Welcome, Susan Moore!

Susan Moore said...
First of all, if you guys want to guide me, stop using big words, I don't know what 'pedantic' means.

Lol! : 0  That is funny. It means that she thinks I'm preachy and arguing from authority but without evidence for my position.

Secondly, I appreciate that you are siblings, but I can't tell by your comments that you actually are obedient to His will and love one another. :-)

Well, she did wish me peace (i.e. PAX) and I returned the blessing.  However, I don't think she's accustomed to debate.  Whereas, I do this everyday and have been doing it for almost 20 years.  In fact, I think I've been doing it, almost daily, for over 20 years now.  She may be angry with me.  But I am not angry with her.

On another note, thank you for your continued references!!
No, I have not read anything of the saints (yet). I have (only) read the Bible. But recently my Latin professor told us about St. Augustine, and I got a book of his writings from the school’s library. Haven’t read it yet, though. Oh, I also have the Catechism, which is very good and helpful.

I'm surprised.  Your comments really do remind me of the Saints which I've read, like St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine Siena and St. Therese Liseaux.

I have noticed that it is common for Catholics to assume because I am newly back to the Catholic faith-tradition, that I am new to faith in Christ. That is a very incorrect understanding. In heaven our faith-tradition and our faith will be one and the same because our faith will have been perfected and the dross will have been burnt off of our traditions and understandings. But on earth our Catholic faith-tradition is not the same as our faith.  

My understanding is that our faith in Christ is deposited in each of us at Baptism by the Holy Spirit, and is complete in form. However, because of the rebellious human nature, it can take various amounts of time for that faith to be perceived and for one’s perceptions of their God-given and internal faith to grow as a person relinquishes their human will to His divine will out of love for Him. A submission that is kindled through a deepening relationship with Him. 

That sounds correct:

168 It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains my faith. Everywhere, it is the Church that first confesses the Lord: "Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you", as we sing in the hymn "Te Deum"; with her and in her, we are won over and brought to confess: "I believe", "We believe". It is through the Church that we receive faith and new life in Christ by Baptism. In the Rituale Romanum, the minister of Baptism asks the catechumen: "What do you ask of God's Church?" And the answer is: "Faith." "What does faith offer you?" "Eternal life."

I have been through a great deal in my life starting at a very early age.
I have a vivid memory of waiting on Him to rescue me, and then waving my arms in jubilation and toddling to safety when He did. I had been hiding under a standard kitchen table, and was standing straight upright when I toddled away.
Through all my life experience, He has never once left my side. I have a mature faith in Him, the gentle King of the universe. However, I would like to increase my knowledge of the traditions of Catholicism, and that is what I am in graduate school to study. 

That is wonderful.

I have found it helpful to study and re-study how St. Paul approached the gentiles in Acts 17.
He was in Athens and saw the idolatrous statues and engravings offered to the gods of the Athenians. What did he do? Did he quickly leave the city in disgust, or in fear he would be contaminated by their evil ways and cursed by God, then wait at the city gates and call for the Athenians in a language they did not understand, beseeching them to come to him so he could correct them?
No! He studied their carvings and engravings, found a common link between their beliefs and his faith, and at their request he went to the place they requested him to go so that they could most comfortably hear what he had to say, and then he boldly spoke the truth in compassion. He planted seeds of truth and was comfortable leaving it at that. For it is only the Holy Spirit who can enable a seed of truth to grow.
Likewise, We belong to Him and therefore no created thing can take us from His hand: we are in the world but not of the world –He knows this about us better than we do.
Through His greatest commandment He does not say, “Obey me”, He says, “Love me.” Obedience is a consequence of a deepening relationship with the One who is love. Obedience is not a requirement in order to be loved, as if by obeying Him we are giving back to Him what He is owed –for who can owe God?
As our relationship with Him is kindled and flames up, our passion for Him grows as does our submission to His will because we recognize He is the only living being who is faithful and true.

That sounds right.  God loves all men, obedient or not. But God saves only those who obey His will:

Hebrews 5:9King James Version (KJV)

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Sincerely,

De Maria