DO GOD’S WILL
by
DJ Love
Copyright 2011 DJ Love,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0320-5
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Dedication
For My Children
Acknowledgments
There are a number of people whose contribution I want to recognize. I wish to thank Father George, Jack, Jennifer and Sue for being instrumental in helping God’s efforts to reclaim me from me, even though I continue to resist Him every day. I further wish to thank my friend Paul for his support, encouragement and advice, and especially for his inspiration. Jesus said that we will know a tree by its fruit. Paul’s children are a testament to the depth of his spirituality and saintliness. He is the finest example of Christianity of my acquaintance.
For permission to quote from copyright I offer my heartfelt gratitude to those who provided it. I also apologize to any holders of copyright who I have been unable to trace. In particular, I wish to offer my heartfelt thanks to Barrie Schwortz and STERA, Inc., for the use of the two photographs of the Shroud of Turin. In addition, I wish to express my thanks to the people at eBookIt.com who were invaluable at bringing this book to market.
“It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but the one who does the will of my Father.”
Jesus
Matthew 7
INTRODUCTION
With all due respect, the Catholic Church does a lousy job of teaching itself to its own. Most lay Catholics grow up with little understanding about why we do what we do. The sacraments, which are the lifeblood of the Church, often become mindless rituals empty of any meaning to their participants.
FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, estimates that 50% of all Catholic college students stop going to Mass by Christmas of their freshman year. By senior year this figure is 70%. It is a reflection of the poor foundation so many Catholic youth receive at home, in parochial schools and in their parishes. At the heart of this problem is that those who teach them -- their parents, CCD teachers and parochial school faculty -- often know almost as little about what the Church teaches and why as those who they teach by word and example.
Among the Documents of the Second Vatican Council is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. It explains that in order to understand Scripture we must keep it in its contexts. These include textual, historic and cultural. To them I would add linguistic as well. Trained in history among other disciplines, it is from this standpoint that I endeavor to explain many of the concepts included herein.
I am not a theologian, nor a member of the clergy. I possess no academic degree in theology. Then again, neither did any of the Apostles. In some ways, this can be an advantage over academic theology, since the latter sometimes overlooks what is so obvious to the historian. Besides, if I have listened to God and written what He wants then no credentials are necessary; and by the same token, if I have not listened well to God and written what He wants then no credentials would help.
This book is written by a layman for laymen in terms they can readily understand. It covers only the basics but does go in depth into them. I am no expert, nor would I be comfortable being called one. I can only relate how God has shaped and taught me, to the extent that I have allowed Him to do so.
Hopefully, this book will help Catholic parents and educators to give Catholic youth a better grounding in our faith tradition. It may also be useful for people who come from other traditions, especially those who are considering becoming Catholics, since so much misunderstanding exists among various other Christian denominations about the Catholic Church. I have used this same material for many years to teach those who wished to convert to the Catholic faith, as well as cradle Catholics from early teens to elderly adults.
It is always with trepidation that I agree to teach. In the Letter of James it says, “Few of you should be teachers because those of us who are teachers will face a stricter judgment.” I am too much of a sinner to make it even harder on myself to accept the gift of salvation. My consolation, though, is that the same letter also assures us that if we lead someone else to God then it will cover a multitude of our own sins. Therein lies hope…
There are two conventions which this book will follow. When giving Scriptural citations, I will provide only the chapter rather than specific verse. This is because we should always strive to keep passages from the Bible in all of their contexts. If you want to look them up, read the whole chapter. Secondly, I will at times repeat some of those quotes in more than one chapter, when applicable to each.
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