ABOUT
Auspice Maria – Latin for, “Under the Protection of Mary” – is a digital library of creative videos, spiritual reflections, art, and other resources to help Catholics
deepen, defend, and dispense their faith. It is also a place for nonbelievers to see that Christianity is reasonable and beautiful, and one can find happiness and peace
in a relationship with Christ. Following in the footsteps of Our Lady, we aim to point others towards Jesus and ask for her intercession and assistance.
@AuspiceMariaMedia
GOD’S LOVE
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Out of God’s great love, He created you in His image and likeness and has a special plan for your life.
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He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, in the flesh to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:16).
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He rose from the dead, destroying death and transforming suffering.
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God desires your whole heart and wants an intimate relationship with you. He calls us all to repentance, healing, conversion, freedom, and a new life.
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You are invited to know God’s love, receive it, respond to it, and share it.
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More About the Gospel Message and “The Good News”
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY!
Is Faith in God Reasonable?
Faith is a word we are all quite familiar with. Every day we show faith in something or someone. For instance, we believe that our mechanic is honest with our car repairs because we trust him, and others have written positive reviews about him, and he hasn’t burned us in the past. Yet most of us don’t understand everything about engines and transmissions, but because our mechanic is credible and we know him, we accept his advice and believe he is charging a fair price and will get the job done.
Faith in God is similar. Although it is impossible to understand everything about God because the human mind is limited, it doesn’t mean believing in God is irrational. On the contrary, one has faith in God because he believes in the credible rational proofs for His existence and has faith in Jesus Christ because he has experienced his love and believes in the authentic eye-witness testimony of the Apostles, Sacred Scripture, and history.
Faith is not a blind belief in something fanatical or mythological, but it is a firm, unconditional assent to something reasonable. It is a humble surrender of the intellect because a loving trust confidently moves one to accept something as true, based on reliable evidence.
For More: St. Thomas Aquinas on Faith and Reason (Aquinas 101)
What is Catholic Apologetics?
Catholic Apologetics is a branch of theology devoted to explaining and defending Christianity’s divine origin and authority. It stems from the words of St. Peter, “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you…” (1 Peter 3:15). Thus, we strive to present the reasons for our faith and show that Faith and Reason are intimately connected and can never be separated.
St. Pope John Paul II summarized this unity beautifully when he said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
(Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 1998)
ENCOUNTER JESUS' LOVE IN THE SACRAMENTS
The sacraments (Baptism, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony), are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.
The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.
The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC, 1131, 1133, 1134)
