I gave my talk tonight on Catholic Customs and Sacramentals...and learned when I got there that I DID have to discuss "Our Identity as Prophets" as well. That was right when class started. And since I wasn't the prayer reader, I asked the Holy Spirit what I should say? I was ready for the other stuff, had my props, and even recieved a third class relic in the mail today from a dear friend!
So I wrote down the thoughts that came to me, and went up in front of the class with my notes, all the sacramentals I'd brought already laid out.
I told them that I had only a few thoughts on the topic of our identity as prophets, calling upon the Bible to give us a snapshot of what a prophet is:
* The prophets spoke with the authority of God to warn of their current status of having fallen away from God, calling them to repentence and back to God. They listed the consequences of not following God's laws...and when the people did not listen, God responded just as he had warned.
* The prophet does not act on his own; he acts as God directs, is an instrument of God.
* There are prophets among us, such as Fulton Sheen. I described how he had this amazing ability to completely size up the culture, what they were facing...and his words are still so relevant TODAY!
* We are also called to stand firmly grounded in our faith, and size up the world and where it is taking us; is it taking us away from God or toward it? If we are talking about God and how to live, and we immediately go out and do the opposite, then we are not prophets. Prophets had to stand against the culture, just as we are called to do, and thus lead by example.
Every night before I have to speak, I go to the Adoration Chapel to offer my efforts, asking that God be glorified through my weakness. Even though I had prepared for tonight, the topic was huge and admittedly, organization is not my forte'. And even with my notes in front of me, I skipped around during my talk, having offered it to God; knowing that even with what I knew, I was not up to the task.
I don't actually feel like I did a very good job tonight, but at the same time, I also let the "conversation" be lead by the Holy Spirit, and most of the information was covered. We ended right on time. I provided some resources to everyone so that they could go online and look up the information they wanted to know more about.
Primarily, I recommend the following sites for people seeking to know more about our Catholic culture and devotions:
www.catholic.com
www.catholicculture.org
and with reservations:
www.fisheaters.com
This last one is a great site, however, the owner is an ultra-trad Cath. They do not recognize the Novus Ordo as being valid, nor do they recognize Vatican II. I did caution the class about that and gave some info on the SSPX, then told them which link to click for the best info. Fisheaters has a great section on Catholic devotions with really incredible articles, explanations, etc., and I did use this for many of my explanations and research. They are linked to my favorites, but to anyone who goes to this site; the section for those converting to the faith are going to meet the vitriol of the mislead in schism.
There are so many great websites out there, so many resources! So thank God these poor people didn't have to rely completely on my explanations for anything!
UPDATE: May 26, 2010.
Every so often randon anon commenters flame me and accuse me of all sorts of really fun sins such as calumny and detraction because of my criticism of fisheaters.com. I stand by what I said; after all, Catholic Culture.org also has reservations for the same reasons and more. Click here for their most recent review of the site.
8 comments:
Yay You! And thanks be to God! :-)
As someone who's been through RCIA and has appreciated the personal touch provided by people sharing from their own faith experience, and from their own hearts, let me say, thank you, and God bless!
Warren
Thanks also for the commentary explaining Fisheaters' orientation. I hadn't looked around there very much so hadn't picked up on those potential problems but am going to note them on my blog for that resource! :-)
I'd bet, Adoro, that your class is thrilled with what you are teaching them!
WOW, grand, keep up the good work!
Unfortunately, something strange seems to be going on at the forums on catholic.com. They've begun purging some of their more traditional/orthodox (with a small "o") posters.
It has 'felt' different to me in the past few months and so this just kind of proves it to me.
Whoah, whoah, whoah! Fish Eaters does not at all deny the validity of the Novus Ordo Mass, nor does it reject Vatican II. See their "About this Site" page...
anon:
Then why, exactly, does fisheaters post this link of a "screen capture"?:
http://www.fisheaters.com/ewtnedit.html
This is a denial of the validity of the NO Mass, and by posting it without commentary, Fiseaters.com is thus supporting the words attributed within.
And what about this article which condems and misconstrues the Vatican II Document Gaudium et spes:
http://remnantnewspaper.com/archives/archive-woodstock.htm
And there's more where that came from, which is why I warned my RCIA catechumans and candidates about the site, as well as my readers.
Vatican II was a pastoral council which was written and discussed within the context of the history of Sacred Tradition and Scripture, then of course, abused through intellectual dishonesty; the same kind which is apparent in these posts. I am by no means a "liberal" and in actuality, I trend towards the traditional end of the spectrum. Yet some recent education and actual reading and examination of the documents within context has helped me to see the issues of extremism propogated both by the popular wreckovation of the liturgy (which should be retaining Latin) and the traditionalist misrepresentation of the actual teachings to the other extreme.
So if you are associated with Fisheater, then please correct this so that people will not be mislead. Thank you.
The screencapture of the edit is there because it shows that the EWTN priest wrote that the N.O. Mass is a "complete fabrication," not because he says it is invalid. As to external links, see their linking policy on their "About this Site" page...
Post a Comment