all religions are equal?

often, it is easy to cross the thin line between the secular and the anti-religious.
secular, to me , is something essentially religiously neutral. i think of it as a situation where religious identity is irrelevant in the immediate context, example shaking hands with someone.
but it is no longer simply secularism to suggest that all religions are equal.
it is a secular state of things when all are given the same rights irrespective of their beliefs, but that does no mean that all religions are equal.
read an interesting article demolishing these apparently secular but actually anti-religious assumptions.
read it here.
chew on it.

greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his fellow man.... the feast day of st. maximilian kolbe

august 14th is the feast day of st. maxilmilian maria kolbe. i found that out today as i happened to go for morning mass (for a change, i know).
since i've always been inspired by his story, i thought i'd share it with you all (who all, i wonder)
anyway, here's the links, take your pick:
1) catholic forum's saints index
2) wikipedia article
3)from the jewish virtual library
4)kolbe net

and before i go,
st maximilian, pray that we to may have the courage to do as jesus calls us to do when the need arises, amen.

confession and forgiveness

stumbled upon an interesting article on the net the other day.
Where’s the forgiveness? at getreligion.org made for excellent reading. here's the two most significant lines:

When I confess my sins to my pastor, he forgives me in Christ’s stead. Other churches have variations on this, but in the whole “confession and absolution” structure, the emphasis is on forgiveness.

and

In traditional churches, the practice of private confession and absolution reminds the penitent how sin separates the believer from God and how merciful God is to forgive us — it isn’t supposed to make us feel better about our sin.

my personal experience with confession has been wonderful.

when i commit a sin and someone says to me "it's ok", they don't really mean my actions were correct, they mean i should not loose heart

the whole point of confession is that we recognise what we've done and ask pardon.

and in a valid, sacramental confession, one can be sure of forgiveness as instituted by jesus christ himself (gospel of st. john, 20:22-23)

sure, talking about one's mistakes helps, because we feel bad about our mistakes and in general, it helps to talk about anything that we feel bad about. but that's not the whole point of confession. neither is it the main point.

the main thing is forgiveness, and the return to a state of grace and communion with god

and these are the most wonderful words i've ever heard:

GOD THE FATHER OF MERCIES,

THROUGH THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF HIS SON,

HAS RECONCILED THE WORLD TO HIMSELF,

AND SENT THE HOLY SPIRIT AMONG US

FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH,

MAY GOD GIVE YOU PARDON AND PEACE,

I ABSOLVE YOU OF YOUR SINS,

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER,

AND OF THE SON,

AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

GO IN PEACE.