The Holy Spirit's Smack Upside the Head!

Last night I was with my good buddy Greg, as in Fr Greg Cizcek, a staple of the Italian community in Montreal being the Polish guy able to speak impeccabe Italian.  This of course in dears him to little old 'Nonnas' seeking to gain favour with younger priests by feeding them.  So we went for supper, and then we decided to pray Vespers as the time had come for prayer.  Fr Greg, suggests we go to my home parish and see if my Pastor, Father Gerry wanted to join us.  Long story short, he was at the rectory, but the Church was open.  Monday nights, the Charismatic prayer group meets, and they were only too happy to see us.  First off we prayed Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament, and then, well,..then he suggested that we ask for prayers with the Charismatic group.  Myself, I was too shy, (actually I was too proud) to want to join in,...

The Charismatic Catholic Renewal started in 1967 when a group of priests and laity in Pittsburgh asked for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit, would descend upon them and they (like the Pentecostals ) would find themselves in a very emotional Christianity which admittedly I was none too comfortable with.  So,..reluctanlty I joined in, and well, let just say 'uncomfortable' was the initial feeling.  The fruits sometimes manifest themselves as speaking 'in tongues' or 'discerning of spirits' or whatever.  For myself at that moment, I just couldn't let go....They would pray and be insprired to look up Scripture verses abd read aloud.  The thought that was crossing my mind, was 'I gave up Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament for this?!?'  So here is Fr Greg, a whole bunch of ladies singing away, while I'm trying as best not to stare because I'm seriously freaked out!  (I felt like that scene from Forrest Gump when he's singing in the choir, while Fr Greg, who can at times make Pope Pius X look like a modernist is SINGIN' away, with a big smile, while the others are praying spontaneously, tongues,..you name it!)   We left and asked these women to pray for us.

So, Greg asks me what I thought, and well I answered.  'Dude, (Yes, he's a priest but I knew him before ordination sooo blah! ;)) I'm not sure I'm too comfortable with this type of Spirituality.'  At that point, he asked me to open my heart and check my ego and the door!  WOW!  Did I need that!  He answered that Charismatic practise wasn't his type either, but nevertheless the Holy Spirit would give him a sense of peace, joy, and freedom.  The Holy Spirit has many gifts for many people, St Paul never had the gift of tongues, so I guess I won't either.  Later that night, I was reflecting upon my experience with these sincere women of Faith.  Lying in bed, it came to me!  Written on my heart was St Matthew's Gospel, 18; 3...Unless you become like little children, you will not see the Kingdom of God.

The point through all of this is simple!  The Holy Spirit was reminding me that despite all my theological acumen, degrees, metaphysical knowledge, it all means jack sh%t especially when compared to the sincere trust in the Lord found in these women.  They won't be commenting on Aquinas's undertanding of Act and Potential because that is not their charism!  (Aha moment!)  Different strokes for different folks, all within the beautiful mosaic of Christ's Bride the Church!  So while I didn't experience the fruit of the Spirit while in the prayer group, it was simply because I was too proud to let the Holy Spirit in,..I didn't want to!  I thought it was weird..creepy,..not my culture etc....  Then the Holy Spirit later that night smacked me upside the head and reminded me of the real reason,..PRIDE!  So now today as I write this, I am thanking God for these charismatic women.  Their faith is pure.  Does that mean they don't need to deepen their theology?  Of course not!  Yet in their own way, their hearts from what I could tell and from what was revealed to me were more in line with God's than mine ever was! 

Thank you Holy Spirit for allowing me to see through different lenses, the beauty and majesty of all your gifts.  I may not be speaking in tongues anytime soon, but last night, when I received that peace, joy and freedom, I wouldn't trade it for anything! (Slept like a baby too!)

Come Holy Spirit!,.....................Fill our hearts!

The Media's Guide to Fixing the Church.

Last night, as I was watching Wrestlemania, friend of mine emailed me a clip from the popular Quebec talk show 'Tout le Monde en Parle.'  Guy A Lepage, a left of centre separatist mouthpiece and his creepy little co-hort Danny Turcotte had as a guest Montreal's new Archbishop Christian Lépine.  (see here)  What was really interesting are the aggressive tones that the media take in trying to put the Archbishop in the corner.  Monseigneur Lépine to his credit, answered as Faithfully as he could while Richard Martineau, another writer from the separatist intelligentia kept getting more and more aggressive.  Martineau claimed that the United Church of Canada (which basically tolerates everything, even sin) was the best choice for him and his wife when they went 'Church' shopping.  Arturo Bracchetti, also on the panel, describes himself as a child of Vatican II, and was more in touch with Pope Paul VI, a Pope on the 'left.' (Humanae Vitae on the left?  Get your head out of your a@$)

It seems the easiest solution to fill up the Churches, is to basically re make them as if the Truth are up for debate.  Disagreeing with Holy Mother Church is not about opinion, it comes down to disagreeing with Jesus Himself!  Imagine?  Sorry Lord, but your wrong about the gays!  The Church calls all people outside of marriage to chastity.  Whether its 2012, or 3012, the Church is the anchor.  Remember, Scripture says that God made us in His image.  Instead we are trying to create a god in our image. 

Another article making the rounds comes to us via CNN.  What's funny is that once again, we get the same pile of drivel always thrown at us during Holy Week.  Seven Reasons Why People Leave the Catholic Church.  (see here )  Number 1?  Yup!  You guessed it,..the sex abuse crises.  First off, one case of abuse is one too many!  However let's contextualize this shall we?  I have stated before that there are actually more abuse cases found in the protestant communities than there are in the Church.  Measuring the numbers, there are almost ten times the amount of teachers abusing children!  What about coaches?  You can look up the numbers for yourself,. but the media's faulty logic, usually advanced by heresy agenda driven priests, (the ones they parade on CNN, when they need a Catholic soundbite, or still John Allen, who traded in his testicles for 'being in the centre') or women religious.  The Church has been around for 2000 years, and its generally no coincidence that the enemy always attacks during Lent!

Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against Her.  Can you name any other organization that has lasted this long, even in the face of scandal?  That's all for now!

Our Lady of Fatima,............ora pro nobis.

Sometimes to Go Forward, We Need to Step Back.

***This letter written nearly three years ago.***

An Open Letter to Catholic Dissidents...

Confessions of a Thirty Something Cybertronian

First off, I wish you greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. True to Pauline form, I will try to get to my points as quickly as possible. My name is Marco Mastro however I write under a pen name or nickname of Optimusmastro. My style especially with regards to apologetics, comes off sometimes as being rather aggressive and not quite pastoral. I will give you a backround as to where I come from...

I grew up the only child of two parents. They raised me in the Faith, the best way they knew how and still to this day provide me with prayerful support and wise counsel. I went to Catholic elementary school and high school before going to junior college (cegep in Quebec) and subsuquently university. I graduated with a degree in political science and a minor in religious studies. Since university, I have worked in the field of marketing while moonlighting at a gym. It was during my time as a student where my Faith started to mature and according to some 'radicallize.'

If I must, I will chalk my spiritual growth up to the idea of Divine providence. You see, being in political science allowed me to open the door towards an interest in philosophy. My minor however especially during my first semester, polluted my faith and enabled me to lose whatever belief system I had left. This goes to show, that as a teenager, my interest in the Church was to serve as a showpiece to my parents. While I still considered myself 'catholic,' it could be said that I espoused many of the current liberal trends that you as dissidents currently hold as dogma. (ordination of women, gay marriage, eco-spirirtuality..etc). In retrospect, I guess that's why today, I find myself so vehementely opposed to it. Within the religious studies course, my exposure to Catholicism came from such sources as Fr. Richard McBrien, Fr. Hans Kung, various commentaries on the 'Spirit' of the second Vatican council, (Yet we NEVER read the actual Council!) and of course anyone who would advance what the progressives would call 'contemporary' Catholicism. Needless to say, I thought I was going to be the next member of the Jesus Seminar! Forget the opinions of John Paul II,...I had Marcus Borg to decree my version of infallibility!

During this time I would frequent a bookstore in downtown Montreal that sold theological studies. While buying 'On being Christian' by Hans Kung,..I noticed a young priest. I thought to myself, this guy is too young to be a priest and I think I'm gonna engage him in dialogue. Y'know, I felt the need to enlighten this poor guy that it was Paul who founded Christianity and the historical Jesus was a much different person than the 'Christ of Faith.' Yeah,..to say it didn't go as planned would be an understatement. Keep in mind, that through high school, I participated in wrestling, martial arts and hockey. In other words, I was no stranger to confrontation, yet this priest listened to me as I cut my 'promo' and then delivered the most vicious intellectual asskicking I had ever been exposed to. (I was actually drained after he apologetically beat the theological crap out of me!) This priest and I exchanged numbers and are friends to this day. I had never heard of Scott Hahn, Karl Keating, Claude Tremontent, or Father John Corapi(my favorite!!!) In addition to this, I started delving into philosophy especially since I had through my political science degree already been exposed to Descarte, and Immanual Kant. The sad thing was, I had never been exposed to Thomas Aquinas...I thought it was just the name of a school that my cousins in the States went to. It was recommended that I start with Aristotle,..and the rest is history. It took me one year to read the Summa Theologica, and since then, I have read many works by people such as Jacques Maritain and Peter Kreeft.

My return to orthodoxy has caused many even in my own parish to label me 'conservative,' 'rigid'(that one's my favorite!) and medieval. My response is that I'm just Catholic. Since Catholicism is objective, it is neither liberal or conservative, left or right, it just 'is.' Consequently I feel the need to show what I've found and try as best I can to give intellectual assent to the dogmas of the Church.

My letter to you today is to ask what exactly is your mission in the Church? Are you trying to undermine Her authority? What is the point of preaching a pluralistic tolerance of all faiths (which is a good thing,..but not at the expense of Truth!) while campagning against the Motu Propio concerning the Extraordinary Form of Mass? Have you actually read the Second Vatican Council's sixteen documents? Why do you always preach ecumenism when authentic Truth is not your focal point for discussion? Why do you claim to advocate Social Justice, yet at the same time practise a deafening silence when it comes to the defense of the unborn? Would not Social Justice begin with the most innocent of lives? Why do you insist on dialogue and discourse when the Magisterium issues a ruling forbidding something? If you are a priest, and you don't believe in the Real Presence, why did you get ordained? You willingly gave up a family for what exactly? Finally, why do you remain in the Church?

Look, these are but a few questions, but in the spirit of discourse, I would like you to consider them, if you would like to contact me, you can do at my blog,..Confessions of a Thirty Something Cybertronian

God Bless,

Marco/Optimusmastro

Addendum: This was an article written nearly three years ago. As of this writing, my Parish has a solid priest, my 'favorite' Fr Corapi is apparently seeking refuge in the Bermuda Triangle under his Blacksheepdog persona,.(pray for him) and that young priest is now a Bishop. God works in mysterious ways,..By the way, I'll be meeting with the vocations director of Archdiocese of Montreal,..Time to write my letter to the Archbishop. I'll always be a cybertronian, but will now prepare to commence as a seminarian God willing...

Sacred Heart of Jesus,........Have mercy on us.