Iron Works: Heroes

Showing posts with label Heroes. Show all posts

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Recently, the Vatican announced that the cause for canonization for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has progressed to the next step and he has been declared Venerable. This announcement was made on the same day as the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare. I am not sure if this is just a coincidence, but we as the Church now have Venerable Fulton Sheen as an intercessor for us in this battle for religious freedom.

To commemorate the Vatican's announcement, I have re-posted a video that I had shared here sometime ago that tells a great story about Archbishop Sheen and his passion for the faith.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, please pray for us and for our nation!

"We Need to Be Catholics First" - Archbishop Chaput

DENVER, CO - JULY 20: Catholic Archbishop Cha...

I want to share with you powerful homily recently given by Archbishop Charles Chaput during the Mass for his installation as the new head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I have respected and admired Archbishop Chaput for many years because of the courage he has shown in standing for the truth and defending the Church.

His homily further exemplified his courage and conviction as he addressed the beginning of his difficult task to rebuild an archdiocese that has been plagued with scandals. Below is my favorite quote from this inspirational homily:

But the Church is not defined by her failures. And you and I are not defined by critics or by those who dislike us. What we do in the coming months and years to respond to these challenges – that will define who we really are. And in engaging that work, we need to be Catholics first. Jesus Christ is the center of our lives, and the Church is our mother and teacher. Everything we do should flow from that.

(Click here to read the full homily.)

We need to be Catholics first. Everything we do should flow from that. That is a message that we as Catholic men should always focus on, especially in a world were faith is under attack and belief in God is marginalized and even seen as offensive to some. It gives me a sense of hope to see our Church blessed with more leaders like Archbishop Chaput.

Please pray for God blessings on Archbishop Chaput as he faces the difficult challenges that lie ahead.

Happy 4th of July - May God Bless America.

In an age where Christianity in under attack by a secular world and God is being forced out of the public sector, let us take some time to reflect on this song and its lyrics. Hopefully this will help us remember a time when we were proud of our nation's Christian roots, a time when all Americans proudly declared in the pledge that this is a nation that was founded "Under God". May God pour His blessings and grace upon our nation again, because our nation and our world desperately needs it now more than ever.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

Since God is marching on."

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,

So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

Putting Masculinity back in Church

I recently came across these three articles by Doug Giles about the lack of men in churches and its affect on society.

Christianity with Cojones, Part 1
Christianity with Cojones, Part 2: Rebels With A Cause
Christianity with Cojones, Part 3

I have to admit that I liked the author's choice of words for the titles. But more importantly are the very strong arguments that the author makes for the need to bring men and real masculinity back into our churches. I have highlighted below some of the main points from each article:

The current lack of strong men within the Church, both in the numeric and leadership sense, has crippled our churches and has helped devastate our nation.

The masculine spirit being absent from the pulpit, the pew and subsequently the public square has not only slowed down the forward progress of the Church, it has also weakened our nation’s morality and security, increased our country’s secularity, and has assisted [owing to our absence] the lascivious Left’s re-definition of life, sex, marriage and law. That’s all.

Get it right, folks: It wasn’t the church’s belief that Jesus is God, or their love of covered dish dinners, or their Christian rock music that got them the ax; it was their holy defiance to the demonic edicts that Caesar attempted to slap them with. Rome didn’t give a rat’s backside whom or what they believed in just as long as that belief didn’t rock the boat of the Roman state. And that’s exactly what first-century Christianity did: It adhered to God’s laws versus Rome’s. The Church believed that Christ was Lord and therefore, respectfully of course, Caesar could kiss their fish sticker. Indeed, following the teachings of Jesus, the initial Ichthus crowd was rowdy when it came to an oppressive state.

No Matter What

This is an awesome video tribute to the Catholic martyrs of the last century.

These heroes willingly gave their lives for their faith. When are the rest of us going to finally wake up and take a stand for our faith like these great men? What are we waiting for to follow their examples and truly live like a Catholic? The martyrs in this tribute sacrificed everything for Christ, yet how many of us are afraid to speak up out of political correctness or eagerly sell out our Catholic morals for the sake of personal financial gain?

God is calling you to live your faith to the end, no matter what.

Awesome Story About a Real Hero

This is an amazing and inspiring story about a real hero: Good Samaritan describes chase that led to girl's freedom. Yesterday's headlines included a story which is every parent's worst nightmare. An 8 year old girl was abducted by a stranger in Fresno, CA. Today's major story is about how a 29 year old man risked his own life to save that same girl from a predator. This hero,Victor Perez, credits God for putting allowing him to save this girl.

He quoted a relative who said divine providence might have stepped in. "God works in mysterious ways," Perez said.

God bless you Mr. Perez. You are a hero and an inspiration to us all. I feel as if I should come up with an award for him. Maybe something like the "Iron Works Iron Man" award? As for the predator that abducted and sexually assaulted this 8 year old girl, while I pray that God has mercy on your soul, I sincerely hope the justice system of California does not.

Dancing With Polar Opposites

I have to confess that I occasionally watch Dancing With the Stars with my wife. While I was watching the show's latest season premiere a couple of weeks ago, I observed something rather interesting about two contestants, former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, and MTV's Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino. In these two men, we see the classic examples of one man striving to life his faith while the other is intoxicated on the unhealthy pleasures of this world.

For those who may not be familiar, Kurt Warner is the retired NFL quarterback who led the St. Louis Rams to become Superbowl Champions in 2000. He also led the Arizona Cardinals to their first Superbowl in 2008. Warner and his wife have 7 children and are devout Christians who have spoken out against issues such as embryonic stem cell research. They have spent a lot of time and resources helping the developmentally disabled and creating the First Things First Foundation which aids the poor and sick children and their families. Kurt Warner is a great example of what it means to use the talents and blessings given to us by God to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters. Warner is very outspoken about his faith and was once quoted as saying:

"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am."

Calling Mike "The Situation Sorrentino a polar opposite is an understatement. He is cast member of The Jersey Shore. I have never seen it and refuse to watch it. I have heard enough about it to turn my stomach. This reality show, produced by the smut peddlers on MTV, portrays Sorrentino and his roommates in New Jersey living their lives centered on night clubs, partying, drinking, promiscuity, and countless hours in front of a mirror worshiping themselves. I have been tempted to watch the show just to see how many of the seven deadly sins they can commit in one episode. Just from what I have heard, lust, greed, pride, and sloth are regulars on the Jersey Shore. I know I shouldn't be judgmental, but this show has been all over the media, and just by reading these reports and looking at the pictures, I don't think I am very far off the mark on my assessment.

Catholic Heroes

This is an outstanding video from Michael Voris at RealCatholicTV. He speaks about the current state of our Catholic Church and what it means to be a true Catholic hero in a world with so much evil.

Please click on the link above to visit RealCatholicTV's Youtube page or click here to visit their homepage at RealCatholicTV.com.

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