# 32 – Father and Psychologist Benedict Groeschel is dead 81 years old.

I never had the chance to meet this good and talented person in my own life, but I thank God for his inspiring books and for his contribution to EWTN. RIP

From Catholic News Agency:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr-benedict-groeschel-passes-away-at-81-54837/

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Groeschel

# 31 - Do you feel that the Bible is outdated and was written for people of another time?

I suppose you know that Jesus gave power to the Church and the Pope (Mt 16:17-19), (Jn 21:16-17), (Acts 9:4-5, where Saul who persecutes Christians are told that he is persecuting the Church. «Persecuting me» is the Church because Christ is being consumed under the «cover» of bread and wine. Christ and his people is the Church. If Jesus had meant otherwise he would have said: «Why are you persecuting them?» He didn't say that!).

We have come to question 5 in blogpost # 3 (August 2012). We often hear atheists talking about the Bible as a book full of fairytales. Sometimes Christians treat the Holy Book as if they believe that too. It was good to listening to the story about Noah when they were kids, but now that they have grown up, they cannot see the meaning because science has shown that there perhaps never was a flood that covered the whole world. May be people of the time of the Bible needed such stories, but ....

Stop! Wait a minute. We have the celebration of Pentecost only a short time away (2014). What happened that day, do you remember? Well, it was the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out at the apostles and it was the day when the Holy Catholic Church (for all people) was instituted.

What had Jesus said to the apostles before he left them? He said: «I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth» (Jn 16:12-13). 

And who were the apostles? Jesus had many disciples, but only 12 apostles (one betrayed him, but he was replaced by another). These apostles were to lead the Church and to lay hands upon others to become priests. So these apostles were the first bishops, with Peter as their leader (pope). It was Peter who took the word at Pentecost and said to the crowd: «Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day: But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh» (Acts 2:14-17)

.

If the Holy Spirit guides the whole Church through the pope (Peters chair) and the bishops in the magisterium, then we must remember that it was the bishops under guidance of the Holy Spirit that picked out the books that together should become our Holy Book. The Bible is like God willed it to be, (inspired by the Spirit, but written in the style of every author). Not everything is to be read literally, but that doesn't mean that the Bible is full of fairytales or that it is oldfashioned. Through the guidance of the Church (who is guided by the Spirit) we can learn how to understand the Bible.

Let us go back to the story of Noah. It might be built on a local flood, and that would mean that not everything outside of the ark was destroyed. Do you agree? But if it's so, why is that story in the Bible? According to the explanations that I have got, the point here is cleansing through water. Let me refer to Genesis in the «Ignatius Study Bible» with commentaries by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch: «Allegorically, the Ark of Noah is a figure of the Church, and the baptism of the world, which purified and redeemed it, corresponds to the saving Baptism of the Church (St. Cyprian, Letters 68). The family of Noah is saved by water and wood, just as the family of Christ is saved by Baptism, which represents the suffering of the Cross. And as every kind of animal was aboard in the ark, so believers from all nations are enclosed in the Church (St. Augustine, Against Faustus 12, 14-15) (referred from Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, RSV, Second Catholic Edition, Genesis commentaries p. 27).

As you probably see, even if there never was a flood that covered the whole earth, the story about Noah make sense through the Tradition of the Church. We Catholics don't believe in Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone).

When some Catholics shouts out that the Bible is outdated and start picking and choosing what they themselves want to pick out, they are separating themselves from the catholic tradition, Bible and Tradition (with a big T). They are not Catholics to the fullest but have become products of their own irrational needs and thoughts.

It's up to you if you want to follow in the footsteps of these «pick and chose Catholics», but that; that these people exists, shouldn't hold you back from becoming a catholic or coming back to the Church if you have left it. I have decided my way. I will not follow the trend of the cafeteria-catholics. I want the real stuff, even if some will try to trick my by saying that the real stuff is oldfashioned! I can stand at my own feet togheter with the Lord. I don't need the feet of those who stand togheter, but still stand in the sand. I want to stand at the rock! Jesus has asked us to follow him. He has not asked us to follow the people who seem to have the coolest and most modern thoughts of today.

My advice (if you want an advice): Buy yourself a Catholic Study Bible, read carefully half and hour a day and offer all your doubts to Christ while you are reading. If you have the ability to visit a catholic church for about 15 minutes a day and pray in front of the tabernacle in addition to your Bible reading, I think you will experience that that is a good start too. The Church is about 2000 years. You cannot expect to understand everything in one moment. Remember to look up the Catechism of the Catholic Church to have that as a guidance too.

# 30 - Is it because of all the scandals in the Church that have been uncovered in the last years?

Well, here I am, in the beginning of June as I promised in #29.

I'm going to write some lines about the fourth question for blogpost # 3 (2012). It is time for you to find your written answers if you wrote them down. For you who are new: I want to recommend that you start with the three first questions unless this particular question that I'm writing about now is especially important to you.

It is 12 years (2002) since we could read in the papers all over the world about an overwhelming abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in America (at that time). If you are one of the abused or a relative or friend of someone abused I will guess that you were very angry! So was I, but even if so, the very same year I was received into the Roman Catholic Church. Why? Please repeat my input «# 1 - God's ways can be mysterious». 

Even if all the abuses came as a shock, I continued the introduction course that would allow me to become catholic, if I still wanted too. As you know I'm a psychologist. That means that I at that time was very much aware of how the life of a person who has been abused certainly would be full of pain, and not only the pain in remembering, but also the pain of loosing years of ones life. I knew about their flashbacks, their problems to function in daily life because they could never be sure that they would not bump into a room with a special smell that reminded them about the evil done to them, bump into a person who looked somewhat like the abuser, a noise or may be music that reminded them about the abuse. I knew that the effect of abuse can give problems to concentrate and that means problems to continue an education and to have a job to secure a reasonable income. I knew about the problems that some of the abused might have with being close to others. Some will never get married because of that. They miss the opportunity to have children, to become grandparents and great-grandparents. Others are so destroyed that their ability to say no to sex doesn't work. They might have children with different fathers or become father to kids with different mothers. To be without education and have the economical responsibility for these little ones might be hard. All in all the problems might be so hard to deal with that some of the abused start misusing drugs or alcohol. These persons will have to be treated for dual diagnoses. Some of those (both dual diagnoses and the others) may have to use many years of their life to struggle their way back to life through therapy. The damage the abuser has done is not a small one. Of course the damage will vary from person to person. Factors like how old they were when the abuse started, how long it lasted, how much trust they had given the abuser before the abuse and so on will have influence upon how hard the job of going on with their lives, will become, have been or still is going on.

I knew all this and still I chose to become catholic? I knew something more. I knew that people high in rank in the secular society very well could be abusers. I knew how clever they could be to hide this evil side of themselves to others. Nobody would have guessed that these «nice and good people» had a dark and hidden side.

Abuse is not a special «thing» for celibate priests!

When it was possible for me to become a catholic, in spite of all these ugly abuse cases, it was because I believed that this was the CHURCH God had instituted. This was the Church with apostolic succession. This was the Church where Jesus was really present in the tabernacles. No other church could be a substitute for the Mother Church.

If this was the Church that Christ himself instituted, how could I allow myself to stay out of it?

I saw that there was a big job to do inside the Church to stop all this evil, but nobody could affect the sacraments with their evilness. Whatever one of God's priests does, it never affects the sacraments.

If you who read this, now, have been a victim of these terrible acts done by God's servants, have lost your faith or left the catholic church for a protestant church, I can understand you very well. In a catholic church smells, music, cloth, movements, special prayers and more may trigger your memories and give you flashbacks. Be sure, I have felt very angry about these priests, unknown to me, who did all this. I have been angry on those who sent these priests on to new churches where they could abuse others. I don't understand my colleagues who declared that some of the abusers were cured ...

To round this up, even if there are triggers in the Catholic Church, I think that you will make Satan and his demons very angry if you do the psychological job that makes you able to come back. (A good psychologist or psychiatrist should be able to help you to come back to Church the day you are ready for it). Remember that the Church is Church even if people inside it fails to do good.

The same goes if you are family, relative or friend of the abused. It might be wise to come back to the Church that Christ instituted. I know it will be hard to go back, but if you sit down and repeat why God gave us the Catholic Church, may be it will become a little easier. I converted, as told, because «I believed that this was the CHURCH God had instituted. This was the Church with apostolic succession. This was the Church where Jesus was really present in the tabernacles. No other church could be a substitute for the Mother Church».

May be you could pray about it, so God can help you back when you are ready for it?

In my country there have been made step by step rules if one suspects sexual abuse among the clergy. The first step is to tell the police. If that had been the rule in the churches where the abusive priests worked, we would probably not have had the high amount of sex-abuse that media has told us about. Evil people will find their way to churches, both protestant and catholic, also in the future, as they do in the secular society. When we teach our children that obedience to God, doesn't mean to become others doormats and when we have rules to follow if abuse happens, we, as Church, are better equipped to prevent such scandals in the future.

To end this, I want to say, let us pray for all the good priests that are there and for the whole Church to become better to protect herself and her children!

Recommended reading:

«Catholics Come Home: God's Extraordinary Plan for Your Life» by Tom Peterson

«I Choose God: Stories From Young Catholics» by Christopher Cuddy, Peter Ericksen (ed), Schott Hahn (ed).

«Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith» by Scott Hahn.

«Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic» by Patric Madrid

«Surprised By Truth 2: 15 Men and Women Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons For Becoming Catholic». (v. 2) by Patric Madrid

«Surprised by Truth 3: 10 More Converts Explain the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic» (v. 3) by Patric Madrid

«What Catholics Really Believe – 52 Answers To Common Misconceptions About The Catholic Faith» by Carl Keating

«Where is That in the Bible?» by Patric Madrid

# 29 – EASTER 2014

HAPPY EASTER!

I have not had the ability to continue with the blog due to strong pain in my arm. I will also be busy with other necessary «things» the rest of April and may be May too.

May be you look at the text and say: «So it wasn't the devil after all as you told in your last blogpost»! Well that is the wrong question! The devils are the fallen angels who followed Satan and were cast out of heaven together with him because of the sin of being proud (wanting to be God). When I want you to be aware of Satan and his demons, it is not to scare you or an urge to be old-fashioned. It is catholic teaching that the devils are fallen spirits that want to drag as many humans (who are dear to God) away fro heaven.

Satan and his demons tempt us daily and that's why we all have to be aware of him, not scared of him, because those who trust in God under all circumstances are safe. And so are those that come back to him in the confessional after going against his will.

We are all humans included me. I'm not an exception from the temptation. Please remember that to be tempted in some way or other is NOT to be possessed. With my writing I want to help you to focus on the possibility that the devil tempts you in daily life.

In my last post I wrote about that I had been sick with little energy and opened up for that I hadn't written here because the devil perhaps had succeeded in turning my thoughts away from my blog and to other not so important things. What I meant was that if I had thought it all through, I might have chosen different about how to use the little energy that was available. We are created to serve God in whatever situation we are in, even if we are in our deathbed if we still are able to pray. (I'm not there).

I hope you will think about how you yourself can be tempted and not focus on me. I am usually aware of how I can be tempted. We are all different persons with strong and weak sides. We will be tempted according to our different weeknesses. What is a topic for me doesn't have to be the same topic for you.

Back to my arm. I'm better now. Have been treated for it. I don't think that the devil has the power to give us pain here and there, but that he can use his power to tempt us when we are weak.

With a sick and painful arm and shoulder, it wasn't possible to write. So then I had to prioritize different about what to use my energy on. I hope I reach you in what I write. I am not using the pain in arm and shoulder as an excuse. I want to focus on the difference. Last time I wasn't sick in my arm, so I could have written if I had taken a deep breath and looked close upon the situation. Now it has been my arm and then I had to prioritize to take care of my arm and shoulder.

I hope you see the difference and that it might help you to look at your own life about what you can do or not for God in the frame of life that is yours.

Pope Francis about Satan: 
"We too are tempted, we too are the target of attacks by the devil because the spirit of Evil does not want our holiness, he does not want our Christian witness, he does not want us to be disciples of Christ. And what does the Spirit of Evil do, through his temptations, to distance us from the path of Jesus? The temptation of the devil has three characteristics and we need to learn about them in order not to fall into the trap. What does Satan do to distance us from the path of Jesus? Firstly, his temptation begins gradually but grows and is always growing. Secondly, it grows and infects another person, it spreads to another and seeks to be part of the community. And in the end, in order to calm the soul, it justifies itself. It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself." 


Text from page http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/04/11/pope_francis:_satan_exists_in_the_21st_century_and_how_we_can_fight/en1-789915
of the Vatican Radio website 
................................................

Let us leave the devil for now and celebrate that Christ won over death on the cross and opened the door to heaven for all of us who want to embrace him and take him seriously.

See you in the end of May or in the beginning of June.

HAPPY EASTER! CHRIST IS RISEN!

# 28 - LENT 2014 ...

# 28 - LENT 2014 ...

This year I follow the «Praying Lent» from the Online Ministry of Creighton University - Lent - 2014: March 5- April 16.

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/

I also read what the students of the University says for the day. That make me feel staying with the young:

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Students/

Before I do anything else in the morning I read the students section from Creighton and then I follow up with reading and praying at the «Praying Lent» section. It helps me to focus my life about what is most important of all: God first!

After I promised to come back and write more to you on the 3th of November 2013 I tried to give you readers a summary of all the questions I thought it was important that you reflect upon if you are fallen away from the Church or are doubting. I had been away from the blog almost a year at that time (except from a short note of the 13^th of Marc the same year about the case that we had been given a new pope). The last I wrote before the note about pope Frances was about my trip to Fatima in October 2012.

Can we see a connection here? May be or may be not. One shall be cautious about seeing connections here and there. What we think are connections might be accidentally. Still we have to remember that we live in a world were there are both seen and unseen.

Let me try to explain: Like I have told before, some time after I converted to the catholic faith I had strong inner feelings that God wanted me to write to help people back to Church. As I also told, I begged God to give me something else to do. But it was impossible to get rid of these thoughts. They didn't stop until I agreed to do it.

For years I also had another thought that almost never left me: «Go to Fatima». Years came and went, but I didn't go to Fatima. I was on pilgrimages, but not to Fatima.

Right before Corpus Christi 2012 I decided to follow this «inner voice» about Fatima. Right after Corpus Christi or may be at the same day I decided to start writing in the hope of winning souls for Christ and his Church.

Now something else happened, I felt like I fought with the devil, as if he wanted to stop me both going to Fatima in Portugal and stop my writing. How do we fight with the devil? No, he didn't present himself in person. He didn't talk to me or anything else, but I had a lot of contrary thoughts. I almost felt like giving up the whole «thing»; both of them.

I don't believe that Satan place thoughts in our heads, but since he is an angel (fallen), he is created much smarter then us and can use every weakness we might have to lead us away from God. Persons that want to help others to find Christ must be stopped, because Satan doesn't want such a «thing» to happen.

Satan doesn't feel happy about people who are very serious about Our Mother either. Remember that I was planning to go to Fatima where she appeared to the three shepherds: Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta.

Satan works in mysterious ways and use our weaknesses. I felt it difficult to write and almost missed my flight to London from where I was going by plane to Portugal early next morning. I even amost also lost my bus to the airport in London because someone gave me the wrong direction about the bus-stop.

As you, who have read the whole blog know, I wrote about the trip to Fatima in November 2012. I was very busy for a time and after a trip to Oslo in the beginning of December the same year I caught a serious cold and after that didn't really recover until the summer 2013 or thereabout. I started to continue my blog in November 2013 but caught a new cold. It lasted for four weeks and I still struggle with the after effects. I'm extremely tired and exhausted.

So, and were do I see the devil in all this? Well, I don't see him. He usually likes to be hidden. The point is that he works in mysterious ways, use our weaknessess and don't want to be recognized.

Can you see any weakness here other than naturally tiredness after being ill? Atheists would see nothing more than that because they have decided for themselves that God doesn't exist. Trent Horn has written a good book about some of the arguments the atheists use and shows us why these arguments are too tiny to rule God out. I highly recommend: «Answering Atheism – How to Make the Case for God with Logic and Charity» by Trent Horn.

Back to topic: Did you find any weaknesses? If you looked well I presume that you saw my tiredness after being sick as an excuse for not continue my writing. Did you? Well the truth about ourselves isn't always so beautiful. I wouldn't call it an excuse, but I can see how letting myself be filled with doubt for the future in this world getting primacy before my obligations to God has hindered me to see that I could write even if I didn't feel well.

This can be (it doesn't have to) an example of how Satan can work «behind the scene» and use our weaknesses. The point isn't to decide if Satan have been a part of the case or not. The point is to know that we have to struggle with him daily and that he can be in our way even if we don't think so (remeber Fr. Fanzagas book «The Deceiver» about that). As said before, Satan has no power over us if we don't give it to him. He is nothing to be afraid of. Our thoughts should not be too much occupied with him. But sometimes it can be wise to ask ourselves if small or bigger struggles might be a struggle where the evil one wants to prevent us from doing something that pleases God.

May be you ask yourself why God didn't hear my prayer in blog-post # 26? The prayer was this:

+Dear God, you know that I write this blog

to try to help those who need to think

about some important questions

in a simple way before they

move on ...

Oh, Lord my God,

Please help both reader

and writer to

be able to do this

in a way that is beneficial.

AMEN+

Of course He heard it, but may be He found Lent a better time to continue for both reader and writer? Well He is not going to tell us exactly. So is life. God doesn't leave us a note at our dinner table about what to do or not ...

Now, when I have turned to God for Lent every morning with a wish to come closer to Him, He has let me understand how important it is to not give up upon evangelizing: «Please go back to your blog, Benthe».

To work hard to stay close to the Lord is always important, also for those of us who believe that we are close enough! Even psychologists may fool themselves. (Good to know for you who think you are of little worth). Everybody fails. God knows that and are always willing to help, but not always in the way and at the time we want Him to. So here I am. I will come back and write more, but I need some time to put myself into the where I was in my writing.

Continued good Lent and God bless! Please pray for my persistence in this, will you? ... and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit while writing.

See you ...