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44 pages

English

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In this book, Marino Restrepo travels as deeply as he can into the heart of today's real Catholic Church. He explores the spiritual state of the Church in her relationship with God and with her God-given responsibilities.

The challenges to be faced are not simple and cannot just be left to resolve themselves over time. On the contrary, every single Catholic needs to become actively involved in healing the many wounds inflicted by the serious sins in the Church that have hurt millions of the faithful around the world.

Times are difficult and the very heart of the Catholic Church has been contaminated at many levels since the great cultural and sociological shifts of the 60's.

The author invites you to accompany him along his missionary path and to discover the true state of the spirit warfare confronting all Christians today.

Sujets

Religion

Christianisme

Philosophie et théologie

Catholic

Christianity

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Publié par	eBookIt.com
Date de parution	15 juin 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781456603823
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Catholics Awake!
Marino Restrepo

Pilgrims of Love Foundation

2nd edition
Copyright © 2019 Pilgrims of Love / Marino Restrepo
All rights reserved
Book design: Luz Angela García Betancur
Front cover: Luz Angela García Betancur

1st edition
Copyright © 2012 Pilgrims of Love / Marino Restrepo
Fastprint Publishing
Peterborough, England
ISBN: 978-184426-865-8

Original spanish edition
Translated by: Virginia Marie Forrester
Biblical texts taken from the Navarre Bible. EUNSA Popular Edition
All rights reserved Pilgrims of Love Foundation

All rights are protected by international laws on the Author’s Right. The contents and cover cannot be reproduced totally or partially by printing, audio-visual, recording systems or any other means created or about to be created, or translated into any language, without the permission of the Publishing House.

Send requests to: PILGRIMS OF LOVE FOUNDATION pilgrimsofloveuk.ir eland@gmail.com
Visit our W ebsite: www.marinorestrepo.com
Foreword
Throughout history, the Catholic Church has been profoundly united to what we might call the ‘cycles’ of humanity. But, rather than mirroring this humanity exactly, the Church’s primary purpose, in each of these cycles has been to reflect God. In the cycle in which we are presently living, we witness the sad phenomenon of a Catholic Church which reflects more the influence of the world than that of the Spirit of God.
As the title suggests, this book is intended as a wake-up call for The People of God. It explores how and why clergy, religious and laity are largely failing in the solemn mission entrusted to them by the Lord Jesus, an evangelizing mission which is, at once, the primary task and the very raison d’être of the Church. Compelled by a deep love for the Lord and His Church, the author’s critique seeks not to judge or condemn but to open people’s eyes, minds and hearts to the magnificence and the enormity of the responsibility enjoined on them by their baptismal vocation, which is the very lifeblood of prophetic ministry.
This book, then, seeks to help every Catholic to grow stronger and more keenly aware of the spiritual battle that rages around us, so that we might better defend our spiritual territories and win more souls for God’s Kingdom.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
The True Catholic
Spiritual Armor
Preparation for the Battle
Spiritual Nourishment
The Way, the Truth and the Life
Assimilating the Truth
Preparation to Serve
God’s Invisible Power
The Weapons of Faith
What are the weapons of a Catholic?
When and how do we join the spiritual battle?
Where do we find this battle in our everyday lives?
Response to a Weakened Church
The Spiritual Battle
The Seduction of the Devil
Awakening the Church
Resisting the Forces of Evil
A Simple Choice
The Authority of the People of God
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy
Guardian of the Truth
The Enemy Within
The Limitations of Reason
Life After Life
Obedience
The Sacramental Economy
The Sacraments: Knowing The Weapons
What is the first sacrament of Christian initiation?
Baptism
Penance and Reconciliation: Confession
What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach us about sin?
What does the Catechism say about this sacrament?
Why is the sacrament of Confession necessary after Baptism?
When was this sacrament instituted?
The Eucharist: Holy Communion
What does the Catechism say about the Eucharist?
When did Jesus institute the Eucharist?
Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
Confirmation
What does the Catechism say about this sacrament?
Why is this Sacrament called Confirmation or Chrismation?
What is the effect of Confirmation?
Who can Receive this Sacrament?
Holy Orders
Why is it called the Sacrament of Holy Orders?
What place does Holy Orders have in the economy of salvation?
Holy Matrimony
Why did God institute marriage and how does sin threaten it?
What does the Old Testament teach about marriage?
What new element did Christ give marriage?
Is everyone obliged to get married?
The Sacramentals
What is an exorcism?
What forms of popular piety accompany the sacramental life of the Church?
The Catholic Funeral
The Vocation of Man: Life in the Spirit
The Nature of Sin
Is there a diversity of sins?
How are sins distinguished according to their gravity?
When is a mortal sin committed?
When is a venial sin committed?
What is the moral law and in what does it consist?
How does the Church nourish the moral life of the Christian?
Why does the Magisterium of the Church act in the field of morality?
Virtues
Human Virtues
Theological Virtues
What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
Spiritual Growth
Prayer
What is the role of prayer in the mission of the prophets?
Interior Silence
Modern Theologies
The Profession of Faith
What does it mean to profess the faith in the Catholic Church of today?
Conclusion

In Homage to the Catholic Church

Introduction
W e urgently need to change the way we live our faith. Many Catholics have fallen prey to the spirit of the world, weakening the Church to such a degree that many Catholics are now struggling to hold on to the Faith. Grave sin has penetrated the very heart of priestly and religious life. Many of the traditional Religious Orders have gradually disappeared, failing to attract new vocations and to inspire young people. On the many missionary journeys I have undertaken for the Catholic Church, spanning five continents over fifteen years, I have seen many convents, monasteries and churches being closed and turned into exclusive, commercial premises and galleries to showcase religious art. I have even known churches to be acquired by unscrupulous building developers to be used as nightclubs and bars. Some keep the religious art that was formerly part of the sacred and religious life of the Church so that now we have holy images forming the backdrop to a nightlife of sin and debauchery.
It is absolutely vital that we do all we can to preserve our Catholic identity and try to rediscover the true nature of our Catholic mission. We need to realize that our Catholic heritage is an unimaginable gift which we have a serious responsibility to safeguard and share with all humanity. We cannot allow our places of worship to be turned into museums and dens of iniquity. We must never lose sight of our Catholic culture or become complacent towards the great spiritual wealth of our Sacred Tradition with its images, iconography and holy relics.
Recently I visited some antique stores, because I discovered that many sacred objects are regularly being removed from churches and sold at premium prices to unprincipled antique dealers. These items are taken from convents and monasteries, and even from churches and parishes that may have adopted New Age practices, Marxist philosophies, heresies or simply Modernism. In antique stores nowadays, it is quite common to find relics, chalices, ciboria, patens, monstrances and liturgical vestments the list is endless. Sadly, those who supply these sacred objects are priests, Catholic men and women or religious, all seduced by avarice.
The Church calls this practice the sin of simony after Simon the Magician who wanted to use God’s powers to win fame and money (Acts. 8:18-24). Those who sell sacred objects of the Church fall into this sin. What is most terrible about the sale of these sacred objects is the sacrilegious use to which they are ultimately employed, something too shocking for me to want to address in these lines.
With regard to immorality and disobedience, we are living through one of the greatest crises of modern times. Although it is true that there will always be a faithful remnant of priests, religious and laity in the Catholic Church, that is to say, those who are holy and committed in the true sense of the word, we cannot forget that this immorality and disobedience has seized hold of vast numbers of the clergy and religious.
To address the question of what to do in the face of these problems is one of the reasons for my writing this book. In examining these sad facts, it must be acknowledged that those Catholics priests, religious and laity who are active and mired in grave sin in the Church today, are themselves the products of ‘modern-day’ Catholic families.
If we are even to begin to address the root cause of the problems in the Church today, we must start by examining our modern Catholic society which has become so contaminated that it no longer can be said to belong to God. The sad truth is that the Catholic family of today has been largely corrupted at its heart by the worldly spirit of decadence. These damaged, dysfunctional and broken Catholic families beget damaged, dysfunctional and broken individual Catholics who, in turn beget a damaged, dysfunctional and broken Catholic Church. This is why the call to the New Evangelization , of which we speak today in our Catholic Church, is not just for Europe as initially intended. We must begin by evangelizing Catholic families the world over because the Catholic family is the womb of the Lord’s Church and the seedbed of all vocations.
First, Jesus called his disciples and then he sent them out (Luke 9: 1-6). We are all numbered among those the Lord sends out, as long as we desire to wake up to the seriousness of this responsibility and to earnestly seek to fulfill our duty as children of God and members of His Church.
The True Catholic
I t is vital that our relationship with God be defined on a clear understanding that He is God and we are His creatures (Exod. 3:13-15). Only in this way shall we be able to submit to Him in humility and meekness of heart.
As Christians, our religion is the means by which we encounter the spiritual world. Although, gener