What I Believe as A Catholic

If there is one thing, I’ve discovered from being on Catholic discussion forums online, is that you can’t talk about religion or politics without a full-blown argument breaking out. You would think that every Catholic agrees on anything essential, but there differing beliefs on how the liturgy is to be celebrated, who can be ordained to the priesthood, and what the church’s official teaching on Harry Potter and yoga is.

Certain Conservatives think liberals are modernist heretics.
Certain Liberals think conservatives are rigid mean Pharisees.
And Joe and Jane Catholic don’t care about the Catholic culture wars and want to follow God to the best of their ability.

Rick Rice@BoldlyCatholic: I’m reminded this week, and it’s a sad reminder, that just as the ideological Christian Right has a fundamentalist wing filled with those who simply can’t see any view but their own, there’s an ideological Christian Left who match that myopia, only the fundamentals are different. God grant me the much needed humility, wisdom and guidance to stay off either path.

We all forget sometimes….

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” –Rupertus Meldeniu

So, readers know where I’m coming from if you ever read anything I’m writing, here’s what I believe as a Catholic. I try to view everything through a Catholic Lens and probably fall short which is why it is good to constantly gain knowledge of your faith.

All thoughts expressed in this essay are permissible as far as I know, to hold and believe as a Catholic.

Also, thanks to catholic writer Mark Shea who really helped form the core of the phrasing and ideas that I put forth. He’s one of my favorite Catholic spiritual writers.

I’ll probably upset some people with my thoughts, both liberal and conservative alike. I’m sure there are some things I have left out that I believe and some things I would like to expand upon at some point in the future.

I may add or subtract things in the future as other missed thoughts come to the forefront of my mind. I need to focus on other writings as I could perpetually fine-tune this.

For the record, this article is subject to change and updates.

Here We Go…. (In no particular structured order)

FAITH ISSUES

I love you Holy Trinity and give my heart and soul to you.
May I  love my neighbor as myself.

I am an orthodox Catholic with orthodox Catholic beliefs.
I believe all the Church believes, teaches and proclaims is revealed by God.

The Church of Saint Augustine, St. Athanasius, St’s Francis de Sales, Xavier and of Assisi, St’s Pope Leo and Gregory the Great, the Mystic Catherine of Sienna, The Dumb Ox Thomas Aquinas, the Carmelite Saints Theresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux and John of the Cross, St’s Ignatius Loyola, St. Benedict, St. Mother Theresa, St. John Henry Newman, St. Popes John XXIII, St.Paul IV, Soon to be Blessed John Paul 1,  St. John Paul the 2nd, Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Blessed Chiara Badano, Sister Clare Crockett and G.K. Chesterton, Fulton Sheen, Mother Angelica, Flannery O’Connor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, Thomas Merton, Bartolome de Las Casas, Michelangelo, Fr. Ted Crilly, Sir Alec Guinness, Jimmy Akin, Peter Kreeft, and so many others.

Find out more about some of these great people by going to Word on Fire Pivotal Players

It’s a Joy to be Catholic and to experience the good, true and beautiful found in her teachings and to have the virtues of faith, hope, and love to help you along the journey of life. “God made us for joy. God is joy, and the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us.”- St. Pope John Paul II

I Believe in the Both/And of Catholicism.

Rather than overemphasizing one pole and neglecting the other, the challenge in Christian theology is always to hold the two poles together, to maintain a proper balance between both seemingly opposite sides of the truth. Another way of phrasing the “catholic” (“all-encompassing” or “universal”) position would be to say, “Not Only…, But Also… Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D. Catholic-Christian Theology: Both-And (catholic-resources.org)

I believe in the divine revelation that God is a Trinity of persons consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and that these 3 divine persons make up only one God. For a unique explanation on this matter Patrick, read  Happy Bad Analogies Sunday.  These 3 individual specific persons we call God are not just one other entity in the universe. Our faith teaches us that God is outside the universe and is apart from the universe. God is not the supreme being. God is esse ipsum subsistens the very act of being itself and created the universe ex nihilo out of no preexisting material.

I believe that The Son, otherwise known as the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity or the Word of God, incarnated himself, one of His own creations, a human being called Jesus the Christ. In theological terms, in what is known as the Hypostatic union, The Word became flesh as he joined his uncreated divine nature with a human-created nature under one person. The Son of God Jesus Christ is 100% human and 100% God and still only 1 person. He also appeared as a lion named Aslan in the mythical country of Narnia.

I believe that God created human beings in his own image and likeness and that this image was distorted by the sin of our first parents causing every other person after that to be born with original sin. Sin has ruined the world and our relationship with God and one another. He choose the Jewish people to be his own particular people. In this special group chosen by God out of all the nations of the earth, Jesus was born. By His birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, the God-Man Jesus repaired the rift between God and humanity. He choose 12 men also known as the 12 apostles to establish a church and sent the 3rd member of the Holy Trinity known as the Holy Spirit to guide that Church.

All this and more are summed up in this simple prayer.
The Apostles’ Creed – Prayers – Vatican News

God the Son further humbled himself and became literal food for His redeemed children in the Eucharist which is literally the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, fully present under the appearance of bread and wine. We can not only receive Christ in the liturgical celebration of his death and resurrection, we can sit in his presence and pray in Eucharistic Adoration in which the host is displayed in a monstrance where people can stand, sit or kneel and be in the presence of the Lord.

I believe that every baptized Catholic should kneel whenever they pass by a room where Jesus is physically present in the Eucharist.

I believe that when God finally decides to close the chapter on human history, he will come again to judge each and every single soul that has ever been created in the universe.

I believe that nobody knows the day or hour that Jesus is returning and that getting too caught up in end times speculation can distract you from living your life here now and doing what God wants you to do as revealed in public revelation.

I believe that Mary is the “Theotokos“, or “God-Bearer” or “the Mother of God” of the one person who was incarnated in Jesus Christ. This theological teaching from divine revelation was pronounced definitely and clearly at The Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. I believe all the other Marian doctrines associated with this woman, which include her perpetual virginity, her immaculate conception from original sin and her assumption into heaven.

I believe that we can ask Mary and the saints in heaven for their intercession. Sometimes Mary and the other saints leave heaven and appear in our world for our edification and guidance.

Not everything a Saint writes is infallible doctrine. Not everything a Saint does is worthy of imitation.  They can err in certain areas.

I believe that devotion to approved Marian apparitions can help one with their spiritual lives but that these private revelations don’t trump public revelations. If a private revelation helps you to pray more, have more faith in Christ and his church, and love your neighbor with more intensity, more power to you. If on the other hand, it causes you to doubt the pope, Vatican 2 and criticize the hell out of your fellow Catholics, and believe in weird kooky conspiracy theories that cause you to live as an irrational member of the church and society, run away from it and stick to the ordinary basic teachings of divine revelation as revealed in the bible and the Catechism. It’s one thing to be a fool for Christ and another just to be a fool and turn people off to the faith.

You can’t ignore official church teaching but you can ignore private revelation. There is nothing taught in private revelation that you need to know that hasn’t already been taught in public revelation.

I believe in wearing a scapular.

I believe it is possible miracles can happen. Miracles that include Wonderworking, Levitating, Bilocating, Ecstatic-Vision, multiplying already existing material objects like loaves and fish, walking on water, defying the laws of gravity, the healing of disease and sickness, and all manners of things that defy the known laws of nature.

I believe in an unseen world of Angels and Demons.

I believe you shouldn’t claim to have some special insight into church teaching because some exorcist heard it from a demon during an exorcism. You shouldn’t listen to demons for spiritual information about anything. Especially if they confirm your theological positions that go against official church teaching.

I believe that you should in obedience to the church, practice some form of penance on all Fridays of the year. My wife and I happen to choose the most common long-standing penance of no meat Fridays.

I believe that we should live out the precepts of the church which include

1. Attendance at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation
2. Confession of serious sin at least once a year
3. Reception of Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season
4. Observance of the days of fast and abstinence
5. Providing for the needs of the Church

I could do #5 somewhat better although I do donate to the less fortunate.

I believe in the 7 Sacraments of the church and that God channels his graces through them even if it doesn’t look like He does.

The Catholic Faith is an incar­national Faith-i.e., the spiritual truth usually has an outward, physical manifestation. This ap­peal to our senses certainly is cause for joy. How often are our most joyous celebrations associated with sacraments: Bap­tism, the Eucharist, Matrimony. What’s more, there is a distinct, intertwined relationship between spiritual truths and physical ac­tions. An act on earth produces an effect on the soul-the spiritual activity is represented on earth by a material sign. This multi-dimensional relationship is so filled with converse causes and effects that one hardly knows which thread to pick up first in unraveling the marvelous mysteries of the Faith!
BR. PETER JAMES, M.I.C.M., TERT. The Joy of Being Catholic – Catholicism.org

I believe that mass is sacred and that you should be reverent and respectful while attending it. While you don’t need to dress up like you’re going to the prom each time you go, you shouldn’t look like you’re going to hang out with your buddies going to a show.

The ordinary form (the legitimate Novus Ordo) or the extraordinary form (Traditional Latin Mass) are equal in value. There are also many other rites in union with the church that are beautiful and worth experiencing such as the Malabar and Byzantine rites. Whatever mass gets you closer to God go to worship Him with the church’s blessing and in good conscience. If you want to complain non-stop about how much you hate the new mass, you don’t make a good case for people actually wanting to go to the TLM.

Your allowed to receive communion in the hand or on the tongue or kneeling or standing. The church allows this so seriously stop trying to make others feel guilty for doing what they have permission to do. Your hands are no cleaner than your mouth you probably use to slander your neighbor.

I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself. The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of Mass events we hold at St. Peter’s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir.

In this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion—everyone else is going up, so I will, too—I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before Whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention! This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want to.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Light of the World, 2010)

I don’t believe in being a liturgical cop despite liturgical abuse.

Clapping shouldn’t be done during mass because Mass isn’t a performance or a spectacle.

Liturgical Music should elevate your heart, soul, and mind to God.

I believe that Jesus reserved the priesthood to men. Sorry ladies.

I believe Catholics should go to confession frequently because sin is still a reality in our individual lives.

I believe that you should forgive others often and frequently as people are constantly in need of it as much as you are.

I believe in following the 10 commandments, living the beatitudes, and allowing the gifts of the Holy Spirit to manifest in the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the Bible is a Catholic book. There are other theological opinions besides this one, but I believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the Gospels.

I believe in the power and necessity of Prayer and that Prayer is necessary for communicating with God and that Communicating with God is necessary if you want to end up with God after you die.

The Rosary is a good way to meditate and focus in on the mysteries of our faith. But if the Rosary doesn’t suit your prayerful ascetics, there are plenty of other many wonderful ways to pray such as the Divine Mercy chaplet Lecto Divina, the Jesus Prayer, and just plain silence. The official prayer of the church is not the Rosary but The Divine Office. There are plenty of resources for learning and praying it.

I believe that Those who deny that Francis is pope diametrically oppose the fundamentals of Catholicism and thus are on a spiritually dangerous path.-Crisis Magazine@CrisisMag:  (Jul 12, 2022)

I regard Pope Francis as the true Pope of the Catholic Church and declare my submission to his magisterial authority. Pope Francis is definitely not a heretic and is definitely not the worst pope in the history of Christendom. Those who actually believe that have a distorted view of what a bad pope really is. He also wasn’t worshiping an Amazon deity at the Vatican called Pachamama. That is a longer discussion that has been talked about at length elsewhere.

Why complain about the Pope if you don’t like him? You can’t do anything about it, so just get on with doing what you can do with what you have where you are. Be real. Be local. Live the faith and perhaps your prayer for the pope will be that of Tevye for the Czar.
Fr. Dwight Longenecker Pope Francis: Catholicism in Confusion August 13th, 2019

I believe that Vatican 2 is a legitimate Council and all Catholics are required to accept its teaching. I also believe that Vatican 2 was a great and wonderful gift to the church and is a gift from the Father to his children here on earth. Vatican 2 is not a form of modernism which is a heresy that claims that doctrines can change based on our understanding of them. It is a development of doctrine which is a deeper understanding and clarity of the truths we have always believed. There is more to this that I will not get into at this time. I would say that folks need to stop blaming Vatican II for what is wrong with the church.

I believe in ecumenism and in acknowledging what is holy and true in other Christian communities and finding common ground in what we believe. I also further believe that portions of God’s light of love and truth appear in all religions and that the fullness of divine revelation lies in the Catholic Church alone. You can still learn things from those not of your faith. The Orthodox come particularly close in sharing in that fullness.

I believe in evangelization. Jesus wants to include everyone in his church and sends his children to bring other people who are not part of his visible mystical body into it. Evangelization is necessary for this reason.

I believe in the Four Last Things. Death. Judgment. Heaven. Hell.

I believe that Hell is Real.

I believe that outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation.

However, we don’t know where “outside” is.
We know where the Church is; we do not know where it is not.

I don’t know how many people will be in hell. The church doesn’t give an official answer to this question.

Dare We Hope All Men Be Saved?

You’re allowed to believe that most people go to hell.
You’re allowed to believe that most people go to heaven.
You’re not allowed to believe with certainty that nobody goes to hell.
You’re allowed to hope nobody goes to hell.
This seems to me to be the most rational, hopeful, and compassionate theological position.

Bishop Barron is not a Universalist with his belief in ‘Dare We Hope’ theology he promotes.

 

I believe there is hope for unbaptized babies, unbaptized non-Christians, and those who commit suicide for eternal salvation in Christ.

The fact that so many people throughout history have not heard the message of Christ and that so many Christians have given non-Christians reason not to believe by their lack of love and counter-witness of the gospel gives me a reason to believe that a good God will not let someone come into existence without giving them a chance to respond to his life-saving work on the cross. God has taken our stupidity into account.

I believe in the reality of purgatory.

I believe in the reality of heaven.

I believe it is possible that we will see our pets in heaven.

I see too many people neglecting funerals and having Celebration of Lifes instead.

For those who have funerals, I see people being canonized no matter what type of religious or lack there of life they have had.

This quote sums up the 4 last things very well and is my favorite description of what happens after death.

The fires of hell, the suffering fires of purgatory, and the all-consuming bliss of beatitude are one thing, the same One. When the soul is freed from the confines, and limits, and filter of the physical body, it rushes back to the Love from whence it proceeded. That soul’s experience of His presence will be hell, purification, or the light of beatitude, depending on its conformity or lack of conformity to God’s love.
–Sonja Corbitt Purgatory is a Person – SpiritualDirection.com

MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY

I believe that people are going to get more upset in this section then in other sections of what I actually do say and what I don’t say.

I accept completely all the Church dogmas and doctrines–including on all the pelvic issues. This section, if anyone reads this post, will probably get someone mad if I don’t express the right view exactly the way someone believes I should express it. I am open to the fact that someone will probably misunderstand and distort my views to match their particular prejudice for people who think outside their tribe.

I understand that addressing the lifestyles of the divorced, the unmarried and those who identify as gay or transgendered is a very sensitive topic. It seems as if you will upset someone by not condemning it outright or by simply stating what the church actually teaches about the issue. It seems as if your only supposed to just support them and never say it’s wrong on any level. I know people who are all four and treat them as regular people and don’t chastise them about their lifestyle choices. I would again say that all people should obey the church’s teaching on sexual morals and that it is sinful to disobey her. God however offers help for those who struggle with our natural sex drive corrupted by sin and forgives those who fail. I tried to cover all bases with this paragraph.

Mark Brumley@mabrumley:  (Aug 13, 2022)  Not sure how to make sense of a friend’s claim that risking alienating people is ok when criticizing excessive wealth or lack of concern for poor people, but other aspects of Christianity, sexual morality, for instance, must be changed/toned down because they alienate people. Can we agree that there are times when we must risk alienation of others out of fidelity to truth and love? But that we should avoid unnecessarily alienating people?

There is more to Catholic Life then sexual ethics (as important as that is).

I believe that marriage is lifelong union between one man and one woman open to life.

That Means No Divorce. Once your married in a legitimate marriage ceremony where you express your vows publicly to the body of Christ your married till death do you part. If you need to separate for reasons, you can’t get sacramentally remarried. The church should however have compassion for the divorced.

This means no Artificial Birth Control.

This means no Cohabitation before marriage. You got to wait till your married to move in with each other. Why live like your married before your actually married?

A lot of weddings I have gone to have not been in churches and not been done by a priest. This has happened to a lot of folks I know who used to practice Catholic faith.

Men and women should both be modest in their dress and speech. There is never an excuse for any man to objectify a woman no matter what she is wearing. But women should also dress the way they way to be viewed by men knowing that if they dress immodestly, they will probably be viewed immodestly by others. If both men and women work together it creates fewer problems.

A woman should be reasonably and lovingly submissive to her husband and a husband should love his wife like Christ loves the church. My wife is unable to perform sexually with me at the time being. According to some Catholic writers my wife should give into my sexual desires whenever I feel like it. Bull Crap. My wife is not my outlet for my sexual yearnings. She is not my sex slave. If she doesn’t want to have sex, we don’t have sex. I then have to deal with it without sinning. It gives me a chance to become holy and self-sacrificial. I am supposed to lay down my life for her and serve her. A woman submitting to her husband does not mean she does something contrary to reason, ethics, or church teaching. It doesn’t give her husband a right to lord it over her. He should be washing her feet on a regular basis.

 

I believe that gay marriage is a sacramental impossibility but we should treat LGBT People with respect and dignity. LGBT people (and all people including the Divorced and unmarried) should live in Chasity and obey the teachings of the church regarding chastity and remain celibate.

I’m unsure about civil unions. A committed couple regardless of the relationship should have the right to see a loved one in a hospital or other related issues.

I also believe that you should treat transgender people with respect and dignity but that God only created 2 sexes and that if you are born a male, you are a male and not a woman trapped in a man’s body.

Pornography is evil and corrupts the soul of everyone it touches.

I believe that Catholic Feminism is good.

I believe that the next few things shouldn’t be an issue for anyone, but apparently, they are for some people.

I believe it is not a sin for women to work outside the home.
I believe that woman should be allowed to vote in elections.
I believe it is OK for women to wear pants.

LIFE AND MORAL ISSUES

I believe that abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and human cloning, are gravely and intrinsically immoral.

Abortion is the deliberate killing of an unborn person and is evil. We should however have compassion for Mothers facing an unwanted pregnancy. They should not be arrested or other worse things for having had an abortion. We should do everything in our society and church to make sure they don’t want to have an abortion which means helping to eliminate poverty in addition to making laws against it. Also if they need baby formula they should have easy access to it.

Miscarriages are not abortions.

Saving the mother’s life when a baby cannot be saved is permissible by the church.

Why have we gotten to a point in our society that a good many people think that Abortion is a necessary thing for people to have access to? At this point I’m not talking about those who feel pressured into it out of emotional or economic necessity. I’m talking about those who can’t think of the possibility of not having sex and need abortion as backup birth control. I’m talking about those who champion the slogan ‘Shout Your Abortion. I’m talking about those who want to shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers and vandalize it. I’m talking about those who pursue violence against pro-lifers.

Because some pro-lifers are jerks in their speech and activism doesn’t mean there are not good pro-lifers making a difference for women facing an unplanned pregnancy.

An adoption is a good option.

I believe that the sex scandal was evil and has hurt various individuals who are scared of the abuse and coverup. This has also been a counter-witness to the truth of Christ’s church and hurts the message of Christ’s self-giving love to humanity.

It’s gravely immoral to charge high prices for life-saving drugs that people need.

Kids locked in cages is a pro-life issue.

We need to treat immigrants and those seeking refuge outside their dangerous to live in countries with respect and dignity and give them a place of refuge.

Gun Violence is definitely a pro-life issue and should not be ignored by those who call themselves pro-life. Nobody needs access to a weapon that is only good for use in a war or an episode of The A-Team.

I believe that Catholics (and all people) should be vaccinated.

Suicide Prevention is a pro-life issue.

I believe that Clean Water is a human right.

Mental illness is a real thing and depression can be a real mental illness that needs treatment. My wife suffers from a mental illness. I have friends and know and have lived with several people who do.

The Elderly should be properly taken care of.

We must look out and care about the poor. Perhaps we should change our lifestyles.

I believe that The Seamless Garment is the Catholic and pro-life Position.
All Catholics need to practice in some form or other the Matthew 25 spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

I accept just war teaching of the church. Lately, Pope Francis has expressed thoughts calling this into question. I haven’t explored his thoughts on this topic but would listen to what he has to say giving him the benefit of the doubt that he has something good to say on the topic.

I believe in the changes to the church’s current position on the death penalty. I also think that too many Catholics are a little too gung-ho about wanting criminals executed for their crimes when other solutions are possible.

I believe in obedience to the Church’s teaching against torture.

I believe racism is real and that it is a sin condemned by the church and that Critical Race Theory is worth considering and thinking about.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about being Woke as I there are good opinions coming from opposite sides of Catholic Opinion.

I believe that anti-Semitism is real and that it is a sin condemned by the church. Seriously all the early Christians and Christ himself were Jewish.

Not all Muslims are terrorists and we worship the same God according to Vatican II.

I believe that violence against Christians is a big problem. All one has to do is look at the kidnapping and killing of Christians in places like Nigeria to see that this is real.

Finally, I believe that we should care about the environment. After all, we do live here and future generations will live here also. God created the earth good and we should help him keep it that way.

CULTURAL ISSUES

Catholics shouldn’t be mean, nasty and jerks to other people. You think this would be a given but judging from what one reads on social media, it isn’t. If you want to evangelize others you won’t do so by constantly insulting them. Why insult your brothers and sisters baptized in Christ? We’re all going to be in purgatory till we learn to get along with everyone we will spend eternity with.

You don’t have to correct everyone with a wrong opinion on social media.

You can’t pick and choose which Catholic teachings to believe or not believe if you want to be part of the Catholic faith. But you can pick and choose which Catholic people to listen to. You can choose to emphasize and focus on certain things and not others.

You can disagree with people you actually like.

You can agree with people you don’t actually like.

Catholics should avoid as much as possible trash-talking tribalistic thinking.

Catholics shouldn’t swear or say God’s name casually.

I say a small prayer blessing the Holy Trinity most every time I hear it.

Catholics also shouldn’t be upset when freaking people do swear and make a dang big deal about it.

I support capitalism within the moral guidelines of the Church’s social teaching. A monarchy is not necessarily the right government for all people

Politically speaking you don’t have to be a Republican in order to be a good Catholic and just because you’re a Democrat doesn’t mean your in a state of mortal sin. You can also vote for someone who does support abortion as long as you don’t vote for them because they support abortion.

That being said I believe that politicians who support legalized abortion should be barred from Holy Communion. This includes president Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

Harry Potter is not evil. Just give it rest some of you.

Bishop Barron and Fr. Casey Cole are great and wonderful writers and are worth listening to and getting dumped on by left and right way more than they deserve.

Personal Issues

I used to be more extroverted, now I’m more introverted.
I would like to read the books I buy and borrow from the library.
I would like to write an actual novel someday or a non-fiction book.
I want to start writing book and movie reviews.
I think I need to do a better job of financially supporting my church, although I do give money to charity.
I want to go out of my way to contact people in my life I have neglected.
I love all my friends and family even though I don’t talk to them like I used to.
I want to have a more focused way of writing and not just do posts of quotes.
I would like to get into video making again.
I want to better take care of the things I am supposed to do with my position in life.
I don’t want to constantly feel I need to check social media.
I should go to daily Mass, but instead, I usually work on writing or sleep.
I want to live and grow in holiness and die as a Catholic.

FINALLY

Discover God in All Things.

Give fellow Catholics the benefit of the doubt and try to find some good in them.

Use Humor in dealing with others.

I pray with St. Joan of Arc that if I am not in a state of grace that God put me there and if I am in a state of grace that he keep me there. And that goes for all my loved ones both past, present and future. And to everyone else Christ loves. I should pray for you all more then I should but with the grace of God I will do it from my position in eternity when I die.