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Call Us in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at (866) 528-7993 |
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Thomas "Mac" Smith Visionary, Healing and Teaching Ministry Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood Mission Fund
OUR LADY OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD MISSION FUND IS SOLELY DEPENDENT ON YOUR DONATIONS PLEASE BE GENEROUS.
Please send your donations to Mac Smith-Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood Mission Fund and the address below:
34 Scenic Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72207 Ph. (501)425-4799 The Mission is a 501 (c)
tax- exempt non- profit corporation
A Request From Mac Smith,
"Our Lady has asked me to retire from being a Clinical Psychologist to give all my time to her mission; therefore, I work for the Blessed Mother and Her Mission and I solely dependent on your generosity!" Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood has given Mac Smith Permission to give out the financial request each month. Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood Mission Fund is in need of a new or used lap top. If anyone is interested in donating please contact us at (501)425-4799 We certainly appreciate your donations for Our Lady of the Mot Precious Blood Mission Fund. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you. We have and will continue to be nourished by God's blessings, brought forth from each and every one of your prayers. We encourage all who need healing to send in their prayer requests and pictures of loved ones to address above. _____________________________ The Bishop of Lafayette, La, Most Reverend
Michael Jarrell wrote a letter of recommendation for Thomas "Mac" Smith
and his ministry to the Archbishop of Maracaibo, Most Reverend Ubaldo
Ramon Santana Sequera, FMI in December 2005. Thomas "Mac" Smith is under the spiritual direction of Fr. Albert Nunez, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, La and the Liaison to the Bishop of Lafayette for Questions concerning this ministry please contact Fr. Nunez @ Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Washington, LA 309 East Moundville, St. Washington, LA
70589-0116 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 116, Washington, LA 70859 Phone: 337-826-7396 _________________________________ New Age vs. Personal Jesus By Mac Smith
New Age vs. Catholic Faith
Admittedly, we need to acknowledge there are more deep longings for a response of spirituality for individuals (human nature). The spirituality of the “New Age” runs counter to the Christian faith (dogma) and culture. Because of the “intellectual” and psychological approach to religion, the “New Age” spirituality, mainly due to the lack of intimacy with the Holy Spirit and Jesus and Our Blessed Mother has become popular with even Catholics in retreat houses, seminaries and institute of formation with religious. At the same time there is an increasing interest into the ritual (witchcraft, freemasonry) of long ago which is the reason or one of the reason for the growing interest in “Harry Potter”, “ET”, and Star Wars-“The Force Be With Your.” Books and courses in Eastern Religion are booming in sales and they are frequently labeled “New Age” for commercial purposes -money and more money. John Paul II warns with regard to the “return to the ancient Gnostic (no personal God, no Jesus Christ, no Holy Spirit) ideas under the guise of the “New Age”. This will not lead to a new concept of Christianity; it is only a trick to return to Gnosticism. That attitude of the spirit in the name of a profound knowledge of God, not Divine Revelation (like the Apostle’s Creed, Our Father, Divine Sorrow Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the words of the Gospel. Instead no sin and no judgment and reincarnation in that we keep returning on this earth -“Nirvana” this brought forth the Enneagram, which comes from no personal God.
In response the people of the Church need to do two things: 1.) The members of the Catholic Church need to root themselves ever more firmly in the fundamentals of the faith. 2.) To understand the often silent cry in people’s hearts, which leads them elsewhere if they are not satisfied with the Church.
Therefore, Our Blessed Mother, and in my personal case (Mac Smith) issue a prophetic call in all of us to come closer to Our Savior and her Son, Jesus Christ and be ready to follow Him, since He is “The Way, the Truth and the Life” Jesus Christ, the God-Man Savior, second person of the Blessed Trinity; The Eucharist- His Body and Blood (John 6) “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall not have eternal life.” This is the message of Our Lady all over the world with healing (physical and spiritual) confession, knowledge of spiritual warfare, the rosary and perpetual adoration becomes the fullness of life for every human being who chooses to receive what the Holy Spirit has to offer; every soul who heeds Our Lady’s message and the teaching authority of the Church. We must all ask the Holy Spirit to bring out the very best gift in our soul, not only for ourselves, but for those who most need prayer. Again in obedience to Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood we urge the devotion she is reenacting in the “The Life Offering” This prayer is now being distributed throughout South Louisiana, Venezuela, soon all of Latin America. New Age practices are really not a prayer, in that they are generally a question of self-analysis or fusion with some energy or force, The Force (substitute for God) be with you. This is in opposition to Catholic Christian in which we reflect upon and into our souls and essentially a meeting with God. This is not merely a human effort, as the New Age maintains but Christian Mysticism (union with God in and outside of our souls) but invites an attitude of conversion, a flight from oneself to the “You” of God. The Christian even when he is alone and prays in secret, he is conscious that he prays for the good of the Church in union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit and together with all the saints. Remember here is the false notions of the New Age. 1) Jesus Christ is often presented as one among many ‘wise men” (Avatar-Master) where in the Catholic Church’s Tradition, Jesus is the one and only Divine Son of God. Here is how the New Age deceitfully approaches spirituality. a) Jesus is not considered the one and only Christ but an Avatar. b) The death of Jesus Christ is either denied or re-interpreted to exclude the idea he as Christ could have suffered. c) Outside the bible documents (like the Neo-Gnostic gospels-no personal God) considered by the New Age as authentic aspect of the life of Jesus, which are not found in the canon Books of the bible. Other revelations about Jesus made available be entities spirit guides, ascended masters (Avatars). However in opposition to the New Age, the tradition of the Apostolic Catholic Church, Jesus Christ is the Jesus of Nazareth about which the gospels speak. The Son of Mary the Virgin, immaculately conceived without original sin and He is the Only Son of God true Man and true God, the full revelation of divine truth, unique Savior of the world. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilot, he suffered died and was buried on the third day he rose in fulfillment of the scripture. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. The New Age is an old age heresy, 1800 years old, condemned by the Church who responded with the Apostles Creed. More New Age techniques are to reproduce mental prayer or mystic prayer as it were a laboratory experiment, rebirth, divine breathing, hypnosis, mantra, magic, fasting, sleep deprivation, transcendental meditation- all the divine power comes within ourselves- we are God! Out of this comes white witchcraft, black witchcraft, Freemasonry, Satanism, reincarnation, Yin-Yang, tarot cars, voodoo. Different kinds of occult practices Ouiji board, “no such thing as a sin” Do whatever you think is right, Scientology, Unitarian church, Channeling (Witch), Wicca. Finally, the Church and parents must educate our children about the dangers of New Age.
THE FALSE GODS OF THE NEW AGE
By Monsignor Scott Marcusak Director of St. Andrews Cathedral, Little Rock AR
How odd, to turn so quickly from worship of the one True God, to the false worship of a statue of a golden calf, made from jewelry. The Israelites, God’s Chosen Ones, had become a stiff-necked” stubborn people, no longer open to the turning to the truth. Yahweh, the One True God, had bondage making them slaves again to darkness and depravity. We see Moses imploring God’s mercy, begging that He forgive idolatry and spare them.
In the Gospel too, the prodigal Son is seen worshiping false gods. He abandoned his family and tradition to adore money, power, sexual indulgence, celebrity. This is the kind of idolatry, which is so faithfully practice by our own contemporary society. We think we are too sophisticated to worship a golden calf, but we fall into the trap of worshiping other false gods.
In the current thought of what is called the New Age, we often here many spiritual ideas and notions introduced from Eastern religions and Pre-Christian pagan cults, which entice our ears and tickle our imagination, but which are spiritually dangerous. In our culture when we are bombarded with different values, it can be hard to understand clearly what is consistent and what is not consistent with the Christian message of the Gospel by which we guide our lives. So, briefly, let us consider certain basic principles to help us evaluate these New Age themes to see whether they are harmonious with our faith in Jesus Christ.
For us Christians, our concept of God is being with whom we have a special relationship. If God is considered as merely an “impersonal energy” or a “life –force” to be harnessed, that is a New Age heresy. God the Father-Son-Holy Spirit is the maker of heaven/earth, the source of all life, who created universe to share His life with us. Each human person is a unique creation, made in God’s image and likeness. Our “wholeness” as a person is achieved by becoming one with Him, not by becoming “one with the universal cosmos.” We become a whole person in union with Jesus Savior and through gifts of the Spirit.
Is there One Christ or many? For us Christians there is one Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus of Nazareth, True God and True Man, about whom the Gospels speak. However, in New Age thinking there are many wise men, several great prophets, all considered to be equally valid. (Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus) For us Jesus alone is Lord and Savior.
In New Age teachings, the future is in the stars, according to astrological configurations. Be very careful! Any attempt to gain knowledge or power from a source outside of Almighty God is pure idolatry. Seeking out the use of mediums, the use of magic, sorcery, Wicca all lead to a dangerous end. Only Jesus is the Son of God.
Do we save ourselves or are we saved by God’s love? In New Age thought, there are key words such as: self-fulfillment, self-realization, self-redemption. In a selfish way, it is all about consciousness as turning in on oneself, in self-promotion, with a fusion of individuals into the “cosmic self.” Rather, for us Christians, Salvation which comes from the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is a free gift from God given in our personal relationship with Him, rather than some technique we do on our own. Our human condition is affected by original sin and personal sin, which are our offenses against God, which can be rectified only by God’s saving action, His reconciliation offered to us through the blood shed by Jesus, by His death on the Cross. Do we invent the truth or do we embrace the Truth? New Age proponents say that truth is about “ good vibrations, cosmic harmony, and pleasant experiences.” For them, whatever feels good is true. This approach says that it’s a matter of finding one’s own truth with a “feel-good” indicator. This is of course the false current of “relativism” No. Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life. Christian followers open their whole lives to Him and His eternal values, which are the same objective reality, knowable to all for all times and generations.
Even in the area of prayer and meditation, there are problems with New Age. When we pray, are we talking to ourselves or to Almighty God? Many of the meditation techniques used by New Age proponents, are not real prayer. The can lead to more pleasant state of mind, bodily comfort, relation, removing distractions, which is really a preliminary disposition for true prayer, which is always a meeting, an encounter, a conversation with God, who is the Divine Other.
In New Age philosophies there is no real concept of sin, no distinction between good or evil. They excuse the bad as being merely “imperfect knowledge.” These practitioners say that what is needed is enlightenment, illumination which is reached through various techniques. In New Age it is taught that there are “thousands of ways of exploring inner reality. Go where your intelligence and intuition lead you.” However this broad unguarded ”openness” also leads to evil, directly to the occult. For Christians, sin is an abuse of the Freedom that God gives to us persons, when we turn away from His love.
New Age practitioners reject suffering, as “bad karma or a failure to harness one’s own resources. Reincarnation is even taught as an element in man’s spiritual evolution. While Christians hold that humans have a life for which we are fully responsible, we are on an unrepeatable journey destined towards eternity with God. We accept that Jesus the Redeemer suffered and died on the Cross for all. Therefore each one is to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has been redeemed, and thereby be lead to the Resurrection and eternal life with Him.
There is in our contemporary society a genuine yearning for a deeper spirituality. There is a search for something to touch our hearts, and help us make sense of this confusing world. But we do not need to look away from our Judeo- Christian tradition, to Neo-pagan sources. Instead, may we read the Scriptures daily and the Catechism, discuss and discern such matters, so that we are better able to understand the authentic doctrine and spirituality of our Christian tradition, our Catholic faith. Why go fashioning golden idols, or worshiping false gods, when we have the One True God the Father who reveals Himself to us through Jesus the Good Shepherd, who loves us in Holy Spirit. Like the prodigal son in the Gospel, we need to realize how far we are from our home, repent, come back to the welcoming arms of our loving God.
Adapted from “Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life; a Christian Reflection on the New Age.” Feb. 13, 2003, Origins by the Pontifical Council for Culture and Inter-religious Dialog |
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