markdohle

We are more than just conscious beings, we have a vast inner world that we are not often aware of. Many of our wounds, our personality problems, our addictions etc., have deep roots in our past. As Jesus said: All will be brought to light, what is hidden will be made known. I believe that can be applied to us as well. Luke 8:17 In the NDE, the life review seems to bring that out. Peace Mark

I got it. That is why after this is over, I will just comment on threads, or if I post, it will be something that is not as you say disingenuous. Perhaps I was, not my intent though. Peace Mark

That is not true. I have been a Catholic all of my life and never heard that. Purgatory is a place of healing, a continuation of God grace in the process of sanctification. To have a Mass said is to simply pray for the souls who are on the way to deeper healing. Peace mark

No of course not. I don't hate anyone here ;-)....what Thallassa, what was hateful about it? Peace Mark

I am not promoting, yet I feel there is a tad too much pre-judgment here. peace Mark

Who is using the hate card here? peace Mark

I thought you blocked me! In any case, I will only respond to threads and keep on subject. Don't want to be banned, I like it here and like the people, even you BacKaran. Yet you should block me, for I have the feeling no matter what I post, you will respond the way you are doing now. Peace Mark

Thank you my friend, always good hearing from you. Peace mark

Thank you for sharing my friend. We disagree, fine with that ;-). Not a pagan, catholic's are not pagans, the mystical life is important as are the writers like John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, St. Theresa, Joh Paul 11 and many more. The sacraments are important as well, for in the Eurarchirst we receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Devotion to the saints is not pagan, as has been told to you many times....which is ok my friend. Wish you peace.

Sex in marriage is holy, healing and is based on deep commitment. To use someone for sexual purposes only is to reduce them to an object. Even if love is there and there is no commitment it is also fornication. The call to have sex only in marriage is a hard reality that most struggle with I believe.

Jesus washing the feet of the apostles is one of the best instances where he truly showed his idea of being a true leader and shepherd. It is not about power, but love and service. Not easy, for in reality no one knows what power will do to them.....it can be a heady drought.

I find it scary what children have to be wary of these days. On the internet, even here in this group, people do not use their real names when posting, so in reality, you don't know who they are. In any case, if a minor post here under false pretenses there is nothing to be done. However, at least here, I can't think of anyone who would give advice that would be harmful to anyone. I agree parents should be very watchful about what their children do, but as technology becomes even more widespread, as well as the different devices used, this will become more and more difficult. Does not bode well at all. Peace mark

Ok my friend, sorry that you blocked me, I like you and respect you. One thing, though you won't see this: You need to look up what an opinion is, for all of your thoughts on any matter or an opinion I believe. We do love the same Lord, but if you don't believe that, not a problem. Peace mark

This is very beautiful thank you. Yes, those who are being healed by the Lord are truly saved. It does keep me in touch with those who passed on. For me, prayer is also out of space and time, and being part of a priestly people I believe that prayer unites us to all of man-kind, for Christ will leave the 99 for the one lost. Again thank you. Peace Mark

The Church is made up of individuals, so it does apply. Our sufferings bring us to a place of healing and choice, whether it is for our faith or in other areas of our lives. One aspect of this life is purgation, growth, letting go of all that keeps us from becoming ever more human just as Christ Jesus was. In any case, this will be my last piece about my journey as a catholic monk, and will just stick with the post…..don’t want to be a source of aggravation to people here, good people, loving people, Christ filled people. I have come to the understanding that it also not fair for me to post some of the articles I have posted here. This is not a catholic site and perhaps I have not respected that enough....so my apologies for that. Below is my last thoughts on this subject, unless I bring it up in some other thread. Fundamentalism seems to go on the assumption that if it is not in the New Testament, then it has to be rejected. However, the NT Canon was not put together until the 4th century. A long time indeed so there was further development in Christian thought during that time. Even in the very early days of the church the Epistles deal with the problems that needed to be dealt with, some of them doctrinal. Yet apart from Paul’s mention of the Eucharist in the book of 1st Corinthians, it was not mentioned much in the NT, because it was not a problem. Does that mean that that the Eucharist was not important? Of course not, it was the central worship in the time of St. Paul. There are other writings that dealt with that, which did not make it into the canon since it was not deemed necessary. The same goes for purgatory, or there being a state after this life is ended, where the grace and healing of the Holy Spirit continues. In the first book of Maccabeus, it mentions prayers for the dead. In the early Church, this book was considered inspired, it was only when Luther decided to cut some books from the OT that the books omitted were called the Apocrypha was created. So the early Christians, mostly Jewish were not unacquainted with the concept of praying for the dead. However, to be fair to Luther, he went with the Hebrew-speaking Jews understanding of the Canon. Yet that does not take away from the fact that until the reformation, the books of Maccabeus were in the canon and praying for the dead is part of one of those books. My use of St. Paul’s analogy is still a good way to show the process of how God slowly ‘burns’ away through the fire of infinite love all that keeps the soul from true union. Now I know that many non-Catholics believe that salvation is nothing like that. The soul is covered with Christ, like snow covers a pile of dung, or a manure heap, an analogy from Martin Luther. Which is not scriptural, any more than ‘once saved always saved is’, or even the ‘Trinity’ which was a later development in the Church’s understanding of Jesus relationship with the Father. What did the first born mean? Today we read into many of St. Paul’s teaching on Christ, but actually, it took many years for the Trinity to become the central doctrine of the Church. Aryanism, now consider heterodox, was in the early church one theory considered and argued over. In fact, this understanding of Christ almost won. Our understanding continues to develop and I believe the weakness of fundamentalism is that it has become an ideology, a system so closed that it will day simply shatter. What many consider ‘true Christianity’ actually come into existence in the 19th century. Christ Jesus is the ‘Word”, the creator of the universe, and in him, we live and move and have our being. I believe that opening of the Gospel of John states that clearly. So this is a mystery that the church contemplates and will continue to so until the end of time whenever that will be. Tomorrow or ten thousand years from now…..every generation beginning with Paul thought the Lords coming is near….indeed it is….yet in God’s timing, not ours. We are still a young faith I believe, we have yet to attain the maturity that Christ Jesus is calling us to, which is to be truly childlike. The condescending attitude towards other religions and the treating God like he is some kind of real estate that can be owned and then used to damn just about everyone else, I believe is not what Christ had intended. Also, the “I am infallible’ in my take on the scriptures and everyone else wrong is also somewhat childish I believe. Rigidity is not a gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ is Lord; His Holy Spirit continues to deepen our understanding of his saving intent for mankind. To think that we have a complete understanding of that reality only makes us Idol Worshippers. We use Scriptures to mold God into our own image and likeness one scripture quote at a time. God has no image, Christ is God’s human face, but the mystery still remains. Even though we argue amongst ourselves, I believe that it is Christ Jesus who holds us together. I love everyone here and respect them, even those who believe I belong to a cult. I don't belong to a cult, for the Catholic Church is the mother of all other denomination and the use of the New Testament which was put together by the RCC in ways that was not intended, is a tragedy and only continues to break down the church further and further. I guess the final fruit of that is ‘WestboroBaptistChurch’. It will continue and is perhaps one of the greatest scandals to the world.....how we love to fight and damn each other to a fate of infinite pain and suffering, all the while saying how much we love sinners......it would be better to be honest about it and not be so overly pious.

We are all in the body of Christ, death does not change that. How does God deal with our souls if we love something so much that it impedes God's grace.....he heals with his love. I believe St. Paul talks about that when he states that we will be tested by fire (God's Love), what is stubble will be burned away until all that impedes us having a full relationship with the Trinity is taken away. So, yes there is something in scripture that points to that reality. It is all grace. Peace mark

What a beautiful response, thank you. Peace Mark

Yes, I understand ;-). Peace Mark

As a Catholic, I have heard it often my friend.....used to it actually. Of course you may think I am a Non-Christian. Many think the the Catholic is not Christian at all.... Peace mark

To remember the dead Once a month our community has what we call a “Month’s mind mass” in remembrance of our dead, our community members who have passed on, our loved ones, friends and benefactor and those buried in our ‘Green Cemetery” across the way. I believe that it is a beautiful tradition. Some mornings during the meditation between nocturnes, I will go out in back of our church and during that time will remember those buried there. I knew most of them and took care of them as well before they died. To pray for the dead is a bone of contention between different Christian traditions. Some believe that to pray for the dead in some way takes away from the saving grace of Jesus Christ and implies that it was somewhat not enough. I have also been told that what Catholics do when praying for the dead, is somehow demonic, like praying to the saints. I don’t bother with it anymore, for to pray for the dead and to pray to the saints makes total sense to me. I am very comfortable with those who don’t agree, even if they do so vehemently. They are after all fellow lovers of the Lord and mean well. Even if they believe I am going to hell, well, that does not matter either. In the end, like it or not, we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are as St. Paul says beautifully, “There is one body, one Lord” and so death is just a going deeper in and a fuller taking on the ‘Mind of Christ”. I am not sure what that is, but I do believe that it is much more than just the saints being the same as when they died. They are more, for having put on Christ; they are now fully united in him. Since they have the “The Mind of Christ” I believe that they are active in praying for the Church on earth. Even in human relationships, a purifying process has to be experienced, endured and grown through, if it is indeed allowed to grow. In the marriage vows when a man and a woman make their vows, they are promising that by staying together in good times and bad times, they are promising that they will let go of anything that gets in the way of that relationship. The growth that is required takes a great deal of inner change that can be painful but purifying. If that journey is not taken, then the marriage will become stunted and perhaps die. Friendship is the same thing. The growth needed in order to grow in a deep trust of a friend can be painful and frightening, yet, worth the effort, I believe. In our relationship with the Lord, I believe the same process is also present but on a much deeper level. Just like in marriage and friendship, there is an active phase and then a more passive one where the compulsion to be in charge is slowly let go of and over a period of time deep healing occurs as well as relationships that endured and continue to grow. Just as I lose out if I don’t grow in my ability to allow the process of purification to occur in my life with others, the same is tragically true with my relationship with the Lord. The process of sanctification is long and drawn out in this life. If not finished, then this grace-filled process continues. After we let go of the brain in death, what is unconscious in us becomes conscious, we can’t hide anymore from what needs to be healed and purified by the grace of the Lord…..it is not punishment, though like all healing, painful. Just as it is in our experience of deep relationships with others, if rejected then there is only a shallow attachment. John of the Cross calls it the dark night of the soul. The below is from an article from a catholic site, “Our Sunday Visitor”, written by Emily Stimpson Chapman”. The title being “Understanding the Dark Night of the Soul: “The dark night of the soul is not an evil to be endured; it’s a good for which we should be grateful. Of course, it doesn’t always seem that way. The thought of plunging into a spiritual abyss and losing all the sweetness in our relationship with God strikes few as appealing. But neither does surgery. Having cancer removed from our bodies isn’t a fun process. Nevertheless, we submit to the surgeon’s knife readily and quickly, knowing that the sooner we have the surgery, the sooner we can live a healthy, full life. What’s true on the natural level is true on the supernatural level. If we want to become the people God made us to be and live the lives he made us to live, we must let him excise sin and unhealthy attachments from our souls. There’s no getting around it. Before we can enter heaven, it has to happen. It can happen in this life or it can happen in the next — in purgatory. But here is better. For the sooner we let God root out unhealthy attachments, the sooner we can get on with the business of being saints. And there’s no better business than that.” In the beginning of the Dark Night of the Soul, St. John says that the dark night is the same as the experience of purgatory…..a grace-filled experience that is needed in order for the soul to respond wholeheartedly to God’s love and grace….which is also a grace.

Yes of course, Ezra. However, what you said has some danger. If the poster thinks that anyone who disagrees is not a discerning Christian, well arguing is all that you have. Once saved always saved is an example I believe. Peace mark

I respect you, but I would, never, ever think you a liberal :+) Peace mark

One problem, most people here 'say' their stances or bible based, yet in some debates both sides use the scriptures, it can be somewhat chaotic. I guess the faith and works debate is the most obvious. Being catholic I am used to being turned into a stereotype and have learned to ignore it and move on. Basing everything on 'scripture' according to one's interpretation can lead to black and white thinking and an inability to hear from others who have their own line up of scriptures to back up what they are debating about. Listening is hard and in this kind of medium of communication, with many not using their real names can lead to abuses. Peace Mark

For me it partly a civil rights issue, the life in the womb has a right to life and the mother has not right to override that. However, laws against abortion will not stop this reality but only create a whole new class of criminals. Unless our culture changes from the bottom up, a change of heart and perhaps an understanding the life in the womb does have rights, then it will continue. Yet abortions seem to be lessening, hopefully, this trend will continue. Men who refuse to take responsibility, families who fear what others will think of them play a significant role. Christians get just as many abortions as those who are not.....it is usually a one shot deal, yet the toll is horrendous not only in the loss of the life in the womb, but on the women who gets the abortion.....they need compassion and healing and given the knowledge that forgiveness is available through Jesus Christ.

The conversion of St. Paul As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”—Acts 9: 3-6 St. Paul was a man sure of himself, of his beliefs and his knowledge of the Scriptures. He was a Pharisee, a very devout Jew who in his fervor vowed to destroy the fledgling Christian Church. On the way to Damascus this man with a soul on fire with his zeal to arrest Christians and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem for trial, was in store for an earth shattering experience. He was not a gentle-man, nor a loving one, yet a man with purpose, who was sure of himself and what he believed. He caused a great deal of pain and suffering to many of the earliest Christians. Then the “Light” came and in an instant, this man’s world was torn asunder, turned upside down and his soul exposed to the ‘Light’ of truth. This truth was so profound that it for a time blinded him as if he needed that time in darkness (he lost his sight) to be able to reorientate himself to this unsettling truth that Jesus was actually the Messiah and that he truly rose from the dead. A total reversal of what he believed moments before the light entered his life. In the early church after his conversation, St. Paul was not accepted by all because of his outspoken nature and by the vehemence with which he took on his new role. As well as what he did too many Christians before his conversion. First of all, it showed St. Paul’s heart, he was a man who sought the truth with more passion than most, which led him to call himself before his conversion “a Pharisee of Pharisee’s”. Yet he was able to let go of that when faced with the reality of the Risen Lord. Yet the fire remained after his conversion and at times this vehemence was turned on his fellow Christians, perhaps not always justly or fairly, which did not help matters for him. He did not seem to be a man who was easy to get along with…..his humanity remained in tack; he still had his thorn in his side that stayed with him all the days of his life to keep him humble. Perhaps it was his fiery temperament and anger that he struggled with to his dying day. He was just a man after all, though filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Many experienced this light of Jesus Christ after his resurrection. Before his departure, his appeared too many over a period of 40 days. That was why even from the beginning; his followers were ready to die for him, for they saw him, ate with him, touched his wounds…..the early church exploded into existence. Today it is the same Lord who calls us, yet because of the time we live in many no longer believe. Men will die for the truth, even if they are mistaken. Men and women will not die for a lie, however. St. Paul died for the Lord in the end, because the Light he saw was real, powerful and life changing. He heart burned to bring this experience to others, to share the reality of the love and power of this man Jesus Christ, who loved each of us so much as to die, to suffer and to forgive. Just as he loved Paul and forgave him for arresting and killing his beloved followers, with whom, Jesus fully identified….St. Stephen for example. That same Lord is calling each of us by name to allow the Light into our hearts, to embrace the living, loving, merciful Lord, who has truly risen from the dead. Once this reality is seen as real, everything changes, life will never be the same. To believe is one thing, to experience what one believes is something deeper and life changing and I in reality different altogether.