Saturday, May 30, 2009

Role of Divine Mercy on success of Pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger and the rest of the Flight 1549 crew?

"Mercy on the Hudson"

How Divine Mercy and a book
changed the life of a passenger on Flight 1549


Adapted from this article by Felix Carroll in the Marian Helper magazine . Summer 2009 . www.marian.org


"A banker on a business trip in New York City, Fred Merretta had just checked into his hotel room.

"For some reason, he decided to clean out his briefcase.

"As he emptied it out, he came across a booklet on The Divine Mercy message and devotion that included how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

"He recalls having prayed it a few times years ago.

"But by Jan. 14, 2009, it was a good intention mislaid -- among spreadsheets and quarterly reports.

"He decided to follow along in the booklet and prayed the chaplet, a prayer our Lord gave to St. Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s.

"The time happened to be 3 p.m., known as the Hour of Great Mercy, when Jesus died on the cross.

"Fred would consider that detail the following day -- as he was preparing to die.

"Miracle on the Hudson

"He would be among the 155 people to board a jet airliner at La Guardia Airport bound for Charlotte, N.C., his hometown.

"Ninety seconds after takeoff, the jet would apparently hit a flock of geese, the engines would explode, and the plane would lose power at 3,200 feet.

"It would lose thrust and altitude.

"Everything would become eerily quiet.

"Fred would think about his family -- his wife and four young children.

"He would think about God, about death, about trust, about an extraordinary promise made by Jesus that he read the previous day in that booklet...."

Man, this story just keeps getting better! :)


Friday, May 29, 2009

"With Eucharistic self - offering it is the awesome power of the Holy Spirit --

"Divine Love --

"That is released into the world."




Father John A. Sedlak has this story:


Full participation and nuclear fusion


The following is randomly adapted from a snippet or two of his timely article in the June 2009 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

"Offering God a blank check

"What is Eucharistic self - offering?

"Just what does offering ourselves with Christ in his self - offering unto the Cross for the life of the world entail?

"How do we go about it?

"A simple way of understanding it, in order to put it into practice, is this: Eucharistic self - offering is offering ourselves to God as a blank check to do anything or bear anything he would ask of us for the salvation of others.

"Lay people might normally make this offering primarily for their spouses, children, parents, brothers and sisters, and then others such as friends.

"Clergy and consecrated religious would offer themselves also for the Church and the world, especially all those entrusted to their care and those who ask for their prayers."


without having our check bounce...


"All are to renew this offering at each Mass, particularly as we receive Holy Communion, and then strive to live it out in everyday life under all circumstances, in relation to all others, without having our check bounce.

"That is, we prayerfully discern what the Lord is asking us to do and do it, and we accept troubles and sufferings without complaint, turning what we do and bear into redeeming love."


Pope Benedict XVI's parallel of Jesus Christ with Nuclear Fission cited...


As he quotes the Pope's own words: The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' self - oblation. More than just statically receiving this incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self - giving. Jesus draws us into himself. The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood introduces into creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of nuclear fission, to use an image familiar to us today, which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28).

And so, as the good father reiterates:

"With Eucharistic self - offering it is the awesome power of the Holy Spirit -- Divine Love -- that is released into the world."

St. Mary Magdalene's Catholic Parish Altar Server & Youth Group $$$ fund raisers:

Better get rolling!


"Somebody" needs to hoke - up an announcement.

No later than this weekend's bulletin, o.k.?



Else folks will begin to wonder:

"Who was on first base when all the donated lana disappeared?!" :)

Doña Celestina Hernandez credited with being our first parishioner!

To arrive for the hastily summoned Liturgy Committee Meeting.

Last night at the Old Rectory Building.




Scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m., this meeting may have been viewed by at least two(2) to three (3) members of our local clergy as a golden opportunity to ramrod through yet another spectacular -- if hastily improvised -- plan for still another indoor paper - trash burning New Age - style religious mitote.

Rest assured, Doña Celestina now knows what Paul Harvey used to call, The rest of the story!

Super S. News Flash!

Brackettville's Don Felipe Martinez is credited!

With
initiating Snake Bite Season 2009
.


According to our usual sources with Bracketville's Super S. News Service (SSNS) Don Felipe Martinez initiated the 2009 Snake Bite Season by being snake bitten by a small rattlesnake while moving some lumber around.

The incident purportedly took place Thursday, May 28, 2009.

His attending physician was reported as telling him that even a small rattlesnake's bite is bad news, because as the good doctor opined,
a small one ejects all its venom with one bite.


So, here's hoping for a speedy recovery by Don Felipe!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

"Yusuf Islam put it this way: In the West whoever wishes to embrace their religion and make it their only way of life is deemed a fanatic.."


"Many young people grow weary of a lifestyle of anger, loneliness and frustration"




Adapted from an essay by the Rev. Father Val J. Peter in the June 2009 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review, called "An apologetic for post - modern youth."


"Where do we do we look to find an apologetic for post - modern youth.

"Not in the self - esteem movement, for its shelf life is about over.

"Not in the shared practice approach to Christian religious education of Thomas Groome, which on its fortieth anniversary last year looked tired and exhausted.

"Groome's approach focuses on the youth's experience in a modern age, which is over and done with.

"These young people filled with post - modern anger are honestly turned off by what they perceive as Western civilization's tired, vapid version of Christianity.

"Pope Benedict XVI has said that over and over again.

"It cannot be repeated enough.

"The pop singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, put it this way: In the West whoever wishes to embrace their religion and make it their only way of life is deemed a fanatic...then I realized that we must follow the will of God and then we can rise even higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to become a Muslim.

"Many of the young people grow weary of a lifestyle of anger, loneliness and frustration.

"No wonder some find themselves responding to the clarion call to take the radical road of worshiping the living and true God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"It is a steep, daunting road and the neophyte has to take one step at a time trusting the grace of God.

"What is happening in the twenty - first century is that these young people are embracing the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in the Scriptures and preached by the Church.

"Their attitude is that of Joshua: As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord..."

Way to go, Reverend!! :)

"Wind, solar energy folly in Spain"

So - called Clean energy bad deal for consumers


"Dana McGinnis: Spain's experience is a painful preview"


...the wind does not blow all the time...



This itsy - bitsy snippet has been adapted from real - deal area businessman Mr. Dana McGinnis' guest editorial in The San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS. Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

"Spain offers U.S. consumers a preview of what is in store for them if plans to increase wind and solar electric generation here become reality.

"Spanish law requires distributors of electricity to buy all clean energy produced in the first 25 years of a clean energy plant's life.

"The rate the government set in 2007 was 300 Euros per megawatt - hour; then seven times the average rate for coal or gas - fired generation.

"Even at that price, however, solar energy provides less than 1 percent of total generation in Spain.

"The heavy lifting for renewable resources is left to wind, and when the wind blows, wind energy can provide as much as 40 percent of Spain's needs."


But! It is the consumers who have to pay the price.


"That might sound like music to the ears of clean energy proponents, but bells are going off in the heads of the consumers who have to pay the price.

"Costs for wind productio
n in Spain are in no case less than 2.5 times the cost for coal or gas generation because the efficiency ratio for wind is about 40 percent of installed capacity.

"Utilities must pay for all the installed wind capacity, but get only 40 percent of that in usable energy because the wind does not blow all the time.

"Real costs are likely three to five times that of alternative sources and all these costs are passed on to the ratepayers.

"The Spanish ministry estimates 42 percent of all power bills in 2009 will cover subsidized clean energy , according to Bloomberg News.

"That is an average."


When the wind blows the percentage goes up....


"When the wind blows the percentage goes up because of the obligation of the utilities to take all clean energy generated at the contracted price even if they have to cut back on far cheaper coal and gas generation to make room.

"The wind companies profit from guaranteed prices and when the wind really blows, they get rich because the consumers have no choice but to pay if they want electricity.

"There is a limit to what they can pay, however, especially when current unemployment is 17.4 percent.

"When they cannot pay, the government will pay because of the guarantees.

"But what happens when and if the government can no longer pay?"

And here Mr. McGinnis gives us his answer:

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Rock - a - bye, baby ...

Some really good points, Señor! :)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

¡Hey, Familia!

¡Hey, UTEP!

Does everyone have her / his NO - DOZE supply restocked 100%?

You have?

Well, good for you!! :)

Because:

There's hardly one hundred and twenty hours left of vacation until it will be time to start :


UTEP Summer 2009.


¡Ora, MEChA!

¡Adelante, DESTINO!

¡Ora, UTEP!

May 27th. Feast Day of Saint Augustine of Canterbury

Peter Kreeft, author of Jesus Shock:

"[T]eachers are terrified of the thought that they might really have something divine to teach."

They are terrified ... of Thus says the Lord
...

"Nietzsche was also contemptuous of professed Christians who did not really believe what the Church taught..."



This random snippet is loosely adapted from the Rev. Father James V. Schall's article "Heaven is not an abstraction," in the June 2009 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

"In the beginning of this essay, I cited a comment of Peter Kreeft about weak or effectively unbelieving bishops, pastors and teachers.

"In a graphic phrase, Kreeft said that many are terrified by what the Church teaches abut who Christ is, who Mary is.

"In Kreeft's phrase, these are shocking teachings if true.

"Nietzsche, in fact, said much the same thing, namely, that few Christians really believe and practice what they are to believe if one knows their own teachings.

"Nietzsche, the great analyzer of modern thought and its implicit contradictions, was also contemptuous of professed Christians who did not believe what the Church taught about Christ.

"They did not act on what they said they believed.

"This scandalized Nietsche and sent him off in other directions.."


Peter Kreeft's cited comment!


"The teachers are terrified of the thought that they might really have something divine to teach.

"They are terrified of dogma, or Tradition, or of Divine Revelation, of Divine Law, of authority, of Thus says the Lord. "

From his book, Jesus Shock.


Pope Benedict XVI's cited comment!



"Today's feast (Assumption) impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not the heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself."

From Benedict XVI, Homily, Feast of the Assumption, 2008.


Saint Andrew of Crete's cited comment!


"Let there be one common festival for saints in heaven and for men on earth.

"Let everything, mundane things and those above, join in festive celebration.

"Today this created world is raised to the dignity of a holy place for him who made all things.

"The creature is newly prepared to be a divine dwelling place for the Creator."

From St. Andrew of Crete's Discourse on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.

The Shepherd's House -- formerly Vida Nueva

Ist. Street, Brackettville, Texas 78832

Non - Denominational -- Everyone Welcome

PASTOR HOLT TUCK

Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 AM

Sunday Evening Worship 7:00 PM

Wednesday Bible Study 7:00 PM

(830) 765 - 0390 for more information

"Jesus Is LORD and the Truth Shall Set You Free"

Cuando aparezcan,
Los hilos de plata,
En su juventud

Como la luna,
Cuando se retrata,
En un agua'zul...




♫ ¡ Radio LA RANCHARITA DEL AIRE ! ♪

The voluntary unilateral redistribution...

Of St. Mary Magdalene's Catholic Parish $$$ financial resources...

Bravely marches on -- and on -- and on.... :)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"Announcement"


"St. Mary Magdalene Church will have their first ACTS Men's Retreat on August 13 - 16, 2009.

"Retreat will be held in Ft. Clark Springs.

"Registration will begin in July.

"More information will [be] forthcoming."

From the Parish Bulletin.

O.K.!

MORE INFO:

Hey, fellas, it's like this: if you die of hunger on any of these ACTS Retreats, most likely it will only be because you really are challenged!

I know.

I've been on one already.

Old Mesilla, New Mexico, Holy Spirit Retreat Center, late March 2006.

"WED FEB 11, 2009"


"1930 / 7:30
p.m. ... ...Rosa Cantu, Mena Molinar, her son Daniel, both his triplet sisters, who gave me a big hug! :)"

Note: Janie had stopped me as we were exiting the side door of the Church after Wednesday night services, most likely around 8 o'clock or so, and said something like "They [Molinar girls] want to thank you." Cool by me :).

This just may have turned out to have been a really clever move on Janie's part, as it certainly implied that Mrs. Molinar was aware of what was going on, and like yours truly, at that time at least, suspected nothing.

'Cause the idea was that the YOUTH GROUP -- or whatever it's called! -- could have some ready cash to help get the needed supplies for their annual fund raiser, the one that would help them go on another out of town field trip, like they did to San Juan, Texas last year.


Folks, here's a simple test, o.k.?

If that $300.00 cash donation to the YOUTH GROUP is still where it belongs, they'll have their next fund raiser within the next two (2) Sundays.

If they don't, then that money is most likely history.

Same with the Altar Servers.

If those young people have their well - earned little outing soon, it will because the money is still there.

If they don't it will because it's long gone.

Believe it or, not!

"THURSDAY, JAN 29, 2009."


"0830 - 1100 / 8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. ... Rode w/ Reymundo to give $$$ to Janie [DeHoyos] & Maria Elena Molinar , etc..."

Note: This was at the Pharmacy on James St.

Two (2) separate envelopes were involved.

One, for $100.00 cash for ALTAR SERVER'S day out.

What our notes say at the beginning may be a bit misleading because:

As far as we know, Mrs. Maria Elena Molinar, except for her son Daniel, has NO real connection with this first organization.

Why?

Because it is Mrs. DeHoyos and Mrs. Glenda Flores who more or less co - direct the Altar Servers, according to the current bulletin, although our understanding is that Mrs. Flores hasn't been active for a spell .

Now, the second envelope, was for $300.00 cash for the YOUNG PEOPLE'S GROUP -- by whatever name it is called.

I'm pretty sure that this envelope would have had both Mrs. DeHoyos & Mrs. Molinar's names on it.


Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Parish.

Brackettville, Texas. 78832.

Altar Server Show - up HONOR ROLL!


Sunday, May 24, 2009. 8:00 a.m. Mass. TEAM Mr. Charlie Adam Resendez. TEAM MOM: Becky
.

May 26th: Feast Day of Saint Philip Neri.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Father Gonzalo Meza Razo on The spirit of liturgy.


Adapted from Father's article in Today's Catholic. May 22, 2009.


"WHEN IS IT CELEBRATED?


"Time, as a human unit of measure, does not exist when liturgy is celebrated; time disappears for all that Christ is -- all that he did and suffered for all men -- participates in the divine eternity and so transcends all times. (Catechism of the Catholic Church).

"This transcendent mystery unites heaven and earth, and permeates all creation.

"In liturgy faith and reason coincide in the most harmonious way, where all the signs, symbols and actions express what the church believes, lex orandi, lex credendi."

Note: Lex orandi, lex credendi = The law of praying = The law of believing. "What you believe in is reflected in how you pray!" :)

Thus: if your prayer is an indoor paper trash - burning mitote, guess what?

More than likely that same indoor paper trash - burning mitote will indeed summarize all that you believe in!

Ascension Thursday / Ascension Weekend -- in this Archdiocese!!



Luke 24:5o "And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

"51 And it came about that while He was blessing them, He parted from them.

"52 And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

"53 and were continually in the temple, praising God."


From one of the KCL's Moody Bibles.

"New clergy assignments -- appointments, re -- appointments, retirements"


Source: Today's Catholic. May 22, 2009. Page 7.


APPOINTMENTS



"Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu -- appointed pastor, Holy Trinity Parish in San Antonio, for an indefinite period.

"Father Anton Quang Dinh Van -- appointed administrator, San Francisco di Paola Church in San Antonio, which has a special relationship to San Fernando Cathedral, for a three - year period
.


RE-APPOINTMENTS


"Father Pius Ezeigbo -- re - appointed administrator protem, St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Brackettville and St. Blaise Parish in Spofford Junction, for a three - year period.


"Father Arturo Cepeda -- re - appointed director, Vocation Office for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, as well as vice - rector of Assumption Seminary, for a one - year period..."

Friday, May 22, 2009

"U.S. Church: Candidates for Priesthood Reflect Increasing Diversity"


[The] number of ordinands has been stable for several years at 450


"The most underrepresented group was Hispanics."


Note: CARA = C
enter of Applied Research in the Apostolate.



The Jesuit magazine, America has some solid information in this article by an author described as one "Jerry Filteau, a freelance journalist, [who] retired in 2007 after 35 years with Catholic News Service."

These random snippets are more or less taken out of context or simply ripped - off from their May 11, 2009 issue.


"The total annual number of U.S. ordinands has been stable for several years at around 450.

"The new study shows Asian - Americans represent 11 percent of this year's ordinands -- the term for those about to be ordained -- even though Asian - Americans account for only 3 percent of the total U.S. population.

"About 3 percent of U.S. Catholics are black, and the same percentage of this year's ordination class is black.

"The most underrepresented group was Hispanics.

"U.S. Catholics of Hispanic or Latino heritage make up an estimated 34 percent of the nation's Catholic population.

"But only 12 percent of the ordinands answering the CARA survey described themselves as Hispanic.

"The average age of this year's ordinands is 36, consistent with the average over the past five years.

"[T]he number of active diocesan priests has dropped from nearly 24,000 in 1997 to a little over 19,000 in 2007..."

A good read!

Both these BHS Seniors of the Class of 2009 agree:

They'll miss family and friends...

Mr. Moises J. Gonzalez heading to UTSA & Ms. Harmony Pettet opts for Angelo State University.



From The Brackett News. Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Good luck!

Ms. Lety Rivas' cousin Ms. Maribel Rivas wins Super S. Eddie Travieso Scholarship!

Presented by Mr. Ernest Contreras.

Way to go, Ms. Maribel Rivas...




From The Brackett News. Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Congrats to St. Mary Magdalene's personalities:

Mr. Colten Simmons and Mr. Charlie Adam Rersendez .

Winners of Mr. Kinney County and Jr. Mr. Kinney County in C of C Pageant


From The Brackett News. Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Congratulations, fellas!

Brackettville's stars "Kelsey Bruce and Karley Harris -- State Bound for Track!!"


From The Brackett News. Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Way to go, good people!

Hoy es la Fiesta de la Patrona Santa Rita de Cascia

Así es mi segunda tierra....:)

Viva Morelos, Coahuila!"

"♪ En el tren de ausencia me voy ♫"

"♫ Mi boleto no tiene regreso..♪"




El viejo Trio Los Caballeros.


"Radio La Rancherita del Aire...."

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The UTEP Prospector's Mr. Carlos M. Silva Jr. has this story:

"Students owe $100,000 in library fees"

¡Adelante, Carlos!

Adapted from this online source w/Issue date of 5/7/09 Section: News.

"UTEP students owe the University Library about $102,000 as of May 5.

"Of that figure, undergraduates owe 78 percent, which makes $79,000.

"Currently there are approximately 45,157 registered undergraduate and graduate students who use the library.

"Students had not returned more than 7,800 items when the report was generated..."

Way to go, guys! :)

¡Adelante, DESTINO!

¡Ora, MEChA!

¡Ora, UTEP!

Group claims that President Obama visit is costing Notre Dame Big $$$!

Like more than 8.1 million $$$ in potential alumni contributions.

Website ReplaceJenkins.com brings the good news!


It's "received over 900 pledges from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations."




Adapted from this source: Robert Moynihan's article --"The Bravery of Glendon" -- in Inside The Vatican magazine for May 2009.

Warning: This info is surely at least one month old. Those well to do financiers of the so - called American Catholic Millionaire Left have all the resources necessary to pump another 1o to 20 million dollars into Notre Dame anytime they are so inclined. :)

"[A] group protesting the Obama invitation announced that the university has also lost millions in donations because of the scandal.

"Organizers of ReplaceJenkins.com, an online effort urging alumni and donors to the University of Notre Dame to withhold donations, announced Monday [??!!] that they have personally confirmed over $8.1 million in withheld donations.

"The name of the website -- ReplaceJekins.com -- is a reference to the main demand of the group: that Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins, who has firmly stood by the university's decision to honor Obama, be replaced with someone who will uphold the Catholic identity of the university.

"The website has received over 900 pledges from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations.

"Several of the largest gifts include estate bequests to the university that have been removed from donor's wills.

"[S]pokesperson David DiFranco (Class of '95) said: We knew many donors and alums were unhappy with the decision to honor a pro - abortion president, but we never expected this large of a response. We can hardly keep up, and this is only thd beginning. We can hardly imagine what fund raisers at the university are experiencing, but understandably not reporting.

"DiFranco said the current figure of $8.2 million does not include a number of other large pledges that they are in the process of confirming.

"[H]e said, We are speaking directly with donors, and in several cases we have spoken with estate attorneys to confirm that Notre Dame has been stripped from a donor's will...."

Good story!

We'll just have to wait and see how it goes, huh? :)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

"I Wanted To Receive A Word"

The day before he was ordained a priest...

When Pope Benedict XVI sought
a word from the Lord ...

"[H]e opened the Scriptures..."

Well ?! "What did he find?"

The Pope's answer:

My gaze fell upon this passage...

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth."



This concluding snippet is adapted from Inside The Vatican magazine. May 2009. By Pope Benedict XVI. The editor informs us that His Holiness gave this during his chrism Mass homily in Rome on April 9.

"On the eve of my priestly ordination, 58 years ago, I opened the Sacred Scripture, because I wanted to receive once more a word from the Lord for that day and for my future journey as a priest.

"My gaze fell on this passage: Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth.

"Then I realized: the Lord is speaking about me, and he is speaking to me.

"This very same thing will be accomplished tomorrow in me.

"When all is said and done, we are not consecrated by rites, even though rites are necessary.

"The bath in which the Lord immerses us is himself -- the Truth in person.

"Priestly ordination means: being immersed in him, immersed in the Truth.

"I belong in a new way to him and thus to others, that his Kingdom may come.

"Dear friends, in this hour of the renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, men of God.

"Let us implore him to draw us ever anew into himself, so that we may become truly priests of the New Covenant.

"Amen."

B.H.S. Class of 2009 Graduates cite most influential TEACHERS!!

For Ms. Veronica Talamantes it's Mrs Ballew

While Ms. Ashley Resendez opts for BOTH Mrs. Stone & Mrs. Hernandez!


Adapted from The Brackett News. Thursday, May 14, 2009.

We kid you not!

Both of these young ladies, too, are already on the fast track to success!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"Do Catholics Believe in the Rapture?"

Scripture knows nothing of an extra coming of Christ in secret...

In fact, "This notion is rather novel in Christian history."



Loosely adapted from Insert O - 3 of The New Catholic Answer Bible.

"When Jesus was placed on trial by the high priests and council, he quoted a stunning passage from Daniel's prophecies, identifying himself with the Son of Man ... coming on the clouds of heaven in radiant glory one day to judge the world (Mt 26:63 - 64; see Dn 7:13 - 14).

"All the biblical references to Christ's Second Coming confirm that this event will be a magnificent public triumph, not invisible and secret but universally visible and undeniable: For just as lighting comes from the east and is seen as far as the West, so will the coming of the Son of Man be (Mt 24:27).

"Scripture knows nothing, then, of an extra coming of Christ in secret before that time -- the rapture, as many Christians call it -- to snatch away true believers from the world.

"This notion is actually rather novel in Christian history.

"For the first eighteen centuries after Christ, Christian teachers of every sort -- Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant -- had never even heard of the idea, nor found any any indication o fit in Scripture.

"Even today, the great majority of Christians worldwide, including Protestants, reject it."

"Christians on earth being caught up ... to meet the Lord in the air... "

"To prove their notion, rapture teachers typically cite St. Paul's words about Christians on earth being caught up ... to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thes 4:17).

"Taken as a whole, however, the passage speaks of the Lord's word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God (1 Thes 4:17) -- hardly a picture of a secret, invisible coming.

"Instead, this text is a clear reference to Christ's glorious Second Coming, with obvious parallels to other biblical texts about that event (see 1 Cor 15:51 - 52 ).

"Rapture believers may also cite our Lord's words about how, at his coming, certain people will be taken, while others will be left.

"But he also says this event will be as it was in the days of Noah when the flood came and carried [the wicked] all away."


So those who are taken are the ones to be punished...


"So those who are taken are the ones to be punished -- not the righteous (see Mt 24:37 - 41 ).

"Finally, rapture teachers claim that Christians must be snatched from the world because God has promised them an escape from the great tribulation of the last days.

"But actually the opposite is true: Jesus promised that in that time of trial, the one who perseveres to the end will be saved (Mt 24: 4 - 22).

''See also How Will the World End? [Insert ] 0 - 2 and What Is the Second Coming? [Insert] 0 - 4."


"RELATED SCRIPTURE

"Texts cited: Dn 7:13 - 14 . Mt 24:4 - 22; 27; 37 - 41; 26:63 - 64 . 1 Cor 15:51 - 52 . 1 Thes 4: 16 - 17.

"General: Mk 13.3 - 27 . Lk 21:7 - 36 . 2 Tm 3:1 - 15 . 1 Pt 4:12 - 19 . Rv 2:2 - 3, 10 - 11, 13; 3:10; 7:9 - 17.

"CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH [CCC] -- CCC 668 - CCC 677 . CCC 680 . CCC 1001."

Interesting topic!

Monday, May 18, 2009

St. Mary Magdalene's Altar Server Show - up HONOR ROLL.


At last...

Another Triple - Header!


Saturday, May 16, 2009. 5:30 p.m. Mass. TEAM Mr. Garón Rueda + Mr. Johnny López. TEAM MOMS: Garón - Yolanda; Johnny - Mary.

Sunday, May 17, 2009. 8:00 a.m. Mass. TEAM Mr. Tony Flores.

Sunday, May 17, 2009. 10:30 a.m. Mass. TEAM Mr. Charlie Adam Resendez. TEAM MOM: Becky.