In honor of our discussion tonight about apologetics and the Papacy, here’s a good visual for all you visual learners.
from this cool site
Jesus was walking along one day, when He came upon a group of people surrounding a lady of ill repute. It was obvious that the crowd was preparing to stone her, so Jesus made His now-famous statement, “Let the person who has no sin cast the first stone.”
The crowd was shamed and one by one began to turn away. All of a sudden, a lovely little woman made her way through the crowd. Finally getting to the front, she tossed a pebble towards the woman.
Jesus looks over and says, “I really hate it when you do that, Mom.”
A Jesuit, a Dominican, and a Trappist were marooned on a desert island. They found a magic lamp, and after some discussion decided to rub it. Lo and behold, a genie appeared and offered them three wishes. They decided it was only fair that they could each have one wish. The Jezzie said he wanted to teach at the world’s most famous university, and poof, he was gone! The Dominican wished to preach in the world’s largest church, and poof, he was gone! Then the Trappist said, “Gee, I already got my wish!”
(I put the cool parts in bold. It’s three questions that young people asked him at the audience)
POPE TO YOUNG PEOPLE:
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU
VATICAN CITY, 26 MAR 2010 (VIS) – Yesterday evening in St. Peter’s Square more than 70,000 young people, most of them from dioceses in Rome and Lazio but also from other areas of Italy, met with the Pope for an encounter of prayer, meditation and dialogue, in an event organised to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of World Youth Days, established by John Paul II in 1985. A number of people bore witness to their faith, in a programme of events that also included songs and dances. Silence descended as the World Youth Day Cross was carried into the square in a torchlight procession, accompanied by an image of the Blessed Virgin “Salus Populi Romani”.
On his arrival in the square, Benedict XVI thanked the young people for their participation, their “magnificent witness of faith” and their “eagerness to follow Jesus”. He then responded to questions put to him by three of the youthful participants.
“What can I do with my life to make it great and beautiful?” was the first question put to the Holy Father who, referring to the parable of the rich young man, replied by saying “in the first place, do not waste life, but live it profoundly, not living only for oneself”.
“God wanted my life since all eternity”, the Holy Father went on. “I am loved, I am necessary. God has a plan for me in the totality of history. … For this reason, the first step is to know, to seek to know, God. … Then it is essential to love. … These are, so to say, rules of love, … with the following essential points: the family as the foundation of society; life, to be respected as a gift of God; order in sexuality, in relations between man and woman; order in society and, finally, truth. … Perfection (that is, being good, living in faith and truth) is substantially one thing, but has many different forms. … Finding my vocation and living it everywhere is important and fundamental, whether I am a great scientist or a labourer”.
The second question was “what does it mean to say that Jesus looks at us with love, and how can we have this experience today?” to which the Pope replied: “Of course I would say that we can, because the Lord is always present and looks at each one of us with love. But it is up to us to discover His gaze“. The first step, he explained, “is to know the figure of Jesus as He appears in the Gospels”, but we must know Him, “not just academically and theoretically, but with the heart; that is, we must talk to Jesus in prayer. … Reason is also necessary but, at the same time, so is the heart”. The key elements are “to listen, to respond, to enter into the community of believers and into communion with Christ in the Sacraments where He gives Himself to us (the Eucharist, Confession etc), and finally, to put the words of faith into practice that they may become a power in my life”.
“Where can I find the strength to make courageous choices, and who can help me?” was the third and last question put to Benedict XVI. Let us begin, he replied “with what is a difficult word for us: sacrifice. … Even a good professional life cannot be accomplished without sacrifices, without adequate preparation, which always requires discipline”. In the same way, “the art of being human also requires sacrifices” which “are explained in the Word of God and help us not to fall into the abyss of drugs, alcohol, slavery to sexuality, slavery to money, laziness. … Being able to renounce the temptation of the moment, to move towards goodness creates true freedom and makes life valuable. In this context, I feel, we must realise that without a ‘no’ towards certain things, the great ‘yes’ to true life cannot develop”.
| Two men considering a religious vocation were having a conversation. “What is similar about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders? ” the one asked.
The second replied, “Well, they were both founded by Spaniards — St. Dominic for the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Jesuits. They were also both founded to combat heresy — the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the Protestants.” “What is different about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?” “Met any Albigensians lately?” |
A distinguished young woman on a flight from Switzerland asked the Priest beside her, “Father, may I ask a favor?”
“Of course.? What may I do for you?”
“Well, I bought an expensive woman’s electronic hair dryer for my mother’s birthday that is unopened and well over the Customs limits, and I’m afraid they’ll confiscate it.
Is there any way you could carry it through Customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?”
“I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you:? I will not lie.”
“With your honest face, Father, no one will question you.”
When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her.
The official asked, “Father, do you have anything to declare?”
“From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare.”
The official thought this answer strange, so asked, “And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?”
“I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused.”
Roaring with laughter, the official said, “Go ahead, Father. Next!”
Posted in Jokes
Hey y’all,
thought you might find it interesting that the Vatican is officially looking into the reported apparitions of Medjugorje. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it or not but in 1981 6 young people are said to have receieved messages from the Blessed Mother. The Church doesn’t officially recognize these apparitions right now but they’re now commissioning a study to look into them more. Depending on the results of the commission, the Medjugorje apparitions could be put up on level with Fatima and Lourdes. Here’s a link if you want to read more about it. http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5756
Hey y’all, what do y’all want to see on this site, what would make it more useful, what’s interesting, what’s just dumb, etc etc etc. I need input.
-Angelle
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Posted in Uncategorized
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