Learning to be Quick to Listen

Watching the movie The Rite last weekend made me realize that not thinking that the devil is real may be just as bad as not believing in God. The evil spirits are always at work wreaking havoc on our lives. And while it is okay to be fearful of them, it is very comforting to have Jesus Christ on our side. That is if you do have Him on your side and that requires some commitment on your part. Do you realize that Satan can only control you if you allow him to? The Bible says you can be bound by Satan. This can happen any number of ways but most likely through worship and allegiance to things rather than God. By not paying attention to your spiritual life, you can allow Satan to plunder away at you. The Bible shows us over and over again that the evil spirits are fearful of Jesus. In fact, in example after example, Jesus cast evil spirits out of people. He commanded that they leave and they listened. In The Rite, the exorcist explains that it is incumbent to learn the evil spirit's na...

Exploring new ways to pray is a good way to reignite your prayer life. I know that I can get stuck in a rut and merely rely on the rote prayers that we learned as a child. Being in a relationship with God requires more than just sitting around waiting for an epiphany. Think about your life. Think about the things that make you happy and fulfilled and the things that make you sad or repel you. When you draw up the list of things that are valuable to you, where is God on that list? As a free person, are you making choices that bring value into your life? When you look at the man-made things around you, are you relying on those to make you happy? Are they bringing you closer to God? Money, power and influence just were not on Jesus' bucket list. Are they on yours? Why? God will attend to your every need. What are the things that turn you to God and make you more loving to Him? The What Would Jesus Do bracelets were a good thing. I wonder why they have gone away? It is a great reminder...

An iPhone app aimed at helping Catholics through confession and encouraging lapsed followers back to the faith has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States according to a story on Reuters. Confession: A Roman Catholic app, thought to be the first to be approved by a church authority, walks Catholics through the sacrament and contains what the company behind the program describes as a “personalized examination of conscience for each user”. “Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology,” said Patrick Leinen of the three-man company Little iApps, based in South Bend, Indiana. “Taking to heart Pope Benedict XVI’s message from last years’ World Communications Address, our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly ‘new media at the service of the word.” The app is not designed to replace going to confession but to help Catholics through the act, which generally involves admitting sins to a priest in a co...