Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.
I will share with you (and anyone else reading this now) how I determined (via God's grace) that I had a vocation to Marriage and not the Priesthood, hopefully it will help:
I was discerning for quite some time if I had a calling to the priesthood, spent many weekends in "vocational discernment" with priests and my local bishop, taking time with men like me who were attempting this discernment (btw any man reading this, if you even THINK you have such a calling you should explore it in your own diocese), but eventually reached a point where I was "stuck", spiritually.
Then I found myself spending more time with a woman that a friend had introduced to me, going places and doing things, I guess "dating" looking back I'd say that but at the time I didn't think so haha if that makes sense.
Anway, to make a long story short, on one of these excursions we were meeting some other friends at an amusement park, and we were going to park in my car me and her, and meet the rest later.
I came up to the gate to pay for parking but I realized I didn't have enough cash to pay for the parking so reached for my wallet to pay with my credit card. SHE reaches first, to me with the $10 to pay the cost and says "here you go don't worry it's ok".
All of a sudden a voice in my head says, "it is not good that man be alone. For this reason he has a help-meet".
THEN I knew: I had a calling to Matrimony, not the Preisthood. By the way: We married a year later, this woman and I.
My point is, that "discernment" isn't an academic exercise. It's in (but NOT OF) the world, it's in reality in other words. So don't be looking for "signs from Heaven" like doves descending from clouds or any "stuff" like that.
YOu will KNOW, what God intends of you, at a time HE chooses. Just trust in that. YOu aren't in control, He is. Trust, in that.
And have a good time in the meantime. haha
I figured they were a scam group, but not that they might actually be sending something blessed, that's my point. I thought they were a scam group because again, I thought they'd be guilty of simony if they really were "Catholic".
Reading all this in black and white so to speak, I see how this all is so silly of me LOL......but STILL I swear, I've gotten stuff like this in the mail. THanks again for helping me understand more about this issue.
@EamonnClark Ok thank you, I appreciate it.
I have received such in the mail. I will say, it's been a while and it's not that common. But it's happened (they said it was blessed, and to "send what God wills", near direct quote but not exact quote I'll admit that too).
@NelsonDaleSmith@robertgraham haha can you imagine monitoring a pool that size to add the proper amount of chlorine to keep the algae growth at bay?
It would be a LOT of "lifeguards", to put it one way, trust me.
I love this goosebump feeling I get, when I learn something, not only "new" but actually pretty darn important! LOL wow really thank you so much for this.
But NOW I'm wondering, and forgive me if this is pedantic, but truly I wonder about this on a (semi) regular basis: what about all this "stuff" we all get in the snail mail that sends "blessed" this or that, asking for donations to (this or that org)?
Before our chat tonight, I always thought, "there's no way they can send ACTUAL blessed items, and ask for money for doing so, that would be simony!", so I just threw them away, item and all.
But NOW i"m wondering, have I thrown away ACTUAL blessed items??? Again, please forgive me if this is too pedantic and/or obsessive.........but really....my real question is now (because I know I didn't sin before when I did that) what IS my responsibility when I get such items in the mail?
CAn you (or anyone) help me there? Thanks again regardless, this is such a great discussion.
YEs, that's a good point about paying for spiritual direction, if such payment is "demanded" to "get a full blessing" or somesuch.
What do you think of 2322(a) in the work you provided? This appears, to me, to forbid the sale of any "blessed" item.
If you disagree, how is this wrong?
@FatherNaugle@Joeinblack Wow ok..........I have rarely seen a post that earned an automatic follow like this one.
Please keep me in your prayers too Father.
"Above", "below" and all over the "Market rate" too, by the way. Simony is selling of any "blessed" item (much less any Sacrament or sacramental), as far as I understand at least, "market rate" notwithstanding.
I only say all this because I find it so ODD that anyone could credibly accuse another of this ancient sin. I mean "simony"? Really? In TODAY'S day and age?
I think the last person to be known to be guilty of that was Simon Magus in Acts 8. I welcome correction of course.
Haha ok, well I wouldn't know at what times Mother Natalia comes online compared to when Ms. Solstad does, I mean how can anyone tell that?
I do see positive posts from Ms. Solstad. That's all I can say. I don't want to argue about this or any point really anymore. I"m so tired of all the negativity, like you really.
YOu aren't wrong. About USAA as a company at least.
They nickeled and dimed me to DEATH about "this" or "that" issue with my homeowner's insurance and when I finally jumped through all their hoops (hired my OWN electrician to certify the wires in my house were NOT all aluminum despite their protestations to the contrary) they DROPPED me as a customer, a LOYAL customer for TWENTY plus years!!!!!!!!
They may have been formed by service members originally. They may have even been run by SM's until recently. But they sure don't care for anything but the bottom line anymore, and that bottom line is NOT "putting members first" that's for dam sure.
I"m really sad, actually, to post things like this, say things like this about USAA, a company I've loved for a long time. But they aren't the same as they used to be. Really. They're just like any other insurance company anymore, probably worse than some (I've at least been able to find an insurer for my home, thank God, since USAA suddenly dropped me last year). But this is all true, every word I'm posting now.
And their app SUCKS too, to boot.
I honestly don't see the reason. Yes, apologetics was instrumental to me when I returned home to the Church, but (and not to elevate myself TOO much) when I heard the rational arguments for the Church, I DID return. I didn't CONTINUE to fight, as so many enemies online do.
But perhaps, God is using Mr Casey to reach people like I was once, a "believer" but not Catholic (yet). People we can't even see, but God does. So yes, it's all good.
All I know is I don't have the patience for it, definitely not, after trying for years myself. I pass such a "torch" to him and others who may have more patience than I ever did (or could).
To me, the level of intellectual dishonesty (and flat out laziness) of so many who criticize the Church on X is beyond my ability to handle. Without committing sin myself! I know MANY Protestants (on X and off) who aren't like the "usual suspects" Casey seems to deal with day in and day out. The usual critics on X, and elsewhere, (I'm thinking "James White/Jack Chick" types here) I have no time for such intransigence.
Perhaps that's Mr. Casey's calling IDK. It certainly isn't mine, God has made this abundantly clear to me.
@Tia_Arizona@AZBrianAnderson@12News What's true?
Unfortunately the OP seems to be just a screenshot so it's not possible to follow the conversation to the origin.
I see your point I really do. I really don't think Ms. Solstad "rage baits" though, at least not for views/interactions, etc.
I think she really posts stuff like this because she cares about the Church that saved her.
NOW, I will also say this: I agree it's not "good" to always focus on the negative (and I'm not saying she does this, because I don't know her, how she is in her offline life, but from what I've seen online she seems pretty immersed in the Church in a good way really ....ever see those "What God is Not" podcasts she helps with?)
It's not good to always focus on the negative, everyone can agree with that.
With all that said, it really is kinda important to also point out how, possibly, the Church may be under attack from various fronts, both "left" and "right", really, to put in political terms. The Devil is very busy attacking the Bride, from so many angles (see my posts right before this one, where some group of sedevecantist Sisters has apparently pulled the wool over so many eyes).
My own impression of this video: I honestly thought at one point someone was smoking a bong in a church, in that video. At least that's what it looked like to me at first. I realize it was probably some Native American ritual, given the context, but still. Why then is a pagan ritual being performed in a church, this is my next question.
We can't obsess about negativity of course, but we can't be totally lax either that's my point with all these words. haha..........God bless brother, and please, pray for me.
Again, I didn't know myself until just a few minutes ago.
I'm just as "trad" as the next guy, BELIEVE me (I HATE the hands raised during the Our Father, for example, among many other things at the current present day Mass) buuuuttt... the following quote from the Sisters' own website is just unacceptable, from a true Catholic perspective.
https://t.co/ykfWlDkx0D
@WhineAndDivine@EamonnClark I didn't know myself until literally a few minutes ago. It's true though, read more of their own website.
https://t.co/XnNl71IlwO
Haha yeah sorry I guess I should've just READ more of their own website.........
"...The Congregation professes that Vatican II and the doctrinal, disciplinary, and liturgical reforms that have proceeded from it are substantial alterations of the Catholic Faith. It professes that these heretical, evil, and blasphemous reforms can in no way proceed from the Roman Catholic Church".....etc.
Sorry.......that was lazy of me. Thanks!
AH ok I didn't understand. Just to be clear though, you're saying the Sisters running the URL below are schismatics? I'm not trying to "trap" you in any kind of way, I honestly:
1. Never heard of these sisters and...
2. Wouldn't have even suspected they are schismatics based on the video in question.
So honestly just asking for my own (and hopefully others') education.
This group? They are schismatics? Or another Sisters of Aquinas that doesn't pop up with a simple search? >>>> https://t.co/9Xtzm0KjRt