Exactly What You Need to Give up for Lent

Lent begins in exactly one week, on the 18th of February, but you knew that, right? Where did the ordinary time go? 

*ba dum tsss*

Anyway, last year I came up with a list of 40 Lenten sacrifices, which became the second most popular, shared, and read post in the history of The Salty Catholic. The first was the one about summer modesty, which ruffled some feathers but why would anyone even bother defending immodesty in the first place, especially being Christian? A perfect example of the backward culture of today.

Since Lent is right around the corner, many of us are preparing to sacrifice our little, and not-so-little delights, fancies, and whims in order to die to ourselves physically, to elevate ourselves spiritually. That’s not to say that our bodies are bad, (Theology of the Body, anyone?), but we don’t always have to get whatever we desire, because then it’s easy to forget about the soul when so focused on the body. It’s both a difficult and wonderful thing to be able to say “no” to yourself, for the sake of a greater “yes”. In this Lenten case, the “yes” is cultivating a deeper spirituality and love for Our Crucified Lord. 

While giving up things like coffee and the snooze button are true and admirable sacrifices, if you cherish your sleep and are a heavy coffee drinker like I am,  
the most important thing to give up for Lent isn’t coffee, chocolate, the snooze button, or even social media.

Exactly what you need to give up for Lent is sin and vice. 

They go hand-in-hand; vice leads to sin, and sin feeds vice. However, on the flip side, virtue does the opposite, since it roots out sin and crushes vice. 

Though we (should be making) make the firm resolve to turn away from sin during each confession, the determination must not waver or fade away, especially not now with Lent. If anything, the resolve should be even greater, since our sins are what put Our Lord on the cross. 

To be more specific, let’s look at the seven deadly sins, and the seven virtues which counter them.

Lust vs. Chastity (purity)

Gluttony vs. Temperance 

Avarice vs. Charity 

Sloth vs. Diligence 

Wrath vs. Patience 

Envy vs. Kindness 

Pride vs. Humility 

Pride is the biggest one to beat, not only because it’s the most deadly and damning of all seven, as it is what caused Lucifer to fall, but because it is what spiritually blinds us from seeing our other sins and vices. Since pride is so incredibly blinding, it becomes difficult to see our faults by our own volition. In a state of prideful blindness our sins, vices and mistakes become invisible to us. They are definitely present; we simply refuse to see and remedy them. And if we refuse to see them, then they won’t go anywhere. There they will remain festering, and quietly, or not-so quietly, self-destruct our virtues, relationships, and souls. That’s not very enticing, is it? 

In Proverbs 3:34, it says, “God is stern in dealing with the arrogant, but to the humble He shows kindness.” To combat pride, we must be humble and exercise humility. St. Augustine said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” It is only with the eyes of humility that we can truly, honestly look at ourselves and begin root out our sins and vices, which is my challenge to you this Lent. Even so, if this still proves to be difficult, which is understandable, but still not an excuse, I encourage you to pray to Our Lady of Sorrows to reveal your vices to you. When Simeon prophesied that baby Jesus was set to be the fall and resurrection of many in Israel, he also said to the Blessed Mother, “and thy own heart a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts, thoughts shall be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35) Cling to Our Lady as a child clings to his mother, she will never disappoint. 

No one is perfect, and the concupiscence is real. However, that shouldn’t discourage us from striving for holiness, which begins with humility. As a tip, St. Faustina said, “He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus.” (Divine Mercy in my Soul, 267)

All in all, whatever you decide to sacrifice or work on for Lent, don’t forget to let love be your motivation. Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, it seems appropriate for this quote by Matt Fradd, since we’re on the topic of love: “We were made by love, to love, and for love. If we don’t get love right, we won’t get life right.” 

I sincerely hope you all prepare well, and have a spiritually fruitful Lenten season. Know that my prayers are with you, always. Pax.

How to Damage Your Soul in Six Easy Steps

Body and soul. That’s what makes us up, as human beings. There is also the heart, but I’m leaving that subject untouched, for now. 

We are both corporal and spiritual, made in the image and likeness of God. Lately I’ve been pondering the nature of the soul, especially in moments of metaphysical pain and joy. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 366: “that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not “ produced” by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.” 

Our souls are precious treasures, which we either elevate as they were intended, or tarnish to the point of destruction. The latter is the easiest to achieve, to be perfectly honest, since it happens every single day, all around us, all the time. The mystic St. Teresa of Avila said it herself, “I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes.” 

You’re probably thinking: 

Yes, it did, and I’m being serious. But how does one damage their soul to the point of losing it? It’s usually quite simple, and not always by flagrantly rejecting God. It can happen over time, without anyone even knowing or realizing it. So if you want to learn how to damage your soul in six simple steps, keep reading. 

• Settle for being a good person 

We’ve all heard it; “As long as I’m a good person, I’ll be fine.”

However, that’s not fine. It’s far from “fine”. Let’s look to Ven. Fulton Sheen to shine some light on the topic: “Too many people get credit for being good, when they are only being passive. They are too often praised for being broadminded when they are so broadminded they can never make up their minds about anything.” 

Passive? That’s not a very appealing trait to have, yet many settle for it, and so we have a near-whole society that doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going. The good-person card is nothing more than an excuse not to try, or even simply just do. It’s a sell out and insult to human nature, because we are capable of much, much more than merely being “good”. 

It’s very similar to the “don’t judge me” card, which translates to, “I know I’m doing wrong, but don’t you dare tell me otherwise because I’m too comfortable in my wrongness.” Then which translates to immaturity, with a touch of pride.

Souls don’t get to Heaven by being “good”. It happens by being holy and living a holy life. Why settle for being “good”, when you totally and completely have the ability to be holy? 

• Be tepid towards spirituality, especially your own

Revelation 3:16 sums this up pretty well: “But because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot, not cold, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” 

Straight from the Douay-Rheims, aka the most accurately translated Bible. 

Of course we will go through spiritual dry spells, but I’m not talking about that. I’m referring to overall tepidity, the kind that just is, simply because that’s all we can mistakenly believe there is. This includes being “meh” towards prayer, exercising virtues, discerning our vocations, receiving Holy Communion, our relationship with the Blessed Mother, upholding what we believe as Catholics, and so on and so forth. 

When we are lukewarm, tepid, apathetic, indifferent or whatever else it can be called, we do not grow. How can you expect yourself to grow in virtue, love for God, love for Our Lady, truly appreciate the mass, deepen your prayer life or even increase in holiness, if that zeal isn’t there? Maybe this is the wake-up call you need, I know it’s what I myself constantly need. Nevertheless, hope is never lost, because we can always call upon the Holy Spirit to increase in us His gifts, especially that of zeal. After all, Jesus did promise that the Paraclete would abide with us forever. (John 14:16)

• Treat confession like a chore

Once the awe and humility towards this sacrament is gone, so are the good confessions. Thus they become vaguer, and sin becomes more common, with less penitence. It just becomes something we as Catholics do every now and then, just because we have to. This goes hand in hand with the previous point, tepidity. 

I say “awe” because God’s bottomless ocean of mercy isn’t something to be taken lightly, or abused. We should always run, not walk, to this sacrament with the utmost humility, because we are poor sinners in need of grace. Not only humility, but also reverence and deep gratitude, because we don’t deserve the mercy God gives us, yet in His infinite love and goodness, He desires us to come back to him, always. 

• Have no or very little devotion 

I challenge you to name a saint who did not have a devotion of any kind. In the meantime, let’s think of who did. St. John Bosco was devoted to Mary Help of Christians. St. Gemma Galgani had a devotion to St. Gabriel Possenti, who in turn was devoted to Our Lady of Sorrows. The Little Flower was devoted to the Holy Face of Jesus. Bl. Nellie was devoted to Baby Jesus. Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati was not only devoted to Our Lady, but also to Our Eucharistic Lord. The Holy Father has a devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots. 

The list goes on and on. They all came from different backgrounds, vocations, and stories, but they all have one thing in common; they each achieved holiness. We stumble and fall, it happens. However, when we have a solid devotion it becomes a little easier to get back up, and fall less often.

• Ignore or near ignore the Blessed Mother 

The greatest devotion we can ever possibly have, is to the Blessed Mother. She never loses what is given to her, and when we give ourselves totally and completely to her, you can be rest assured that she will do absolutely everything in her power to save your soul and bring it to her Son… to Jesus through Mary.

Ignoring her is one of, if not the most unfortunate thing a Catholic, or Christian can do. Pope Francis has even said that any Christian who does not have Mary as mother, is an orphan. To ever so slightly bend St. Josemaria’s famous quote on mass, I say this; if praying the holy rosary is too long for you, it’s because your love for the Blessed Mother is too short. 

For a better look on exactly why we should love Our Lady, click here. 

• Don’t take Hell seriously 

When we don’t take the possibility of Hell seriously, we don’t take sin seriously, and so in the end, we don’t take the Devil himself seriously. He’s a liar. A pompous, arrogant snake, who more often than not, comes to us as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The greatest thing he can do is convince us that he either doesn’t exist, or that he can’t effect us. Of course he can’t, but we have to resist it. When we just assume that he can’t, that’s when we’re in trouble, because it’s a vicious cycle, as mentioned earlier; by not taking him seriously, we don’t take sin seriously, and by not taking sin seriously, we don’t take Hell seriously. 

However, understand that we don’t take him seriously in the sense of believing his empty promises or fearing him, but in being aware of the fact that he hates us more than we can comprehend, and he will do anything and everything to keep us from our ultimate union with God. 

____

So there you have it, six ways to damage your soul. Now the question is (gotta love the Socratic method), what will you do next? 

Pax. (or scroll below for personal notes you may or may not be inclined to read)

Our Lady Undoer of Knots,
pray for us

_____

I know I go months and months without writing anything, and I wish I could and had the ability to come up with new material more regularly, but that’s just the way it goes. When it comes, it comes. When it doesn’t, you don’t get emails about new posts. We’ll see how this year progresses. In the meantime, a big thank you to my loyal readers, my prayers are with you, I promise. Please also pray for me, because life has been interesting, and by interesting, I mean somewhat difficult, per the usual prayer request. Pray for me, and I’ll pray for you. Deal? Deal. 

Lastly, for a super cool and amazing novena for any situation, look no further than this one right here. I may have promulgated it in the past, but more Momma Mary is never a bad thing. 

Until next time, stay salty Catholics, and pax.

Five Reasons Why I’ll Never be Liberal

Let’s be honest, the reason I don’t blog very often, is because my blog isn’t my personal diary. I have a spiritual journal for that. However, there has been quite a few exciting on-goings, but I suppose that’s just growing up and moving along with life. Most importantly with the Divine Will. Hooray for Momma Mary being the perfect example of absolute conformity, when I need so much help with that. Mother really does know best. 

Let’s talk about liberalism. You’re either liberal, or you’re a hateful and intolerant person who wants to watch the world burn. At least that’s how they paint it, though to be fair, I have met some nice libs.

While liberalism is a political leaning, it’s also a way of living, (barely) thinking and behaving. One day I began to think to myself, “What if I was a liberal? Wait a minute, nope.” 

I just couldn’t and can’t do it without lying to myself, here’s why: 

5) I value logic over emotions

Now, for the record, we’re talking about plain logic in general. What is logic? The principles of correct reasoning? The study of valid reasoning?  Well, yes, that and much more. It’s used in philosophy and mathematics, so it has to be important, otherwise we wouldn’t use it at all. Emotions are also important, but they have no place when it comes to logic, since emotions change. That’s natural, but not productive when it comes to logic. Just because I feel something, that doesn’t make it correct, or even true. This is because what we feel, is not what is the truth, because truth is not subjective. It’s always been objective. It doesn’t bend to our whims, and it never will. If you think it does, then it’s probably not the truth. This is a major pitfall in liberalism. If the sky is green because you feel it’s green, then by all means, it’s green. If anyone says otherwise, file a lawsuit and force everyone else to also acknowledge it’s green. However, that still doesn’t make it green. Sorry. But I’m not sorry. To explore a bit more in this ideology, if we all live however we think is correct, because we feel it’s correct, instead of living by what is correct, then we fall into being a morally relativistic society. 

But wait. 

We’re already there.

However, valuing logic over emotions doesn’t make you a robot. It makes you a truth seeker, and an eventual truth slayer, like Matt Walsh. If we are never open to being wrong, then we’ll never be open to being right.

4) I’m Open Minded 

 To have an open mind is to be willing to see the other side of things, willing to be wrong, and willing to learn. It takes humility. When we’re so close minded, we don’t allow ourselves to grow, and instead, we become grown children who are always right, even when we’re wrong. Yet the ones who swear they have the most open minds of them all, are the ones whose minds fall out, just like G.K Chesterton said. That’s exactly the case with your typical lib. It’s one thing to be solid on your opinions, but it’s a whole new field to be so close minded about it, that you can hardly fathom the idea that you just might be incorrect. 
What horror. I can’t bring myself to think that way, because it teeters on pride, and it’s unwise to assume you’re right on all matters. 

Sure, I might not agree, but I’m still willing to listen, think about it, and maybe change my mind, if it’s sound and true. If not, then at least I have your perspective and I was open to it. The end. It’s not that difficult. 

3) I value human life and dignity at all stages

From the womb to the tomb, my friends. We live in a culture that simply doesn’t respect life like it used to. It hardly respects life at all, though that tide is turning. However, liberals are notorious for failing to respect the lives of the unborn, and of the elderly. It’s ironic because they seem to forget that they were once unborn, and one day, God willing, they’ll grow to be one of the elderly. We see them clamoring for abortion on demand and without apology. 
Not far off, they’re for the right to euthanize those who need the most care. Not cool. All human life has dignity and value, no matter what the circumstance is. Circumstances are temporary, dignity is forever. 

2) I Believe in Personal Responsibility 

This one is pretty self-explanatory. We can’t run around expecting free stuff for the sake of free stuff, or blame others when we don’t get our way. Again, we become perpetual children who feel we’re entitled to everything and all things, just because we deserve it.
For what?

Who knows.

That doesn’t make for a productive society. It never has, hence why socialism doesn’t thrive. That makes a sub point, I also can’t ever be liberal because I don’t believe in socialism. My apologies, Mr. Branson. Before anyone blows a gasket, I fully realize that not all liberals are for socialism, but you can’t deny that this ideology leans towards it. As I exercise my right to free speech, I believe everyone has to be responsible for himself, because that’s how people grow up. What about the helpless, you say? By all means we should care for the truly helpless, nothing wrong with that, it’s what Christ calls us to do. However, to the people who are not helpless but just entitled; grow up, it’ll do you good. I promise. 

                                

1) I’m Catholic 

Hence, The Salty Catholic. Before I’m conservative, liberal, independent, green party or whatever, I am a Catholic faithful to the Magisterium, above all else. Complete truth lies in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and what’s to be found outside of the fullness of truth? (not the fullness of truth, that’s what)
That’s exactly why I’ll always be Catholic.

It’s been said many times, that there are no conservative Catholics or liberal Catholics. Rightly so. There are faithful Catholics, and there are heretics. 

Oh, a heretic? 

For some reason, the word “heretic” has become taboo. It simply means one who believes heresy, which is what is contrary to Catholic doctrines and teachings. Which means that there’s lots of heretics running around, spreading more heresy. Not good, case in point being that the Church needs good, solidly catechized, and most of all, holy priests, religious and lay people to reverse this trend. It is happening though, Deo gratias.

Here’s the point, you can’t be both liberal and Catholic, because then you’ll end up an unfaithful Catholic. Again, not good, as it turns into a hot mess, since it’s all or nothing.
It usually goes like this, “Well I’m Catholic, but I don’t believe in a, b, and c.” 

or: “(I was raised Catholic, but) I just can’t agree with the Church on d, or e.” 

But there’s hope, because there’s always hope with God. We’re not talking about pseudo campaign “hope”. Too bad we couldn’t believe in it. 

Now, if you are a Catholic who struggles with accepting Church teachings, take some advice. Get yourself properly catechized and go to confession. I say (type) that with the utmost charity. I’m not salty all the time. It all boils down to, do (or don’t do) this out of love for God. But if you take my advice, you’ll find that out for yourself. 

’Till next time, pax. 

Praying for Peace

I have to beg all of my readers, fellow Catholics and Christians, to pray for the persecution of our fellow Christians in the Middle East. If you haven’t seen the pictures or read any of the news on their situation, which the mainstream media is being biased on, believe me when I say that the situation is absolutely heartbreaking. There is a genocide going on, and we cannot continue to avert our eyes, and remain in our comfort zones. Not while men, women and children are being slaughtered like animals, for believing in Jesus Christ. As Pope Francis recently said, this crisis offends God.

Please continue to pray, fast and offer sacrifices for peace, the courage of the persecuted and for the conversions of the persecutors. Also, especially pray for peace on August 17th.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace,
Pray for us