Don’s Thoughts II

After an extremely long, longer than expected, abcense I am back at the computer. Over the next few days you should start seeing postings here again.

I did want to call attention to a very good friend of mine and his new Blog. Ed created a company a few years ago called Oasis International that distributes Bibles and other Christian based books to many parts of Africa. He recently went modern and created a Blog that I would like to share with you: http://oasisinternational.typepad.com/ Please drop by and check them out. If you can, help them acquire the building/compound they are currently in and about to lose!!

Stay tuned!

It was brought to my attention that I may have made a typo in this posting. (I know, I’m in a retreat, and should be away from my computer, but I check emails and voice mails in the PM due to family things going on, and I need to be in the loop…)

In that post I said that I do not believe that Pope to be infallible. When it comes to the dogma and teachings of the Church, I do believe he is infallible when he makes a declaration on such things. What I mean by him not being infallible is on things not related to the faith and beliefs of the Church.

For example, approving of the Crusades, which was not an issue dealing with what the Church believes and teaches, but was an attempt to regain control of religious items and of trying to mass convert other faiths, was something that the Pope approved of and gave his blessings on.

There have been other non-faith interpretations, non-dogma and non-teaching related events and issues in which the Pope may have made the wrong choice on, with or without the help of his Cardinals and Bishops.

So, what I should have written was that I believe that the Pope is human, may make bad business moves, but when it comes to the Faith of the Church, he has the backing of our Lord and God, and his teachings are infallible.

So, I guess I do believe that he is infallible, but I also believe that he is human and may make mistakes and sin in life. His teachings are true though.

Words from our current Pope, Pope Benedict:

Over the last year and a half, as I have told people about my decision to convert to the Catholic Church as my faith center, I have had many people ask me “WHY?” (and in some cases “shouting it”!). So, after some thought about sharing why, I decided to write this, and schedule it to release while I am away on a 30 day prayer and contemplation retreat (returning on the 8th of June 2008).

When I turned 15, for 3 years every night, I had a dream about being a monk. I can remember trying to change my habit from that of the dream to an all black or all brown habit and white rope of the Roman Catholic Monks I had seen on TV or of the orange habit of the Buddhist Monks. I kept going back to the brown on white habit with a blue rope in the dreams, no matter how hard I tried to change it.

As many of you know (and if you read the whole blog, it’s here already), for the past 20 plus years I have been a Shaman (or priest) of the Mescalero Tribe of the Apache Nation. At the time of my life when I was introduced to this Nation, through what is now my Blood Brother George, I felt that the beliefs of the Tribe and Nation very closely followed what I felt in life. I learned the stories of the Nation, their love for the planet earth and all that the Great Spirit/Giver-of-Life (God) gave them, etc. During this time in my life, I felt there was still more out there to learn.

Every time I drove by the Knights of Columbus Halls out there, I had a strong desired to go inside and see what it took to become a Knight within their Halls. Over the last few years before converting to the Catholic Faith, I had a strong feeling that I would become a Knight through the Knights of Columbus… It was a STRONG feeling.

For most of the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 I did a lot of research into religion and faith systems. I looked into the Jewish faith, which was the faith of Moses, Abraham, David, and most of those God chose to his side in the Old Testament which is used by the Christian faiths and the Jewish. I looked into the Muslim faiths, which are an offshoot of the Jewish faith from a line of descendants from Abraham. I looked deeper into the Buddhist and other Eastern faiths. I looked into the Orthodox Catholic cult. (Cult to me is not a bad word in this case, all religions are cults in the original sense of the word. It is only “today” that cult has a bad meaning behind it, and wrongly so in my eyes. SOME cults are bad, some aren’t, and all religions are, by definition a cult.) I looked into the various Protestant church, especially the Methodist, which is what I was raised as until I turned 20ish.

In all of this research, I read at the Bible. (I didn’t REALLY start reading it until January of last year when I finally settled down and began studying the Catholic Church under Father Francis at Saint Henry Roman Catholic Church in Pompano Beach Florida.) In my readings, I found that I was leaning more and more towards the Catholic Church, as I was getting the feelings inside me that it was the Church that was initially founded on the actions and words of Jesus Christ, who I was earnestly coming to believe was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament in no uncertain terms.

As I looked at the various Protestant Christian systems out there here in the US, I found that each had be created by someone that had been wronged or didn’t like something that was happening in the Roman Catholic Church, which they were a member of. For example, the Methodist Church, which I was most familiar with was created by John Wesley, who was originally a Priest with the Anglican (or Church of England) Church, but had a desire to make changes, which the Church did not accept. So, he split off and formed the Methodist Church. (A lot more than that happened, and lead to the split, but that’s a rough, and I do mean rough, summation of it!)

The same appears to be true for most of the other Christian faith systems.

While I do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church is infallible, I do believe that PEOPLE within the Church, including Priest, have made some bad choices, probably listening to themselves, and not open up to the Word of God, and done some wrong things. I do feel that Jesus appointed Peter to lead Jesus’ flock in the pursuit of love and the will of God. I do feel that he assigned the other Apostles of Christ to create the basis of the “leadership” of the Church, or the Bishops. I do believe that the Pope sits in the position of the first Pope, Saint Peter.

I do not believe that the Pope is infallible, but then again, nor does the Roman Catholic Church, contrary to the popular belief of others! I do believe that a good Pope will listen to his Flock as well as to God through Prayer, reading the Word, and consultation with his fellow Bishops.

In my research, I feel, strongly, in my heart that the over all dogma of the Roman Catholic Church is correct and follows the intent and Word of the Bible. I like that it is one of the few Churches that has services seven days a week. That the Priest are dedicated to the Church and do not work in any other capacity. (Yes, some teach, some work in offices, etc., but in all cases, they are religious related postings.) That you can go to any Mass/Service on the same day anywhere in the World and know what is happening and know in advance what is being read and said (minus the Homily or “speech” by the Priest, which is always individual for the most part). That over a three year period, if you go to Mass seven days a week, you will have had the entire Bible read to you and explained to you. (Many of the Protestant Church get fixed on one or two or three Books in the Bible and go back to the often through out the year, and they leave out books that they don’t understand or like or ….)

Upon looking at the various faith systems out there, I felt a sense of relief as I grew closer and closer to converting to the Roman Catholic Church and the few times I moved in directions towards other faiths, I felt a sadness of heart. At each point this past year, as I was accepted as a Postulate with the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Reconciliation last year, as I was accepted into and confirmed in the Catholic Church earlier this year , and as the Order accepted the past year as my Novitiate year and accepted my initial Vows as a Full Religious Brother/Friar in the Order, I felt that relief intensify.

As I go to the Eucharistic Mass daily, participate in the rituals and readings, help others settle their issues with the Lord, pray daily and often in a day, I feel more and more that I have done the right thing in life.

Over the last few weeks I’ve heard several comments from people that they have heard people speaking in tongues through the Divine Will of God. When these people are “speaking in tongues”, they are speaking in gibberish to those listening and no one knows what is being said. Often the speaker seems to be in a trance and when they are done, they say that God was directing them and what they had to say.

Now, I’ve read the Bible now a few times. And it does in fact talk about speaking in tongues. But this is how I read that part of the Bible. When the Disciples were talking to the Masses, they spoke in their native language, but each listener heard it in theirs. For example:

I am a native English (ok American English for those Brits that may be reading this) speaking/listening person.
The person to my right is Spanish speaking.
The person to my left is German speaking.
You, the speaker are Russian speaking.

None of us speak the other’s language. When you speak, you speak in Russian, I hear it in English, the person to my right hears it in Spanish and the person on my left hears it in German.

THIS is speaking in tongues! When God wants someone to speak on His behalf, I’m pretty sure He wants EVERYONE to understand what is being said, not just the speaker… In Acts 2:7-8 it is said: “And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” This leads me to more and more believe that when God speaks to us through others He wants us to understand Him.

When I hear someone “Speaking in Tongues” via gibberish, I automatically start walking away, as it is far from real in my eyes and ears.

This past Sunday I had the extreme pleasure to go to a concert put on by Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.

While I have only been to very few concerts in my life, I very much enjoy most kinds of music, but especially classical and country. Some opera. This concert, by far, was probably the best one I have ever been too. The energy was outstanding, the music great, and the crowd enjoyed it as much as I did it seemed!

This is the first orchestra I have seen that actually smiled all the time, even when they were playing, seemed to know the music without looking at the music in front of them, and were pulling tricks on each other as the show went on. It was great! If you like classical music, and ever have the chance, go see Andre Rieu and his orchestra! You won’t regret it!

You can see several pictures here.

Well, this weekend was busy but good! Friday night I was accepted into the Knights of Columbus and received my 1st and 2nd Degree’s in the Knights. On Saturday I received my 3rd Degree and was Knighted. All is moving along well for me in my new path of life. I should probably have listened to the calling earlier in my life when I started receiving it….

Life is good!

Well, with some tweaking and playing, I’ve added internal video to my web site. I will start it off with three short clips I took from my trip to the Everglades.

The first one is of two alligators coming to check us out:
The next is an alligator eating some dog food about 5 foot from the air boat I was on:
The last one is when we were leaving the swamp going back to the loading dock:

 

 Alligators in the wild on the move: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Alligator Eating Dog Food: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 High Speed exit from Swamp: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Enjoy!

I have heard many people say now that I am a Friar I am no longer able to raise any money from working, etc, because I took a vow of poverty. This is not 100% true. I am still able to earn an income to feed myself and my Brothers, so I am able to accept donations and an income for work done. As much as you want. If it’s more than I need to “survive” I give the “overage” to the Order to keep it surviving, or if a Brother has a need, I give it to them, or if another person outside the Order is in need, I would give them some as well.

So, yes, Friar’s working in the World are able to accept money from you, and in most cases could probably use it!