Faith Hope and Love

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe in Jesus Christ, Your Son, who became man and died for our sins, and who will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because You have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen.

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Act of Hope

O my God, trusting in Your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

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Act of Love

O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because You are all-good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for love of You. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen.

Why are we surprised that the church is full of heresy?

It was always that way from the beginning. 

Only Joseph of the twelve was faithful.  

Even Moses was constantly fighting for Israel to choose God. 

The Kings were mostly evil. 

Today there are so many factions based on what they “believe” instead of “receiving” the deposit of faith from the beginning!

Even in Jesus’ day the Church of Israel crucified Him. Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 

Only a remnant was saved out of all these times. Only those who actually choose God and not man’s ways. 

People, you cannot be in and of the world and be God’s. You must choose. 

Jesus came to make a people holy, not a “good mankind.” HOLINESS

Are you rejecting his call to holiness?

Repent of your thoughts. 

Ask Jesus to direct your mind and Ask him for the power of the Spirit to empower you to do God’s Holy Will. 

The Eucharist is

the Eucharist itself is the gift of the Trinity: 

The Father gives us “the true bread from heaven” (Jn 6:32), 

and this living and life-giving bread is his very Son made man, whose “flesh is food indeed . . . and whose blood is drink indeed” (ib. 55). 

But none of this takes place without the Holy Spirit, for “it is the Spirit that gives life” (ib. 63); by giving life to Christ’s glorious humanity, the Spirit renders it capable of communicating life.

Divine Providence

Divine Providence

Providence is where God Himself, in His wisdom, He so orders all events within the universe, that the end for which it was created may be realized. 

 

That end is that all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His hand, serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to eternal happiness in God.

 

The universe is a system of real beings created by God and directed by Him to this supreme end, the concurrence of God being necessary for all natural operations, whether of things animate or inanimate, and still more so for operations of the supernatural order. 

 

He does not will evil, but uses it for his purposes…

1. God preserves the universe in being; 
2. He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. In spite of sin, which is due to the wilful perversion of human liberty, acting with the concurrence, but contrary to the purpose and intention of God and in spite of evil which is the consequence of sin, 
3. He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created.

We can reject his direction, or accept and be saved (but He is always directing us).

Not allowing the Spirit to convict of sin is unforgivable

Only Not Allowing the Spirit to convict of Sin is unforgivable 

Matthew 12:31 (ESV-CE): 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 

EVERY SIN WILL BE FORGIVEN!

Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable?

St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin that is "unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes the elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the sin of rejecting the intimate giver of a genuine conversion he brings about in the conscience. This causes non-repentance. 

It is the radical refusal and rejection to accept conversion,  salvation, redemption, and the forgiveness of his sin, which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross.

It is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a "right" to persist in evil-in any sin at all-and who thus rejects Redemption. (Or believe that what you do is not evil or sin even though God declares it so.)

There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. 

If you do not listen to the Holy Spirit and repent during your life as a lifestyle, hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

Faith is a choice

Trust

Faith is acceptance of the truth

On the basis of God revealing

Believing He is always a good Father

Trusting He will work all for your good

Knowing He loves you and made you for Him

Surrendering to His perfect plan

Accept suffering strengthens 

Willing that every moment is His will for you

Cling to knowledge He will never leave you

Dependent on His care for you

Prayerful for perseverance 

Peace in His presence 

Love Him because He loves you

Resting in His perfect plan all the way home

How We are Saved

God willed, with a genuine will that even after the sin of Adam all should be saved, Therefore, there is no reprobation on account of original sin.

But in a way and with means suited to the condition of our nature; that is,

1. He willed the salvation of all who would give consent to the graces and favours which He would prepare, offer, and distribute for this purpose.
2. Now among those favours, He willed that the call be first, and that it be so tempered to our freedom that we at our good pleasure could accept or reject it.
3. And to those whom He foresaw would accept, He willed to give the sacred movements of repentance;
4. and to those who would follow those movements, He decreed to give holy love;
5. and to those who would have love He planned to give the means needed to persevere;
6. and to those who would use these divine helps, He decreed to give final perseverance and the glorious happiness of His eternal love.

 

God Prepared Heaven for those he Foresaw:

Without doubt, God prepared heaven only for those whom He foresaw would be His . . . 

But it is in our power to be His:

1. for although the gift of being God's belongs to God,
2. yet this is a gift which God denies to no one,
3. but offers to all,
4. and gives to those who freely consent to receive it.
5. But the very consent or acceptance of grace is the effect of grace:

 

Consent does not give efficacy, God Does, but we can hinder it: It is insane impiety to think that you gave effective and holy activity to the divine inspiration because you did not take it away by resisting? We can hinder the efficacy of the inspiration, but we cannot give efficacy to it. 

You have consented, I know it well: the movement of your will freely followed the movement of heavenly grace.

1. But all that-what else is it but to receive the divine working and not to resist?
2. And what do you have in this that you have not received?
3. Yes, even, poor man, you have even received the acceptance of which you boast, and the consent, which you brag about.
4. Is it not the part of most insane impiety to think that you gave effective and holy activity to the divine inspiration because you did not take it away by resisting?
5. We can hinder the efficacy of inspiration, but we cannot give efficacy to it
6. the sole cause of the lack of love is in us: "Just as it would be the part of impious boldness to attribute to the powers of our will the works of holy love that the Holy Spirit does in us and with us,
7. so also it would be the part of impious boldness to wish to attribute the lack of love in an ungrateful man to the lack of heavenly help and grace. 

For the Holy Spirit cries out everywhere, on the contrary, that our destruction comes from us . . . that divine Goodness wills that no one perish, but wills that all come to the knowledge of the truth: He wills that all men be saved.  

 

Notes:

St. Francis is describing the process of the granting of grace in precisely the same way as St. Thomas did in CG. 3.159; so he is NOT a Molinist. With St. Thomas, he rejects reprobation before consideration of demerits, as we have seen. St. Francis differs from St. Thomas in that elsewhere he shows an inclination towards placing predestination after consideration of merits, while, on the contrary, St. Thomas is probably inclined to put it before prevision of merits.

The Will of God and Providence

The will of God and Providence. 

The will of God is life in with and through Jesus. 

Providence allows choice and anything allowed, God is working through. 

He does not will sin but in His providence he will use it for his own purposes. A. God did not will for Joseph’s brothers to do evil but in Providence he used it for his purpose he used it to save the patriarchs. B. He did not will for Judas to betray but in Providence he used it to save the world. C. He did not will Adam to sin but in his providence he used it to decide to indwell us instead of just walk beside us in the earth. He does not will murder rape sickness etc but in his Providence he uses it. 

God never wills evil, but Providence uses it all for his glory!

Grace has appeared to all

(You are responsible for your response to Him. His grace is here giving you an opportunity to be saved)

(His own teaching is to deny evil ways and be holy in this world)

(We hope for our complete transformation and the return of Jesus in His Glory)

(He died for us so we could be changed into a new creation doing His works in His power)

(Tell every one of this new life and convict people to repent and believe)

Titus 2:11–15 (KJV): 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Surrender is like balancing

Surrender 

Is like balancing 

It is a constant adjustment (you are never perfectly balanced)

Realize there is an issue

Pray for Jesus to power you-give him access to the issue

You act. 

Choices in the moment:

1. Surrendering - do it because he wants when he wants how he wants. 

2. Rebellion - not doing what he says, doing or even not doing. Clay or wax heart and Gods fire is the same. Let your pain bring you to Him not run or hide. 

3. Resentment - I’ll do it but I will not be happy about it. Complaining 

Surrendering is death to self. It is no longer my life. It belongs to God. I don’t have an agenda. It is whatever God wants. Trust he knows best for my soul, he made it.

Free Will and Freedom

Free will and Freedom 

Free will is to choose according to wisdom and love what is truly good. 

Freedom is the perfection of the free will. Being able to choose over and over the right thing, the right way, and the right time, for the right reason; easily, peacefully,  and joyfully. 

There are counterfeit goods that lead people astray into slavery. Something may seem good that harms body and soul from use. (Making your own reality) Freedom diminished and broken free will. 

So you need wisdom and love (true reality from God) to discern what is truly good. Subject to formation through intellect and reason of Gods ways. Both internal and external (conscious and laws). People have this choice in their first nature. 

We are weak and sometimes do not do what we know is right. If we continue to do wrong it strengthens this second nature to continue counterfeit goods. So we need prudence. 

Prudence: is to take what you know is right, and actually DO it in practice. This will actually strengthen your free will to do right even more. Reasoning governs instead of feelings and passions. This will start to become the second nature.

Broken Not Depraved

Broken but not depraved:

We are broken but not depraved because God’s grace can be cooperated with in this life. When born again the Grace of God even comes closer by living inside. 

Broken:

Man is born into sin

Cannot do good apart from grace (can still cooperate with God)

Any good done is by the grace of the Almighty 

Sin and dysfunction is all man has without God

Anything Good is a gift of Grace 

Anything Bad is from man’s choice (world, flesh, or devil)

Not Depraved:

We are broken but God is directing all souls, all the time, and sometimes they choose to listen to good and do it, and sometimes they choose to rebel and do wrong. 

God loves every person and is always pouring graces on them. This is why people are still building families and societies etc. though they are broken there is a lot of good. If we were depraved no one could cooperate with Grace and there would be no good on the earth. 

We must be humble because any good we have done in our life has been a gift from God. 

Any wrong or evil has been a rebellion and needs repentance and forgiveness. 

We must pray for all men at all times because we are all weak and the world, flesh, and devil try to incite our rebellion instead of our cooperation with God’s Grace. 

Born Again:

People who consistently cooperate with God’s Grace must be extra careful because they have a tendency to start thinking it is themselves. It is the Grace of the Almighty giving them gifts to which they happen to cooperate with. It is not from them. Pride comes before a fall.

God, have mercy on our souls and help us all hear, and cooperate with your grace and give Glory to you for your gift!!!

Amen

The longings of the human spirit is feeling that it has been alienated from God and exiled from its true homeland because of sin. 

The human soul yearns for forgiveness – to know that it is loved unconditionally, generously, no matter what; 

the human mind longs for light – to know the truth of things, the reason it exists, where it is going, the meaning of life and the path to fulfillment; 

and all people and all communities pine above all for peace – the peace that is so much more than a mere absence of war, the peace that is fullness, prosperity, goodness, social harmony, creative expansiveness, cultural flourishing. 

All of this is only found in God! Jesus Christ is the only Answer and Fulfillment to Your Soul! Jesus is the reconciliation to God!

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore

In the summer and fall of 1528 the country suffered a severe famine. That winter, Moore fed one hundred people a day. Then, just as a most welcomed harvest came, a fire broke out caused by the negligence of one of his neighbors. The result was the destruction of all of More’s barns, part of his house, and several of the neighbors barns as well. More was out of the country when he received word. 

Yet, without hesitation he sent a letter to his wife telling her, “We must and are bound not only to be content but also to be glad of God’s will. After all, it was God who sent us all that we have lost and since He has by such a chance taken it away again, His pleasure has been fulfilled. 

Let us heartily thank God as well for adversity as for prosperity, and perhaps we have more cause to thank Him for our loss than for our gain, for His wisdom sees better what is good for us than we do ourselves. 

Therefore, be of good cheer and take all the household with you to church and there thank God both for what he has given us and for what he has taken from us and for what he has left us – which, if it pleases him, he can increase when he will; and if it pleases him to leave us yet less, so let it be at His pleasure.

While still in prison More wrote, “The brothers of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred. 

Nothing can come accept what God wills and I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, even if nothing has ever appeared so bad, it shall indeed be the best.”

The Will of God

The Will of God

All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God. 

• Humility in our daily lives, 
• an unwavering faith, 
• a moral sense of modesty in conversation, 
• justice in acts, 
• mercy in deed, 
• discipline, 
• refusal to harm others, 
• a readiness to suffer harm, 
• peaceableness with our brothers, 
• a wholehearted love of the Lord, 
• fearing him because he is God, 
• preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, 
• clinging tenaciously to his love, 
• standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name, 
• manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession 
• and under torture confidence for the fight, 
• and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned
• this is what it means to wish to be a coheir with Christ, 
• to keep God’s command; 
• this is what it means to do the will of the Father.

If you do the will of my heavenly Father,

you will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.
You will enter the kingdom of heaven.

EVERY SIN WILL BE FORGIVEN

Matthew 12:31 (ESV-CE): 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 

EVERY SIN WILL BE FORGIVEN!

Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable?

St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin that is "unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes the elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the sin of rejecting the intimate giver of a genuine conversion he brings about in the conscience. This causes non-repentance. 

It is the radical refusal and rejection to accept conversion,  salvation, redemption, and the forgiveness of his sin, which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross.

It is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a "right" to persist in evil-in any sin at all-and who thus rejects Redemption. (Or believe that what you do is not evil or sin even though God declares it so.)

There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. 

If you do not listen to the Holy Spirit and repent during your life as a lifestyle, hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.