<div dir="auto">THANKS Art!</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Lots to consider - our Catholic history and incredible happenings with minimal response in our present world.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Sharon </div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 4, 2025 at 4:08 AM Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<h5 align="center" style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.04in;margin-bottom:0.08in;page-break-after:avoid">
<font face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><font size="5" style="font-size:18pt">Faith vs. Belief</font></font></h5>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in"> As
a child in catechism I was taught a set of beliefs, a Creed. I
was told that this was my faith. However, my faith is something
much more than mere beliefs.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">
When Jesus says, ‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you
could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the
sea,” and it would obey you.’ The faith that Jesus refers to is
quite different from the faith I was taught as a child.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">
For Saint Paul, faith in the resurrection is central. He writes
that through this faith, death has lost its sting. On another
occasion he says our faith in the resurrection conquers death.
In this Sunday’s Epistle, Paul speaks of the gift of faith given
to us—not a spirit of timidity, but one of "power, love, and
self-control." Christian faith has power precisely because it
overcomes the archetype of all fear: the fear of death.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">
For Jesus and Paul, faith is more than an intellectual
affirmation of doctrines or myths. It is a deep conviction, a
stance toward life that calls for the courage to face reality
and remain steadfast in the fight for justice. Understanding
that Paul wrote his epistle from a cold Roman dungeon, facing
death and largely abandoned, gives powerful context to his
uplifting courage. This genuine faith imbues us with love and
self-control, embodying the power of courage, resolve,
conviction, and integrity.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">
When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of his
empire, these very traits of genuine faith were likely what he
coveted for his army and civil service. Yet, in a tragic twist,
he ultimately sowed their demise. By compelling the bishops to
convene the Council of Nicaea, he orchestrated the creation of
the Nicene Creed—a unified belief system designed to organize
the empire. I believe this is the pivotal moment where the
empire shifted the meaning of faith. It was no longer the
courageous faith of Jesus and Paul, but was hollowed out into a
set of mandatory principles. A faith that took the sting out of
death was transformed into one that required obedience to a
creed, often under pain of death. Ironically, Constantine
undermined the very traits that had originally attracted him to
Christianity, substituting obedience to a creed for the genuine,
courageous faith of the early Church.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">
Today, the courage fostered by faith in the resurrection is all
but lost. In our country, Christian traditions and institutions
appear to be waning, replaced by a technocratic modernism. The
Nicene Creed is virtually meaningless in our contemporary
culture. Yet, obedience to a new, technocratic, trans-humanist
creed is alarmingly dominant. Our mainstream media daily
delivers a narrative—a story we believe tobe reality—that
functions as a new creed: Russia is trying to dominate the
world; to call out genocide is to be antisemitic; science is no
longer a method for discovery but a set of unquestionable
precepts. We are told that without Big Pharma we would die, and
if we speak against this narrative, we risk being jailed,
"canceled," or financially crippled. We are ruled by fear. <br>
</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in"> </p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">If
we possessed a faith that cancels fear, we could indeed say to
this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it
would obey us.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">Addendum: </p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">On
the face of it compare the protest climate here in Canada to the
outrage found in many other places in the world. In our country
there has been very little reporting on mainstream media about
the 50 ship flotilla loaded with supplies filled with courageous
protestors who stood up to the Israeli threats of death and
destruction in order to bring supplies and break the brutal
siege of the IDF. In an act of piracy the IDF seized these
ships in international waters and took the protesters into
custody. The response in many places in the world was strong. <br>
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<div style="margin:0 5px"> <img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mjCLjRPoWKk/maxresdefault.jpg" style="max-width:100%" alt="" width="239" height="135">
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<p><small style="font-weight:lighter"><a href="http://www.youtube.com" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p> <a href="#m_-6933696308539446140_" style="font-weight:600;text-decoration:none"><big>Global PROTESTS Break Out as Israel
SEIZES Gaza Flotilla</big></a> </p>
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<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in">It
is no coincidence that these momentous events are not broadcast
to us. The Gazan genocide doesn't fit into the dominant
narrative as do many other important events. In Jesus' words
the truth will set you free and we thus have to have the courage
to look past the narrative being fed to us to see the cold hard
realities that lie beyond. Only then can we act appropriately.</p>
<p style="line-height:100%;margin-top:0.12in;margin-bottom:0.12in"><br>
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<div align="right"><font face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">Art
Blomme Oct. 4, 2025</font><br>
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