. He forms the earth and hangs the stars in the cosmos. He does all of this because He wishes to share His love with someone outside of Himself. He knows that love, true love, can only ever be freely given. Otherwise, if it is coerced, it is not real love (for love is self-gift, and one cannot steal love, it must be given). Therefore, He creates all the creatures He intends to love Him and gives them free will. Free will is designed to allow them to love Him, but it can also be abused, in order to hate Him. He did not give us free will to test us or to find reason to condemn us or for His own eternal gag reel. He gave us free will in order to share in His love for all eternity. Our first parents fell and cut themselves off from Him. We were born to them in this state, and He wanted despirately to have them back, together with us. He guided them, watching over them, caring for them with what little will they did have to be with Him again. He chose a small nation among them so that He might point the way of love: humility. He raised it up, and it grew proud, so he chastised it. This happened again and again to our forefathers in the faith. Then, one day, there was conceived a child who would change the course of human history. The angels must have said on that day, "have you seen? Have you seen the light on the earth? There has been utter darkness all these long years, and now there is a great white light so good and so pure that it blinds even we angels who have no eyes. Did you hear? Do you know who that is? Did you hear His plan? That little girl, in the womb of her mother, will be the Mother of God! She has been sanctified even at the moment of her conception to prepare for Him. He's going to become one of them. Our great King is going to ride out from His castle and enter the world of men to fight amongst them!" Could they have imagined the incarnation? Could anyone have considered it? The love with which God treats us confounds the mind and boggles the senses! Yet, little more than a decade later, a young virgin in her room was approached by an angel who greeted her with delight. God was still in His ways; He still respected her free will. "I am the handmaid of the Lord," she said, "be it done unto me according to thy word." Oh, the humility of our God! Oh, the dignity of our humanity! Oh, that God would choose to become one of us to save even one from the hand of the enemy! "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." These same angels watched Him grow. He became a tall man, if you believe in the Shroud, a strong man, well-built from His life as a carpenter. Many women likely hoped they could be His wife. He had a much greater plan. He had come to propose a far greater marriage. Christ and His Church, God and man, united in flesh and bound up by the same Spirit. This is the unity toward which all others point, a true sharing in the unity of the Godhead Himself. On the wedding night, He offered His Bride His Body, the Eucharist, and out of love for her, asked that she receive it repeatedly for Him. What bride does not delight in receiving her husband into herself, when she is so overwhelmed by his love? If mortal men could only be chaste, they would never want for any desire; if they could only love, they would never have need of lust! Christ loves His Church, His Bride, so perfectly, that He died so that she might live. A single drop of His Blood could have saved her, but this was not enough to satisfy Him. He wanted to love her abundantly, and so He spilled all His Blood at her feet. She called for it, but He forgave her, saying, "forgive them, Father...they know not what they do." She screamed out, "let His Blood be upon our children and our children's children!" So it was that a curse became a blessing, for it is by being cursed with the guilt of His death, sprinkled with the Blood of His Passion, that we are blessed with life eternal, ransomed from the grave. Yet some of His Bride is still reluctant. So He made a head for His Bride, and having made her with His own Hand, gave her a mind and a conscience. Thus He established a guiding force, the Magisterium, to guide the Bride of Christ in her daily life, loving Him for all eternity. Thus we are one with Him in His Body, as man and wife are one, thus we are in the Mystical Body of Christ in His Bride. This is our faith, this is our hope, this is our love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 [quote name='Semalsia' date='Sep 10 2005, 06:12 PM']What is it like being catholic? You know, having faith and all that. Just curious. [right][snapback]718462[/snapback][/right] [/quote] "The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar" --GK Chesterton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 You don't have to be Catholic to have faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudette Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 [quote name='Mikhail' date='Sep 10 2005, 09:09 PM']You don't have to be Catholic to have faith. [right][snapback]718547[/snapback][/right] [/quote] but being Catholic makes your faith richer because you have the Sacraments Yeah, I wouldn't have it any other way. Being Catholic is awesome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 Right on Dudette. I wouldn't ever say that you have to be Catholic to have faith, but I would say that being Catholic is arguably better. I mean, c'mon, like Era Might posted "The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar" --GK Chesterton. : It doesn't get any better than that, and if you don't like cigars, substitute it for a nice baked potato. : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 [quote name='IcePrincessKRS' date='Sep 10 2005, 08:50 PM']Right on Dudette. I wouldn't ever say that you have to be Catholic to have faith, but I would say that being Catholic is arguably better. I mean, c'mon, like Era Might posted "The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar" --GK Chesterton. : It doesn't get any better than that, and if you don't like cigars, substitute it for a nice baked potato. : [right][snapback]718582[/snapback][/right] [/quote] I don't like red wine or cigars..but steak I understand! : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 Well, of course you say that, because you're Catholic. However, Butte is a city full of ex-Catholics and you should hear the things they say about Catholics. I always end up defending them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 [quote name='Mikhail' date='Sep 10 2005, 09:35 PM']Well, of course you say that, because you're Catholic. However, Butte is a city full of ex-Catholics and you should hear the things they say about Catholics. I always end up defending them. [right][snapback]718624[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Defend Catholics and it's not long until you become one. Just ask Brother Adam. : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezic Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 There is no comparison to being Catholic. It is life giving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 No, I always take the devil's advocate. If everyone is dissing Catholics, I'll defend them. It's the same with anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hierochloe Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 [quote name='Raphael' date='Sep 10 2005, 06:11 PM']It's a struggle. [right][snapback]718495[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Aye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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