Gradualism – The Death of the Soul of the Republic

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Are American Core Values Dying?

What do we mean when we say the words “American Values”, “the American Dream”, “Life”, “Liberty” and “the Pursuit of Happiness”, “Fairness”, Fair Share”?  Do we believe that these core concepts and principles where spelled out using  Christian – Judeo philosophy?  An ancient philosophy whose foundation is based upon the existence or a creator God from whom all rights originate?

Do we recognize erosion when as it occurs or does it take place so slow and low key we can easily be duped?  Do we recognize when untruth replaces truth just because so called powerful and educated people say an untruth is the truth?

The word “Gradualism” is very reflective of the erosion that has and is taking place in America during my life time and has accelerated with the advent of Mass Media technology supported by propaganda agents who seek to convince citizens wrong is right!

Gradualism seeks to break down individuals conscientious rendering the concepts of right and wrong, a lie and the truth, sin and as nebulous and no longer relevant.

We are in the midst of a great battle to define what the core values and principles of traditional American family, the definition of life, liberty, freedom, the pursuit of happiness!

Will the people of American allow the government to act as the sole source of our God given freedoms and help destroy the foundational guidelines

A Battle for Our Soul and the Soul of Our Nation

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4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Today’s scriptures call us to reflect upon the days of old.  Are we ready to in our time machine and go back in time?  Long long ago, in a time referred to as “in the beginning”, lurked a seductive voice.  This voice was opposed to God and to this very day seeks to make humans fall into a condition of spiritual death out of envy.

We see it all around us when people accept wrong as OK or worse right.  Just because a group of people with an agenda say an untruth is the truth does not make it so and reinforces the subtlety and stealthness of the evil voice.

Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, we call “Satan” or the “devil”.  It is proper to associate all angles as spiritual beings with wings and many serve as our protectors and messengers of “the good news”.  The description of the Fall of Angles can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church numbers 391-395.

The Church teaches “These angles and other spirits were indeed created naturally good by God”.  All the angles knew their creator and recognized Him immediately.  The fallen angels like we humans were granted free will and became evil by their own choice.  Thus they became known as unclean spirits or demons.

From the beginning the reign of untruth and trouble for humanity began.  We see it in the story of the first woman and man – Adam and Eve in the garden.

Now let us step into our time machine and leap forward in time to the Book of Deuteronomy.  Here we hear the people Israel were waiting in the desert at the foot of Mount Horeb.  They were fearful of the fire and voice of the Lord God almighty that surrounded the mountain as they waited for Moses to come down.  When Moses arrived they begged him to silence the voice of God and extinguish the fire lest they die.  Their request was granted but not without a promise.  We hear Moses promise the Lord God Almighty will one day raise up a prophet from their own kin, and to him you shall listen.   I will put my own words in His mouth and he shall tell them all that I command.  Listen to Him like it is your first and last time to hear his voice.

In today’s gospel we are reminded of the reality of the Fall of the Angles and in a place one might think the voice of the devil would never enter.

So now we have been set up for the message of Marks Gospel.  Which voice are we going to follow?  Both spiritual voices exist and cry out for our attention.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus begins His public ministry which represents a new beginning in time for Him and His message is He has come to establish a new beginning.  On the Sabbath at Capernaum Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  The people were astonished at His teaching.

Jesus came to earth as the antidote for evil with the power and authority to counter the devil’s spirit and to make possible the creation of a new earth and a new heaven.  Sacred Scripture calls this a mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity as Jesus He creates the opportunity for each of us to be reborn again each and every day.

To drive home this point, Mark places in the synagogue in the midst of the assembly, where we might least expect it, a man with an unclean spirit.  It’s Jesus first day on the job.  “In the beginning” Jesus encounters and confronts the spirit of a demon.  Mark uses this unclean spirit of a demon to demonstrate from the beginning the fallen angel was the first to know God and so knew immediately  who Jesus was!

Jesus came to confront evil and open our eyes to see the doorway and pathway to heaven.  He came to show us He is the power and authority to drive out our demons if only we open ourselves to His spirit.  He came so our ears may be opened so we can hear the sound of His voice.

I don’t have to look far (open heart surgery) to see the good Lord has chosen that I have the opportunity to begin life again with a new heart.  I have no doubt He has chosen to send me to you to deliver His message of Hope.  Twice He decided that I should live!  He sent me to you to speak of the power and authority of the Holy Spirit as symbolized by a dove.

Here is a dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit (lifting up a pure white dove).  Pure white to symbolize the spirit of forgiveness which washes us clean and the spirit of truth that leads one away from the devil and sets us on the path to salvation.

The question the church is asking each of us today is, what demons do we  have that we allow to possess us?  Do we think we can drive out these demon alone or do we believe with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit we can drive out any demon?  Do we believe it is possible for us to be born again like an innocent baby?

Our nation is being fed a constant stream of untruths broadcast from multiple sources in an effort to create an image of truth.

To save ourselves and our nation we must turn back to the voice of the one who created us, the voice of truth who has the power to save us and our nation.

So are we open and ready for the real possibility that our spirit can be reborn and washed clean as white as new fallen snow?  Yes Jesus has the power and authority to raise us up to new life where we can encounter a new earth, a new nation and a new heaven?

Millie and a Small Miracle

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A Small Miracle

Wanna hear about a small miracle?  Another sign God exists!  I have been visiting with Millie, a very pleasant soul, who is in a nursing home for more than two years.  Millie has a form of Alzheimer’s.  Every time I would visit with Millie we would celebrate a Catholic communion service.  Before we stated I would always ask her if she knew who I was so I knew if I needed to tell her why I was there.  Her answer was always – “I don’t know – who are you!”

Every time I visited Millie I was born again a brand new man in her world!  Yet  when we began the prayers Millie knew every prayer by heart.

So what about the miracle — well due to my open heart surgery and recovery I did not visit Millie for almost 4 months.  Yesterday after a 4 month absence I asked Millie if she knew who I was?  Millie said sure “your the Deacon”!

Thank you Lord for, Tim Tebow (316) isn’t the only person the Good Lord speaks through to those who have spiritual ears and eyes!

Polsters and Pundants can’t See!

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Slow Minded Pollsters and Pundits:

The pollsters and Pundits think the Tea Party has gone to sleep.  What they can not see is the Tea Party people clearly understood and recognized the current President was not openly or objectively vetted during the last presidential campaign

The Tea Party folks know they can not depend on the main stream media for open and objective vetting.  So multiple debates hosted by multiple media outlets has resulted.   The Republican Party and candidates will not escape the intense glare of the Tea Party folks as they insist the Republican candidates go through the most thorough vetting process ever seen in the history of this nation.

Tea Party Folks are not behaving like the Pollsters expect:

The Tea Party folks are fooling the pollsters as well by being non committal about who they will support.

Tea Party folks realize the longer they wait to make up their mind the better the vetting process will work.

In fact 60% say they might change their support at a later time – don’t hold your breath cause this is going to take awhile!

Orange Juice

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Oh Orange Juice – Orange Juice — heaven sent! Delivered by angles to wet ones parched dry lips, to caress and tantalize ones taste buds back to life, to refresh ones tongue, the roof of the mouth and awaken the tonsils and throat from the grasp of death to new life! So one can clearly sing -> “Alleluia – Lord Have Mercy”!!!

To the Heart of the Matter — Whats Really Important

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Early in the morning on October 21, 2011, feeling perfectly fine I entered Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.  I must be crazy I thought – I am volunteering and freely submitting myself to Open Heart Surgery – to make matters (really better but seemingly crazy) worse I felt good like nothing is wrong – yet instinctively I knew the tests the doctors ran in late September were accurate and true!  I had a serious and deteriorating heart condition known as stenosis of the aortic valve along with an aorta aneurysm.  Doing nothing would mean a slow and almost certain deteriotion of my heart from which it could not recover!

(Stenosis = calcium deposits on the aortic value causing the valves to harden and narrow – thus creating an inability to close resulting in regurgitation – blood flowing backwards in the heart.  The regurgitation causes the aorta artery at the top of the heart to compensate for the narrowing stream and widen into an aneurysm).

On October 21, 2011 life started all over again with a new adventure to be reveled in time!

So I decided to ask each nurse and doctor as I encountered them what they wanted me to pray for while I submitted to their care.  Most had to ask a second time- what are you asking?  Guess not many patients ask nurses and doctors to pray for their intentions since the patients are usually fearful, nervous and jerky themselves.  And they are the ones placing their trust and submitting to the skill and talents of those whose hands their life rests.

Say What? Are you wanting to pray for – for me?

So let me ask – what is it this day that you like me to pray for you?

Being put to sleep was easy – it was waking up reality that creates the passage into the struggle of the life among the living.  The first thing I asked my nurse was – what would like me to pray for for you?  Say that again!  In ICU the first nurse answered “Health”.

The First Great Gift!

The really great gifts are always right in front of our noses – often too close to see with our eyes.  In ICU it was = Ice – “Oh Lord Have Mercy on me” send ice the most wonderful gift from God.  The critical care ICU RN’s could make a fortune selling ice to patients!  The breath of God passed over the waters – the well spring of all life!!!”  Ice is just water with the capacity to revive dry parched flesh.

The breath of God passed through a life sustaining breathing tube.  Unfortunately this tube causes one to suffer with a sore dry throat once removed.  Lord have Mercy!

To Be Continued …………………

 

Intellectual Devastation <-> One Great Gift

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When I was in sixth grade I had Sister Augustine (maybe not her name cause I’m getting old).  Sister Augustine was an older nun – remembering I was just a boy and 30 year old people were old.

Sister Augustine put me the 3rd group for reading.  Every afternoon the few in the 3rd group would be required to read a “3rd” grade reader aloud.  Well this blew me away.  I was embarrassed, self conscientious which didn’t help me focus one bit on reading.

At the end of sixth grade Sister Augustine recommended I go to summer school and successfully pass it to advance to the seventh grade.

My self esteem intellectually was shot.  It was rumored Sister Augustine was going to be the seventh grade teacher the next year.  With that news I was determined I would play Hooke from Catholic School and self enroll in the local Junior High.  Don’t ask me how I thought I would get away with that with my parents but rest assure I was determined not to have Sister Augustine as a teacher ever again in my life.

Why Catholic’s Shouldn’t Read the Bible

After reading in the afternoon Sister Augustine taught class on the history of heresies in the Catholic Church.  During that period of history the people of the church were uneducated and some very ignorant.  As such folks in those days were easily persuaded to believe many heresies being propagated at the time.  Sister Augustine told us because of such heresies only scholars should interpret scripture from which a young immature sixth grade boy with low intellectual self esteem would conclude – he should ever read scripture because one who can hardly read a 3rd grade reader will never be a scholar.  Hence I came to believe I should not read the bible!

 Forgiveness – How Long Does It take

Years later when I was in my early 30’s, I found myself working at the Chicago O’Hare Air Traffic Control Tower, the world’s busiest.  Somewhere along the line I began to suspect I must not be the intellectual dummy I had concluded and accepted I was.  As I found myself solving problems no one else in the country was able a light began to go on.  Maybe, just maybe, this boy had a brain!

How Long Does it Take?

A trip to Cleveland Ohio and an encounter with Fr. Cullen who opened the doorway to my heart.  St. Ladislaus Catholic Church, Westlake, Ohio, the home of my calling! God loves you just exactly like you are was the message!  B___ S___! was my inner response.  But with that response bubbled up a thirst and a search for an answer was triggered.   The search took me down memory lane to remember and relive the life of a  boy too immature and lacking in knowledge to know how to respond to the woundedness of the soul.  The wounds we opened afresh and the anger was still there!

Still Not Ready – A Trip to Miami

By now I knew I was being called but to what I wasn’t sure.  Certainly I could not articulate this call.  To St. Louis Parish in Perrine, Florida and Fr. Russel.  Now Fr. Russel was a thespian in college, you know an actor.  At the first Mass I attended at St. Louis Parish, Fr. Russel raised his voice. lowered his voice to a whisper.  But when he raised arms high above his head my back was pressed against the pew and I immediately reached for the booklet in the pew to verify I was in a real Catholic Church.

You see, the good Lord knew the young boy living itself the man needed some serious stretching if he was to answer the call to which he could not yet articulate.

What Another Move

Miami was a stretch stop preparing the boy to grasp and discern the call he did not yet understand.  It was on to Atlanta, Georgia and St. Philip Benizi and the formation of a mission church which held Mass in a local school cafeteria.  It was there the boy finally came to understand the call and applied to become a Permanent Deacon.

But the Holy Spirit knew the angry boy was still trapped inside the man.  How to get him out?  Fr. Beltran was the priest sent by the Archbishop of Atlanta to build the church and the Parish of St. Gabriel.  Now Fr. Beltran taught some of the RCIA (adult education) classes and the boy attended.  During one such class Fr. Beltran was asked why the catholic Church taught it’s people shouldn’t read the Bible.  Well Fr. Beltran went on and on about how the Catholic Church has never taught it’s people they should not read scripture.  The boy said to himself how could I be so sure they did and Fr. Beltran sure they didn’t.  Well for sure Fr. Beltran never knew Sister Augustine!

The Forgiveness Door Finally Opens

When the new deacon finally began to preach, the woundedness of the boy living inside began to pour out as living water on a people thirsting for truth and hope.  The boy finally understood the lesson of Sister Augustine – the woundedness of the boy was serving as a forgiveness bridge over which the love Fr. Cullen taught could travel to the heart of God’s people exactly like they were without condition while the raising and lowering ones voice and held captive the sacred gathering of people.

Suffering — the Doorway to Truth

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Is there anyone who came to teach people that suffering has meaning and a purpose?

We should do all we can to avoid and prevent suffering – right?  There is nothing to be gained through suffering?  No one should ever have to suffer right?

Are there any lessons to be learned when one suffers?  Does suffering lead one to seek the cause of the suffering.  Can suffering be self inflicted.

Do we not have a free will to choose in every situation?  Could Free Will be a gift of Love?  Could that gift of Love be the necessary teacher of the consequences of free will choices?  Could that gift of love actually be digested discerned by humans through suffering.  Could the avoidance or intervention and prevention of suffering actually be an act of leading one into spiritual  captivity, bondage and slavery from which one increasingly is unable to escape?

What is the Cost and Consequences of Free Will

Have we humans been granted an unconditional gift of free will?  And with free will do we get to choose the consequences of our actions?  When we ignore the warnings and advice of those who know us best and love us the most do we open ourselves to the risk of failure and self inflicted wounds?  Do we sometimes follow those who mislead us with none living images, idols and in the long run treat us as receptive fools lacking wisdom, knowledge and the courage to seek and discern the truth?

Could suffering actually be a building block gift which opens our minds to the “Good” and the “Bad” of free will choices?

Suffering in my life lead me to pray for an openness of mind and soul to identify what caused my suffering.  Suffering lead me to develop an unquenchable thirst for the truth though I did not recognize it often for days, weeks and yes even years.  Suffering gave me a unique spiritual scale to balance joy and sadness and lead me to recognize and understand the most power gifts and talents I have.  From my suffering came my most prized and treasured success’s.

Suffering always leads me back to the one who came to earth to teach the most basic and powerful blessings of suffering.  We refer to that teacher as the one who shows us how to serve, cuts through the smoke to the truth, shows us the way to live and the way to encounter heaven on earth and prepare for the heaven perfected yet to come – known as the “Already and the Not Yet”!

 

Authority Church and Government

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In light of the United States Bishops position on Illegal Immigration and Person-hood Amendments coming out of several states and reflecting upon the proper “Authority” to address these issues would be appropriate.

The Authority of the Federal Government and the Church

Where does authority originate?  Jesus told us the Authority of the Church comes form His Father, The Lord God Almighty, the Creator.  He also told us the authority of the government also come from His father, the Lord God Almighty, the Creator.

John Chapter 19,  Jesus answered Pilot, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.

The Authority over the Church and government comes from the same source from above.

All Authority comes from the Highest Authority – God

So then who owns the line between Church and State since the authority for both comes from the same source above.  One could say, The Lord Almighty owns the line and can walk on the line anywhere and always.

What about the authority of the United States of America Federal Government whom the Bishops have stated by, stating the United States Bishops do not support State laws addressing these issues?  Well can the authority with which they speak be challenged?  Have they built their argument on rock or sand?

A Guiding Document – The Declaration of Independence

Have the Bishops or any of us read the Declaration of Independence recently in regard to where government authority comes in this nation?  The “Rights” of the people come from an “unalienable” authority, greater than any earthly government, president, congress, senate or judicial authority.  I would call that “Authority” = “God”.  I think it is pretty clear.

The Declaration of Independence doesn’t stop there however.  It goes on to clearly state and the authority of the government originates from “the consent of the governed” – the people!  Then with even stronger language it emphasizes that when such government violates the rights of principles of the people they not only have a just “right” but a solemn duty to take action to modify, amend or even abolish such government.

Are the Bishops of America aware of the peoples “right and duty”?  Are the Bishops implying in their position trumps that of the people and we the people must rely solely upon a Federal government clearly demonstrating an inability to listen, respect or honor the right of the people or the church”?   A Federal Government which seeks to equate the difference between right and wrong while actively supporting political correctness.  Are the Bishops unable to see a government lusting and seeking power and control over the people by supporting corrupt and corny capitalism?

The words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 19 come to mind – “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  By taking a position favoring the federal government’s authority over the right and duty of the people to take action at the local, state and federal levels is guilty of handing the people over to a system lacking the leadership or faculties to protect the foundational rights of her people.

Whoever, in this country supports handing the people over to the power of a government that has been increasingly violating the sacred rights to “Life”, “Liberty” and “the Pursuit of happiness”, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is suffering from misguided judgement and short sided spiritual discernment?

The Role Model of Authority

While Jesus was on earth He modeled the role He wanted the Hierarchy of the Church to follow.  Who did Jesus tell His disciples to serve and how did He most clearly demonstrate that act.  At the last supper he taught how His authority should be demonstrated.  Jesus, the Son of God got down on His knees and washed the feet of His disciples – the original people of the church.

Who did Jesus command His disciples to serve?  Was it the none living entity of the government of the people or the people of God?

Circling back, the government gets it’s authority from God through the people.  The Church gets it’s authority from God to serve the people.  Both by design are called to serve the people in the spirit of the Creator God.

Could the Bishops of America have their position in regard to the United States government and the people of God upside down and backwards in regard to the peoples right and duty?

Authority Comes from the Consent of the Governed

The People Have the Necessary Authority

The People created the States, the States created the Federal Government and the 10th Amendment reserves all “rights” not delieniated to the Sates and to the People.   The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Would it not be appropriate for the Sates to call the Federal government back to the Constitutional principles upon which this Nation was established?

By supporting the Federal Government as the single avenue to address these serious issues, could the Bishops be unwisely telling the people of God the problem of Illegal Immigration and the sacredness of life is not their right and duty to address and can only be solved at the Federal level which has long been unable to take any appropriate action.  Are the Bishops missing the servant leadership skill to nurture and encourage the people act at every level local, state and federal which is their right and duty.  Could some Catholic’s and other conclude from the Bishops they have no individual right or responsibility to listen to their conscience, use their spirit and answer the call of the Lord God Almighty simply because the Bishops have provided them an ready made pass?

Do the Bishops of America not see what is clearly before the eyes of the people?  A nation in the midst of it’s greatest war between the flesh and the spirit.  A war being fought at every level of society to knock the Lord God Almighty off the block and replace Him with a New American idol secular progressive politically correct nonliving God – a pagan idol.

The Building Blocks = Living Stones

Further the Church through it’s Bishops have been clearly taught that “the Roman Catholic Church” is made up of living stones and not structural non living entities.  That “The Church (all the people of the church) is in need of constant purification” including the hierarchy and magisterium.

That the family serves as the foundation building mini church foundation upon which the lager church is built.  Not a single bishop or priest or deacon receives life without a mother and father and a home.  Destroy the Home the foundation of the Home and the Church is weakened.  Destroy the father and with him the family and the foundation of the church is weakened.  Destroy the father figure and the mother figure of the Church is weakened.  Weaken them sufficiently life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be the domain of a pagan idol.

Serve the People with Truth

The USCCB Bishops insistence they can not support the issues of illegal immigration and the sacredness of life being addressed at other than the federal level revels gross misunderstanding of what made the United Sates of America a Light Standing of a Hill to the World.  Worse it denies the rights and responsibilities of every person, the very dignity of every person called to action by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the sin of the hierarchy of the Catholic Bishops is intrinsic to the age old human nature relationship with authority.  We all want to play God, even Bishops are tempted to play God.  When any of us get caught up with our own authority and forget we were called to serve the people of God big trouble lies ahead.

Lord God Almighty forgive us, save this nation from itself, self centered interest and from placing ourselves upon a high and mighty pedestal from which there is no graceful way down!

Please if you made it thus far, Pray for us!

A Voyage through Hell – Will it be Necessary

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A Trip to Hell = is that what it takes to Open the Spirit of the Church

In 1977 I began opening my spirit to the possibility of being called to the permanent diaconate, although I could not have articulate that fact in 1977.

With all that is taking place in our world beginning in 2008, the Holy Spirit began bugging me about what it takes to be opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  In other words what does it take to loosen the stiff neck and soften the hard heart of humanity, even those who profess to be of and in the church?

In 1995 I was ordained as a Deacon in the Roman Catholic church.  Now I know the basic history of the diaconate of the Catholic church from the fall of the diconate which suffered from corruption and confusion within the church.

From Permanent & Married to Transitional & Celibate

Over a period of years the permanent diaconate (married and celibate) slowly disappeared while the transitional deacon continues to remain as a part of the process of becoming an ordained priest.

What Prompted the Church to Restore the Permanent Diaconate

The Holy Spirit bugged my spirit to ask the question again and lead me to reflect upon what caused my Church to restore the Permanent Diaconate to which I have been ordained.

The Story – WW II – Nazi War Camps = Hell

During World War II there were at least 3000 Catholic priests, deacons, and bishops who were imprisoned there.  These ordained men experienced a living hell as they observed the nightmare of the worst torture and indignity humanity can unleash upon itself.   It was the memories of these priest reflecting on the difficult situation of the church, speculated that permanent deacons – married or single men with a formal, stable commitment to the work of the church – could have accomplished much good.

I would speculate the clergy observed married men ministering to the guards and imprisoned in a way the Holy Spirit clearly opened their hearts, minds and souls to the possibility the Holy Spirit wanted the permanent diaconate restored.

History proves the prompting of the Holy Spirit continued after the war, when it was taken up by theologians and scholars, especially in Europe, and discussed in a number of articles and books.  In 1957 Pope Pius XII spoke favourable of a restored permanent diaconate, although concluding that “the time is not yet ripe”. The idea was very much in the air by the time of Vatican Council II.

Restoration of the Married Priesthood

So the Holy Spirit lead me to this spiritual reflection beginning in and around 2008.  The War between the Flesh and the Spirit has intensified as the secular progressive humanism agenda is being played out in our world and nation.  The attacks on the Father figure, Christianity and the family are changing the fabric of our society with alarming speed.

New and evolving technology have accelerated the creation and use of a new language Art Form.  Feed back from the use of words is increasingly fast and word usage is dynamically changing.   Further image making has now become another Art Form that is potentially a more influencing factor than core values and character.

One who comes in the image of is now a real reality.  The question must be asked is the person speaking the truth of who they really are or are they speaking the words we want to hear without reveling the character the person they really are.

True Agendas are Hidden in a Maze of Words we Want hear

Will all of these images of what is right and just leads us to Hell on Earth?  Could it be the Holy Spiirt is prompted us again to open the mind, spirit and soul of the Church to restore the married priesthood which through the act alone would clearly communicate without speaking the significance and importance of the building blocks principles of truth the Roman Catholic Church professes to teach and profess.

Preach the Truth through actions prompted by the Holy Spirit and only speak in necessary!

It’s Time – Restore the Married Priesthood within the Catholic Church before the Trip to Hell on Earth becomes a necessary to overcome the stumbling blocks of human nature.