friendship

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

Posted on by RRMM

I have a really good friend who, in my opinion, understands what it means to be bold.

Bold move, little fish.

My dear friend, Nicole, is a truly remarkable young Catholic.  She was raised in a Catholic household and had public schooling through college.  While she was at the university, she developed a close group of Protestant friends and found great community, spiritual growth, and accountability with them.  She attended church with them and remained connected to Christ throughout college.  (This is not an uncommon scenario for many Southern Catholics, as they are generally in the minority in their faith throughout their life.)

Though Nicole never stopped attending Mass, she came to a realization that though her Protestant friends were great and had helped her in her faith journey, what she really needed and was desiring was close CATHOLIC friends who understood her ever deepening love for the Mass and the Sacraments.

However, she found, like many young Catholics, that our parish didn’t provide a young adult community and what was available in the diocese wasn’t exactly a fit for her.  And, so she prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit on where to find community.

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B16 explains why I baptized my kids

Posted on by chriskmn

Pope Baptizes a Child in Sistine ChapelI read this amazing quote from Benedict XVI and had to share:

“What happens in Baptism? What do we hope for from Baptism? You have given a response on the threshold of this Chapel: We hope for eternal life for our children. This is the purpose of Baptism. But how can it be obtained? How can Baptism offer eternal life? What is eternal life?

In simpler words, we might say: we hope for a good life, the true life, for these children of ours; and also for happiness in a future that is still unknown. We are unable to guarantee this gift for the entire span of the unknown future, so we turn to the Lord to obtain this gift from him.

We can give two replies to the question, “How will this happen?”. This is the first one: through Baptism each child is inserted into a gathering of friends who never abandon him in life or in death because these companions are God’s family, which in itself bears the promise of eternity.

This group of friends, this family of God, into which the child is now admitted, will always accompany him, even on days of suffering and in life’s dark nights; it will give him consolation, comfort and light.

This companionship, this family, will give him words of eternal life, words of light in response to the great challenges of life, and will point out to him the right path to take. This group will also offer the child consolation and comfort, and God’s love when death is at hand, in the dark valley of death. It will give him friendship, it will give him life. And these totally trustworthy companions will never disappear.

No one of us knows what will happen on our planet, Read More