1. Pray diligently. Jesus gives us many great examples of prayer, culminating in the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. It is here, prior to his tribulation and passion, here, as he enters into the supreme mystery of why he came to earth that he prays. He prays so hard that he starts sweating blood. We too are in the same exact battle as Christ: the battle to defeat evil. Every day we must fight the evil within, and we must fight the attacks of evil from without. In case you haven’t noticed, but lately, our President has zero respect for Christians, for true goodness. He has entered the war as an aggressor. We must pray. We must pray diligently, because this isn’t going away. It will probably get much more difficult before it gets easier.

2. We must stand up for the truth…no matter what. Are we ready to defy unjust laws? Are we ready to stand up for our beliefs and our rights? Are we willing to write letters to our Congressmen, our Senators, our President, the Secretary of the HHS? Are we ready to be imprisoned for standing strong? Are we ready to be beaten bloody? Are we ready to give up our dignity for the kingdom? This is the example that Jesus gave. Are we ready to follow it?

3. We must endure mockery. We have to realize that what we preach is at odds with the world. And the enmity that it creates is going to create hostility towards us. It will blind people to the love, the truth, and the joy that our Faith preaches. They will make fun of our “goofy” religious beliefs, of our “bigotry” and our “oppressive, primitive beliefs”. They are going to act like little punks on the playground. And we, we will take it. Look, they spit on Jesus. They mashed a crown of thorns into his head. And he sat there silently. He turned the other cheek. When they took his dignity beating him, he gave them still more, never seeking his own honor. We too must turn the other cheek. We endure because we cannot stoop to their level. Believe me, they will get what they have coming, and we will get the reward of a suffering servant.

4. We are called to carry a cross. Sometimes I get discouraged by the crosses I am asked to bear. I find it difficult to square it away with the whole “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” stuff. I look at Jesus carrying his cross, and I don’t see him floating along like a feather, I see him falling down, bloody, practically passed out, and none of it looks easy. But you know what, it was easy for him, because he had help and encouragement from Mary, from Simon, from Veronica, and from the women. He saw the faces of the people he had known during his lifetime, and he saw those whom were created through him and he knew the final outcome and that made it easy. We, too, know the final outcome. No, I don’t know if our nation will crumble or survive, but I know that at the end of time, Jesus wins. Knowing that makes my cross easy. And I know that Jesus will provide help and encouragement along the way.

5. Be willing to die. I always pray that it won’t come to this, not in America. But the truth is, this world is a ruthless place. We never know when we might be called to die for our faith. The Church is filled with martyrs. Look at the first centuries of Catholicism; most saints were killed for the faith, beheaded, stabbed, stoned, fed to lions, eyes poked out, cooked over a fire, these people were killed brutally because they would not renounce their faith in Jesus. We must have that kind of faith.

Our nation and our world is becoming increasingly hostile towards us. Now is more important than ever to suit up, to pray, and to be ready to endure anything for Christ, even death.

Gah, I don’t even know where to begin.

I hope Santorum is our next president.

My views have changed a lot in the last thousand days. Now I realize that just picking a fight is not enough. People won’t convert just like that with a well thought out, completely reasonable idea. I have discovered that the only place that true dialogue can begin is when certain basic truths are accepted and acknowledged.

1. That there is absolute truth
Unless one acknowledges the reality that there is an absolute truth, true dialogue cannot begin. The reason is that they are not interested in what is true, they are not interested in right or wrong, facts or fiction, because in their eyes, the facts are only opinions. Essentially they will argue all day that a fact is “just your own personal opinion.” These types of people are not seekers of truth or knowledge, but seekers of self and pleasure.

We can be confident, though, that there is absolute truth in this universe. For instance, either Paris, France exists or it doesn’t. It doesn’t exist for some people and not for others. Just by saying “Paris isn’t real” doesn’t make it so. Or what about something like 2+2 which equals 4. It isn’t 5. It isn’t 3. It isn’t 6.5. It is 4, and nobody who tries to say it is otherwise is not going to change it. It is always and forever absolutely 4.

This may seem like a “duh” moment, but you’d be surprised at how many people deny absolute truth, especially when it comes to God, who is, the only standard, undeviating being in existence.

2. That God is Knowable
One must be to the point where they acknowledge that God is knowable. It is not enough to acknowledge that there are absolute truths about God. We must also admit that these absolute truth are knowable. If they aren’t knowable, then we still must subject ourselves to a guessing game about what is true of God and his Will. That puts us in a place that is little better than relativism.

Non-Christian religions excluded, it is pretty easy to show, through Scripture that God has made himself knowable and that it is a gift he has given to mankind.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

John 3:16

Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

John 17:3

This serves to show the purpose of God’s mission earth. In his love he has sent his Son to give us eternal life and that eternal life is knowing God, the only true God. Substitute the second half of John 17:3 in for eternal life (since John 17:3 is the definition of eternal life):

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

It is only when a heart admits that there is absolute truth, that morality and God’s character are not up for personal definitions, and that God, in his love has made it possible to know what is truth, that a heart can truly be open to true dialogue and begin seeking the truth. It is at this junction that God’s grace empowers us and enables us to converse and lead people to communion with reality, with the Bible, with the Church, and with God.

For those hearts that are not to the point of accepting these simple truths, we pray that God would grant them the grace to understand, and accept these truths and to act in the light of that revelation.

For those hearts that have reached this critical junction, we pray that they would receive the graces to discover who God is and what God’s will is and to move forward without any fear.

And for us, who have come to the full light of truth, we pray that we would be patient, encouraging, and wise when entering into dialogue with the souls that God is drawing to him, and has longed for since the pre-dawn of Creation.

Part 1   Jesus as the Messiah
Sun. 1  The Baptism of Jesus     Mk 1:7-11
Sun. 2  The Call of Andrew and His Friend     Jn 1:35-42

Part 2  The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God

Phase 1  Jesus with the Pharisees and the Crowds
Sun. 3  The Call of the First Disciples     Mk 1:14-20
Sun. 4  A Day in Capernaum 1     Mk 1:21-28
Sun. 5  A Day in Capernaum 2     Mk 1:29-39
Sun. 6  The Cure of a Leper     Mk 1:40-45
Sun. 7  The Cure of a Paralytic     Mk 2:1-12
Sun. 8  The Question of Fasting     Mk 2:18-22
Sun. 9  Violation of the Sabbath     Mk 2:23-3:6

Phase 2  Jesus with His Disciples
Sun. 10  Serious Criticism of Jesus     Mk 3:20-35
Sun. 11  The Parables of the Kingdom     Mk 4:26-34
Sun. 12  The Calming of the Storm     Mk 4:35-41
Sun. 13  Jairus’ Daughter; the Woman in the Crowd     Mk 5:21-43
Sun. 14  Jesus Rejected at Nazareth     Mk 6:1-6

Phase 3  The Messianic Character of Jesus’ Mission
Sun. 15  The Mission of the Twelve     Mk 6:7-13
Sun. 16  Jesus’ Concern for the Apostles     Mk 6:30-34
Sun. 17  The Feeding of Five Thousand     Jn 6:1-15
Sun. 18  The Bread of Life 1     Jn 6:24-35
Sun. 19  The Bread of Life 2     Jn 6:41-51
Sun. 20  The Eucharist     Jn 6:51-58
Sun. 21  Incredulity and Faith     Jn 6:60-69
Sun. 22  Jewish Customs     Mk 7:8, 14-15, 21, 23
Sun. 23  The Cure of the Deaf-mute     Mk 7:31-37

Part 3  The Revelation of the Savior

Phase 1  The Rules of the Kingdom of God
Sun. 24  Peter’s Confession of Faith     Mk 8:27-35
Sun. 25  Passion and Resurrection Foretold     Mk 9:30-37
Sun. 26  Instructions to the Disciples     Mk 9:8-43, 45, 47-48
Sun. 27  The Question of Divorce     Mk 10:2-16
Sun. 28  The Danger of Riches     Mk 10:17-30
Sun. 29  The Sons of Zebedee     Mk 10:35-45
Sun. 30  The Cure of Bartimaeus     Mk 10:46-52

Phase 2  The Ministry in Jerusalem
Sun. 31  The First Commandment     Mk 12:28-34
Sun. 32  The Widow’s Mite     Mk 12:38-44
Sun. 33  The Last Things     Mk 13:24-32

Phase 3  The Supernatural Character of God’s Kingdom
Sun. 34  Christ the King     Jn 18:33-37

It’s difficult to see the “curriculum” the Church is giving us one Sunday at a time, but when the year is overviewed it is a great discourse through the Gospel as we learn important lessons about Christ, the Church, and Christian living.