mycatholicchat.com blog

 My latest book has been released.... and i got the follwing review, which was really nice: Review Rating: 5 Stars - Congratulations on your 5-star review! Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite Immerse yourself in the story of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, from a perspective few have seen before. In A Mother's Walk Through Scripture, Donna Silveira focuses on the life of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, who spent thirty years of her life with Him and was His first and foremost disciple, long before the twelve Apostles. When the angel Gabriel reveals to Mary she is the one to give birth to the Lord, she humbly accepts her responsibility. Even after learning Simeon's sorrowful prophecy, Mary dedicates her life to following the teachings and path of Jesus, from witnessing His first public ministry to His crucifixion at Golgotha and eventually His resurrection and ascension. Despite facing enormous trials and tribulations, Mary remains meek yet resolute throughou...

 Well.... the paperback version of my book just went live. Sometimes it's difficult to see God's plan, but I suppose the best we can do is try to respond to whatever God is leading us to do. I've spent a fair amount of time and energy on this...  so now it's in God's hands. It is nice when people review it, and they react positively, although i know that's not going to be the case all the time.  There is no joy without suffering.  But at least I've done my due diligence in getting the word out.   this is the first post which is live....   https://joelbooks.com/popular-eschatology-books-end-times/ the kindle version will be available starting on August 27. I don't know if I'll get the audiobook version finished...  I was trying to record it myself, and it's unbelievably slow going!  (there are a few French and Latin terms in there.... and I do get rather tongue-tied trying to pronounce some of this stuff).  God is so good though.......

  for "no salvation outside the Catholic Church"... that is still the teaching of the Church....  https://www.catholic.com/magazine/onl... missing mass is STILL a mortal sin (against the 3rd commandment of keeping holy the sabbath)  https://www.catholic.com/magazine/pri... the eating meat is not the mortal sin, but rather the disobeience to the church. and we are STILL under the obligation to do penance during lent:  https://jimmyakin.com/2004/04/meat_on... the idea of limbo was simply a theory of what happens to unbaptized babies --- not an obligation of how we are supposed to act, or what's acceptable. The concern was that they didn't want to minimize the necessity of baptism, which is probably how the limbo thing came about. for a good writeup on the understanding of why women can't be priests, i'll point you here: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/pri...

I address this in my upcoming book, but I just wanted to make a quick mention here... Women priests goes against Christ.  It's that simple.   Jesus was a man. The priest acts "in persona Christi"... (in the person of Christ).  No offense to the transgender community, but.... yeah... not happening.  It really is okay to stay in your own lane. That doesn't mean you're somehow "diminished" because you can't do something that someone else does. A fish is no "less" than a bird, which is no "less" than a lion. We all have our areas that we have dominion over, and each is impressive and unique and gives glory to God. It is envy, plain and simple, that drives this mentality. People seem to think that if they're excluded from some role or action, that they are somehow "cheated" of living the fullness of life. I wonder if it ever occurred to someone that Mozart was a genius on the piano (or harpsichord in that day, I think).  ...

 I have been incredibly busy, finally finishing up a book on the end times.   Going through numerous prophecies, the lives and writings of various mystics and seers, countless books, pamphlets, websites, biographies....   this has been an exhausting endeavor.  I'm glad to be at the point that I  can start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though.  What started me on this trek was the vast amount of misinformation and false prophecy out there.  I've been caught before by false apparitions, so I've learned to take a more cautious approach these days.  Long ago, I had read one of the most beautiful descriptions of the mass that I had ever read.   Continuing on with the various messages, though, I found messages with directly contradict church teaching, which absolutely show that those messages (even if supernatural) are not coming from *heaven*.  Many other messages are far more subtle. That's why scripture tells us t...

 Obviously "blogging" is not my forte.   I tend to be so busy with so many things, that I simply forget about the blog.  Updating the website, doing the bible in a year on the discord server,  maintaining the discord chat room, and a thousand other things....  but it's all part of the plan, i suppose. I try to go where God leads.... but sometimes it seems i'm led in really odd places.  trying to maintain my prayer life is important, too.  It's really easy to get so enmeshed in all the "things" I'm doing, that I simply forget to pray.   I've had more than one night where i've said the rosary somewhere between midnight and two AM.  (maybe insomnia's good for something after all!)  Maybe it's time for me to shave off some things and focus on others.  That could also be the lesson here.

Every action we take, every decision, makes a profound difference to the entire world. We think we can do anything we want, because "it really doesn't make a difference".  We rationalize away our sins this way saying "it doesn't really hurt anyone"...   but is that really true? One of my favorite movies is "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart.  It exemplifies how many other lives were touched by one man - and the profound effect his actions had on each of their lives.   One of my favorite scenes was when the angel was telling George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart's character) - "All those men on that transport died.  Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry". That's true of all of us.  At my brother's funeral, I heard someone tell a story about when my brother was in High School.  He was walking past someone he knew, and made some funny remark to make the guy laugh, which he did, and th...

 Sometimes it's a little tough to maintain your faith.   Bad things happen, right?  But where is it written that because we follow Christ we're supposed to have things easy?   If I recall correctly, Jesus said "If the world hates you, remember it hated me first..."   He also said "pick up your cross DAILY and follow me." There was nothing easy about His crucifixion.  It was the ultimate act of self-sacrifice -- personal suffering for another's benefit.  There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend.   Christ's whole example in his ministry was one of self-sacrifice.   If we are to be followers of Jesus, then we have to follow his *example*.   We can't expect things to be easy.  This is not the time for doubt - but rather a time to double-down on our faith in God. Jesus did say that we are the beloved children of the Father, and that the father will give good things to His children, j...

 These past couple of years have been sort of insane --- we've dealt with covid and lockdowns, we're dealing with runaway inflation, and it just seems life is becoming so much more difficult, right? In the past couple of years I've been focusing on self-development, have become a certified coach, and worked on my own personal growth.  So I do apologize for not posting, and letting this sort of fall by the wayside. But in the midst of suffering and trials, we can still find joy.  Knowing that God is with us allows us to experience true joy.   It took me a long time to understand that in my own life.  However, knowing that God has your back allows you to go through anything.  That doesn't mean that you'll be walking around in some form of delusional happiness, ignoring reality.  Quite the opposite.   I'll give you an example. A couple of years ago, my adult daughter was struggling, and living about 5 hours away from me.  I suggested t...

Well, here we are again. People are shocked, lives are shattered, shepherds have shown themselves to be untrustworthy.  We ask ourselves, "Are we not doing things right?" - "I thought we fixed this"....  "We have rules and procedures to prevent these things now".   I submit to you that this is not a procedural problem, but a spiritual one.  And we have been warned.   Multiple times. Our Lady has appeared numerous times to us - Fatima, Ecuador, Akita and elsewhere.   Her message is always the same:  "Pray the rosary daily, offer sacrifices in reparation for sin.  Turn away from evil and back to God."    The same message she gave at the wedding at Cana:   "Do whatever He tells you". At Fatima, in 1917, she told the children: “This war will end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin...” Think about it.   World war II did NOT have to...

I started thinking that maybe God could have done it better if after we reached adulthood, we could get these old decrepit bodies in our twenties, then work backward to the physical health we had then.   It would be SO much better if we could have the health we had in our twenties, and the wisdom we get in old age!    But then God showed me why he did it this way: We start off as babies - and we're cute, and sweet, and lovable.   We're not very "useful" at this point, in terms of "work" or "productivity".  What we are is pure love...  (and CRAZY amounts of energy!) and in the pure love of a child, you can see God.  Children grow, and learn, until their late teens/ early 20's when they're considered "adults".    Talk to any 20 year old, and they're convinced that they're going to go out and conquer the world.   Talk to any 50 year old, and they'll say, (as I do), "I was SUCH an idiot when I was 20".   ...

Catholics *used* to be seen with their rosary in hand... it used to be one sign of a Catholic.   Unfortunately, it seems to have fallen "out of fashion".    I think we need to reconsider what we're neglecting. In today's world, many Catholics, protestants, and even non-religious can see how messed up the world is, and how much we need to change -- that was one of Trumps main attractants to people in the US.... getting back to where we USED to be....    I'll agree on one level.   We need to get back to where we used to be --- we need to get back to being a rosary-praying people!    The rosary is a meditation on the entire Gospel and incarnation of Christ.   But if you look at the history of the rosary (one talk on the bible studies page gives a good history of the rosary), you'll see that this is more than "some devotion".   When Our Lady appeared in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, she told the children  " Say the R...

Each of us fails.  That's no secret.   But do we always get back up?  It's easy to wallow in self-pity, or get discouraged - but that's not what we're meant to do. Jesus gave us the example.  He fell three times carrying his cross.  He didn't fall in new and spectacular ways when he fell -- he just fell.   The thing is, as badly bruised and broken as he was, he still got back up. I've been gone for awhile, having had surgery, getting back to work, and having numerous responsibilities that I've had to attend to.... all of which were clamoring for my attention.  So i let this go.  I failed. But today -- i resolve to get back on track, to get back up, to just keep going, because I think that this is something that God is asking of me.  If i'm truly a disciple of Christ, there's no saying "no".   There's only one answer --- "yes".  I won't worry about the "how", or "when" -- i'll just let Go...

As I think about my life, I can look and see all my possessions, that will be left to my children when I die.   However, is I have to ask myself, is this all there is?  Is this all I've managed to do with my life?  Is this all I have to give?  I think my children would tell you that I've given them some form of moral compass... even if it isn't all that I dreamed, necessarily...   I've demonstrated to them what it means to be responsible, and faithful, and self-giving.   But even if I hadn't done any of these things until now, I can recognize that I still have today, and God willing, I'll have tomorrow.   So what will I do with this time?  What treasures will I be storing up? I think I'm at the point where I'm far less concerned about the financial things I can achieve - even though I could busy myself with all sorts of financial goals at this point....  I'm certainly not "financially secure"...   But after m...

Jesus called people to follow him.  What does that mean exactly?   What does that mean for ME?  Ok, two thousand years ago, people wandered around around Galilee with Jesus listening to him teach, right?   That's what he meant, right?  Well, not exactly -- that's only partially correct.   Jesus wanted the disciples to follow him... to learn from him... to not only be able to memorize the things he said, but to understand *why* -- to have an understanding of God the Father and his relationship to us,  our relationship to God, an understanding of why Jesus did what he did... the meaning of his sacrifice.... understanding the effects of sin... and much much more --- so that they could go out and DO.    After the resurrection, in Acts, the apostles ask Jesus if he's going to set up his kingdom now -- now that he conquered death.  What was Jesus' answer?  basically "Me???  no.... *I'M* not going to establish the king...

Success is a strange thing. As I was younger, I used to think that all this different "stuff" would make me happy. Good job, a house, nice vehicles... Strangely, though, it didn't. I had seemingly "everything" - but I didn't have (or much want) a relationship with God. I went through the motions, but honestly felt that truly following God would "cramp my style". If this sounds like you, let me save you some time... NOTHING that the world tells you that you need to "make you happy" will ACTUALLY make you happy: Not houses - Honestly, you'll find that you don't typically live ALL OVER the house, anyway. Not cars - aside from wrecking them, a car is a car, is a car - and gets you from point A to point B. Not money - you can only buy so much junk, before it just becomes "more junk". Not a lavish lifestyle - you can only be "cool" for so long, till it just becomes *stupid*. Not parties -- even parties get old...