Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Quite a bit has changed over the last couple millennia. And some things haven't. One of the things that hasn't changed is human nature: which is good news and bad news, depending on how I look at it. I'd started writing about that, when my oldest daughter and I ran into an all-to-common opinion about religion. The narrator of a video we were watching said that religion was silly. Then he said something like 'isn't that an unforgivable sin?' The phrase is fairly common in English-speaking cultures. It's "Biblical" in the sense that it refers to a sentence in Matthew. Since I'm a Catholic, I do not think the unforgivable sin is using the wrong fork at a formal dinner. I'll get back to that. At any rate, here's my shorter-than-planned review of (comparatively) recent events, along with how I see sin (original, unforgivable and otherwise); and why Advent matters: Politics, Ideas, and Technology: 20 Centuries in 138 Words After th...

This week I'm sharing what Fr. Mark Botzet said during Mass on the last Sunday in June. I was going to just post his homily and let it go at that. But then I thought his focus on fear might make more sense if I put it in context of what's been happening in my part of the world. So I've put a short (for me) look at life in central Minnesota, and the big picture, after Fr. Botzet's homily. Fr. Mark Botzet's Homily — June 25, 2023 Four Decades, Two Millennia and the Long Haul (Brian H. Gill) Under the Circumstances... Promises and the Best News Ever More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Dealing with changes in Parishes on the Prairie ACC. Remembering priorities. Not letting fear distract us from what is important.)

(Marguerite's garden in Gounod's "Faust," set design by Édouard Desplechin. (1859)) Christopher Marlowe based his "Dr. Faustus" on Germany's Faust legend, which was in turn inspired by Johann Georg Faust's reputation. And on J. G. Faust's abrupt death in 1520, give or take a few decades. Someone or something wrung Faust's neck. Or he didn't survive an alchemical laboratory explosion. Stories agree that he died abruptly, but vary on details. J. G. Faust had been a Renaissance con man of sorts, presenting himself as an alchemist, astrologer and magician. His reputation grew after his unpleasant death, inspiring a slew of chapbooks, plays, operas, ballets and video games. Gounod's "Faust" was an early Faustian opera, and I'm wandering off-topic. 1 Or maybe not so much.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

by   childlogiclabs I know the devils plan.  The devil has been working up to this moment for a very long time. You see the devil has a lot of time to think and he is constantly retracing his steps to see where he went wrong ... TO READ THE REST OF THE DEVIL'S PLAN: CLICK HERE!

Depending on who you listen to, Satan prowls Earth's surface, lives in the White House, lurks in Hell, or doesn't exist. About Satan and devils in general, I think C. S. Lewis made a good point.... ...I like most of Gustave Doré's work. That's his illustration for Canto XXXIV of Dante's " Divine Comedy ," Inferno .... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

We in the flesh are hindered in such a way that with our senses we cannot perceive eternity.   The God who took flesh in the form of Jesus in order to be like us in all things chose to forgo some knowledge in agreement that such temporarily 'forgetting' was part of the perfection of the plan of God.  As God shielded Moses when God passed by, Moses was denied a knowledge of God because his flesh could not look upon the face of God and live.  So to Jesus while incarnate in the flesh would suffer a 'shielding', or a lack of knowledge of some things that He would have had access to prior to the incarnation and would again gain access at the exact moment of His last heart beat.  This 'forgetting' of certain things for a time was part of God's participation in our humanity and the perfection of His passion on the Cross.  The God who knows all could by His own will decide to forgo knowledge in order that an infinite benefit could be given to us by His Passion....

There is no excel spreadsheet in heaven of all the prayers or good works that you must do to be granted access to heaven.   We can do no action that benefits God in any way, because He is God, He is eternal, already complete and if we could do an action that benefited Him, then in some way He would be found to be lacking in something.   This is why the gift of the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus is completely, free and unmerited, because if all the human beings that have ever lived prayed constantly from their conception to their death could still not open the gates of Heaven and save us from the eternal suffering of hell they way that the blood of Jesus did.   Yet, God gives us an 'action' plan of salvation.  We are not to just stay in our... TO READ MORE CLICK HERE!

One day a new demon was asking questions of his demonic mentor, the elder demon assigned to show him the ropes so to speak.  "Why does the illustrious evil one hate humans so?"  asked the new demon. "You don't know?"   TO HEAR THE REST OF THE CONVERSATION...CLICK HERE!

Someone was very adamant that I should watch "The Dead Files".  I will be honest, I used to have an interest in these types of shows, but not anymore.  My eyes have been opened, but eyes being opened to the truth do not good unless we speak that truth. ... .CLICK HERE FOR MORE!

Where does Evil Come From? In the beginning God Said, "Let there be light."  And there was light.  God creates with His word, and when He gave the angels free will He also gave them this ability to create out of their words, although to a much lesser degree.  God is all good, there is no darkness in Him.  However, having infinite knowledge of His creation, He knew of evil as a concept (because God knows all things), but evil only existed in the mind of God as a concept, a potentiality.  When he gave the angels free will they two had a knowledge of what rebellion what evil was as a concept, otherwise their will would not be free because they would have no other choice but the good God.  It was a concept, and so as to truly choose God freely, they were given knowledge of "another way".  Again, this was only a concept in the mind of God and the angels, at this time evil did not yet exist.   God did not create evil, even though He knew...

One of God's greatest gifts to us is our Guardian Angel.  He is assigned to us at our conception, and is with us throughout our whole life.  But our Guardian Angel is more than just to protect us various mishaps or evil persons that seek to hinder or even do damage to us.  To know how to effectively communicate with and receive from our Guardian angel all that God wishes us to have, then we have to know more who our Guardian Angel is.  Who Is He? The Guardian Angel's back is never turned to God.  In truth, they really don't have 'backs' as such.  The Guardian Angel always has a face turned to God and always has a face turned to you.  The Angel does not turn from God to face you, nor does he turn from you to face God, it is a constant communion, the God with the Angel and the Angel with You.  As a result, there is a constant communication from God to your Guardian Angel for what is best for you in your path to the Father.  The Guardian ...

Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning  from the sky ."  Luke 10:18  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We know that the devil's sin was pride that caused him to fall for all time.  Let us examine this.  Lucifer is an Angelic intelligence.  Before the fall he was constantly before the face of God, so he knew God, and he knew all God's attributes.  Lucifer knew that God's justice was perfect, if God said it was so, it was right and just. Lucifer new that the will of God was perfect, that if God willed something it was perfect and right.  Lucifer knew God and he knew the love of God.  Yes, God loved Lucifer, His light bearer. The angels have free will just like we do, the danger came when in being God's light bearer, that Lucifer saw himself as having the attributes of God.  He thought because he bore the light, he was the light.  Lucifer also thought God could not do without him.  Lucifer was the light bearer, only ...