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1.Why didn't Jesus save her earlier?
Dear Father,
I have a friend that was possessed by a spirit or so you call it. The reason this happened was because of this website. I don't know how she got it but then I just found it out. You ask it questions and it answers you back. So my friend went to that website at home. She thought it was just like a fun website or something. She got there and asked him question and stuff. She asked him like "who's in my house?" He gave out the correct name and the number of people in her house and so on he answered her back and stuff, and every time he would answer her back he would always say: "The spirit is getting closer". Then the next day at school, about fourth to sixth hour when we were talking about it in class and during this time my friend was choking. She couldn't breath. There was a voice taunting her and whispering in her ears like: "You're going to die. You don't have much time, any second now…” and stuff like that. Then her face got really pale and almost white. Our teacher asked her if she wanted to go to the nurse’s office. She couldn't say any thing at all. It was like controlling her. It was taking over her body so then we had to help her and bring her to the bathroom. She believes in Jesus a lot. She draws crosses on her notebook and says WWJD mean What Would Jesus Do. But so then why didn't Jesus save her earlier? Please help. She's still in pain and this has happened to me. But I got headaches instead. Please help.
A
Dear A,
There is a possibility that this is just a physical problem. I suggest that you and your friend go to see a doctor to check if there is any illness involved. If no illness was found, then you might want to talk to a parish priest in your area. The power of evil is hidden everywhere. It is hard to tell whether it is the work of a evil power or just physical or psychological problem. There is a possibility of foul play by the devil.
God respect our freedom and the devil also take advantage of that by exercising control over those who choose to get into his dominion. Jesus gives us protection against evil in the sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist. However we often ignore these great gifts and expose ourselves to evil.
Internet is a great tool if we use it for our own good. But it can turn into a deadly weapon destroying ourselves if we do not use it for a good purpose. Myspace is one of the attractive websites to teenagers. But it is the most dangerous one, because where there are many baits, there are also many predators. Home boys and home girls are easy targets to those predators on this website. I advice teenagers to stay away from this website and similar websites. God bless.
2. Was Protestant just a movement of Martin Luther, who rebelled against the Catholic church?
Dear Fr. Bernard,
Based on what I have learned and known that there is only one Hoi Thanh on this world, which continues Jesus Christ’s mission in the world. However, I wonder why other religions such as Protestant which separated from Roman Catholic and called their church as Hoi Thanh Tin Lanh. Did they name Hoi Thanh because it sounds cool? I thought Protestant was just a movement of Martin Luther, who rebelled against the Catholic church around 16th century and it cannot be called a religion. Am I right?
X
Dear X,
The Catholic Church is the original church founded by Christ. Those who believe in Christ are called Christians. We Catholics have our root from the original Christians. Christian is the one religion that was the Catholic Church since the beginning. Throughout the history of 2000 years, there were several divisions from the Catholic Church: The eastern orthodox Churches, the protestants. Many protestant groups called themselves churches (hội thánh) but appropriately they are called denominations (giáo phái). Our religion is Christian (Kitô Giáo), but in that there are the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. For distinction we often put Catholic as our religion rather than just Christian.
3. I am confused! I have no clue what religion I belong to.
Dear Fr. Bernard,
I'm confused I have no clue if I am a Christian or Catholic. All I really think that I'm Catholic. Let's see my parents say I'm Catholic but then I go to a church that is Christian and Catholic? Woo! I am confused! I have no clue what religion I belong to.
X
Dear X,
You are a Catholic Christian. You get confused by the non-Catholic Christians because they lost their root, their origin. The Catholic Church is the original Christian Church founded by Christ. When Martin Luther, a former Catholic priest, rebelled against the Catholic Church in the 16th century, he left the Catholic Church along with many followers. Later his followers disagreed with him and separated from his group and founded other denominations. So division gave birth to more divisions. The non-Catholic Christian churches do not want to acknowledge their root, the Catholic Church. They even condemn or give the Catholic Church a bad name to cover up their guilty feeling. When you don't have a root, you are lost and confused. So you need to go back to your root, your origin. That is the Catholic Church. God bless.
4. I've lost most of my trust in my best friend. Should I forgive and forget like Jesus taught us to?
Dear Father,
I've had a trust problems growing up and my best friend has been able to accept that. So naturally, she gained my trust over the years and has never broken it. We're graduating together and going to high school together, too. For the last few months, she made new friends and so have I. One of her new friends came up to me one day and asked me a question on a subject that I kept close to me because it hurts whenever the subject is brought up. The question shocked me because only one person knew about it. That was my friend. I confronted my friend that same day and she said that it shouldn't matter to me. I've lost most of my trust in her. I feel like I can't speak to her about anything important because she'll probably tell her friends about it, too. What should I do, Father? Should I forgive and forget like Jesus taught us to? Should I just forget about the incident or tell her to get away from me? If I tell her to get away from me, do you think that she'll tell her friends about everything I've told her over the years? Thank you for reading my e-mail and God bless,
Q
Dear Q,
It seems to me you are a very sensitive person. You are afraid to be vulnerable and get hurt. There is a upside and a downside to it. The upside is that you try to be nice, not to hurt anyone. The downside is shyness and hesitation on everything. To be loving to others is to open yourself up and become vulnerable. If you try to be safe and put all kind of protection around you, people cannot come close to you. To trust someone is to take risks. If you tell anyone who break your trust to go away, you will soon have no one left to be your friend.
You did not tell me what was the issue involved, so I cannot advice you specifically. I can only say to you generally. If the matter is not too important, then just tell your friend that you expect her to be more discrete about what you tell her, not to spread it around. If it is something really important to you then you might want to explain to her why is it important and ask her to be careful about what she is telling other people.
Trust is an important factor in society. If a person really is untrustworthy, then you don't need such a friend. However if a person makes a mistake of misunder-standing or miscommunication, then clear it up by a serious talk then put the problem behind and move on. God bless.
5. what are the meanings of the red and white rays in the image of the divine mercy?
Dear Fr. Bernard,
In the image of the divine mercy, what are the meanings of the red and white rays? Have a nice day.
T
Dear T,
Concerning your question about the two rays of light in the image of the divine mercy, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and asked her to paint this image. She asked the same question that you asked. This was Jesus' answer: "The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross... Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him." God bless.
Fr Bernard - NS.TTĐM
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