AFFIRMATIVE CATHOLICISM
Liberal Catholic
AFFIRMATIVE CATHOLICISM, A BRIEF SYNOPSIS
It would be incomplete if we tried to define Affirmative Catholicism
in a few
simple paragraphs, the implications lead us to great depths of
understanding and
thought.
With this in mind however it is possible to share some of the basic
groundwork ideas so that we can have a beginners grasp and start to
appreciate it's beauty
and profundity.
1. Wisdom is Knowing that We Are All One.
2. Love Is What It Feels Like.
3. Compassion is What It Acts Like.
4. Happiness as the Kingdom of Heaven, Is an Attainable Goal not only
in the
"hereafter" but right now, not only on a personal level but worldwide.
5. To reveal this Path is the purpose of the life and teachings of
Jesus, and of all of the world's great Spiritual Masters.
6. This goal requires focused effort on our part.
7. The "ego" or sense of separation as "I" and "mine" is THE obstacle
to the
Kingdom of Heaven and THE source of our unhappiness.
8. The Practice of Love and Compassion is the Path taught by Jesus for
the
removal of this obstacle.
9. Love is the antithesis of "ego". Love is "I am in it for YOU," and
ego is
"What's in it for ME?"
10. Love is the primal cosmological phenomenon.
11. There is an underlying living intelligent Supreme Being whose very
nature is Love and who supports and animates the universe and ALL of
the beings in it.
12. Direct experience of this Supreme Being is the goal of human
existence.
13. Love is the surest Path to this direct experience.
14. ALL of us are continuously united in this unfathomable Being, the
"I AM",
even though
this TRUTH may be obscured by the darkness of "ego."
15. We CAN most surely and reliably find Jesus at the Center of Our
Being by entering the Stillness & Silence through Meditative Prayer &
Contemplation.
16. By doing so, we will have a direct and personal experience and
relationship
with Jesus.
17. From this personal relationship, Jesus WILL direct and guide us
into
everything we need to know and to do. No other external directive is
ever
necessary.
18. Participation in the Sacraments and Rites of Holy Mother the
Church will
facilitate a disposition and receptivity in us that makes it easier to
achieve and maintain our personal relationship with Jesus. It
strenghtens our bonds with
Christ and helps us to grow into full union with Him.
19. Jesus calls ALL persons to come to Him, and we all respond
differently.
Liberal Catholicism respects the diversity of human response, and
honors each persons efforts and means.
20. As a personal choice, NOT a dictate, there ARE ways and means
which the Ancient Spiritual Disciplines offer us to make it easier and
to facilitate our Discipleship with Christ.
Just a beginning.
There are many many more aspects of Affirmative Catholicism which we
could explore, however these are sufficent basic groundwork to start a
productive inquiry.
-
Love is what makes each day of our life a beautiful celebration.
Love is the magic and the wonder that brings us to the daily threshold
of joyous expectation
whereby we enter into the willingness to accept the good and the bad
with equal reverence.
Without love, life is a dry mechanical existence - barren and sterile.
Without love we are hopelessly lost in the maze of our own
self-centered delusions.
At the end of our life, after all of our successes and
failures, the vaue of our life will be measured by how much we have
loved.
-Ethan Walker III
THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC COMMUNITY WELCOMES YOU TO COME AND TO GROW
TOGETHER WITH US INTO CHRIST.
*TRULY CATHOLIC
*TRULY FREE
============