Unchurched Population Nears 100 Million in the US*
A recent poll conducted by the Barna research organization of the American public reveals that today one out of every three adults (33%) are unchurched, meaning they have not attended any type of religious service during the last six months. The number of unchurched in America has increased by 36% since 1994. And of that number, 25% of Catholics are unchurched.
We'd like to know how often you attend Church Services. If you don't attend often, e-mail us at 1bread@excite.com and let us know why not? The first 100 e-mails we receive will get a free gift.
*Source: Barna Update: Unchurched Population Nears 100 Million in U.S., March 19, 2007, www.barna.org.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
What is Happiness?
By Denise Bossert
Are some people just naturally happy? Like the Disney dwarf that bears the name, some people just always have a smile regardless of what comes along. But even “Happy” could not preserve his happiness when Snow White lay dead. Likewise, even the happiest dispositions seem to lose their joy when things around them go bad. So what is the key to lasting happiness?
Is there any hope for those of us who are overly sensitive, irritable, or cynical? If the naturally happy people can’t retain happiness, what hope is there for us?
In his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says that he has learned to be content whether he has much or little. True happiness is not a product of our circumstances and it is not a genetic predisposition. In short, it is God who grants peace and joy. The key to lasting happiness rests simply in knowing that God is in charge.
It is one thing to know what St. Paul is saying in a theoretical sense, but how can I find that contentment right here, right now? Where is that fountain of joy? I cannot will myself into a happy disposition. I cannot click my heels three times and find it. If it isn’t a question of calm days and prosperous years, what can I do or where can I go to find what St. Paul found?
The ultimate source of happiness is not money or romance. I know this from experience, for I have lived below the poverty line. I have qualified for food stamps, Medicaid, and free cheese from governmental surplus handouts. I have also known prosperity. I have spent week-long vacations at expensive resorts and enjoyed fine dining. I drive a Volvo and have a custom-built house with a gourmet kitchen.
I have known love. I have received flowers, chocolates, jewelry, and mushy cards from lovers. I have also known heartache. I have been dumped, rejected, and divorced.
I have given birth, and I have buried those I love.
When am I the happiest? Was it in prosperity or poverty? Was it when I knew love or loss?
The answer to the question is so easy. I am happiest when I kneel after receiving Holy Communion. When everything else, both good and bad, falls away and there is only my Lord and my God, that is when I am happiest. I am happiest in that moment because He comes with mercy and grace and peace and quiets the storms (and parties) of my life. I am happiest when He takes over and I just let Him do it.
All the Saints knew it. Of course, they had profound ways to describe it, but here it is in a nutshell. God is my happiness. Above Him, there is no other happiness. Apart from him, there is no lasting joy.
So, the only real question is how can you find God? Seek me, and you will find me, when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord (Jeremiah 29).
Seek, and you will find. Walk with God and his goodness will come to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over (Luke 6). Where can you find Him? At the foot of a cross, when you let Him reign in your heart, and when you open your life to Him and let Him commune with your soul.
You find that kind of happiness wherever you find Jesus.
He’s there in the confessional. He’s there in Holy Communion. He’s there in every face of the weak and poor and lonely and hurting.
He’s there in your calling. He’s there in the unfolding plan for your life.
He’s there in a birth. He’s there in a death.
He’s there when you are eating at a fine restaurant or eating governmental surplus.
He’s there when you are walking down the aisle to get married, and he’s there when the man of your dreams leaves you for someone else.
Indeed, I have learned to be content in all things, for I have sought Him and found Him.
My Lord and my God. You are my happiness.
Amen. Alleluia.
Are some people just naturally happy? Like the Disney dwarf that bears the name, some people just always have a smile regardless of what comes along. But even “Happy” could not preserve his happiness when Snow White lay dead. Likewise, even the happiest dispositions seem to lose their joy when things around them go bad. So what is the key to lasting happiness?
Is there any hope for those of us who are overly sensitive, irritable, or cynical? If the naturally happy people can’t retain happiness, what hope is there for us?
In his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says that he has learned to be content whether he has much or little. True happiness is not a product of our circumstances and it is not a genetic predisposition. In short, it is God who grants peace and joy. The key to lasting happiness rests simply in knowing that God is in charge.
It is one thing to know what St. Paul is saying in a theoretical sense, but how can I find that contentment right here, right now? Where is that fountain of joy? I cannot will myself into a happy disposition. I cannot click my heels three times and find it. If it isn’t a question of calm days and prosperous years, what can I do or where can I go to find what St. Paul found?
The ultimate source of happiness is not money or romance. I know this from experience, for I have lived below the poverty line. I have qualified for food stamps, Medicaid, and free cheese from governmental surplus handouts. I have also known prosperity. I have spent week-long vacations at expensive resorts and enjoyed fine dining. I drive a Volvo and have a custom-built house with a gourmet kitchen.
I have known love. I have received flowers, chocolates, jewelry, and mushy cards from lovers. I have also known heartache. I have been dumped, rejected, and divorced.
I have given birth, and I have buried those I love.
When am I the happiest? Was it in prosperity or poverty? Was it when I knew love or loss?
The answer to the question is so easy. I am happiest when I kneel after receiving Holy Communion. When everything else, both good and bad, falls away and there is only my Lord and my God, that is when I am happiest. I am happiest in that moment because He comes with mercy and grace and peace and quiets the storms (and parties) of my life. I am happiest when He takes over and I just let Him do it.
All the Saints knew it. Of course, they had profound ways to describe it, but here it is in a nutshell. God is my happiness. Above Him, there is no other happiness. Apart from him, there is no lasting joy.
So, the only real question is how can you find God? Seek me, and you will find me, when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord (Jeremiah 29).
Seek, and you will find. Walk with God and his goodness will come to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over (Luke 6). Where can you find Him? At the foot of a cross, when you let Him reign in your heart, and when you open your life to Him and let Him commune with your soul.
You find that kind of happiness wherever you find Jesus.
He’s there in the confessional. He’s there in Holy Communion. He’s there in every face of the weak and poor and lonely and hurting.
He’s there in your calling. He’s there in the unfolding plan for your life.
He’s there in a birth. He’s there in a death.
He’s there when you are eating at a fine restaurant or eating governmental surplus.
He’s there when you are walking down the aisle to get married, and he’s there when the man of your dreams leaves you for someone else.
Indeed, I have learned to be content in all things, for I have sought Him and found Him.
My Lord and my God. You are my happiness.
Amen. Alleluia.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Free Book on Meaning of Life
Looking for meaning in your life? Have you ever considered looking into the Catholic Church - no it's not a dinasour. One billion members around the world are finding meaning in their lives in the Catholic Church.
Jesus said he has the answers to life's question and the Catholic church claims to be the Church that Jesus founded.
If you are willing to attend a church service at a Catholic Church in your hometown and write us about it, we'll send you Boston College Philosophy Professor Peter Kreeft's book "A Pocket Guide to the Meaning of Life" free of charge.
Here's how to get the book. After attending the church service, send us an e-mail to 1bread@excite.com. Tell us the following information:
NOTE: To qualify for this free book, you can not have attended a Catholic Church service within the past six months prior to the visit that you are making in order to receive this free book offer. Books available while supplies last.
Jesus said he has the answers to life's question and the Catholic church claims to be the Church that Jesus founded.
If you are willing to attend a church service at a Catholic Church in your hometown and write us about it, we'll send you Boston College Philosophy Professor Peter Kreeft's book "A Pocket Guide to the Meaning of Life" free of charge.
Here's how to get the book. After attending the church service, send us an e-mail to 1bread@excite.com. Tell us the following information:
- Church attended
- Location of Church
- Pastor's Name
- Date of attendance
- Gospel message
- Description of Church decor
- Impression of the service
- Answer to the question whether you would attend again
NOTE: To qualify for this free book, you can not have attended a Catholic Church service within the past six months prior to the visit that you are making in order to receive this free book offer. Books available while supplies last.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Fulfillment in Work
Hey you? Do you live to work or work to live? Good question, isn't it? If you live to work, your life revolves around your career - you derive your sense of self-worth and fulfillment from what you do.
If you work to live, then your work is subordinate to your personal life - it is a way to subsidize or fund that life that you are living. You derive most of your fulfillment from your life outside of work.
Frankly, I would surmise that most of us are fulfilled by both our work and our personal lives in different ways. Yet pondering this question helps us to analyze whether we are living a life that is balanced between our work and our personal lives.
Different people have very differing views on work. Henry Ford said:
What do you think about your work? Fulfilling or drudgery?
If you work to live, then your work is subordinate to your personal life - it is a way to subsidize or fund that life that you are living. You derive most of your fulfillment from your life outside of work.
Frankly, I would surmise that most of us are fulfilled by both our work and our personal lives in different ways. Yet pondering this question helps us to analyze whether we are living a life that is balanced between our work and our personal lives.
Different people have very differing views on work. Henry Ford said:
There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.Martin Luther King said:
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellenceGeorge Halas said:
Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else.
What do you think about your work? Fulfilling or drudgery?
Finding Yourself
Today Soul Searcher quotes a famous 20th century philosopher and theologian of the Catholic Church, Thomas Merton.
Today it so very easy to let the popular culture, especially the media, music, and popular fashion, define who we are. Isn't this abdicating our responsibility to find ourselves?
How do we know why we're here and what we were put here for if we don't take a serious look into it. For what if we live our whole life without finding this out - would our life be wasted?
Thomas Merton said:
If you're not familiar with Thomas Merton, I recommend reading his biography on Wikepedia. Also pick up any of his books, especially, "The Ascent to Truth" or "The Seven Story Mountain."
In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for "finding himself." If he persists in shifting his respponsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence.
Today it so very easy to let the popular culture, especially the media, music, and popular fashion, define who we are. Isn't this abdicating our responsibility to find ourselves?
How do we know why we're here and what we were put here for if we don't take a serious look into it. For what if we live our whole life without finding this out - would our life be wasted?
Thomas Merton said:
We do not exist for ourselves.
If you're not familiar with Thomas Merton, I recommend reading his biography on Wikepedia. Also pick up any of his books, especially, "The Ascent to Truth" or "The Seven Story Mountain."
Friday, March 30, 2007
What is life all about?
Do you sometimes feel like you are adrift at sea…that your life has no sense of direction. You’re not that happy with your job, your friends, or family situation and you want to make a change, but just can’t get the motivation to make the next move, partly because you don’t know what move to make!
You get up each morning—and you’re not a morning person—and you force yourself to go to work each day until Friday comes…and you make plans to have some fun over the weekend. And no matter what you do—visit a bar, go to a ballgame, carouse with the opposite sex—that fleeting feeling of pleasure soon dissipates and you’re left feeling unfulfilled and facing another work week of drudgery and boredom.
You are NOT ALONE! Millions of people in America and untold billions around the world aren’t happy.
This Website proposes some wisdom from the sages of this century and centuries past to help you discover, what they discovered, the true keys to happiness in this life and the here after.
You get up each morning—and you’re not a morning person—and you force yourself to go to work each day until Friday comes…and you make plans to have some fun over the weekend. And no matter what you do—visit a bar, go to a ballgame, carouse with the opposite sex—that fleeting feeling of pleasure soon dissipates and you’re left feeling unfulfilled and facing another work week of drudgery and boredom.
You are NOT ALONE! Millions of people in America and untold billions around the world aren’t happy.
This Website proposes some wisdom from the sages of this century and centuries past to help you discover, what they discovered, the true keys to happiness in this life and the here after.
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