Eleven Ways You Can Know That You Are A Faithful Catholic
What is the mark of a Christian?
It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that he does not expect. - St. Basil
A true Christian is vigilant, meaning he is ready to hear God’s word and to respond accordingly. - Carl E. Olson (CWR)
You are a faithful Catholic when... .
- You can recognize truth and live by the truth. You are capable of discerning between fact and fiction by constantly relying on Church teaching to inform your thinking (Zechariah 8:16) and to form your conscience. Furthermore, you know that the phrase 'my truth' is a mental evasion and a lie.
- You know that love is defined by the example of Jesus, not by the strange words and actions of an errant teacher or some misguided social media influencer (St John 13:34-35; 2 Timothy 4:3).
- You pray often - every day, morning, noon and night - and pray with a sincere heart to intercede for others, and to dispose yourself to the grace of God that sustains you.
- You pray sacred scripture because God speaks through the sacred text.
- You habitually act in a way that seeks and actually supports the good of others (St Matthew 25:31-46).
- You believe and behave in a manner that honours your dignity as a child of God, i.e., a person made in the image and likeness of God who is saved by Jesus.
- You are grateful for Jesus' gift of salvation, and that gratitude finds ways to express generous support for the mission of the Church, which is the salvation of souls (cf. Canon Law #1752).
- You serve (attend) Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, and weekdays as often as possible, because you acknowledge that Jesus is really Present - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - in the Holy Eucharist (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374), and you desire to be close the Lord (St Luke 10:42).
- You receive Holy Communion reverently. You cling to His Real Presence - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - that is the Holy Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).
- You keep the commandments of Jesus (St John 14-15).
- You have the good sense to stay close to the confessional. We are all sinners given new life by Jesus in the Sacrament of Baptism. When we run off the rails due to mortal sin, we need His gift of the Sacrament of Penance wherein we - penitents expressing to God through His priest real sorrow for sin, accepting our culpability and prepared to do penance - can be restored to friendship with God.
Faith is... .
Letter to the Hebrews 11:1-2
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old received divine approval.
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PSALM 37
Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right : for that shall bring a man peace at the last.
POPE LEO XIV
The right to freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, religious freedom, and even the right to life are being restricted in the name of other so-called new rights, with the result that the very framework of human rights is losing its vitality and creating space for force and oppression. This occurs when each right becomes self-referential, and especially when it becomes disconnected from reality, nature, and truth.
ST AUGUSTINE
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.
SAINT PHILIP NERI
The greatness of our love of God must be tested by the desire we have of suffering for His love.
ANTONIN SCALIA
Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility. Liberal Education makes the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life. These are the natural qualities of a large knowledge, they are the objects of a university. But they are no guarantee for sanctity of even for conscientiousness; they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless.
MARCUS AURELIUS
There is but one thing of real value - to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.
MARK TWAIN
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
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Stand by your word.