“Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but
only one wins the prize?  Run so as to win.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

I am a young man.  I have not witnessed a great many political
reformations in my life.  Born in 1982, my experience has been the narrow
view of a native Houstonian who has never traveled outside the United
States, never has earned a college degree, and certainly has never lived
in a culture other than the commercial-based secular society that
permeates our surroundings today.
Ever since I have been alive, pornography, contraception, divorce,
gang-shootings, ‘neighborhood predators’, abortion, euthanasia, rejection
of Christ and religion, domestic abuse, school shootings, incest and rape,
public swearing and obscenity, and 24 hour news and entertainment, with
its never ending dramatization and incessant speculation, have been the
makeup of the American experience-indeed, not just America, but most of western
civilization.  It is so commonplace that we get irritated with
those who remind us it is not right.  It’s not the way it’s suppose to be.

After all, for those who complain that society is going to hell in a hand
basket, do they see any real chance that these things are going to
subside?  Why not just learn not to complain?

It’s true, complaining does not get us anywhere; unless we take our
complaints to the Lord in prayer.  However, the danger lies in not being
upset by these ’structures of sin’ as Pope John Paul II called them.  If
we become jaded to the evil around us, we may begin to think that things
are not  as serious as an honest assessment with a Christian mentality
would tell us.  Maybe there is a real possibility that with another
election, another victory politically, maybe another change within the
Church, the whole tower of decadence that has been built will crumble.
Perhaps  if we just go about concerning ourselves with our own business the
time will seem to pass by faster and before we know it, we’ll wake up one
morning and the linchpin in this apparatus of deceit and immorality
engulfing our society will be pulled.

But that attitude does not comprise Christian hope.  All hope rests in Him
who does not change.  The One, the True, the Good who awaits our union
with him in Eternal Beatitude.  But that does not mean that our hope is
static.  

Our hope is in the One who does not change, who will help us renew ourselves and to conform to Him.  That renewal requires change here and now.
So yes our hope is already vindicated by God’s changeless Goodness even in
the midst of a crooked and depraved generation.  But our hope spurs us to
effect the change that will conform even our society to Him: the
One, the True, the Good.   We grow up in a society that has always been
against God.  Seemingly, it will be for a long time.  But unless we are
sensitive at all times to this injustice we will not hope for the change
necessary to dismantle the structures of sin.
  How then are we to not exchange true hope in God for false and transient
hopes that society will change with a few more concrete actions-whatever they may be?  To put
it another way, why not hope in God by hoping that the next victory in the
culture war will irreversibly tip the tide of public persuasion in favor
of God?
The answer is very simple.  No change on earth is permanent.  For example,
if we can cause the demise of no-fault divorce tomorrow by getting the
necessary legislation passed, what political structure can portend to
guarantee that this good and worthwhile reform will stay in place. Every
new generation contains a new set of human hearts, of human wills that can
turn to God or move further away from Him.

So  we have a paradox.  We must not hope for any temporal change to cause
a lasting good, but we must  work for change at all times–through
conversion, through renewal of the church, through reform in
government–to effect justice by directing our hearts to changeless
Eternal Good.

As Pope Benedict XVI said so beautifully in his book, Jesus of Nazareth,
the beatitude that Jesus proclaimed, “blessed are those who mourn” is a
recognition of Our Savior that those are truly blessed who are sensitive
to the injustices around them and work to enact change in the culture to
right the wrongs.  But Jesus anticipates that not all good reforms will
remain in this passing world, so he adds that even after all our attempts
to be salt to the earth and light to the world have fallen on deaf ears, we must continue to oppose injustice by being willing to mourn the evil around us.  Did not Our Lord do this? Was he not crucified even though he had done good and labored for renewal?  He would go to the cross mourning the injustices around him, and bearing witness by his willingness to suffer.

God does not give false hopes.  He is the only Hope.  And Jesus hoped in
God; He waited on the Lord.  In the Bible to wait upon the Lord is to work
for justice, while not expecting success.  Waiting on the Lord means
hoping in God even as we mourn.

    For God says,”… they that wait upon the Lord will renew their
strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings.  They will run and not
grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”  Isaiah 40:31

Filed by Daniel at 11:11 am under Commentary
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This Saturday morning, September 6, the Prayer Warriors for Life will be praying at Planned Parenthood (on 3601 Fannin St.) at 8:15 AM.

We pray for the innocent unborn children that are to be aborted as well as the mothers that are considering and are going through abortion, in addition to all those that are involved in the abortion infanticide industry.  We pray to the end of abortion in this, the greatest civil rights struggle of all time.

This Saturday, September 6, we will be attending Mass on the U.S.T. campus at the Chapel of St. Basil (1100 W. Alabama) beginning at 7:30 AM.  After Mass we will then head out to Planned Parenthood, on 3601 Fannin St., and pray the Rosary peacefully and prayerfully.

At the end of the morning we all head out together for breakfast.

If you’re interested in joining us, please show up at the 7:30 AM Mass at the Chapel of St. Basil which is located at the corner of Yoakum and Alabama. For more information please contact Tito.

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Baptized as a new creature in Christ when she was two months old-on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes-Marisa has had a strong development in the catholic faith.  She graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a major in English and a minor in Theology to better prepare herself to homeschool her three children.  Soon she volunteered to head up the CCE program and youth outreach apostolate at St. Charles Borromeo.  After 15 years of service at St. Charles she became the Director for Religious Education at Holy Rosary Parish in downtown Houston where she still teaches young and old about Jesus.  Veritas is fortunate to have someone as experienced as Marisa is in handing on the Faith!

Filed by admin at 10:43 am under Staff, Uncategorized
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For a long time now Luc and Marie Sokolowski have been running a weekly gathering to study Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body.  The meetings are well attended by a wide range of people, and provide an in-depth look at a rich subject: the meaning of the human body, especially in light of the Incarnation of God as a human himself.

This study group is particularly important given the issues that face Catholics today: abortion, divorce, lack of response to vocations, homosexuality, research that is destructive of embryos, genetic engineering of human DNA… the list goes on.  All of these issues, in one way or another, arise from failed answers to the question, “What is my body and what is its purpose?”

Join the group to hear a better answer, the true answer, one that points away from death and towards true Spirit-filled life given by the Father and lived in the light of the saving Gospel of Christ.

The group meets on Thursdays from 6:45PM to 8PM at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church in the Msgr. Jamail Family Center in room 208A, 6800 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas 77025.

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Blogger Irenaeus from the blog “Catholidoxy” puts to rest (and how!) the ridiculous notion that somehow the Church has in the past been unsure about when life begins.  Check it out.

He lines up quote after quote after quote proving that:

1. The Church has always been against abortion.

2. While there may have been some debate about when the soul entered the body–none the less that body is a human body and thus is human life and it begins when the life of any organism begins: at conception.  That’s not some arbitrary decision by the Vatican, that’s science.

Next time some poorly-catechized, unscientific, not-so-smooth talking political hack tries to pretend that “we’re just not sure”, you’ll have ammo.

Filed by Ben at 9:08 pm under Commentary, Introduction
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Check out this facinating interview with Denver’s Archbishop Chaput.

The good Archbishop proclaims the Gospel boldy in the public sphere, never shying away from the difficult topics.  In his new book, he describes the responsibilities of Catholics in a democratic society, and puts to rest the tired notion that our faith is simply to be “a private thing” that somehow we lay aside in the voting booth.

Render Unto Caesar is neither a “conservative” nor “liberal” book, but is a Catholic book, and no matter what your political outlook might be, you will be challenged.  In writing this book, Archbishop Chaput continues to fullfil his role as a prophet and teacher among God’s people.  Would that all Bishops had his sense of duty.

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Everyone remembers the emphatic and surprisingly profound words John Paul the second quoted from Our Lord on many occasions: “Be not afraid.”  In 1978 these words were most appropriate.  Roughly fifteen years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, the world was spinning-and no one knew where the wheel would stop.  The Holy Spirit had stirred the stock of humanity but so had the adversary.  Intent on not letting the council be correctly understood and accepted Satan orchestrated the concupiscence of man to allow his passions to dominate his reason, starting with the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.  Reason being jettisoned from the culture, the world was antagonistic soil for the seed of Truth which the Church tried to sow into the hearts of men, namely, the seed of a true Christian humanism that gave due respect for the integrality of the human person, as well as do justice to the relationship each person owes to the Living God.  Society, dominated by passions, emotions, and the centrality of the will, unfortunately, shaped the Church’s attitude very often more than this Christian Humanism and the Institutional Church established by Christ shaped society’s attitude.  Many were awaiting the arrival of this new Pope from Poland on how he would shape the Church to be able to withstand society.  And right from the beginning, with his first encyclical Redemptor Hominis, John Paul II said we as a church know where to go, we always know where to go, we go back to Christ.  The Living Christ is always our refuge and strength even when the Church is beseiged from without and within.  The Catholic Church is Christ’s body and if we remain faithful to Him, He will remain faithful to us.  This is one enduring lesson of His pontificate as well as a lesson for anyone who has tried to remain faithful to the Church’s teaching, especially her emphasis on the sacredness of human sexuality, in the 1960s,70s,80s,90s.

But I believe it is insufficient moving forward to simply remind ourselves we do not have to be afraid of the society that scorns Christ’s teaching.  Yes, society finds ways to persecute religious observance, to expunge Christianity from Christmas, to rob children of innocence and the unborn of life, to openly mock the hierarchy, and even to blame the decadence around us on the antiquated moral teachings of the Church.  We will survive all attacks and nothing can separate us from Christ’s love, provided we remain faithful to his teachings. “You are my friends, if you do what I command you, ” Jesus told us at the last supper.

But now is the time to go on the offensive.  Now is the time to fight for the very souls that seek us harm.  We need to build on our new found courage by ‘not being afraid’ and begin to be not ashamed to openly call, question, invite, discourage, encourage, persuade, and influence-whatever is necessary, the sinful behavior around us and the sinners around us.  Now that we know we must not fear the societal whirlwinds that can be downright perverted, let us confront head on the errors in others thinking and introduce them to the absolutely foreign, radical, and shocking truth of Jesus Christ.  Since we are no longer afraid of persecution in general of the Church, we, as members individually of the Body under attack should not be ashamed if we are openly derided by fornicators, abortion advocates, eugenicists, atheists, agnostics, nominal christians, or members of other groups.  Do we not possess the truth in Jesus Christ.  Therefore we have no fear, we have no shame in proclaiming him loudly from the rooftops.

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The dates for the fall campaign are September 24th- November 2, 2008.

Join us as we gear up to be a part of the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history!

Date:   Tuesday September 9th, 2008

Time:   7:00PM to 9:00PM

*       Get more information.
*       Pick up flyers.
*       Meet others who have participated in the past.
*       Sign up for your time slot.
*       Pick up your 40 Days for Life t-shirt (call your size order to us at 713.395.1330 by this Friday August 22nd).
*       Get excited to be a part of this campaign!

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We invite you to join the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in a
peaceful and prayerful Mass and Rosary on Saturday, September 20, 2008.
Mass will begin at 8:00 a.m. at Annunciation Catholic Church, 1618 Texas
Avenue, 77003.  The Rosary will be said in front of Houston Woman’s
Clinic, 4820 San Jacinto.   Please see this flyer for further
information.

If you cannot join us on Saturday, please remember us and
all individuals whose lives we touch that day in your prayers.

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On Saturday, October 25, 2008, a private and confidential retreat will
be held for women who suffer after an abortion.  The retreat will begin
at 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m.  The Retreat will be given by Fr.
Francis Frankovich, CC.

For more information, please contact Dr. Colbert at 713-741-8728 between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

See this flyer for additional information.

Filed by admin at 2:24 pm under Events
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