It has been a quite a dry season in our area this year, and even though we need the rain, I am not that happy is coming by tomorrow. I do love rainy weather, if I am able to enjoy it from the comfort of my home. Before I used to pray for God to start the rain after all the kids were safely at school and or after they were safely home. I felt bad for those families that had to walk to school and get all wet because of the rain. I do not like driving in the rain either. But it must rain, and we must get wet. Rainy season means husband is home more. And when husband is home, I am not able to do things I enjoy doing while I am home alone. Like pray, read, spend time on computer. That is wasted time for him. Little does he know that that is not wasted time. I am refreshed in prayer time. Encouraged and empowered by reading my bible or inspirational books, and blogs.
Hopefully this rainy season husband will be able to understand and perhaps even pray the rosary with me. Or listen to me reading the bible. Oh how I wish my husband was in love with God as much as I am. Oh how I wish he will tell me lets go to Mass today or let us spend an hour with the Blessed Sacrament or in prayer. I pray the Lord will touch husband's heart and may my husband yearn to spend time with God and learn all about Him our Lord and saviour.
Husband is Catholic. And is sad to say this, but most Catholics in Mexico, do not know anything about the bible. They do not know of spending time in prayer. I do not understand why? Yes, they are thought certain prayers that are recited at every mass while they prepare for their sacraments but the faith formation ends once the sacrament has been fullfill. There are no bible studies, no Sunday school classes. I think this is why so many Catholics do not live their lives like they should following God's commandments. I have heard Joyce Meyer once say. That a person is not a Christian just because he attends church every Sunday. Is the same of a Catholic. They might attend church regularly but are they really saved.
One time my husband's nephew asked me what is a Catholic? We had just left the baptismal service of his son in a Catholic church and he was asking me what is a Catholic. I asked him what were you told in the baptismal preparation classes. He said, I want to know what you think? I said, someone that follows the doctrines of the Catholic church, and teaches his children in the same way. Giving always a good example. I was not well prepared to answer this question, and I hope that I did my best in answering. He was pleased with my answer.
Ever since I returned to the Catholic faith, I have been asked questions about my faith. At first they thought I was confused, that I did not even know what I was doing going from one church to another. Even when I was attending a Christian church I was constantly seen as the weird one. All this time my desire has been to pray for my husband's family. I feel that they are so lost. They do not go to church, regularly. They visit curanderos, people who heal with herbs and supposedly free you of evil spirits and curses. In their hometown in Mexico, they say that there are a lot of witches that place curses on people and that is why the people never prosper or have good luck in their lives.
My husband told me to take my daughter to the curandero. So that he will give her a massage, to heal her scoliosis. I did not wanted to go. I have read that is not good to go to this people. The curandero says that he believes in God, but how can you trust the person if his nickname is the devil (el diablo). I prayed to God to forgive me for going to visit that man. That man has made many promises to a lot of people telling them they are cured of their illnesses and bad luck. Sad how they believe this man, instead of seaking the power of our healer Jesus. I pray daily that all my family members that believe in witchcraft and astrology will open their eyes and believe in God and draw closer to God, and repent of their sins.
I have read many good Catholic books that talk about the devotion of people to witchcraft and astrology or horoscopes. There are some books by a Hispanic ministry, Apostoles de la Palabra ( Apostles of the Word). The books teach the reader, all about the true teachings of the Catholic church. They explain what is in the catechism of the church. They have written a book regarding all this stuff about witchcraft and they warn people that is against the church's teachings to believe in occult and new age teachings. Currently there is a new devotion among Mexican Catholics, the devotions to holy death. An icon of a skeleton dressed in a purple or black tunic. There are songs being aired in spanish radio stations regarding this devotion. And many people that sell religious articles at swap meets sell this icon of death. This why many protestant brother say that Catholics are worshipers of idols. The church teaches that is not right to worship anyone else but God. Yet many people in our Latin American countries have more faith in certain icon than having faith in God. They have replaced God with this icon or images that are not accepted by the Catholic church. They have been lured by witchcraft and new age devotions, camouflaged in good things. Like for example, I read once in a book that certain sellers of souvenirs will put curses on certain religious items. This is why is very important to take our religious items to be blessed by a priest. The blessing from the priest will remove any curse spoken upon the item. If you are a Christian, you need to take the item to your Pastor or get rid of the item. I read this in a book by an Evangelical, but I can't remember the author's name. I let someone borrow the book and the book was misplaced and never returned to me. I have made this post too long, forgive me if I bored you. I started telling you about the rainy season and somehow, I ended talking about other things. However, I think that they are very important to know and be aware of this things. I do not intend to talk bad about any Christian faith. I only desire to let you know that there are evil things disguised as good things and if we are grounded in the word of God, we will be able to know what they are and be guided by the Holy spirit to choose what God's will is for us.
Note: I changed the title of the post to reflect better, what I wrote in the post.
These things are real and are scary. Holy water and blessed objects are so important. As you say, it is really essential to have our devotional items blessed. I remember Fr. Corapi speaking once and telling about his life before his conversion and how he was in the presence of major drug dealers who had curses put on the drugs to further ensnare the users. Scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a shame that such things are so deeply embedded in such cultures. I feel particularly sad for the Mexican culture because they had the great gift of Our Lady of Guadalupe coming to visit them and bringing an end to the evil of the day... but now they embrace it in pure ignorance. We must remember to pray for a revival of that nation through the intercession of OLG.