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I saw this picture the other day and I got my chuckle out of it for what should be obvious reasons, but then I paused and looked at it from another point of view.
It is amazing how often I will be talking to someone and they will bring up an issue that they are bothered about but they don't seem to see some of the real sharks in the water swimming all around them.
We are all surrounded by sharks of all sorts these days and we'd better be paying close attention to them.
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This past December as most of us were feeling the excitement of the Christmas up-coming season, I was struck by the many parents who came to me sharing their hurts from this or that one of their children who had walked away from the Faith.
I'll never forget one particular person, had come up to me so excited that their child was going off to Georgetown University and she was stunned that I didn't share her excitement.
When she asked me why and I shared that in today's world, these places are too often a detriment to our young people,
she got quite angry with me.
How many times good parents, who have spent their lives in trying to guide and teach their children the importance of the True Faith and all that goes with it, send these same kids out to the wasteland that is called higher education and they find in a very short time these kids have dumped their faith.
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Needless to say, that parent did indeed come back to me to share that after only 4 months her daughter was no longer practicing her Faith and was dating a very undesirable man.
These parents were devastated.
This even after they put blood, sweat and tears into trying to do everything they could to make sure this did not happen.
I cannot tell you how many times this has happened.
As I said:
We must all open our eyes to the real sharks that are all around us.
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It brings me to mind of a time when Colin was playing Church softball and I and my girls were sitting on the bleachers watching and another spectator Mom was sitting next to me and her 6-year-old boy was racing all around while using every sort of expletive that was anything but good and she said and did nothing.
But oh my, when she saw him stooping under the bleacher to pick up a dirty piece of gum, she was livid with him.
I'll never forget my thoughts:
she didn't seem to worry about the harm being done to his soul and those around him with his fowl mouth, but the dirt from a piece of gum was horrific to her.
Again, we are blind to the real sharks that are all around us.
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With all that is going on in the world and Church today, our children are going to be up against oceans of real sharks.
When what was considered mortal sin just a few days ago is now being blessed by the
NEW Catholic Church
what are any of us going to do with that, let alone our young people?
This brings me to mind of the time when they tore apart the Sacred Liturgy in 1969.
The Latin Mass had been held as sacro sanct by everyone who took their faith seriously and yet, suddenly almost overnight, it was thrown out to the dust bin, and they tried to insist to the world that it was now illegal to attend that Mass!
They did such a thorough job of it that today, how many who are sitting in the typical parish church even know that there was such a thing as the TLM and that that had been the Mass said for centuries and where the millions of saints over those centuries prayed that Mass only!
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I was a young person during that shark attack!
Had it not been for my parents and my solid Catholic foundation that they made sure of, I'm sure I would have gone the way of so so many young people and would have walked away.
I had the love and respect of my parents enough to hold fast.
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Every single one of us should be offering constant prayers up for not only our own faith to be strengthened so that we can fight what is coming at us,
but especially for our young people!
Young people are even more vulnerable to shark attacks of this kind.
Back when I first felt the shark attacks in the '60s I had the advantage of still feeling the faith filled community around our parish and our neighborhoods.
That served as a shark impenetrable cage for many of us.
Not so today.
We have all witnessed at least 5 decades of that protective cage being cut through and thrown away.
So, now our young are swimming right there among the vicious sharks with teeth that actively desire to penetrate everything and anything.
Often times our young feel that they are not going to be affected by this menace and they jump in never realizing how dangerous this all is until it is too late.
Young people, even good young Catholics are often times the first to go under.
So, I would suggest we all make it our solid New Year's Resolution to ramp up our prayers for our young Catholics in our families and in our parish family.
This is a must do act of charity.
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There are still some seats left for my FREE presentation on the history of all this.
Text 651-470-3958 to reserve your spot.
Sunday, January 21st.
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All books in the young adult section of DI bookshelves are
15% off
this Saturday when you mention this e-blast. This is one more effort to get good sound Catholic novels into the hands of every family so that they might serve as shark swords to help fight back.
Don't expect that your young people can float along and not be affected by what they are floating through
even
if they think they can.
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Store Hours
Sunday: 9:30 - Noon
Wednesday: Noon to 5:00 PM
Saturday: 8:30 - 10 AM
Anytime by appointment - call 651-470-3958
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* We are a family owned and operated business dedicated to our Lord and Blessed Lady.
* We are located in the former St. Augustine school building.
* We carry the latest Catholic books, devotional items, religious gifts, collectibles, statuary, jewelry, home- school materials.
* We carry gifts to celebrate the sacraments and all of life's special moments and events.
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