You are Priest, Prophet and King! Part – 1

One of the great blessings I get to experience each year is participating in the events of Holy Saturday, with my wife who is the D.R.E. – Director of Religious Education at our Parish. I so much enjoy seeing people LITTERALLY BORN AGAIN, through Baptism. Seeing someone one moment and then seeing the NEW person rise from being immersed in the Cleansing waters of Baptism. It don't get much better than that…but then again…IT DOES!

I came into Full Communion with the Church on Holy Saturday, April 19, 2005 and unlike cradle Catholic's, I was an adult and realized the Graces I was receiving when the Priest anointed me 'Priest, Prophet and KING' during this Glorious Celebration. Do we (Converts and Cradle Catholic's) really understand the TRUE meaning of the anointing we receive? Do you realize that YOU…yes YOU and I have been anointed a PRIEST?

No, we did not secretly receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders, so don't run out tomorrow and tell your Parish Priest that you want to Preach the next Homily!

During this and the next two emails, we will take a brief look at our anointing – Priest – Prophet – King.

Priest – what was the mission or vocation of the Priest in the Old Testament? His primary mission was to offer sacrifices; Sacrifices to God on behalf of the people of God. The Priest, in the O.T. was the representative of man (the people of God), TO God; calling His people to reconciliation, and redemption.

Was Jesus a Priest? As my brother and co-host of the radio show I do each week, would say; "any properly catechized 5^th grader would tell you…" YES, Jesus was not only a Priest, but He was the HIGH Priest. As the Priests in the Old Testament were called to offer sacrifices to God from the People, as they were the representatives of the People to God, so is JESUS our representative to God. Jesus is OUR mediator – THE mediator between humanity and God. Jesus Christ, the High Priest, offered the GREATEST Sacrifice – Himself, on behalf of ALL the People of God.

So you say, how does this relate to me being a Priest? We too as baptized Catholic's are called to Priesthood as well, not in that of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, but the heart of the Priesthood for the Laity is 'Sacrifice'! Sacrifice of ourselves TO God for the benefit and service of others. Offering of our prayers, our service, our sufferings to God (Offer it up) in the sacrifice of self, for the benefit and edification of others. THIS is true love, sacrificing of self for the love of our brothers and sisters.

Yes my sister and my brother, YOU ARE called to be a Priest – like Jesus, we are to sacrifice ourselves – DIE to the fleshly and earthly desires of this world, so that we ALL may inherit the Kingdom, where the High Priest, LIVES, and Reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit – One God – Forever and ever – let the Church say… AMEN!

God bless you and KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON!

Qorban Ministries

www.CatholicEvangelist.net

www.RLaneConsultants.com

Do you know the Spirit?

In reading the Scriptures for today, one such passage in the First Reading really hit me;

This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh
belongs to God,
and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
does not belong to God.

We have something very special in the Catholic Church; the Real Presence of Jesus, in the form of the Eucharist; His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, but do we understand it and treasure it? I am not saying we should test this Spirit, because for those of us who ARE Professed Roman Catholic, should know, unequivocally that Jesus IS present to us in the Eucharist.

This should be our battle cry to those 70% of Catholics who do NOT believe in the Real Presence, as well as those, our separated brethren. We should be examples of the Real Presence in our Worship, Adoration and Reverence for the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord wants us to come to Him, lay our burdens down at His feet, come and Worship HIM, ADORE Him and most of all, be STILL and hear the Voice of Jesus in our hearts. God does not desire sacrifices of works, burnt offerings and such, He desires the Sacrifices of our Heart! Each day, our lives, just our BEING, in dedicating all we are, all we do, to Him, is the ONLY Sacrifice He desires of us.

St. Augustine put it so eloquently;

    "Love God, and do whatever you want!"

If we truly LOVE God, we will turn away from sin, we will Adore Him, Worship Him, we will receive the Sacraments Frequently, and most importantly, we will love each other!

Do you know the Spirit? The Spirit of God is within us. Let us eat of His Flesh, be healed, turn away from sin, Worship Him, and serve one another.

 

God bless you and Keep on Keepin' on!

Qorban Ministries

www.CatholicEvangelist.net

www.RLaneConsultants.com

Pro-Life: She Would Have Been My Wife!

This was something I received a while ago and wanted to share. God bless you all.

 

"I can only imagine that her name would have been Story. It hurts too much to even think of what her last name would have been. She would have been the most beautiful girl on earth. She would have had pretty brown skin, long black hair, and gorgeous hazel eyes. She would have had the most picturesque smile to go along with that goofy laugh that she would have had. She would have been really smart and outgoing, yet shy at the same time.

She would have been able to get along with anybody, and I do mean anybody! I would have asked her to be my girlfriend and I would have liked to think that she would have said "Yes" with that delightful voice that she would have had. I have to admit that I would have been "lovestruck" over her!

I would have done anything for her. It hurts too much to think about my love, Story, because she was killed in the most heinous, cruel, and selfish way. Story will never ever be able to have a proper burial; her name won't even be printed in the Times Picayune so that the world could have known her like I would have known her.

She will never be able to experience human life as you and I know it to be. Story was aborted, killed in her mother's womb. I am doing what my love, "Story" would have wanted me to do, and that is to give her and others killed like her the respect that they all deserve. I dedicated this article to all the unborn babies who will never be able to experience human life because of the existing abortion laws.

If I could just have had the chance to see her, I would tell her that I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect her like I should have been able to do. I would tell her that she deserved to live and that somebody does love her. I would tell her that I miss never smelling the sweet scent that she would have had. I would tell her that her parents did love her, but for whatever reason they weren't prepared to have her. I don't know exactly how I would tell her this, but I would dig deep inside my heart to find a way to tell her.

I would tell her that I did try to save her by educating people about human life, and that she did exist from that very time those 46 chromosomes (23 from her mother and 23 from her father) came together to create her. I would tell her that id did tell people that she already had that flawless look, that flawless laugh, and that flawless personality; because from that time (when 46 chromosomes came together) she had already had the personality traits of her "would-have-been" mom and dad. I would tell her that from now on I promise to defend all human life.

Story and all unborn children killed by abortion deserved to live. Abortion in my opinion is a massacre that must be stopped. I ask all of you to educate yourselves about abortion, so that your future wives or husbands, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and teachers will not be unjustly killed. Help me honor Story by helping me and other pro-lifers put an end to Roe v. Wade (a Supreme Court Ruling that allows abortions to be performed legally in this country to this very day.)

I hope that I have honored you Story by telling your story to others. I want you to know that you would have been my wife. I love you Story… R.I.P. (Rest in Peace)

Author – Kevin Toy, Senior at St. Augustine High School (Josephite Fathers and Brothers) in New Orleans, LA. Date unknown.

 

God is GOOD!

God is GOOD all the time, and ALL the time…GOD IS GOOD!

 

Qorban Ministries

Kwanzaa - Day 7 Imani (Happy New Year)!!!

Imani - ee-MAH-nee - Faith.

Faith focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind, by affirming our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle.

We continue to struggle for many many years and it seems as if 2008 was a paramount struggle for our current generations like never seen before. We continue to look to the source of our help, the source of our future hope, the source and summit of our existance. Faith - Faith in God, the Almighty; the Creator; the Alpha and the Omega.

We must continue to know that there IS a better way, there is a brighter day ahead, there are many wonderful times and things to do ahead, and the lense we use to see this brightness, is through Faith; our Faith in Jesus Christ.

As we enter yet another New Year, let us enter this year with a New Faith, a Renewed Faith, a New Pentecost. Let us remember where we have come from, the struggles we have gone through and overcome and let us see the Light of Great things to come, through experiencing the Daily Pentecost in our lives. A Daily renewal of being and living IN Christ, each day. Once we understand how to live IN Him, then we will see the Light of Brighter Days ahead for ourselves. We must focus on ourselves FIRST, for once we understand WHO we are and WHOSE we are as Children of God, then we can begin to focus on others, our community and the greater good of humanity.

Imani - Faith; the final Principle of Kwanzaa that we take into this New Year. Let us Renew our Faith everyday, and say; Thank you Lord, for dwelling IN ME. As St. Paul said; "...it is not I that live, but Christ that lives within me."

Happy Kwanzaa - Happy New Year and with God IN us... It's gonna be FINE in 2009!

Qorban Ministries

www.CatholicEvangelist.net
www.RLaneConsultants.com

Catholic’s, are you Saved???

Yesterday I took my daughter to the dentist's office for a follow up visit. Halfway through the visit the Doctor called me over and showed me something on my daughter's teeth. After he finished, he asked me if I was enjoying my vacation, to which I advised him that I rarely take a vacation as I am self-employed and work in Ministry and the Lord's work NEVER stops for 'Vacation'. (Yes I am well aware the Lord rested on the seventh day, to which I try to adhere to, thanks to my lovely wife!)

He asked me what I did for a living and told him that I was a "Catholic Evangelist", and conduct Revivals and speak and preach all over the Country. The Doctor than proceeded to tell me that he was one of the 'Frozen Chosen', and asked if I had ever heard that before? Well, if any of you reading this have ever heard me preach, you have heard me make reference to a lot of Catholic's as the 'Frozen Chosen' as well. He said that he was 'Evangelical' (of course me not knowing which denomination) and he continued to tell me about his daughter, who several years ago began to study the teachings of Aquinas and Augustine. Well, immediately I knew where this was going, because anyone who studies these great Theologians, with an open mind, will be IMMEDIATELY led to them as being two of the Early Church Fathers and one cannot help but be led to the Roman Catholic Church! PRAISE THE LORD!

He continued in saying that his daughter then received a scholarship to study at Notre Dame and continues to seek a Theology Degree, and he was not really upset with her Conversion to Catholicism. What disturbs him most is the fact that when he asks her "are you Saved", she gives these wonderful Theological reflections, (which a lot of educated Catholic's can do VERY well), but just cannot simply respond, "Yes" or "No".

I have been blessed to travel the Country, speaking and preaching all over and yet, I hear a lot of the same questions, which is not a bad thing, if you don't ask, you will never know.

The answer to this question is UNAQUIVICALLY YES! YES we ARE SAVED! Jesus Christ, by whose act of Salvation we are objectively saved! He died, He rose and saved us from SIN!

    II Corinthians 5:15 – So whoever is in Christ is a new creation.

I Corinthians 15:2 – Through it (the Gospel) you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Romans 5:9 – How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.

I think St. Paul's letter to the Romans says so much to me…YES we are saved by His Blood, saved by His Sacrifice for ALL of us.

One of the first passages I came to remember was John 14:6 – Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man goes to the Father except through me!" If we believe and understand and work toward Salvation, it will be attained. What I mean by work is, we cannot be the 'frozen chosen' and just sit idly and believe we are saved, we must Love each other, Serve one another and we must also, as St. Paul tells us, seek a DAILY PENTECOST – die to our fleshly desires, and live in HIM!

Yes, thank God almighty, WE – CATHOLIC'S – are SAVED!

On this the last day of 2008, I think this is very much an appropriate note and tone to end the year on…Salvation! Let us approach 2009, with more enthusiasm, a greater LOVE and greater ZEAL for Souls, for Jesus Christ, because if others see the Light, within us, they will be drawn toward Eternal Salvation and as our Holy Fathers tell us, the greatest means of Salvation is right HERE – HOME – in our ONE – HOLY – CATHOLIC and –APOSTOLIC CHURCH!

Praise be Jesus Christ now and forever more…AMEN!

Happy New Year everyone and God bless!

Qorban Ministries

 

PS…Yes, I did assure the Doctor that his daughter was on the road toward Eternal Salvation and if she truly believes what the Church teaches…she IS saved! Thank you Lord!

 

www.CatholicEvangelist.net

www.RLaneConsultants.com

Kwanzaa Day 6 – Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah)

Kuumba – Creativity.

Creativity makes use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vibrant community. We as a people (speaking of African-Americans) are a people of survival, adaption and overcoming. We survived the "Middle Passage", in boats, chains, torture, brutality, but yet we are still here. We were able to adapt to a strange land that we were brought too some 389 years ago, that smelled different, looked different, felt different; coming from a hot climate and being subjected to winter and extreme conditions, but yet we survived and adapted. We have overcome struggles of racism, socio-economic underprivileged, and continue to fight for our basic rights, and basic human needs. During all of these trials, we found Creative ways to survive adapt and overcome, through our being, Spiritual, as well as other areas – music, Worship, et. al.

How can we further develop the Creative minds that currently exist in our world, in our cities of the young black men and women who are undereducated, underprivileged and under loved? How can we give HOPE to a HOPELESS community, how can we bring Light into the darkness of this world, how can we bring Peace in the midst of urban warfare?

We must continue to use our God given Creative Gifts and Talents, to make a better life for those to come after us. We must realize that we HAVE to give back to those who have been given NOTHING – EACH ONE TEACH ONE, is the African Proverb. We are ONE in community, ONE in reality and ONE in the eyes of the Creator.

Kuumba – Creativity, have you gotten creative with someone NEW? Do it for 09'!

God bless you and Happy New Year!

Qorban Ministries

www.CatholicEvangelist.net

www.RLaneConsultants.com