Comments and Thoughts

First I want to mention how happy I am that we finally have Catholic Radio broadcasting here... 24/7!!! It is so great to hop in the car to run my errands through out the day and hear solid Catholic teaching, Mass, Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet... and the list goes on.

This morning I was fortunate to catch Fr. Corapi on after my dr.'s appointment (yep, still sick, but now I have much better meds and this will hopefully clear up). Anyway, this particular talk was one in his series on the Catechism, and happened to be the beginning of the series. So he was talking about the work that went into the new Catechism, and how it should be used and all that fun stuff. Based on some of his comments this lecture series is actually for the certification process of catechists somewhere but was also open to the public. At one point he commented on the fact that if he were in charge of teachers of the Faith (which he said he is glad he isn't directly in charge, and that teachers wouldn't want him in charge, he he) that he would require 1 hour daily in front of the Blessed Sacrament, an unshackable love and devotion to our Holy Mother, and completely inline with the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church. WOW! How many teachers of the faith can you say actually fall into more than one of (if any) of those columns (especially the last one)?

Something else that really struck a cord with me was when he was talking about how in our society that many people suffer with an 'identity crisis'. He went on to say that this crisis is a driving force in divorce, lack of accepting vocational callings, and leaving your vocation; also mentioning that suicide is becoming the one of the leading causes of death among young people. The reason behind this, in his words, were that people in the educational positions in the 60's - 70's stopped teaching about the sufferings of Christ. That we are made in His image and likeness and to find our meaning we should gaze upon the crucifix and see for ourselves what we are called to. To know, love, and serve the Lord... in everything we do, and that we may not always like what we are CALLED to do, but that we should find JOY in fulfilling God's will in our lives so that we may attain everlasting life with Him one day. Fr. Corapi also said "we must decrease in order for Christ to increase." We are all too often ready to be in the spotlight, but we must become transparent... magnifying Christ, not ourselves. I've heard this same concept refering to the Holy Family... their role seemed to be very minor (except for the whole Annuciation and birth of Christ part :-) in Holy Scripture, but if you look closely this same principle is what they were doing... Mary and Joseph became background in order for Christ to be front and CENTER!

And I will leave you with one last comment, this comes from St. Francis De Sales... that we should leave the PAST to God's Mercy, live the PRESENT in Fidelity to God, and the FUTURE to the Providence of God.