Thursday, December 16, 2004

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

There is more and more blatant anti-Catholic, anti-Christian
legislation going on around the world daily that one must be blind
not to see it happening.

The entire time I listened to Hilary Rodham Clinton speaking of
the 'right wing radical fanatics', I told others that is US.

Who is more right wing fanatical on matters of life, whether
abortion or euthanasia or contaception than a practicing Catholic?
Who is more right wing radical on issues like embryonic stem cell research
than a PRACTICING Catholic that adheres to the teachings of the Church?
Who is more 'right wing radical' than a practicing Catholic on the subject of
homosexuality/gay marriage, etc ?

The Church has never backed down on these teachings, and we, as professing,
practicing Catholics faithful to the teachings of the Church, are getting
MANY opportunities today to stand up and be counted in opposition to
many things happening in the world around us.

Christmas is one huge example.

What IS Christmas? Is it a federal holiday? Is it time for families and friends
to get together and celebrate by exchanging gifts that everyone spent too
much money on and eat food that is too plentiful? Is it a time for children
to get visited by Santa Claus and get more toys that they do not really need?
Is it a time for non-Christians to declare THEIR holidays have more
importance than ours and for atheists to be offended by ....

...........a baby in a manger?

Christmas is and always has been a major Christian celebration
of the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. It is second in our
Faith ONLY to the death and Resurrection we celebrate at Easter time
(again... we are told to leave our crosses off of any decorations and
replace them with bunnies, eggs, candy and similar things that do not
remind anyone of the Truth).

We can celebrate the Grinch. But have you really thought about where
that story probably came from? "The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
is probably the basis for the Grinch that Stole Christmas. That is the story
of an irritable old man who is a work-aholic and who is so greedy and
self-centered that he does not realize the worth of the faithful family man
working for him, nor his own loneliness. That is the story of a man who had
a conversion experience in seeing his own life 'flash before his eyes' and the
result it would have if he did not repent and turn away from his current
lifestyle. That is the story of a man CHANGED.

Now, news from everywhere around the world shows that it is terribly
wrong to show a scene of a man's birth whose very presence in this world
has caused many to change just this way over the past 2,000 years,
including Saul of Tarsus, Augustine, Thomas More, John Fisher,
Irishman Matt Talbot, Fr Corapi and others who have shared their
testimonies and lived different lives as a result of meeting Him and
His Truth, His Good News, which the Angel Gabriel was sent to announce t
o His Mother, Mary of Nazareth. We can have any other symbol showing
at this time of year BUT the manger scene with His Parents and Him lying i
n that manger.... and we also now cannot have..... candy for children?
This is not just happening in our country or in Canada, but is world-wide
as can be seen in Christmas without Jesus in Malaysia, and daily in
our own news as songs are banned for even mentioning Christmas Eve,
like "Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer!

People are dying in many countries today for being Christians.
When I read the news today, I can only begin to wonder, as I stated
on the comments section at the site where I found the candy story.....



"When do we need to begin shopping during certain hours and in
certain stores only? When do we need to begin sewing our yellow
crosses (certain size ONLY allowed, clearly visible to all) to the outside
of our clothing/coats? When will we need to pack what we can carry and
move into one room places in houses shared by many families who do
not know each other? If we go into hiding in specially built hidden places,
who can we find to trust to bring us food, etc?
This is not funny, it was history. "