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If you do what you do for the love of God and others, then your entire life becomes a charitable gift -- a channel through which the Lord may bless others. Sometimes I think people find it easy to give "no strings attached" but even harder to receive a gift or blessing which is completely...

The uniformism is the one that I've been focused on a lot in recent years. I believe that a rigid approach to religion can cause it to fail in its ability to shape our hearts and become sensitive to the subtle but perfect guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we are busy manipulating head...

Why apologize? Did the experiment yield any interesting results?

This is totally an opinion and is just an impression; not about right or wrong. Maybe I'm the only Catholic who wonders about this, but ... Are we looking at saintly beatification as something that naturally "should" arise from being pope? That we've set a standard whereby future popes...

My mother was taught that all of her non-Catholic friends are going to hell because they weren't Catholics. It made her cry for them daily. That's not really what the Church teaches, but some Catholics can make it sound like that. Not so many now as in the past, but there are still a few.

I think of "the cosmic Christ" as reference to the fact that the One Spirit is of all, and there is a kind of "collective consciousness" that is formed within the Body of Christ, whether any given individual realizes or not. IME most don't ever get to the stage of even pondering it, much less...

Oh wow I didn't even notice until just now that I had posted that song twice. When I think of "holy darkness" I think that it is when our world is dark and silent that the Lord is best able to do His holy work in us. From St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul...

Good point. I wonder whether Jewish rules had anything about that.

Tired of messing up. I've tasted a bit of *that* once or twice ... :argh: Maybe see how you like this song, whose lyrics were inspired by writings of St. John of the Cross: Holy Darkness: Holy Darkness by Dan Schutte - YouTube

:thumbsup:

Yes. In actual practice I don't know if the question is asked. I just know this is what others (who seemed to be in the know) have said church teachings are on the matter. I actually felt a bit sick to realize that "this" is what it all seems to come down to in terms of marriage. Maybe I'm...

Feeling empty? May I offer you a song, "Holy Darkness," with lyrics inspired by St. John of the Cross's writings about the Dark Night of the Soul? Holy Darkness by Dan Schutte - YouTube I know that being tired hurts and can be damaging; I pray for you, Alan

Agree. But part of the complexity I see when trying to define this, is that the Church technically allows marriage of couples who are known to be infertile beyond any doubt, but does not allow marriage of couples who cannot perform the physical act of intercourse. So it would seem the ability...

Excellent point. It is optional, save for the precept of the Church to receive at least once a year. But that raises another question; can those in a non-sacramental marriage even do that? If they can't go to Communion then they really can't even be "practicing Catholics." And if their...

Yes, well let me put it this way. I don't claim to be a perfect follower, and I have certain mental reservations, but at the time I chose not to go into that. For example I am not convinced it is best for a sinner who hasn't been to confession, to abstain from Holy Communion. Who needs the...

True, but stealing a pack of gum and robbing a bank are not logical complements of each other. You'd have to be comparing stealing gum v. not stealing gum, or robbing a bank v. not robbing a bank. So even though you are correct, your logic is of no consequence to TheOtherHockeyMom's statement...

No problem. Well, I can't say that I fully accept and live them 100%, but I do not create scandal (any more, usually,) and in context of a Catholic discussion I wasn't asserting anything at this time, other than the decison-making thing. As far as contraceptives, I'm lucky in that it doesn't...

Did I say that? No. I suggested that maybe the Church has not always made the same exact decisions that Jesus Himself would have made on some of, if He still walked the earth in human form. I'm curious why you thought I was going the "Cafe Catholic" route with my argument. I wouldn't...

Also, Catholic sources were only one of several major factors that contributed to my healing. Like the philosopher Alan Watts; I'd never heard a philosophy lecture until right when I needed it. He was once an Anglican priest, then Buddhist guru, then he quit that and lectured and had a radio...

I had bipolar so severe that the doctors gave me no hope for healing. But that's doctors. The Holy Spirit, aka The Divine Therapist, can do what medicine cannot, and brought me total healing. And let me tell you, being fixed by God is far better than before I was sick at all! :) Medicine for...