On Salvation

To me, salvation is not just going to Heaven. Salvation means getting back to Eden. Gaining access to the Tree of Life. It’s to live forever. We can only do that through Jesus Christ. We can only do that in Him. He lives forever and we must be united to Him in Baptism (as Scripture tells us). Once we are Baptized, we are born anew (or born from above per John 3:5) and we must remain in Him. We are obedient to Christ in all things. We eat of His Body and unite ourselves more. Should we be disobedient, we become separated from Christ’s body and must be reconciled back to Him for it is only in Christ that we are saved. Christ’s body is His Church. In His Body is salvation. Outside of His Body, there is no salvation. That’s what salvation means to me. That’s what Christ promises. That’s what the Catholic Church teaches and that’s the true Gospel.

Approaching Scripture

The entire Bible is a love story. It’s a story of how God wants to be in relationship with Man. Throughout the Old Testament, God keeps making covenants and man keeps breaking them and God keeps coming back. God asks man to be obedient to Him and He will bless them. Finally, with the New Covenant, that’s it. God’s revelation to man is completed and the relationship has been perfected. God finally rights Adam’s disobedience with His obedience. Through His sacrifice on the cross, we no longer have to be dead to sin. Now, we can be alive in Christ. No longer is it just a covenant but rather we become one with God. We are united to Him in Baptism. The New Covenant–His plan in the New Testament–far outshines any of the old covenants found in the Old Testament.

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel (i.e. Good News) is that God loves you. He loves you so much that He would rather die than to be without you. He would rather be nailed to a tree than to live without you. He loves you so much that He is giving you the opportunity to share in His divine life for eternity. All you have to do is be obedient to Him in all things. In Baptism, you are united to Him in His Church. United to Him, you partake in the divine life. You will live forever in Christ. Apart from Him, you have no chance at eternal salvation. We are united to Christ in the sacraments. In Baptism, we are united to Christ’s Body. We become part of His Body and we are born anew. We are washed clean of our sins and we must remain obedient. In the Eucharist, we eat His flesh and drink His blood and we are united to Him even more. That is the Gospel.

How will we be judged?

God calls all men to be saved. He desires all men to partake in eternal life. He wants all men to be saved and the grace that is offered on the cross is sufficient for all men to be saved. He calls all men because He loves all men so much that He gave His only son so that we may have eternal life. So, God calls and man responds. We answer the call. We respond by loving God back and we love God through obedience to God.

So, in summary, God calls through love (as represented by His crucified Son)—(John 3:16) and man responds through love (represented through our obedience to Christ…”If you love me, you will keep my commandments”).

Standing in front of Christ at judgment, we will be judged on how well we responded to God’s calling. We will be judged on how we loved. We will be judged by how we responded to Christ crucified on a cross.

And all of us will fall short of loving God perfectly because none of us are perfect and all of us at times in our lives have been disobedient to God’s call to love Him and love others as ourselves. So, in Christ’s judgment, we will be dependent on His mercy because we have all fallen short and failed to love Him perfectly.

So, how are faith and works important? We are called to participate in the life of Christ. We are called to unite ourselves to Him in the sacraments. We are called to feed the poor. We are called to clothe the naked. We are called to love God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Out of love, we respond to His call. Out of love—through faith, we do what Christ asks us. These are our works. We don’t do them to be saved. We do them out of love for Christ and depend on His mercy for our salvation. If we don't respond. If we are disobedient to His word. If we don't love. If we don't feed the poor and clothe the naked, then no matter how pious we acted or how much Scripture we read (or how many rosaries we said) He will not know who we are.

The Eucharist

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life. It’s more than just a Sacrament. The Eucharist makes the Church. The Eucharist is the center of the Church. The Eucharist is the Body of Christ and the Body of Christ is the Church; therefore, the Eucharist is the Church.

The Eucharist is a sacrifice. It’s Christ giving of Himself to us. It’s Christ at Calvary. In the Eucharist, we are brought back to the one sacrifice. In “Communion” we are presented the Body of Christ which we proclaim “Amen!” We receive Him and then we are united to Christ’s body. Through partaking of the Eucharist, we are united in one point in history in Christ’s body at Calvary. We are all in Christ and we are all united together “Through Him, With Him and In Him. “

The Eucharist transcends time. All who have ever partaken in the Eucharist, from the Apostles to my great great grandchildren are united together. Everyone on heaven and earth are all brought together. Without the Eucharist, there is no Church. Without the Eucharist, there is no Body of Christ.

Through the Eucharist, we are all saved. Not from anything we’ve done but through our unity with Christ—He sacrifices Himself for us so that we can be saved.

So, this is in essence what 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 is referring to. In v17, Paul tells us that there is one loaf (the Body of Christ) and we, though many, partake of the one loaf. Paul is telling us essentially what I’ve described above. Through the Body and Blood of Christ through the “cup of blessing” and the “bread we break” is a “participation”…a partaking of the one bread. We being “many” become one body through the “one bread.”

How Does Baptism Work?

For a Catholic, to have faith is more than just a belief. It's our response to God (CCC 26). By faith, man completely submits his intellect and will to God. (CCC 143).

In essence, to have faith is to be completely obedient to God per Scripture. Christ tells us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. If we love Him, we will have faith in Him and we will be obedient to Him. That's what faith is.

So, when He says something like, "Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19) We are obedient and baptize all disciples.

In Baptism, we are reborn into Christ. Per John 3:5, we are reborn with water and the Spirit. We are stripped of our sinful selves and reborn clean. The grace we receive unites us to Christ and strips us of our sins.

In Baptism, Paul tells us in Colossians that we were circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, stripping off our carnal body. (Colossians 2:11).


He also tells us in Romans that we were Baptized into His death so that we may rise with Him in the Resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)

John the Baptist explains that with Christ's baptism we will be like wheat where our sinful chaff will be separated from us by His winnowing fork (Matthew 3:11-13) where the chaff will be burned away by fire.

And Peter tells us that Baptism is what saves us (1 Peter 3:21).

So, per Scripture, it is evident that Baptism is necessary and essential per Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul.

Trust in His Grace

The only way a child can be disobedient is if he knows he is being disobedient. A child has "invincible ignorance" as they have not yet come of age to discern what is right and what is wrong--in God's eyes.

The only way that you or I or anyone would make it into heaven is through God's mercy. None of us is truly righteous. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we are all imperfect. We need to trust that God will have mercy on us--as sinners and trust in His grace.

The wrath of God is for those who are truly unrepentant. The disobedient. Those whose pride is so great that they don't feel they need God in their lives. Those who don't seek the will of God but rather do their own will.

For them, we can only hope that God's mercy will reach out to them as well.

Is Hell Real?

Hell is a reality. In order to understand Hell, you need to have an understanding of God. There is a God so great out there who absolutely loves you!

And all He wants is that you love Him back.

Heaven is to be with God. For eternity. Hell, in contrast is eternal separation from Him. It's a void. An emptiness that cannot be filled. It is darkness. The reason a person would go there is because they walk away from God. They turn their back and refuse His love. Hell isn't hate. It is a rejection of God.

How Are We Saved?

(I wrote this in a Catholic Answers forum--I'm using my blog to keep track of things I wrote)

In Genesis 3, when Adam (and Eve) disobeyed God, they were deprived of the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22). Without the access to the fruit from the Tree of Life, man dies. God placed a fiery sword and a cherubim to guard the Tree (v.24). T

Christ restores the Tree of Life. Through Christ, we have eternal life. His Cross becomes the new Tree of Life and His Body is the fruit. We eat of His Body and we gain eternal life. Through obedience (and Baptism), we are united to Christ and through Christ and His Body, we gain eternal life.

Sin is disobedience to God. If we disobey God, we die. Christ pays for the penalty of our disobedience through His death. So, through His new covenant, we are baptized into Him and with obedience, we remain in Him (per John 15). Our sins are nailed to the cross and we are born anew so that we can rise with Him in the Resurrection.

Is Pope Benedict a Pantheist? -- My Response to John Bugay

Below is my response to John Bugay from a Combox in regards to Pope Benedict allegedly being a Pantheist.


In Catholic thought, we are united to Christ. We become one with Him per John 15. How does this happen? It happens through our obedience to Him. We no longer follow our will but rather we follow Christ. It’s no longer I--it’s now Christ. And then, per Galatians, it’s “no longer I who live but rather Christ who lives inside me.” In essence, we become Christ but only in obedience to Him. We are united to Him and He nourishes us and in doing His will, we spread forth His message.

Now, what in the world is Ratzinger talking about? I’ll be honest. I read it a few times and I was like, “huh????” And thanks to John Bugay, I couldn’t get that stupid song out of my head all day yesterday.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul lays out what Ratzinger/Benedict is talking about. In the Eucharist is the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, Paul talks about how the bread that we break--what Catholics call the Host--is a participation in the Body of Christ. As there is one loaf of bread, then we are all one Body because we partake in one loaf. That one loaf is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ at the one sacrifice at Calvary.

Now, as a Church--as a corporate body, all in unison being obedient to Christ. We become the Body of Christ. We are Christ on earth. Christ is the head per Ephesians 5:23,30 and per Colossians 1:18-23, He is the head and we are the body “provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel.” As Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31, we are one Body of Christ united through Baptism. All following Christ’s will we work together in harmony doing what Christ wants. We have different functions acting as Christ together in harmony. If there is division, it’s like a disease within one body and needs to be healed for “if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.” So, we are Christ on earth and Christ in heaven is the head and we are here to do His will.

What is His will?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." So, our mission as a Church--as a corporate Body of Christ is to go and evangelize the world. It’s to baptize all people and teach them to observe all that Christ commanded.

Christ’s mission is to make all men Christian so that entire WORLD becomes the Body of Christ. That’s what He wants. He doesn’t just want to save some people His desire is that all men come to Him and do His will. His desire is that ALL MEN ARE SAVED.

So, understanding that. Ratzinger’s first paragraph talks about this. Christ is the new Adam who per John will draw all men to Him in the hope that all men are saved.

The second part is a little trickier. He’s talking about the Cosmos and creation. From a macro view, it would seem that the cosmos would be focused on BIG. The galaxies or the stars. or the SMALL, the atom. But that’s not the case. God has shifted this to a focus not on the big but rather on the complex. The focus of the universe has shifted from the stars to the planets. Specifically, it’s focused on earth and on man. Man is the focus of the universe. We are God’s greatest creation. Not the stars. Not the atoms. It’s man.

In the third part, Ratzinger focuses on this great creation of man. God makes man even greater! God has now united man to God. Through Christ, He created a synthesis of man and God and has invited man to participate in this synthesis.


In Benedict’s homily, he’s telling us that with our entire being we must be “adoration and sacrifice.” We must going back to Paul and 1st Corinthians. We are one Body of Christ. We are one loaf. That we as a Church become a living host that transforms the world and gives it back to Christ. Through Christ with the Holy Spirit, we “renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30) and per de Chardin, we renew the universe.

Seeking God's Will

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

God has wondrous plans for you.  The road to happiness lies in seeking His will not your own.  May you always seek God in your life and He will lead you.  Trust in Him and everything else will take fall into place. 

Ite Missa Est

Every week, we are sent into a world that is hungry for God. Every week, we are sent to radiate forth the light of Christ. We are sent to share God's love for the world.



Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me and be so in me
that every soul I come in contact with
may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You;
none of it will be mine. It will be You,
shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You in the way which You love best,
by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching,
not by my words but by my example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what I do,
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You. Amen.

--John Cardinal Newman

Sing a New Song

Alleluia, Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

May we sing at the top of our lungs
For our life has been restored.
May we never forget all that He did
And how He overcame death
For us

Thank You, God. Without You, I am nothing.
With You and within You,
I am saved.

The Message of the Cross

Thoughts today while contemplating the crucifixion...

Today, is Good Friday. The day when Christians around the world recall the death and crucifixion of our Lord.

On this day, we commemorate when the world--Jew and Gentile alike collaborated to crucify God. They nailed Him to a piece of wood and put Him on display for the entire world to see.

What is the message of the cross?

For the Pharisees and Romans, it was
See what he did! See what he said.
This is what he gets
If you follow him, this is what you get.
Don't be like him.
Look at him. He's suffering. He's dying.

Follow us. Follow the world.
Give in to her temptations.
Greed. Lust. Sin.
Follow us and you will not die.


The message of the world then
is the same message of the world today.

Their message is a lie!

What's Christ's response?

"Take up your cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)


Oh Lord, may I remember your Passion every day. May I follow you always. May your love for me be reflected in my love for all. Thank you for all you've done for me. I owe you my life.

When you fast...

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you. (Matthew 6: 17)

Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent. As Catholics, we are called to start fasting. Not by the Church but rather by God. Jesus doesn't say "if you fast" but rather when. He wants us to fast. He wants us to sacrifice something we love so that others may gain.

More importantly, we must associate our fasting with something through prayer. A friend who is sick or family member who is suffering. Perhaps to improve our evangilization.

We fast so that others may exerience God.

On Eucharistic Adoration

(I was given the privilege today at Mass to talk about Eucharistic adoration.)


"We adore You O Christ and we praise You...Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!"

These words are repeated over and over every night at this parish and at Catholic Churches around the world every Friday night during Lent.

What do these words mean?


Have you ever wondered what your purpose is in life?

What is the meaning of everything?



Why were we created?


We were created to love God with all of our heart, with all of our heart, and with all of our strength.

Our meaning...our purpose in life is to focus our lives wholly on Him. And through His love, we in turn love our families, love our friends, and we love our enemies.

Through His love, we draw all people closer to Him.

Every action that we do and every word we speak should reflect our love for Him.

And the reason why is because He loves us! He loves each and every one of us!

More than we can possibly imagine.

He yearns for us--so much so that God would rather be nailed to a tree and die than to be separated from any one of us.

And all He wants is for you to love Him back.


Lent is coming. Lent is a call to conversion. A time to draw closer to God. A time to prepare ourselves and better understand what God did for us at His Passion.

Our ushers will be handing out forms for Eucharistic adoration for all of you to fill out and hand in to the collection basket.


I know what a lot of you may be thinking.

"Why go to Eucharistic adoration?"

"What's in it for me?"

Quite simply, the reason to go is that there is no greater place on the entire planet than Resurrection parish on Wednesdays during Lent. Because here from 1:00 to 6:30, God is present on the altar.

And He wants to see you.

He wants you to be with Him.

He wants you to love Him.


Several years back, at a retreat during Lent, I volunteered for an hour of Eucharistic adoration.

In that hour, I gazed at His presence and asked, "Are you really there?"

By the end of the retreat, God made it knon to me that He was VERY present in the Eucharist and that He was not pleased with how I was living my life.

That one event caused a tremendous conversion that is still occurring eleven years later. Since that retreat, my life has turned and now, I understand my meaning and my purpose.

Since then, I've dedicated my entire life on loving God more...and I am truly thankful for all He's given to me.

When you go to Eucharistic adoration, there's no need to pray the Rosary. There's no need to read the Bible and there's no need to pray Our Fathers or Hail Marys...although you're more than welcome to do that.

You just need to be there. For an hour...a half hour...or even a minute.

Just be there and quiet your heart and clear your mind and just say, "Lord, I'm here and I'm listening."

And just listen to what He has to tell you. You may not hear it with your ears or your mind, but your soul is going to rejoice and hearing Him.


"We adore You O Christ, and we praise You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!"

Why go to adoration?

What's in it for you?

Greatness!!!


Thank you.

Speak, Lord

Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening. (1 Samuel 3:9)

So many times in prayer, we talk when we should listen. We act without guidance. We work with no goals.


O God! Amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life, may I quiet my mind and heart so that I may hear Your voice.

I am Your servant. May I always do Your will.

The Pope's Midnight Mass Homily

Yet there is no room at the inn. In some way, mankind is awaiting God, waiting for him to draw near. But when the moment comes, there is no room for him. Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for others – for his neighbour, for the poor, for God. And the richer men become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less room there is for others.

Saint John, in his Gospel, went to the heart of the matter, giving added depth to Saint Luke’s brief account of the situation in Bethlehem: “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:11). This refers first and foremost to Bethlehem: the Son of David comes to his own city, but has to be born in a stable, because there is no room for him at the inn. Then it refers to Israel: the one who is sent comes among his own, but they do not want him. And truly, it refers to all mankind: he through whom the world was made, the primordial Creator-Word, enters into the world, but he is not listened to, he is not received.

--Pope Benedict XVI at Midnight Mass 2007

If you haven't yet read the Pope's message, here it is. The message is truly of hope and better than what I heard at my Christmas mass.

Let's make room for Him in our hearts as only He can bring us true life.

Merry Christmas

Venite Adoremus...Dominuum!

Christ is the Lord...O Praise His Name Forever!!!

December 25--The Feast Day of the Incarnation

On the day we share with family, God wedded Himself to humanity as our brother so that we can share in His role of Priest Prophet and King.

On the day we use to exchange presents to our loved ones...God gave us His greatest present. His only begotten Son.

Lord, may I always do Your perfect will. And thank you for all you've given me. May I be a gift to You.

Everything I have is Yours. Do with it as you will.

Living Greatly!

"IF YOU ARE WHAT YOU SHOULD BE, YOU WILL SET THE WHOLE WORLD ON FIRE." ~ St. Catherine of Siena

God has wonderful things planned for all of us. All we need to do is trust in Him and He'll do all the rest.

Lord, you made me who I am. I am your slave. Do with me what you will.