SPLIT: How is a Catholic saved?

[Beth_Martin]

One more try. I participate in eternal life now by being in Sanctifying Grace. I cannot be so sure after my death because I do not know today all the rest of my life’s action. So therefore even though I can say now that I would love to continue to follow in the Lord’s way, I cannot claim that victory until I have finished the race. I participate in eternal life because everyone who is in Christ, is alive in Christ.

In Christ,
Stan

I hope that method works for you.

 

[davidv]

mpjw2
as I stated…

The body of Christ is made up of all the church believers in Him, inclusive of the Catholic Church, the baptists, lutherans, presbyterians, protestants, etc

the catholic church is just one part of Christs’ church body

not included are the buddhist, muslims, atheists, hindus, jews for they have no belief in Jesus Christ for who He is.

God revealed to me there is salvation outside the Catholic Church
see my post on other thread…
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=441873&page=76

You believe this I do not.

Peter is not the rock Jesus was referrring to in scripture.

consider why I do not believe, you need a solid foundation to build upon.

No human being except Jesus is solid all truth.

Peter was definitely not solid…he denied Jesus three times when confronted with telling truth

David, what do you mean by both?

there only can be one truth right?

The post you linked didn’t even address my question, much less answer it. Unless you have your revelation reviewed by and approved by the Church I cannot trust that it as authentic.

You keep asking me to accept things on your say so without rational support. On that basis I reject your statement.

Throughout the Bible “rock” is used to represent many things. One of them is God the Father. Another is that it is the name given to Simon. You claim it is Peter’s confession. I say it is all three.

 

[paul_c]

Paul …you believe the Body of Christ is only the Catholic Church…I understand that

but for I moment thats all I ask, look at scripture through my eyes.

I believe Christ’s church body is not only the Catholic Church, but made up of all the Christian churches of the world. All play an important part in winning souls to God’s kingdom.

Paul I am sorry to hear you believe this and I understand why you do.
When I was catholic I met pushy Christians that I wish would just go away…I did not want any part of them.

Now here I am where I never thought I would be…

I can promise you that my purpose for being here is not to tear down the Catholic Church and/or try to convince anyone to leave.

if you have not done so…read my response to you in the other thread

my purpose for being hear is to find a way for unity

God bless

There can be only one truth and it is taught by the Catholic church, just as it has been for 2000 years. It can and will not be compromised. If you want unity, you must rejoin the church. The act of leaving the church had the opposite effect to what you claim you want- you created disunity rather than unity. Can’t you see that?

 

[paul_c]

I sin everyday and many I do not confess because I do not recall them always and often I sin by ommision and by complaining about things. Sometimes I find out something is a sin that I never thought of before. the point is that we sin so often that many times we do not even realize to the extent. So I will venture to guess that I have at least one sin everyday that went unconfessed, but i live by the spirit and not by the flesh. So to answer your question, all of my sins were forgiven before I was born and were all 100% nailed tothe cross the reason for comeing to God for forgiveness is for two primary reason 1) being respectful and 2) it gives God glory when we admit that HIs standard is perfect and we fall short and need Him.

Sin must be been dealt with before even entering into salvation; if it is not no one will enter into God’s rest no matter how hard they try or how much they desire. That is lliving by faith on the promises of Jesus Christ and never depending on myself. My conscience bears witness to when i sin and when that occurs I do ask for forgiveness. I love God and am in awe of why He would have anything to do with me in the first place, but I am very very thankful that He my life.

I decided to add another comment; as my day moves along I continually confess my sins as my conscience brings them to mind just as I pray throughout the day as circumstances arise. It may be driving by a car accicent and praying for the rescue workers and the victims. It has become such a part of my life that in some ways I do not think about it because I just do it.

Beth, honestly, if you would accept God’s grace in your life through the sacraments, you would find that you sin less over time. Through the help of God’s grace, you can and will become increasingly holy. But you can not do it on your own. Its more than just believing that Jesus died for us. Its taking up your cross and following along and making your will correspond to his. That requires humility , love, and obedience and most of all, it requries the grace that comes from frequently partaking of the sacraments. I go to mass daily and it makes all the difference in the world. Try it, and you’ll understand.

 

[Des]

You are not living and trusting by faith in God, but in faith of self and God.

***"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life ***to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given {them} to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch {them} out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”

Notice the words "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me"
That is the entire reason why no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. You see, so long as you cling to Christ, you can’t be touched. How does one cling to Christ. By doing His Will of course. By loving God with all his heart, mind and soul. Obeying all the commandments. You can’t do this when you sin therefore you have been snatched out of His hand each and every time till you repent. And since you do not do it the proper way through one of His Priests, then we can’t even be sure you’ve ever been forgiven since your Bapism.

I have no clue who you learned your osas doctrine off of but it’s not something you came up with all by yourself. You were schooled by the internet perhaps or a friend who lead you in that direction. You are allowing your faulty premise to interpret every scriptural verse thrown at you that opposes your belief. You continue to make yourself to be an infallible interpreter of Scripture even if you say otherwise.

 

[paul_c]

Matthew 10
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

If you check through earlier pages of this conversation, you’ll find that quite a few people, including myself, have already “departed” from a couple of its participants, given their glaring lack of intellectual honesty, compounded by their unabashed efforts to (mis)use this forum **only **as a platform to propagate their own outlandish lies and delusions.

Just hoping to save you the same eventual dismay and frustration, mate!

Stan and Francis,
You’ll find that things are not always as they seem on these forums. Many posters are the most vehemently anti-Catholic just before they convert. And many, many people are lured here by the spirit. They think they come to convert the Catholics but then come to see the truth and become converted themselves. You see half the Catholic Apologists here are converts so don’t shut anyone out. Stay the course. Explain the faith and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Trust me on this. I’ve seen it happen many many times over the 18 months I have been posting here.

 

[Ignatius]

In answer to the question “How are Catholics saved?”
The answer is unequivocally, by Jesus Christ!

 

[mpjw2]

One more try. I participate in eternal life now by being in Sanctifying Grace. I cannot be so sure after my death because I do not know today all the rest of my life’s action. So therefore even though I can say now that I would love to continue to follow in the Lord’s way, I cannot claim that victory until I have finished the race. I participate in eternal life because everyone who is in Christ, is alive in Christ.

In Christ,
Stan

Stan you missing my point…

when you say …

I cannot be so sure after my death because I do not know today all the rest of my life’s action.

I 100% agree with you

however I am not talking about tommorow’s actions

you say

I participate in eternal life today

right now, this minute, this second…right?

and from your previous post …

I know that right now I am in a state of grace.

I know that there are no mortal sins on my soul that have not been confessed.

I claim victory in Jesus today and everyday.

to which I all agree about myself

and then what you said above is the same you said yesterday

I have eternal life now

from your statements, correct me if I am wrong…

since you believe you have no unconfessed mortal sins **right now ** and you are in a state of grace **right now **and you have eternal life **right now ** and you claim victory in Jesus **right now ** and **right now ** if you were to die , do you believe there is anyway that God will sentence you to hell for eternity…

yes or no?

if yes how?

if no…

do you believe you will go straight to heaven?

yes or no

if no…why?

From all that you believe Stan about today, I believe you are going straight to heaven?

God bless

mpjw

 

[mpjw2]

“Noone can snatch them” doesn’t say that I cannot chose to leave. Scripture is clear about “finishing the race”. This “God does it all” is a new gospel and should be avoided at all cost. Don’t be fooled, you can choose to walk away. Humans have always had and continue to have free will. We choose all day everyday whether we will say yes to Jesus. When we reject Him, by sin, we separate ourselves from being in Him.

This does not minimize the sacrifice which Jesus so willingly underwent for our salvation. This does not minimize the role of the Holy Spirit. It does howevver say that we are always responsible for our actions.

In Christ,
Stan

agree 100%

 

[paul_c]

Stan you missing my point…

when you say …

I 100% agree with you

however I am not talking about tommorow’s actions

you say
right now, this minute, this second…right?

and from your previous post …

to which I all agree about myself

and then what you said above is the same you said yesterday

from your statements, correct me if I am wrong…

since you believe you have no unconfessed mortal sins **right now ** and you are in a state of grace **right now **and you have eternal life **right now ** and you claim victory in Jesus **right now ** and **right now ** if you were to die , do you believe there is anyway that God will sentence you to hell for eternity…

yes or no?

if yes how?

if no…

do you believe you will go straight to heaven?

yes or no

if no…why?

From all that you believe Stan about today, I believe you are going straight to heaven?

God bless

mpjw

MPJW,
you are having this little dance with Stan, but you are hearing only what you wish to hear.

He is saying something much different than you are.

He is saying that when he goes to confession, he is absolved of his sins and thus knows he is in the state of grace until he commits mortal sin. Since you can not commit mortal sin without knowing that it is mortal and deliberately doing it anyway, you have a pretty good idea of when you are in the state of grace and when you are not if you have a well formed conscience.

Now Stan is not saying that he is going to heaven. He is only stating that he knows his current status. He has no idea about his future status and is not guaranteed anything. He must persevere in the faith and be in the state of grace at death to be saved.

Contrast this to what you claim. You have faith in Jesus and therefore you are going to heaven, guaranteed.

Whereas Stan’s Catholic belief continually motivates him to do God’s will to stay in the state of Grace and drives him toward holiness, your Protestant belief breeds complacency and makes sin acceptable as long as you believe that Jesus will ultimately save you. In the Protestant belief structure, holiness is not required for salvation, only Faith. Can you not see how huge this gulf is…

Ask yourself the simple question: on judgement day, Will Jesus be content with a mere statement of belief, or will he require you to have actually taken up your cross and follow him to gain eternal life? Your answer will tell alot about how you understand the Gospel message.

 

[mpjw2]

I sin everyday and many I do not confess because I do not recall them always and often I sin by ommision and by complaining about things. Sometimes I find out something is a sin that I never thought of before. the point is that we sin so often that many times we do not even realize to the extent. So I will venture to guess that I have at least one sin everyday that went unconfessed, but i live by the spirit and not by the flesh. So to answer your question, all of my sins were forgiven before I was born and were all 100% nailed tothe cross the reason for comeing to God for forgiveness is for two primary reason 1) being respectful and 2) it gives God glory when we admit that HIs standard is perfect and we fall short and ***need Him. ***
Sin must be been dealt with before even entering into salvation; if it is not no one will enter into God’s rest no matter how hard they try or how much they desire. That is **lliving by faith on the promises of Jesus Christ **and never depending on myself. My conscience bears witness to when i sin and when that occurs I do ask for forgiveness. **I love God and am in awe of why He would have anything to do with me in the first **place, but I am very **very thankful **that He my life.

I decided to add another comment; as my day moves along I continually confess my sins as my conscience brings them to mind just as I pray throughout the day as circumstances arise. It may be driving by a car accicent and praying for the rescue workers and the victims. It has become such a part of my life that in some ways I do not think about it because I just do it.

thank you beth for your response. I agree with everything you just stated

you are a witness to the love of God

Beth,
the reason I ask the question
…

if you fall to sin tomorrow and never confess it God, do you believe you will still go to heaven?

which you did not answer but your answer gave me pretty good indication of what you believe…

My conscience bears witness to when i sin and when that occurs I do ask for forgiveness. I love God and am in awe of why He would have anything to do with me in the first place, but I am very very thankful that He my life.

Beth …I believe we do have control of our destiny…

when we sin, we ask for forgiveness as you said

however, I asked you the question because …let’s say a christian employee felt pressured and outright lied about something and cost their company a lot of money.

lying is a sin…right?

If a that person went through life and never confessed and or repented that lie and died with that lie on their soul…
what do you believe will be that person’s destiny?

My belief is since that person never confess and repented that lie to God, they would spend eternity in hell.

Unfortunately, I encountered many of Christians who believe in OSAS to the extreme.

I also believe it is for that reason it gives all non catholic Christians a bad reputation.

…I do not believe in OSAS… where a person will say

I can live my life anyway I want to…I am saved, I said a sinner’s prayer back in 1995

I met people who claim to be christians who said just that

Everytime I hear this I let people know God’s salvation is not a free ticket to heaven, that they can’t live their life anyway they want to and/or sin anyway they want to.

there has to be a sincere desire NOT to sin anymore, to hate sin.
thereby
having a sincere desire to want to follow the will of God and to please Him

thank you Beth and all who read theis post

God bless

mpjw

 

[mpjw2]

David…i am sorry you felt…

The post you linked didn’t even address my question, much less answer it.

try this again
to my statement

The body of Christ is made up of all the church believers in Him, inclusive of the Catholic Church, the baptists, lutherans, presbyterians, protestants, etc

the catholic church is just one part of Christs’ church body

not included are the buddhist, muslims, atheists, hindus, jews for they have no belief in Jesus Christ for who He is.

you asked…

But why do you state that? What are your reasons?

In my other post was my testimony of God’s salvation coming to life at a non catholic church.

it was then in my life that God open my eyes to the fact that the Catholic church is not the One and Only Christ’s Christian church body.

That is why I said

The body of Christ is made up of all the church believers in Him, inclusive of the Catholic Church, the baptists, lutherans, presbyterians, protestants, etc

hope that helped

Unless you have your revelation reviewed by and approved by the Church I cannot trust that it as authentic.

Ok Dave, I believe I do not need approval of any church, catholic or otherwise.

As a christian, I live my life wanting to please God and the only approval I need is from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who lives within me

You keep asking me to accept things on your say so without rational support. On that basis I reject your statement.

Quote me Dave on one thing I asked you to accept

I have been asking and answering questions and posting what I believe

I have never said Dave accept this “______________”

please show me what you are referring to

Throughout the Bible “rock” is used to represent many things. One of them is God the Father. Another is that it is the name given to Simon. You claim it is Peter’s confession. I say it is all three.

ok …do you believe “rock” is Peter’s confession or Peter himself?
there is a difference

…the bottom line is when it comes to what the true meaning of rock is …in the light of who gets saved or not…who ever has the meaning of rock wrong…will not spend eternity in hell because they misunderstood rock

God bless ,

mpjw

 

[mpjw2]

There can be only one truth and it is taught by the Catholic church, just as it has been for 2000 years. It can and will not be compromised. If you want unity, you must rejoin the church. The act of leaving the church had the opposite effect to what you claim you want- you created disunity rather than unity. Can’t you see that?

Paul I admire your faith and belief and I would not want to do anything to change that

I am above honest when I say that. I hope and pray you believe me

I pray you hold onto your belief for the rest of your life. I know in my heart your heart is in the right place as it is for all your other catholic brethern who posted on this thread and the other we share…Justaservant, fxcc, dave and inkaneer…God bless you all

I also share your belief that there can only be One Truth. to me that is God and His word expressed in every word of the bible and only the bible.

considering all other books written or will be written…
if they are not in line with the bible…I may read them out of curiosity to gain knowledge as to why others believe different from me…but in no way will I follow them and take them as gospel.

to all my catholic brethern, I am sorry to hear that your belief is so strong that you may believe all the other non catholic christians of the world may be doomed if they do not come “home” to the Catholic church.

It is refreshing to hear that you want and desire what you believe is the best for people…****

I believe there is a gigantic misunderstanding in the christian world…

as I stated to Beth…

Unfortunately, I encountered many of Christians who believe in OSAS to the extreme.

I also believe it is for that reason it gives all non catholic Christians a bad reputation.

…I do not believe in OSAS… where a person will say

I can live my life anyway I want to…I am saved, I said a sinner’s prayer back in 1995

I met people who claim to be christians who said just that

Everytime I hear this I let people know God’s salvation is not a free ticket to heaven, that they can’t live their life anyway they want to and/or sin anyway they want to.

there has to be a sincere desire NOT to sin anymore, to hate sin.
thereby
having a sincere desire to want to follow the will of God and to please Him

How do you feel Paul or anyone about what I just stated?

Paul here is the way I see our walk “march” with God

picture this…I was in the military and when we marched in formation we followed the commands of our leader only.

Everyone in formation was taught exactly the same as the rest and all received the same commands.

I can promise you not all in formation did what they were cammanded to do.

i.e. being out of step. shrugging shoulders, not looking straight ahead, even to the way we were dressed…shoes not shined, creases in pants

there were lot of other details to maintain perfection.

there were the training sessions where we learned perfection

then there were the ceremonies where there was competition (retreat) to award the sharpest most perfect unit.

we all knew…the smallest imperfection by any one of us can cost ALL of us the award which is awaiting.

If you were in the military you know exactly what I mean

what I am saying is, while in competition, If I were to follow the “formation” I was in and NOT ONLY my leader, my focus may be distracted by an imperfection of another in “formation” and I may possibly fail too and cost ALL the award.

Paul, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is my leader in my spritual “march” in this life

there are many “formations” churches which are marching the narrow path and following the leader…God and believe Jesus died for their imperfections…(sins)

We are all going in the same direction, if we all follow our leader God.

If you believe the Catholic church is the front formation …great!!! I have no problem with that.

out of all the formations which are directly behind the Catholics, I will be in the last one.

I am so far behind I can not see the Catholics.

even if I was in the formation behind the Catholics, …if I followed the Catholic church only, my focus may be distracted and cause me to sin.

The Catholic Church is made up of imperfect people just like the other Christian Churches…you believe that right?.

I do know however, that if I endure and stay focused on my leader God, there is a gigantic award awaiting and we all can celebrate together in heaven.:heaven:

Paul …did you see mypost #755 in the other thread?

I liked your questions to beth to which I also answered.

I asked the questions back to you and I am waiting for your answers.

I am sure you did not see my post

there is also a you tube music video I am sure will bless you

God bless mpjw

 

[mpjw2]

Stan and Francis,
You’ll find that things are not always as they seem on these forums. Many posters are the most vehemently anti-Catholic just before they convert. And many, many people are lured here by the spirit. They think they come to convert the Catholics but then come to see the truth and become converted themselves. You see half the Catholic Apologists here are converts so don’t shut anyone out. Stay the course. Explain the faith and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Trust me on this. I’ve seen it happen many many times over the 18 months I have been posting here.

thank you for your heart Paul

You are a true Christian looking for the good in all and a desire for all to have the best God has to offer…Praise God

God bless you

 

[mpjw2]

In answer to the question “How are Catholics saved?”
The answer is unequivocally, by Jesus Christ!

Hi Ignatius

I agree Catholics are saved by Jesus and since you are catholic I will ask you what I been asking the others

If you believe what you just said…

then do you also believe that if you were to did right now …this moment…Jesus will save you and God will accept you directly into heaven?

thank you

mpjw

 

[mpjw2]

MPJW,
you are having this little dance with Stan, but you are hearing only what you wish to hear.

I am sorry you believe that …

I am willing to talk this through so we understand each other clearly

He is saying something much different than you are.

ok lets see…

He is saying that when he goes to confession, he is absolved of his sins and thus knows he is in the state of grace until he commits mortal sin.

great i realize this and I believe the same about myself

Since you can not commit mortal sin without knowing that it is mortal and deliberately doing it anyway, you have a pretty good idea of when you are in the state of grace and when you are not if you have a well formed conscience.

agree 100%

Now Stan is not saying that he is going to heaven.

oh?

He is only stating that he knows his current status.

here is my point… right here that everyone passes over. Stan knows his current status right?

what do you exactly mean by saying

he knows his current status

my belief is from that statement is … if stan were to die at the very precise moment in which he knows his current status, then He knows he is going to heaven or at least to what you believe is purgatory…right?

there is no way you believe you are going to hell right?

correct me if I am wrong

now once that is answered…I will be happy to go on …

He has no idea about his future status and is not guaranteed anything.

agree 100%

He must persevere in the faith and be in the state of grace at death to be saved.

agree 100%

Contrast this to what you claim. You have faith in Jesus and therefore you are going to heaven, guaranteed.

I am sorry if you understood me that way …I know there is a bad reputation of OSAS… I made reference to it in prior post

Whereas Stan’s Catholic belief continually motivates him to do God’s will to stay in the state of Grace and drives him toward holiness,

I am happy to hear Stans and yours desire to do the will of God

your Protestant belief breeds complacency and makes sin acceptable as long as you believe that Jesus will ultimately save you.

some christians may believe this…I do not…anyone who believes this has a false belief.

Sin is NEVER acceptable in God’s eyes

In the Protestant belief structure, holiness is not required for salvation, only Faith. Can you not see how huge this gulf is…

sure is

Paul as I just stated there is a big false belief in the christian world
I am sure you saw in my previous post my feelings about OSAS

also Paul if I may say what I am seeing…anyone who is christian but not catholic is given a “protestant” umbrella on these threads. we all believe in Jesus Christ but we all are not protestants of which I am not either.

Ask yourself the simple question:

I’ll be happy to answer…be prepared…my answer may surprise you…

on judgement day, Will Jesus be content with a mere statement of belief

absolutely not

or will he require you to have actually taken up your cross

oh yes…God knows the many crosses I have taken up…I need Him more and more each and every day

and follow him to gain eternal life?

absolutely

Your answer will tell alot about how you understand the Gospel message.

from my answers to your questions, Do you believe I understand the Gospel message?

I look forward to your answer about

what do you exactly mean by saying

he knows his current status

thank you and God bless

 

[mpjw2]

wow i am busy answering your questions …phew

I look forward to your answers to my answers

I can not thank you all enough for you time and patience

from my last post to Paul i saw a big void where there is a misunderstanding of the way of non catholic christians.

We all do not all believe in OSAS …live your life any way you want and at the end God will save you

 

[skeyes]

Yes, if there is no mortal sin that i have not confessed, then I would be assured of Purgatory. Then after this “state”, I would be able to see the Beatific Vision and live for all eternity in heaven.

In Christ,
Stan

 

[davidv]

David…i am sorry you felt…

try this again
to my statement

you asked…

In my other post was my testimony of God’s salvation coming to life at a non catholic church.

it was then in my life that God open my eyes to the fact that the Catholic church is not the One and Only Christ’s Christian church body.

That is why I said

hope that helped

Ok Dave, I believe I do not need approval of any church, catholic or otherwise.

As a christian, I live my life wanting to please God and the only approval I need is from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who lives within me

You keep asking me to accept things on your say so without rational support. On that basis I reject your statement.

Quote me Dave on one thing I asked you to accept

I have been asking and answering questions and posting what I believe

I have never said Dave accept this “______________”

please show me what you are referring to

This

mpjw2:

The body of Christ is made up of all the church believers in Him, inclusive of the Catholic Church, the baptists, lutherans, presbyterians, protestants, etc

the catholic church is just one part of Christs’ church body

With the implications that all are equal. I cannot accept this premise.

Throughout the Bible “rock” is used to represent many things. One of them is God the Father. Another is that it is the name given to Simon. You claim it is Peter’s confession. I say it is all three.

ok …do you believe “rock” is Peter’s confession or Peter himself?
there is a difference

Did I not write that it is both? Doesn’t Scripture have many layers of meaning?

…the bottom line is when it comes to what the true meaning of rock is …in the light of who gets saved or not…who ever has the meaning of rock wrong…will not spend eternity in hell because they misunderstood rock

God bless ,

mpjw

If you think “rock” has only one meaning in this passage then I know you have missed out on the richness of Scripture. One does not need to understand this passage to love God and neighbor. This knowledge is not required for salvation.

 

[paul_c]

Paul I admire your faith and belief and I would not want to do anything to change that

I am above honest when I say that. I hope and pray you believe meGod bless mpjw

MPJW2:

My heart goes out ot you because I can see you sincerely want to do the right thing. Be open to where the Spirit takes you. I have seen this scenario several times in the last year. A person grows up in a non-devout Catholic family and hence is poorly catechized. The person is looking for spiritual guidance but just isn’t getting it in the Catholic Church because they just don’t know where to look. They have a conversion experience in a non-Catholic, usually non-denominational church and begin to read scripture. They see the power of God and become very motivated to witness. But something doesn’t seem quite right in what they are being taught. They begin to see inconsistencies but at the same time, they want to witness back to the Catholics that they have found a better way. They get on this website and suddenly find the answers to the questions that they have been asking all their lives. They resist for a few months but then the power of the Spirit overwhelms them and they come rushing home to the Catholic Church as if it was new, because they have now discovered the true chruch that had been previously hidden from them. They witness to their families and before you know it, they also become more devout… The spirit works in mysterious ways sometimes.

As for me, my father was fairly devout, my mother not so much since her parents never went to mass and had some grudge against the church. But she did go on her own and recieved the sacraments., My catechism was poor but I always went to mass. When I was 13, they gave me a bible as part of CCD and I read it virtually every day since (I’m 50 now). Until I was 40, I did the absolute minimum that could be expected of a practicing catholic. But then, one day at confession, the priest’s penance was to go to daily mass one time. I was nervous about doing that because I had never done it before but I went. And then I went again, and again. and again. I became hooked. I started teaching CCD and that taught me a lot of the basics of the faith that I had never learned while allowing me to witness to my own growing faith… I increased my bible study from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and ultimately 5 chapters a day. I began to read the lives of the saints and that was inspiring. I began to experience the rich devotions of the chruch, the rosary, the miraculous medal novenas, the stations of the cross and ultimately, eucharistic adoration. I began witnessing on the internet and eventually was led to this forum. Most recently, I have begun witnessing in a men’s group in our parish. I don’t know where it will end, but the need to do more keeps grwoing within me.

So my message is to be open to where the Spirit takes you. God is very, very merciful and will help you get to where you need to be. But he loves you enough not to force it upon you. It will be your choice.

God Bless you… Paul