Slaves to Christ: A Catholic Blog

     There is this poem called Footprints . It is also known as Footprints in the Sand  and is a beautiful piece of writing on the love of God.  Footprints: One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.  When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it. "LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave

        You may have noticed that some people bow their heads at the mention of Jesus' name. Is this something you should be doing? The answer is yes. I'll give you a couple reasons why.      As it's said in the divine praises. "Blessed be the name of Jesus". Jesus' entire being, including his name, is holy. We should show reverence, by bowing our heads, when his name is spoken. Especially when his name is spoken in vain.      " Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,hand every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil: 2:9-11) It says that every knee should bend at Jesus' name, we can at least bow our heads. His name is above all other names, he truly is the son of God, therefore we should show respect to his name. We should set an example to others b

      The blog has acquired another new member. This member is my good friend Brennan (The Captain). The more writers the merrier, and I know he's got some skills to bring to the table. So, welcome aboard Captain, thank you for joining, and good luck.

      Today is Easter Sunday. The Lord has been raised from the dead today, and the temple has been rebuilt. This is the greatest feast in the world's history, as it marks the completion of Christ's mission to save us from our sins. This is the reason that He became man; to die for us, to rise and to save us. This is the basis of Christianity.     Christ is risen from the dead. He did not just seem to be present; He was there with his disciples on the road to Emmaus; He was there with them in the upper room; He was there with the holy women on Easter Morning. This is the truth which Christians have been dying for for thousands of years. The refusal to deny Christ and his Resurrection cost His apostles and their followers their lives. They died horrible deaths, from crucifixion to beheading to having the skin ripped from their bodies, to protect this most important part of the Faith.     This is the second chance that Christ gave us; the chance to be with Him for eternity in the

      Today is Holy Thursday, the first day of the Triduum. The Triduum is not technically part of Lent, but its own Liturgical season, which surprised me when I first figured it out. Here I will do a short analysis of each day of the Triduum.     Holy Thursday: This is the day when we celebrate Christ instituting the Eucharist. There is Mass today (Mass of the Lord's Supper) and afterwards a procession to the Altar of Repose and Adoration. The Mass of the Lord's Supper is the last Mass before the Easter Vigil.     Good Friday: This is the day when Our Lord was crucified and laid in the tomb. There is no Mass, but a service where Communion is received, even though there is no consecration. Good Friday is one of two mandatory Lenten fast days for those over 18 years old (Ash Wednesday is the other).     Holy Saturday: There is no Mass for Holy Saturday, but Morning Prayer. This is the second day of Our Lord in the tomb. The Easter Vigil Mass is said on Holy Saturday, but must be

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Foremost Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the planet today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners within the Universal Church, those in my very own home, and within my family. Prayer of St. Gertrude     St. Gertrude the Great was a mystic born in 1256. She received many visions from the Lord, and used prayer to communicate with Him. The Lord promised her that when every time this prayer was said devoutly, 1000 souls would be freed from Purgatory.      If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments. Thank you for reading and God bless.     

      Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. On this day, ashes are placed on the forehead while the words "You are but dust, and to dust you will return," or "Repent and believe in the gospel." The faithful are required to fast if between the ages of 18 and 60. They also abstain from meat. But why is this? What is so special about Ash Wednesday?     To start, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the period preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ. Lent is about 40 days long because of the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert while preparing for his public ministry. Already we come across fasting.     Why do we use ashes today? Ashes are a sign of repentance. Take the book of Jonah, for example. And the men of Nineveh believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Nineveh; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackc

      While I personally find Father David Michael Moses hilarious, his skits will teach you a thing or two.     Even though he's a funny guy, Father David still tells plenty of interesting and helpful things to the Catholic.     This last video is one of my favorites of his:     Well, I'll stop bombarding you with videos now. I just wanted to get something out there because I hadn't posted in a while. Please leave a comment and God bless!

     Catholics (as well as Orthodoxies and some Anglicans) believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist under the appearances of bread and wine. This can be very hard to believe, and many Catholics don't. This is unfortunate, because of how beautiful a gift that it is.     Our Lord, on Holy Thursday, consecrated the Holy Eucharist when He said: 'This is My body, which will be given for you. Do this in memory of me.' And He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which will be poured out for you.' (Lk 22:19-20)     I understand that this saying is sometimes taken as a metaphor. After all, Jesus said that he was a door in John 10:1. However, In John chapter 6, when Jesus says he is the Bread of Life (Jn 6:48-51), the Jews quarrel ' How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'  (Jn 6:52) After reinforcing this statement, Jesus's followers leave him, saying 'This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?'

   Merry Christmas! I hope you all had the opportunity to receive that gift of Christ in the Eucharist today.     Though all the festivities for the holiday are nice, it is important to remember that it is ultimately about Jesus.     I was at Christmas Mass earlier today, and the priest's homily really spoke to me. He said that whether or not you are a good gift giver doesn't matter so long as you give some of yourself with the gift. He quoted this from Pope Benedict. He went on to say that God gave humanity all he could in giving us His Son, and asked us a simple question: Do we accept His gift?    This was so interesting to me because he said something so short and simple, but it is extremely important. We need to accept the Lord in order to be saved. He gave everything for us. Will we accept his Christmas gift?

  I've been working on my apologetics skills recently, and found many good arguments against abortion in the Bible.    Abortion is the killing of a child in the mother's womb. Unfortunately, many people say that the child is not a person with rights whi le in the womb.    However, God is the source of life and every human being deserves human rights. It is important to know that the child is indeed alive in the womb and should be protected, not slaughtered.   I can find at least four very good arguments against abortion in the Bible, and though there are many more, I will just leave it at these for the time being.   One of these arguments is found in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, where it says, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you' (Jer 1:5).    So you see, it says plainly that the Lord knows and  consecrates a child even before it is in the womb. Have you met a Christian in the proper set of mind who would intentio

The third Sunday of Advent in the Roman Catholic calendar is Gaudete Sunday. Derived from the Latin introit antiphon "Rejoice (Gaudete) in the Lord always", Gaudete Sunday signifies a day of joyous anticipation as the celebration of Christmas approaches. Since this Sunday brings a lighter tone to the traditional Advent observance, the priest and deacon wear rose-colored vestments instead of the deeper violet/purple ones typical of Advent and Lent (more on that during when Lent comes around). This Sunday is also known as "Rose Sunday." The Advent theme centers on the anticipation of Jesus' coming in three ways: his initial arrival, his current presence, and his ultimate return. Gaudete Sunday's readings specifically focus on rejoicing in the Lord, delving into John the Baptist's mission and its connection to Advent. According to theologian Thomas Aquinas, happiness is humanity's ultimate goal—an eternal contemplation of God through the intellect. In c

 Interesting biblical verse promoting the use of incense:  In the Revelation of John, incense symbolizes the prayers of the saints in heaven – the "golden bowl full of incense" are "the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8, cf. Revelation 8:3) which infuse upwards towards the altar of God. I'm the head incenser at my church, so I thought this was cool.  Actually got this from Wikipedia of all places, but it is accurately represented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_use_of_incense

 Just the other day, my friend Charlie joined me in co-writing the blog, which I am very grateful for. He is one of my closest friends and knows a whole lot about the Catholic faith. Welcome aboard Charlie!

  Last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. We have the shortest Advent this year, with the fourth Sunday being on Christmas Eve.      Advent is a time of penance. Let us remember why Christ came into the world and what he had to go through to save us from our sins.     And when Christmas does come, please remember the true meaning of the holiday. It's not about Coca-Cola's Santa, or elves, snow, carols, or any of that (although there are some really good faith-based Christmas songs). However, it is about presents in a way. We received the gift of Jesus, who brought us the gift of salvation. You may have heard this thousands of times before, but it's true no doubt.      Have a nice Advent and please remember the true reason for the season.

  Feel free to post comments if you have any questions, tips, thoughts, or just want to talk about the Faith. I would really appreciate it.   I don't really have a schedule for when I will publish. I sometimes publish when I feel something coming in my own life or in the world, or just when an idea comes to mind and I want to write it down. Maybe I will make a schedule in the future, and if that is something y'all want, please tell me in the comments.

 Hello. I am Dominic (or Ginko-5 if you look at my profile). While I like to write about baseball and some other silly things, I've been wanting a religious blog. I have a couple things that I would like you to know while reading this blog: 1: God loves you infinitely. 2: I don't want to give you the impression that I think I'm some sort of great person. Part of the reason I am writing this is because I want to be a better person, and eventually, a saint.     Let's give this blog a start!