Want to be a Saint? Ask for suffering.

Sword/Tip (h/t) to Andrea @ The Escape

"If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint. If you desire to become a great saint, ask Him to send you much suffering. To enkindles the fire of divine love, the best wood is that of the cross, which Our Lord used for His great sacrifice of love."

-St. Ignatius Loyola

I am too busy to look this up to make sure this is an actual quote, yes I do that even though I am a blogger.

[Start Rant] In fact, a little tangent rant here... how can journalists not do this? Do you know how many times I read either a major blog, or website, and I can recognize things that either aren't true (in an objective sense) or aren't actually a "quote" by someone. My favorite, is when someone famous quotes someone else famous, and the person writing obviously Googled it real quick, and called that "research." It is frustrating that we pay these peoples salary by continuing to pay for and read their drivel. Now, I am not saying I am the best writer in the world, in fact I am a sorry excuse for one... but no one is paying me to do this. (I will take offers of payment NOT to write though.) [End Rant]

Maybe this is my cross? Maybe I am meant to endure shoddy research, and it will help me become a saint? Heh, probably not. More than likely if God wants to send me suffering it will be in the form of living in some big city against my will to do some humble and important work.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. VI)

•·°1°·•

My goal is to live up to this post...actually doing a quick blog post, well 7 quick little ones all combined. Usually it takes me forever and I put a lot of thought and effort into it. What should be my fastest written post, turns into an all evening affair. That being said, Mindyleigh over at The Devout Life  has me thinking about doing this is trying to trick me into doing NABLOPOMO. There is a theme this month, Saved, I don't even know what that means..? So we shall see.

•·°2°·•

Have you heard about this Labyrinth stuff that some folks do in the aims of spirituality? Ok... so I didn't know what this was all about until Larry at Acts of the Apostasy learned me some stuff about it. It is really creepy, humanist, quasi  full-blown-pagan, stuff. Here is Catholic Culture's take on the whole thing. It all stems from Grace Cathedral, and some woman there... I am sorry if I am being harsh or rude, but this creeps me out, A TON! In case you don't know... I believe in the Devil, I believe that "spirituality" is dangerous if it is messed with in ways that aren't in line with Catholic teaching, and I don't think the Devil plans on knocking at the front door, and announcing he is about to do some evil... he will be subversive. A Labyrinth, really? I saw that a couple of local parishes advertise about this in my area... never knew what it was... this is bad stuff people. I plan on doing more research.

•·°3°·•

The most recent Alaskan Catholic Youth Conference recently occurred up in Anchorage. I am a huge fan of youth conferences. But after spending more than 8 years working with teens in leadership positions I know there are some things you have to be careful of, one being "fads." This is especially true when the fads are things that are done solely because they are a fad, and the kids don't understand the real serious implications of it all. For the record, I didn't go, but after being alerted to something, I had to mention it... the facebook page for the event has some pretty interesting wall posts. Now please don't go check it out, I dont want folks harassing unsuspecting kids, but the just of it is this: One person would post:

"Who is the Church?!"

Response: "We are, WE ARE THE CHURCH!"

I want to go on the record right now... WE AREN'T CHURCH!!! (ie We Are Church) In fact, Fr. Cory says it best: "We are Church?" NO!"

This is important stuff... again the Devil is a DECEIVER... the whole "it is no big deal, kids being harmless, didn't mean that." Well, when some unsuspecting kid Googles We Are Church, and reads that heresy... and starts believing it, tell me it is no big deal. Now I don't want to indict these kids, because I know quite a few who went, I just want to know why such a thing was allowed to be perpetuated without some directional Catechesis?

I am still looking into this a bit more, so if you have more info either to clarify or solidify my point please email me: angelsdefendus@gmail.com

•·°4°·•

I need a picture or logo in my title bar at the top of the blog. I have zero artistic ability... in fact I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. If you want to help... I would appreciate it.

•·°5°·•

More importantly, I need a job. The wife and I are trying to figure out what God wants us to do... either stay in Alaska or go back to Michigan. My position is up in the middle/end of August and so I need some real employ. I am willing to consider non-legal careers, but it would have to be really great. Obviously, if I could get some religious gig like writing a book, or getting paid to blog professionally, I would jump on it... other positions would have to have some really sweet benefits. Oh, anything with a Gun is a plus. As for location... in Michigan I'd love to be in the Marquette or Gaylord Diocese, especially somewhere near Holy Rosary Parish in Cedar, Mi - that place is ON FIRE! We'd go to another state, if it meant a good job, but legal careers are limited because of State Bar Admissions. So if anyone has pull with a Bishop, and a Diocese is in need of a Canon Lawyer, I am willing to go back to school and get my Canon Law degree if some Bishop & Diocese wants to sponsor me. It can be like the military... they put me through training and then I owe them 4+ years of service. I think it all works out grand in the end.

•·°6°·•

Please tell me about your hidden gem blogs that you read. I have been weeding out some of the blogs I read, either literally or at least mentally. I use an RSS reader program, it operates a lot like my email program so I end up just skipping over a bunch. There are a lot of news sites I follow, and they get pretty repetitive. So if you have a blog or two that you read, and it is one that you think I might not know about... please let me know. One of my favorite online pleasures is finding hidden gem blogs.

•·°7°·•

These quick takes once again took quite a while... at least I gave it the ole' college try.

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary where Jennifer encourages us to share seven small bits that wouldn’t quite make full blog posts by themselves.

Exorcism & The Church Militant

Has anyone read: Exorcism and the Church Militant, by: Fr. Thomas Euteneuer yet? I know that the whole Exorcism "interest" ebbs and flows depending on the publishing of various books, but this one seems to be getting some decent press.

Any thoughts on this book particularly?

Some pretty big "names" have come out in support of it, like Father Corapi and Father Groeschel, so it is intriguing. I tend to vet these books a bit now, because there are so many that come out, garner some interest, and then we come to find out that they were embellished quite a bit.

So if you have read this book, please let me know. I plan on getting it and reading it, and will of course update my readers. This book is probably one of the most on point books that has been printed lately in terms of its topical relationship to this blog.

St. Michael Warrior Award to: 'Rebecca aka The Mom'

You know that saying: "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword"... well I have found a prime example of that. Rebecca, better know as: aka the Mom, had one of those moments that warriors LONG for. Those of you that seek confrontation will understand this... especially those of you who work VERY hard at restraining yourself and being charitable in most situations, even if it goes against your will and desire.

aka the Mom was faced with one of those situations where her principles, morals, and dignity were tested by fire. She had two choices... one path required truth, honor, loyalty... the other only required submission, acceptance, and comfort. The first path required her to face fear, confrontation, scorn, mocking and ridicule. The other meant safety, politeness, and ease.

She chose the former. Not because it was confrontational... but because it was right. She wrote about it on her blog... not to brag, but to make a point: There's an Irony There

Here is an excerpt:

"I love when the homeschoolers come in here." She said in a mock whisper to her co-worker. "We get to see the look on their faces as they discover that teaching kids is hard and you have to be smarter than they thought."

With jokes about my lack of intelligence still carrying across the open space, I set about answering the question of why my child hadn't gotten the chicken pox vaccine. It didn't help that I had a space one line long. How do I reduce my faith, politics and health philosophies into one line? I finally settled on "The varicella vaccine is cultured in fetal tissue. As a Catholic, we can not materially cooperate in any way with the intentional destruction of human life."

~~~

It was then that the loud-mouth from next door came in waving the objector form. "You need to re-write this," she demanded... Go to: "Shoved to Them" - to read the rest

Defend Us In Battle

To all those that read this, and the account above: THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT BY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER, 1 JULY 2010, DEFEND US IN BATTLE HAS AWARDED

THE SAINT MICHAEL WARRIOR AWARD

TO:  REBECCA 'aka The Mom'

FOR EXCEPTIONALLY VALOROUS ACTION IN THE FACE OF OVERWHELMING ODDS AND DIRECT HOSTILE AGGRESSIONS AS THE MOTHER FOR A CHILD IN NEED OF SPECIAL EDUCATION. aka THE MOM'S EXCEPTIONAL COURAGE, DEDICATION TO CHILDREN, AND ADHERENCE TO TRUTH AND HONOR DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF HER FAMILY'S PRINCIPLES AND MORALS. HER REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROWESS IN THE MIDST OF ATTACK UNDOUBTEDLY PRESERVED THE EVERLASTING SOULS OF HER FAMILY, HERSELF AND REFLECTS THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF CATHOLIC FAITH AND TRADITION. aka THE MOM'S ACTIONS WHILE ENGAGED IN COMBAT OPERATIONS DURING THE BATTLE AGAINST EVIL REFLECT GREAT CREDIT UPON HER, THE CATHOLIC BLOGOSPHERE AND THE ONE TRUE CHURCH.

GIVEN UNDER MY HAND IN THE CATHOLIC BLOGOSPHERE

THIS 1st DAY OF JULY, 2010

-Joe, Defend Us In Battle

The Vortex: Total War

This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

Another compelling video from the RCTv crew.

"There is a terrible vast army arrayed against the Catholic Church."

"You fight shoulder to shoulder with angel warriors and saints crowned with gold."

"[The Saints of Heaven]...how they must long to join us in this fight; these are glorious days, days of TOTAL WAR and the victory for us in assured."