Tuesday, June 25, 2019

What is obedience (Catechism), examples of Faith (Catechism), and on the growing spiritual threat of materialism


Post: To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself.
Abraham is the model of such obedience offered by Sacred Scripture.
The Virgin Mary is the most perfect embodiment of this virtue.

Obedience is what earned Abraham the title "Father of Faith," and God's great promise to him.

Obedience is what makes Mary so holy, kind, virtuous, courageous and brave, patient, amiable, good, truthful, sane and bringing sanity, with a beautiful soul; and also what makes her the strongest and also the most powerful human person to have ever lived, and who will ever live. Obedience to God is what earned Mary the title "The One Who Crushes The Skull of the Serpent Under Her Immaculate Heel."

Obedience to God means rebellion to the world.

Obedience to the world means rebellion against God, which is sin, weakness, evil, cowardice, idolatry, the falsehood of materialism (which is a belief that personal salvation or improvement of life comes from the material world — from money, worldly success and personal accomplishment, objects and ownership, control over others, popularity/fame, that you have inherent value before God — that you are good and inclined to virtue or not inclined to sin — because of your race or gender* or age or nationality or family history or genetics), selfishness, jealousy, hate, murder, hideousness of soul, worthlessness, lying and masks/false fronts, insanity and causing insanity in others, giving into peer pressure, darkness and ignorance, confusion, true aloneness, all forms of wickedness, making oneself into a spiritual cesspool, making one's soul truly repulsive; obedience to the world is the definition of true failure.

*there is no such thing as "maternal instinct," nor are women inherently "more nurturing" or somehow less selfish or "less warlike" or more "in tune" with others. (Let me reference innumerable examples…)

Also "instinct" is an atheist's way of not showing gratitude to God for His Gifts, or a pagan's way of attempting to understand a world that doesn't make sense because there is yet a revelation of God. "Instinct" implies we are incapable of virtue, and therefore incapable of sin, because we are chemical, biological robots. It implies we have no soul, no spirit, no "inner self," that we more or less do not exist. It is nihilism. There is no place for this empty philosophy among Christians. If there were, the Angel Gabriel would have greeted Mary: "Hail Mary, empty vessel, full of maternal instinct." God did not send this message to Mary.

If this empty nihilistic philosophy were true, Adam and Eve would not have been held accountable for their sins. "Well, it's just part of their biomechanical nature." But that is not what happened…

If it were true, God would not have said of humanity, "they are little less than the angels." He would have said of humanity, "they are little less than the rocks."

If you consider yourself a Christian, a seeker of the Truth, Truth Who is God, stop clinging to pagan or antichrist beliefs, stop "teaching the ways of man as if they were the ways of God."

A man will not be virtuous or have true bravery — which is facing one's sins and giving up sin and following Christ to spiritual Gethsemane and Jerusalem — simply because of being a man, as we see in the Apostles vs the women who followed Him to His Crucifixion: the Apostles ran, all but John, who rested on Christ's Heart (through his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he got his strength from God rather than attempted to get his strength from himself and fail like his Apostle brothers).

The women risked imprisonment, torture and death to follow Jesus to Calvary and bring Him comfort and defend Him. Not because they were women, but because they sought God, Who made them courageous in the face of death. Seeking God is not "inherently" more easy for women to do somehow: all is a grace from God. All grace must be sought from God. All must seek grace from God through prayer. We even need to pray to be able to pray, that is how much we need God!

Those who try to justify themselves will fall and be scattered, as God says He will cast the mighty and arrogant from their thrones and raise up the lowly who rely on Him alone — who are "the poor in spirit".

God says this repeatedly in the Old Testament and demonstrates it accurately in the New.

True bravery and nurturing/encouragement are both graces from God Whom He gives to those who say "I am not God" and who obey Him and seek strength from Him alone, rather than from the world or from themselves, as He says over and over and over and OVER again in the Old Testament. He doesn't judge humans the way we judge ourselves or others: God looks into the heart, which we humans cannot do. We can't even see into our own hearts, we can't even see our own mistakes or lack of virtue, as God says to us "you are spiritually blind, ask for true sight from Me." This is the beginning of true wisdom.)

It is true Satanic attacks are more frequent against women than men, as the Devil hates all humanity but women especially because he hates Mary, and Satan is quite sexist and transfers his hatred to all women. Exorcists have noted this over and over. This does not mean men are not afflicted by the demonic in large percentages or numbers, or somehow men are impervious to demonic attack. They are afflicted. Satan hates everyone and everything, because all reminds him of God.
But God is not sexist. Ageist. Racist. Etc. He gives grace to anyone who seeks Him sincerely and seeks to give up sin.
And we humans are not demons. We ought to believe in God and seek Him in all sincerity, no matter our background. We have no excuse to do otherwise.

We need to forget ourselves and seek God sincerely.

God has lifted up to sanctity every imaginable type of person as examples for us. We are not confined to being inspired only by those similar to us (ie, women do not only pray to women saints or some such absurd idea, that is very self-absorbed and materialistic, and not consistent with the history of the Church). I saw, at a very Communist church, a Theresian society that was only for women, to the exclusion of men. This ought not be so! St. Thérèse has inspired and aided many men to great virtue, mysticism, and even Sainthood! God gave her grace so that she could help Him save all peoples! Even though she is French, she has helped all who invoke her — even German soldiers during the First World War (as certainly the socialist Germans weren't invoking her in the second world war, or else she would have helped them then). To apply materialistic standards to a Saint like this is a great sin. There are already men's and women's societies*, there should not be limits put on a soul's access to God's grace.

*why there are mens and womens organizations is beyond me, but they exist, and I am dubious about them, as a large aspect of witchcraft is based on the demonic lie of so-called "feminine energy" and "masculine energy," and our culture is more and more aligned with all sorts of occult and materialistic ideas, so I really doubt these organizations… I have talked about "natural witchcraft," or an aligning with unclean ideals without knowingly participating in witchcraft, although still practicing the occult or being attracted to the occult, in the Depression Healing post, and I have talked about idolatry in many posts...

"If we say 'we are free of the guilt of sin,' we deceive ourselves; the truth is not to be found in us.

"But if we acknowledge our sins, He Who is Just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong."

The following is from the Catechism:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PV.HTM
Abraham - "father of all who believe"

145 The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham's faith: "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go." By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land. By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. and by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice.

146 Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen": Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Because he was "strong in his faith", Abraham became the "father of all who believe".

147 The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who "received divine approval". Yet "God had foreseen something better for us": the grace of believing in his Son Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith".

Mary - "Blessed is she who believed"

148 The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." Elizabeth greeted her: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed.

149 Throughout her life and until her last ordeal when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. and so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.


Stop wasting time online; instead read the Bible, study scripture:
http://catholicbible.online/side_by_side/NT/Lk

Say the Rosary, love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.