What Does A Guardian Angel Do?

   

          Angels appear everywhere in our world, from books to Victoria’s Secret advertisements, tattoos to movies.  There are many believers in these mysterious, spiritual beings, but not everybody knows what an angel exactly is.

     The Catholic Church defines angels as pure spiritual creatures of God who have no bodies, cannot die, and are usually not visible.  They have understanding and can convey God’s will and protection to men. (Check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church for more info)

     No matter how we imagine angels, from the smiling cherub with two wings and a shiny halo on a Precious Moments card to the scantily clad beauty with fluffy wings in a magazine ad, they are not human.  Furthermore, humans cannot become angels when we die, but we can become saints!  Whether you believe in them or not, angels are mentioned many times throughout the Bible.  Psalm 91:11-12 says,

“For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.  On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

     Angels exist solely to praise God and carry out His will.  God gives every person a guardian angel, a spiritual being that burns with love for Him and serves Him day and night.  We can pray to our guardian angel for ourselves and for others, and with confidence we can know they will bring our love, messages and prayers to those of whom we are thinking.  We must ask our angels, though, because they cannot read our minds.

     A guardian angel is an amazing gift from God to you.  They are always with you and yet still with God, and are sources of His power.  Your guardian angel is waiting for an invitation to pray with you, help you to stay focused on God and to watch over you.  Think of them as a heavenly police force, on duty to protect you and to serve God! (Read the article that inspired this post here)

Guardian Angel Prayer

Angel of God, my guardian dear,

To whom God’s love commits me here,

Ever this day be at my side,

To light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen.

Why Believe in the Assumption of Mary?

    With Pope Francis’ upcoming consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Sunday, October 13^th, the topic of the Mother of God is more relevant than ever.  Catholics and non-Catholics alike have many questions about Mary, one being her assumption into heaven.  How is this possible that someone could be assumed body and soul into heaven?

    First, it is important to clarify that Mary was assumed, not ascended, into heaven.  Jesus ascended by His own power, while Mary was taken into heaven by God.  In scripture, only Elijah and Enoch are mentioned being carried off into heaven, but Mary’s Assumption is never mentioned.  Some claim that if the Bible does not say it happened, then it never happened.  Yes, the Bible is silent when it comes to the deaths of many holy people, such as the Apostles and St. Paul.  Yet oral tradition tells how St. Peter was crucified upside down, and how St. Paul was beheaded.  We know where the bones of Peter and Paul are because early Christians took care of them.  Oral tradition also teaches that Mary was taken up into heaven, body and soul so it would seem logical that the early Christians would have also kept the bones of the Mother of God.  However, we have no record of them anywhere in history. 

    It says in the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church,

    “Mary is the Mother of God.  She was united with Jesus on earth as no other human being was or could be- in an intimacy that does not cease in heaven.  Mary is the Queen of Heaven, and in her motherhood she is quite close to us.” 

    Mary committed herself, body and soul, to a divine and dangerous task when she said yes to becoming the mother of God.  Because of this, she was taken up body and soul into heaven.  The Church teaches that anyone who lives and believes as Mary did will get to heaven.  But how do we know Mary is in heaven?  If the woman God chose to be the mother of His Son and bring Him into the world is not in heaven, then the rest of us have absolutely no chance of getting to heaven.  The Papal encyclical Lumen Gentium (68) explains that Mary’s assumption and heavenly presence preceed and foreshadow our own future glory. (1 Corinthians 15)

    Mary is the Mother of God as well as our own mother.  Through her, we can grow in a much deeper relationship with her Son than we ever could on our own.  As Romoano Guardini wrote regarding the Assumption of Mary,

“This mystery is given to us so that…a divine light might be shed on our death.”   

Read more about Mary here!

Chastity? Why bother?

In the 21'st century, you don't have to look far to realize our culture is far from living in chastity. With so many people living in a hook-up culture, its possible to wonder if there is any point even trying to live in chastity. Why should we even bother with chastity? And what does the Catholic Church have to say about it?

First of all, what is chastity? The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift." ~From the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In other words, chastity is living according to a person's state or vocation in life. In marriage, it is giving all of oneself, including sexuality, to one's spouse for the rest of their lives. Only in this context is sex a good and holy thing.

And if someone is not married? Sex is a promise to another person; it is saying that "I will remain with you forever." Therefore, if a promise hasn't been made in marriage, sex is a lie to both God and the people. So living chastely basically means living according to a person's current vocation. If someone is single, they should refrain from sexual activity until they are married, and even in marriage there is a call to chastity (e.g., remaining faithful.) 

There are many practical reasons for remaining chaste, and these are a few. First of all, there is a 100% guarantee that pregnancy won't occur in a chaste lifestyle. Secondly, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) are also out the window. There are many good reasons for waiting for marriage, and you can find more by visiting this website. This is a site for Jason Evert, a national chastity speaker who advocates a chaste lifestyle and gives very good reasons for living one. 

Also, please check out this page to see the full text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on living chastely. 

Finally, if someone has not lived chastely, it is not too late to make a commitment to wait for marriage. Imagine how proud a future spouse would be to learn that someone stopped living an unchaste lifestyle and decided to wait for them in marriage. 

What Does Pope Francis Mean When He Says...?

            Recently, Pope Francis has been quoted saying some strange things.  Inside and outside the Catholic Church, questions abound as to what the Holy Pontiff could possibly mean.
            Since his election to the Papacy on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis has been turning heads with his outspoken remarks.  However, everything Pope Francis is saying about the Church is nothing new.  The subjects he refers to are only being brought to light in a very different way than that of his predecessors.

            “If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”  What Pope Francis means is: its wrong to judge others, it is a task reserved for God.  It is necessary to use a well-formed conscience to discern whether or not an action itself is sinful, but one must not judge the actual person.  Pope Francis also means that everybody is a sinner and everybody deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

            “We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”  The Catholic Church wills everyone to be saved and prays that all can come to know Jesus as his or her savior.  However, if people do not look to Jesus for redemption, arguing and fighting about it will not help.  The pope wants all people, regardless of beliefs to be united in their vocation to serve others.

           

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said, on the different but effective style of Pope Francis’s preaching:  “The way he’s doing it is so fresh and is so captivating, but he’s not really changing anything of the essence of the church.”

A CBS Interview with Cardinal Dolan on the message of Pope Francis:

Why Can't Women Be Priests In the Catholic Church?

                One of the most controversial topics within the Catholic Church is women as priests.  As more and more churches allow women to be ordained, the Catholic Church has come under attack.  People claim that it is a matter of justice, and that the Church must not value women.  But what really is the Church’s reasoning of this topic?

In a recent interview, Pope Francis discussed the role of women in the Catholic Church.  The interviewer asked the pope what women’s part within the church should be and how it can be made more visible.  Pope Francis replied by saying,

                “It is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.  I am wary of a solution that can be reduced to a kind of ‘female machismo,’ because a woman has a different make-up than a man.”  He went on to say, “The woman is essential for the church. Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops. I say this because we must not confuse the function with the dignity. We must therefore investigate further the role of women in the church.” (Read the full interview)

                The Catholic Church teaches that the rule of only men being ordained in no way demeans women.  God has given the same dignity to both man and woman, but each have different duties and charisms. (Gifts of the Holy Spirit)  The Church sees herself as bound by the fact that Jesus chose only men to be present at the Last Supper, which was the institution of the priesthood. (Source)  In 1994, Pope John Paul II said,

                “…The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.” (JPII Apostolic Letter)

                According to the Church, the community is to see the representation of Jesus Christ through male priests.  Jesus protected and affirmed the value of women; they were among his followers and He highly valued their faith.  Women play an important role within the Catholic Church, and as Pope Francis said in his interview,

                “The challenge today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised for various areas of the church.”

What is a Saint?

The Catholic Church teaches that a saint is anyone who is in heaven.  Whether by becoming one on earth or in purgatory, everyone must be a saint before entering heaven.  Typically though, saints today are seen as the ones acknowledged by the Roman Catholic Church.

            “…the Church recognized the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors” (Catechism 828).  In the Catholic Church, saints are seen as individuals who can pray and intercede for people still on earth.

            Usually a person must be dead for at least five years before the road to sainthood is even begun.  The first step consists of the local bishops studying the candidate’s life and writings.  If there is enough evidence of heroic virtue, this information is then sent to the Vatican.  The Congregation for the Causes of Saints (a panel of theologians and cardinals at the Vatican) then takes a careful look at the candidate’s life and, if approved, the pope will then proclaim the candidate venerable, which means that they are a role model of the virtues exemplified by the Church.  Then, to be beatified, it must be proved that a candidate is responsible for a posthumous miracle.  Martyrs for the Faith can be beatified without a miracle.  The last step, canonization, occurs with a papal decree that the candidate was holy and is in heaven, interceding for us with God (this step must include another posthumous miracle attributed to the candidate in question).

            So, in all honesty, saints are humans.  They are people who have dealt with trials, temptations, doubts, and fear.  The main difference between saints and “regular people” is just in the way that they responded.

“Life holds only one tragedy, ultimately:  not to have been a saint.”

                                                                ~Charles Peguy

Click on the link to browse the list of saints: http://saints.catholic.org/saints/

References:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question619.htm

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0004.html