Acts 4:14.

"Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow migtht fall on some of them as he cam by."

This very sentence alone should tell any anti-Catholic exactly where WE stand! These people didn't praise Peter, they didn't worship him, but they knew (like we Catholics do today) that God was with him so much that even his very shadow had the healing power of God.

We DO NOT worship the Pope, nor do we put him above God. Likewise, those people who had great faith did not worship Peter.

This sentence explains in only a few words, the very same reverance we Catholics give to Peter's successor. It is through him that the Power of God is made manifest. And our faith in God is a direct measure of our faith in those that God gives power to!

I feel so proud to be a Catholic, because nowhere else do we venerate the successors of Peter to the extent that we KNOW that the Power of God exudes even from their shadows.

Later today I saw a picture of our Pope. And a feeling of awe and great satisfaction filled my heart. This man has that Power given by God, that those of great faith in God might also have great faith in him who God has chosen (like Peter) to lead His Church, that by his mere shadow those same people of faith might be healed.

Lord God, enighten us to your Word. Help those who are blinded from the truth to see the truth and come home to the Catholic faith. Not so that we may bost that we have greater numbers, or that we might be arrogant or prideful, but that those who thirst for the fullness of your love and the fullness of your Holy Family, might drink their fill. Amen.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake.huether@lamrc.com), August 26, 2002

Answers

bump

-- Jake Huether (jake.huether@lamrc.com), August 26, 2002.

Amen, God Bless you Jake

-- Kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), August 27, 2002.

Good man, Jake. Never lose that strong faith!
JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), August 27, 2002.

Jake, I am proud of being a Catholic to. I honestly believe that being born Catholic is a gift from Jesus! :-) I hope Mom and Dad had a great time on that cruise. I have said a few prayers for them.

David

-- David (David@excite.com), August 28, 2002.

Thanks, David! I too am so glad to have been born Cathlic, although, I think sometimes it would have been even better to be born a different religion and convert. Why? It seems to me that some (but definitly not all) "cradle" Catholics really don't know what they have. I find myself sometimes taking for granted the great gifts we have in the Catholic faith.

Anyway - Thanks for your prayers for my parents. They arrived back safely on Monday the 26th. I hope my mother posts more in detail about their adventrue, but I think they're still recouping from the trip.

God bless you, David, and thanks again for your kind post.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake.huether@lamrc.com), August 28, 2002.

My Dearest Catholic

When I was young I was taught that I am a born Catholic and when I grew up, my Catholic faith deepens and later found out that I was not a born Catholic. 'Born Catholic' is a layman or children term to say he or she is a Catholic as a baby. Nobody in this world is born a Catholic. We are all born without a religion. We become Catholic after our Baptism. Therefore the right term to use is we are baptise Catholic when we are still a baby.

Since we are all layman, using the word 'born Catholic' is common among us and is accepted widely.

God Bless

-- (vincentkoh@pd.jaring.my), September 03, 2002.

Wow! The Acts of the Apostles is SOOOO rich and CATHOLIC! In Acts Ch 19 it reads:

"11 So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul 12 that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them."

Relics and blessed objects? Imagine that! Hmmmmmm? Were they worshiping the face cloths? Did they think that the aprons had power? NOOOOOOO! Neither do the Catholics! It is Gods grace and the prayers of the Church that are attached to the item. The item means nothing! We know that, and so did the early Christians we read about in this passage.

Amazing! The Bible is so Catholic. We need to start teaching people the truth about the Catholic Church, because if they know the truth about the Catholic Church, and they read the Bible, there is NO WAY that they can deny that WE are the Church that Jesus Christ founded!

Lord Jesus open our eyes to Your Glory! Amen.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake.huether@lamrc.com), September 03, 2002.

Yes, Jake, you are right. Most Protestants would be SHOCKED to see how scriptural catholocism really is!

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), September 03, 2002.

Hi Jake

As for my personal opinion, Most Protestant are not shocked to see how scriptural Catholism really is but are shocked to see how Catholics are Not practising Catholism. Maybe I should only speak of my country and not yours.

God Bless

-- (vincentkoh@pd.jaring.my), September 03, 2002.

Very sorry Jake, the above message is for Gail and also the spelling mistake of Catholicism not Catholism.

My sincere apologies.

God Bless.

-- (vincentkoh@pd.jaring.my), September 03, 2002.

Vincent,

I'm shocked at that, too, actually, especially among our clergy, seminarians, and formators. I will do my best to revitalize true Catholicism as a priest, though I would be helpless and ridiculous without the constant aid of Christ.

Still, to differ slightly with what you wrote, I would say that a sizeable number of Protestants, more often of the Baptist traditional strain, most certainly are scandalized by what they perceive as Catholicism's departure from Scripture.

It isn't the least bit true, of course--especially among Catholic communities faithful to the Pope. It is those who reject the Pope from within Catholicism that also tend to reject the historicity of Scripture, which, to a Baptist apologist, would be the height of irony. To us, however, it is only typical.

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), September 03, 2002.

Oh, and I almost forgot: I'm proud to be a Catholic too! Thank God my family believes me to be out of touch with society, and a blind sheep of the Church! I am, I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

The Church is my family, and God is my Father! And Mary is my mother! Mary, pray for us.

I want to be a fanatic; I want to be an extremist; I want there to be NO limits to my love for Christ or my service to his Body. God bless the Church! The Church, bless God!

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), September 03, 2002.