Looking for Alleluia

I grew up in the 1960's which was the period of time between the Old Church and the Vatican II Church. So I have seen Lent from both sides of the street. Early in my career at Saint Joseph and Saint Anne School, I was a good do-be.  I rose early enough to get to daily Mass to please God for my devotion to Him but more importantly to ingratiate myself to the good sisters of Saint Joseph who infested, ahh, I mean who taught us bright and willing baby boomers. We were all well trained and entered and exited the pews with military precision, each one of us genuflecting while the next child waited for his or her turn. After genuflecting we either moved to the end of the pew waiting for the sit-down signal or if we were exiting the pew we began moving towards the communion rail where we would kneel to receive communion or execute a smart about face, kid style, and make our way to the exit. There were a whole lot of other things the prudent student would observe.  First and foremost, of course, was the position of one's head. It was kept facing towards the altar. A kid's head facing left or right or God forbid facing backward was certainly not praying for the success of the mission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph or to pass that day's spelling test.  No! It was either preparing to talk or actually talking to one's neighbor.  The nun in charge of security immediately went to the offender and reminded him (it was never a girl) what he should be doing.  If the miscreant happened to be amongst the first three children in the row, the guard, I mean sister, might just assist the child by grabbing both of the kids ears and re-training his gaze onto the altar again.  The other thing the sisters insisted upon was good posture whilst kneeling. A boy with his butt resting on the seat of the pew while kneeling could expect quick rebuke and assistance from the sister who observed the sloppy posture. It was never a girl that would offend with sloppy posture because girls always did what was right, at least while sister was looking.  I think that the worst Catholic service to be at when you were a kid was the stations of the cross. I say this because first of all, they were so long!  Secondly, it was the closest thing at SJSA to a gym class because you knelt and stood and knelt and stood some more until you thought it would never end.  The only good thing about it was that we got out of school forty-five minutes early.  All eight grades participated in this ritual.  It was awe inspiring to see hundreds of kids silently participating in a troop movement that used all of the exits of the school, culminating with every grade silently in their places ready to go in five minutes.  I think the only boy that loved the stations of the cross was Jackie Gleason.  No, not the Jackie Gleason of the Honeymooners, this was a boy who did EVERYTHING perfectly. He walked with his hands out of his pockets. He had the straightest posture possible. He was always smiling. He ALWAYS got one-hundred on his spelling tests and he knew how to diagram sentences like a pro. He was forever volunteering for whatever would get him more brownie points. He always knelt straight and true and the sisters pointed out all of his good qualities when correcting a boy in need of correction. Needless to say, he was hated by all of the boys in class but was exempt from playground retribution because not even the worst bully in the school would want to bully a living saint, besides, he played all sports well. 

The thing that I remember about these pre-Vatican II days is how grim and solemn the mass and decorations were. I remember that we did not do much singing back then. Rather we had an organist with an adenoid issue slaughtering Gregorian chants that we could not understand. I remember thinking at the time that any minute an undertaker was going to be pushing in a casket and a funeral mass would be starting.  Back then, the word "Alleluia" was just another word in a foreign language and quite honestly I do not know if too many people noticed that it was missing.  I knew that the Gloria was missing because the mass was shorter and that was okay by me!

Vatican II came and went and during the Kumbaya period of the liturgy, I was taking my teenage sabbatical from church.  I guess that those early years of change were quite traumatic for some of the adult members of the Church back then. The quiet time where they could say their Rosaries now had become times where they were expected to participate, in English!  I can't get into how in some respects we went too far at that time and threw the baby out with the bathwater.  Imagine my surprise when I returned to the Church and found the priest facing the congregation, the old time choir that handled music was gone and we, the people, who were known now as "the people of God" participated in worship by raising our voices in song.   Can you imagine the first time I experienced the sign of peace?  I have to tell you, it was very hard for me to break years of discipline and turn around in the pew.

Okay, all of the above is the background to the subject of this post which is the word Alleluia.  I hope when you were at church this weekend you enjoyed singing the Alleluia before you heard the Gospel reading. It will be the last time you will hear the Gloria and the Alleluia until Lent is over.  Why is this?  The Gloria and the Alleluia are the songs of the angels in heaven and our singing them is a reminder that heaven has begun for us here on earth through the Church.  So, are we being punished?  No, the Church is not punishing us.  Rather, it is reminding us that while heaven begins on earth, we are still on a journey.  During Lent, we are to walk closer with the Lord in our life.  Over the next five weeks, we are called to think about our lives and how to bring ourselves closer to Christ and to more closely model His life in ours.  As the time goes on we want to shout Glory to God in the highest!  We want to let the Alleluia's ring out. But we can't and this longing increases as the time of Lent extends.  Then, on Easter, when we hear the joyful new proclaimed that Jesus has risen, our Alleluia's will be more heartfelt and more joyous than at any other time of the year.  So as the last alleluia fades from your ear, remember that when you complete your Lenten journey you will be able to praise God with the angels again.  

So, one more time for old time's sake let's sing, "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!" 

Astrology, Fortune Telling, Psychic Readings - Trouble Predicted

Maybe it is a sign of the times we are living in.  I have noticed in my town, right on the corner of my block actually, a psychic reader has hung up her shingle (actually a neon sign) offering psychic readings to all who want them. I know it is a sign of my age that I remember a Dragnet episode where they bust a fortune teller who schemes to steal her customer's money by telling her that it is cursed and must be burned.  The victim seemingly goes to the bank and pulls out all her money. She brings a wad of cash back to the fortune teller. The so-called fortune teller puts it in a bag and after having the lady herself sealing it, she promises that all of the victim's troubles would soon over as the flames burned the curse trapped in the tainted money.  Well, the bag burns and once it is all ashes the victim stands up and says that she feels better. Into the parlor steps, our hero's and they greet the policewoman whose money had been burned.  They find the bag with the real money hidden on the fortune teller and they cart her off to jail for theft by deception.  

That is what is wrong with the world of psychic readings, fortune tellers, and astrology.  It is all a scheme to separate you from your money,  The whole kit and kaboodle are built on a platform of straw that even a teaspoon full of logic show how weak the whole structure is. But if it was just money that was involved I would be tempted to say that those that want to give their money away should be allowed to give it to charlatans if that is what makes them happy.  But much more is involved than money.  What is involved here is your immortal soul. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone" (CCC 2116)

The practices of these dark arts are deeply sinful as they are a violation of the first commandment where we are to worship God alone. All occult practices are tools of the devil and should be avoided at all costs. 

Let's take a look at just one practice that is considered to be harmless fun by many people.  This is the practice of Astrology.  In the ancient world, the pagans believed that the stars were gods. The gods were in control of life through Fate. They believed that their Fate could be discerned by reading the stars.  It is from these pagan pioneers that came our (false) belief in astrology. Logic destroys the power of astrology. First, the stars are so far away that there is no way their "power" could reach us.  Second, even though the astrological chart divides the sky into twelve lovely, equal slices, the fact is that some of the constellations take up more room in the sky and there is no way you can have twelve equal slices.  This throws off the calculations that the fortune tellers make.  Secondly, the stars of the zodiac are visible in the northern hemisphere only.  Even if the stars could influence our world, there is a whole other half of the earth that are outside of their boundaries.  The whole system is a bunch of dingo's kidneys.

Okay, since astrology is bogus, has no real effect on life, what is the harm in reading my daily horoscope?  Let me ask you a question.  Would you pet a cobra? Would you put your head in a crocodile's mouth? Would you cut yourself and pour pure mercury into the wound?  Of course, you would not do any of these things.  When you read your horoscope or have your fortune told, or get a physic reading, or attempt to talk to the dead through a medium, you are doing all of these things at the peril of your soul.  The devil is real and the devil looks for ways to get inside the armor we have built through our spiritual life. He cannot get in unless you open the door for him and engaging in occult practices, even innocent sounding ones such as reading your daily horoscope can open the door to the devil. (Cobra petting anyone?)

The other forms of the occult are no less dangerous and belief in astrology can lead a person deeper into practices best left alone.  Our desire to be in control was born in the Garden of Eden and the rise of the occult and New Age practices is directly connected to our parent's actions on that day.  We have a loving Father in God. He is the creator and the One who set all things in motion.  The actions of the stars as they seemingly move in the universe are regulated by Him.  Put your faith in Him and avoid opening the door of your soul to the evil one. Astrology and all types of divination, talking to the dead, fortune telling are all human inventions,  Trust in God and He will never disappoint you.  

   

Creation in 7 Days or Evolution - Why Not Both?

On one side of the aisle, we have the people who believe that God created the world in seven days while on the other side we have those who believe in evolution.  Those that believe in creationism believe because the story is written down in the Bible for us. Those that believe in evolution have their story showing in the very rocks we walk on.  Who is right and who is wrong? 

I do not think that how this world came into being is something where one can be right or wrong. Both beliefs have points that are well taken and both beliefs culminate in the same point in time, the arrival of mankind on the earth. 

What we are dealing with here is cause and effect, or rather, the ultimate cause and effect. In the creation story featuring Adam and Eve, the cause is easy to see, God created light and created everything from that point including all plants and animals, fish of the sea, creeping things and as His crowning achievement, He created man in His own image. 

In the story of evolution, we are still dealing with cause and effect, or rather, once again, the ultimate cause and effect.  Science has proven that the universe as we know it started with a big bang, an explosion that sent matter to all of the ends of the universe.  The matter in some cases became stars while in other places the matter formed into planets that orbited the stars. In one particular place in the universe, on a rather small planet covered with liquid water, life formed in the primal ooze. Years passed and simple forms of life became more complex and eventually, mankind appeared and took charge of the earth.  Creationists are horrified that this story is believed by anyone. It seemingly removes God from the equation, making Him unnecessary. Nothing could be further from the truth. God is the ultimate source of life and it was he who created the big bang.  I've always thought of the big bang as God creating light.  After all, in Genisis, we are told that everything was a formless waste.  God, in instituting the big bang created light and began the process of creating life.  That was the first day of creation. The Psalms tell us that for God one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day, which is one way of saying that for God a day can be a long time as humans measure time. So for God, a day or even seven of them could be millions of years as our clocks tick away hours.  

As a Catholic, I am free to believe either of the scenarios.  I choose to believe both of them.  I know for certain that God in his love for us set the entire universe into motion. I believe that he is the Ultimate Cause in the universe.  I believe He is a loving Father who always does what is best for His children. How he created the universe and our world is not so important.  What is important is that he did so.  

A Homecoming Story

Yesterday, I wrote a short piece on death. The reason death was on my mind was because after I wrote the piece I drove to my old parish church to a funeral for a dear lady named Emily. You would have liked Emily, everybody did. She was a fixture at Our Lady of Humility Church.  She had a smile for everyone and invested her life in the service of others. Her passing ended an era at my old church and it would not have been right for me not to take notice of her passing.  So, my wife and I drove the half hour that took us to our old parish and in some respects back in time and back home. 

For me, although my current parish is as comfortable for me as an old pair of bluejeans, it was like stepping back into time. When I moved with my friend Jim into Beach Park Illinois back in the 1980's I owned and operated the Bonzi Maru which was my green Toyota Corolla. The car was purchased used and had all of the amenities.  A super powered AM radio, Crank 'em up manual windows and locks and the popular 460 model air conditioning system which was simple to operate.  Roll down all four windows and do 60 miles per hour to cool down your car on those hot summer days.  It was a car not for the faint of heart.  It hated making left-hand turns for some reason.  Often, when you turned left, the car would sputter and die.  I got very good at dropping the Maru into neutral and getting the engine back online and completing the turn as if this is how a car was supposed to work. I did try and plan my trips to include the fewest number of left-hand turns possible.  I could get to Our Lady of Humility and get home again by making all right-hand turns.  The other church in the area required at least two left-hand turns to get to so it was OLH for me. 

When I walked into this country-style church, I remembered that someone greeted me and made me feel welcome, something that had never happened at St. Andrew's church in the city where over ten years I got to know exactly zero parishioners.  When I entered OLH to say goodbye to Emily I remembered the altar had once been in the south and the pews were upholstered in  McDonalds Orange.  This was the church where Mary and I had our civil union blessed and made into a sacrament.  It is where Mary and I exercised our ministry bringing communion to the cancer patients in the hospital in Zion.  Where I was the leader of the Bible study for several years and where Mary and I met.  Then, of course, there were the people.  We are all older now, but the personalities are still there. It was truly a homecoming.  

This is the church that taught me what Church was.  The church is so much more than a place to worship, or at least I think it should be. A church is an oasis in the desert where Christians can find refreshment and encouragement from the magisterium in the form of your pastor and from one another.  It is here that we hear the Word of God preached to us and we learn practical ways to take it from the pew to the world that needs what we have.  

So, for me, this funeral was something of a homecoming. I felt welcome and comfortable in this place.  But I knew that it was no longer my home.  My home now is St. Mary of Vernon parish in Indian Creek Illinois.  But what I have brought to my new home was instilled in me at my old home and for that, I am forever grateful. 

To all my friends at OLH thank you for the warm welcome you gave me yesterday. When I was with you, you shared your strength, your love, your power with me. Whatever I am today in this One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, it was the energy and love that you shared with me that got me started.  I will always be with you in my heart and I thank you for all that you have done for me. 

Death

I have death on my mind today. No great learning here today, no lectures about the differences in beliefs. No, just the musing of a man who is closer to that moment than he was thirty years ago. 

The reason I have death on my mind today is simple.  It seems to be all around us of late. Personally, I am remembering my wife's sister who passed away two years ago, the death of a long-time parishioner at my old parish, the respective deaths of my father and mother and of course contemplating my own departure.  I also look to the news.  My ancestral home, Brighton Park in Chicago has become infested with gang violence. Her once peaceful streets are now the turf of gangs whose bullets kill innocent children as the lowlifes shed blood amongst each other.  

I think the saddest part of death, at least the part that makes me the saddest is that on that day when I am taking my last breaths here on earth, no one in the world will alter what they are doing because of what is going on with me. That is just how it is for all of us.  With the exception of close family, of which I am bereft, which is another story, everyone in the world will be going about their business without giving a thought that the world is about to lose Michael the Lesser.  I guess the fact that life continues in spite of death is worrisome to me. The fact that in the end no matter how many are around us, we face our departure alone.  This aloneness makes the time of departure scary. During my whole life, I have always had someone to share these singular and often scary moments with me.  My mother took me to the first day of school.  My father held my hand as we approached my grandmother's casket in my first view of death.  My parents both saw me off at the airport when I left to join the monastery, and my father was there to pick me up when this adventure ended.  With death, there is a unique aloneness that affects no other part of life.  When we are born we begin the journey alone and arrive among the smiling faces of our kind.  With the journey of death, we begin the journey quite alone. 

Does death scare me?  The answer to that is both yes and no.  I am afraid of this step into the unknown.  I also have learned to trust in Jesus and it is this trust  and His love that I am depending upon to smooth the transition from a carbon-based creature to a creature of pure spirit. 

What will it be like to be a creature of pure spirit?  I can imagine that the experience will be amazing.  I cannot imagine what heaven will be like.  I do know that I will want to look up a few of the saints that have helped me over the years.  I would love to speak to St. Michael the Archangel, St. Joseph, and of course St. Francis of Assisi. I believe that that the new world will be a world of great wonder and much happiness.   

Of death, I will leave it at this.  At my wife's sisters funeral, a priest told the assembled mourners that when Marion was born, she was crying and others were laughing.  On the day she died, Marion was laughing and we left on earth were crying.  I think that this is a good way to look at it, don't you?

Humility

Quote from C.S. Lewis

Humility is one of the most misunderstood virtues in the Christian arsenal. When we speak of a person who does not come from money we say, "He is a person that came from humble beginnings." By that, we mean the person did not have the opulence that some people had when they were young.  We call an unpretentious home a humble dwelling. We call a person without much money a person of humble means.  It would seem that we consider humble to be a synonym for the word poor.  Our common definition of the word seems to make being humble akin to being unfortunate. I do not think anything could be further from the truth. 

Humility for a Christian is acting upon the knowledge that we depend on God for everything. Everything we have in this life is a gift to us from God.  But, I hear you say, "I worked hard for (insert name of possession.)  True, but the very work you did was a gift from God.  

Humility is also the knowledge that everything we have is ours on a temporary basis. Everything you have will someday belong to another person.  Perhaps the knowledge that you cannot take it with you is the thing we need to remember to foster humility in our lives.

To be humble does not mean that we should forever turn down compliments. Humility is to accept and to thank the person that is complimenting you for your extra effort. Humility is to accept help when help is needed.  All of us, someday, will be in a position where we will need someone to help us do things we formerly could do on our own.  Pride will tell us to resist. Humility will allow us for someone to help us. 

Finally, humility is the realization that what we are is what we are in God's eyes, not how our friends and enemies view us.  We are exactly as God sees us and nothing more or nothing less. 

The Holy Spirit

As a member of my church's choir, today, I am going to have the honor of singing at the Mass where fifty-eight of our young people will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. This will complete their initiation into the Catholic Church and instill in them the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The gifts are seven in number. 

Wisdom - This gift allows us to value the things of God over the things of this world.

Understanding - This gift empowers us to grasp more fully the truths of God.

Counsel - Through this gift, we are able to know, almost by instinct what is right and to stand up for the truths of our Faith. 

Fortitude - This gift we act on what we learn to be true and have the courage of our convictions and strength to defend them. 

Knowledge -  Through this gift, we attain the ability albeit, in a limited way, the power to see the circumstances of our life as God sees them. This helps us to determine what God wants us to do in life.

Piety - This gift empowers us to go beyond the feeling that we are to obey because we are told so.  Piety allows us to see the good of God's law and we want to obey because it is good. 

Fear of the Lord - This gift gives us the ability to respect God and to not want to offend Him.  It also places in us the certainty that God will supply the graces we need so that we will not offend Him. 

I still remember the night I was confirmed.  At that time, things were a little different. The ceremony was very similar to what the young men and women will experience today.  One thing they will not experience is the slap. In my day the bishop would administer a slap to the face of each person he confirmed.  This slap was to remind you that you would suffer persecution for your faith and that through this sacrament you were now a soldier for Christ. 

Imagine that!  On that one night, I went from being just a snotty young seventh grader to a soldier in the army of God.  What did I feel on that glorious day?  To be honest, not a whole lot.  When I left the church I could only think of the pizza we were going to have when we got home.  Does this mean that the sacrament was but a sham?  Does it mean that it had no effect on me?  Certainly not.  

That day I did become a soldier of Christ and I did receive the seven gifts, and I did become in God's eyes a spiritual adult and one of His ambassadors. It would take time and the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit over the long yet swiftly running years between that Thursday evening and today.  There would be times when I went my own way and would find myself in a foreign land among aliens who did not know and did not want to know my Father.  There were times when I was angry at my Father and let Him know so in no uncertain terms. He responded by gently calling my name one afternoon when I poured out my heart in the confessional at St. Peter's Church in downtown Chicago where the priest welcomed me, the prodigal son, back again.

Over the years I have been blessed because I have always felt the presence of God in my life.  I have experienced no black night of the soul because my Father knows that I would perish without his Presence.  Over the years, He has led me, step by step, as we faced together one fault or another.  He has been with me in times that tried my soul to its limit when I buried my mother and then my father. He has comforted me in the sorrow and loneliness I feel because the family I grew up with have turned their backs on me and abandoned me. He has shared the great joy I feel when I contemplate the blessing he bestowed on me by giving me Mary my wife of twenty-four years (so far.) 

I guess what I am trying to say here is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to all who are confirmed.  These gifts do not manifest themselves all at once. I think they are there as a treasury of power to be drawn upon when needed.  

Our young people who will be confirmed today will walk away from church changed forever, yet they might not realize it for some time.  May they receive these gifts and may they prove as useful to them as they did to me.   

Come, Holy Spirit, Come. 

Light our hearts that we may bear the cross of life and carry it with courage as we share the Word of God with those who so desperately need it.  Amen. 

A Friday Prayer

Dear Jesus, 

It is Friday, the day we remember, 

We remember how you suffered and died for us. 

If I never said thank you before, I say it now.

I dedicate all of my works, pleasures, 

troubles and thoughts to you today. 

I pray for the Poor Souls in purgatory, 

Lord, they have proven themselves. 

They are your friends.  Give them 

comfort and raise them up to be with you 

in heaven. And Lord I am a poor sinner, 

have mercy on me and help me to sin no more. 

Amen. 

Catholics vs Protestants - A Game That Should Been Played

I have to apologize for two things before we start.  First, I know that January is over and Christian Unity Month is in the past and this post is about Christian Unity.  Secondly, to all my Protestant friends, I know that I have a picture of Pope Francis, looking very happy with a most pleasant expression on his face while Martin Luther has a face that looks like he just drank a glass of warm lemon juice. I really scoured the internet for a jovial looking Luther but believe it or not this was the best one I would find.  I am sure he must have smiled or laughed once in his life. I think that those who sought to capture his likeness wanted to portray the serious Martin Luther, thus the dour expression on all of the available pictures. 

This is Super Bowl Sunday for most of the world.  For me, it is just Sunday.  I do not follow sports because many years ago my doctor advised me to stop watching sports because it was raising my blood pressure.  I used to throw things at the TV when things went bad for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, or the Chicago Bears.  I was born on the south side of Chicago so the Cubs were never thought of as being worthy of attention by me or my friends.  

One of the saddest things that ever happened in this world happened in the 1500's. The Church of Christ was split in two and from that day on things would never be the same.  A Catholic monk tacked up 95 complaints to the door of the local church and as time went on the Church and Martin Luther fought and Luther left the Church and formed ( or as he saw it reformed) his own church. One could say that Martin had no choice as the Church had excommunicated him. But excommunication is not irreversible, it is not a spiritual death sentence.  Rather, it is a judicial instrument that is supposed to give the one under it time to reflect his or her position and to repent and return to the Church. Martin Luther was aware of this fact and he elected to commit spiritual suicide and revolted against the Catholic Church and setting up a new church with himself as its head. 

Did the Church need to be reformed?  Oh, without any doubt there were things that needed attention.  The straw that broke the camel's back was the sale of indulgences.  An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment as a result of sin. The Church believed then and still believes today, that every sin we commit, even when forgiven in confession has its consequences in the afterlife. These consequences can be made up in this life through penitential practices, such as prayer and fasting, or they can be made up after death in purgatory.  At the time, penances for sins were rough.   For example, after confession and receiving forgiveness a penitent might be assigned six months of wearing sackcloth and ashes and begging forgiveness of those who passed him on the street.  During this time the penitent would not be allowed the sacraments Indulgences were and still are remission of these penances either partially or in full.  At the time they were expressed in the number of days of penance they remitted for a pious act committed.  So, the days were not time off time in purgatory where time does not exist, it was time taken off the penance assigned here on earth.  Martin Luther had no problem with the indulgences. He understood that they fell within the Church's authority to grant.  He became offended when some priests, without the authority or consent of the Pope in Rome decided that people who donated money could receive an indulgence. Quite rightly, Luther saw this as a bad idea.  The fight escalated and eventually, Martin was excommunicated from the Church.  This is when he really went off of the deep end and ended up outside of what Christ wanted for His Church.  Martin Luther set up his own Church and all hell broke loose! 

Once he stepped outside of the authority of the Church, Martin Luther came up with new, novel, ideas that would form the centerpiece of his church.  All of these new ideas took years to form because at the start of his excursion his church was not too much different than the Church.  Some of the new ideas which he taught were sola scriptura, a teaching which says that if it is not in the Bible, it should not be taught, he also said we are justified by faith alone, not faith and works.  There are other things too, but this post is not a criticism of his teachings, it is a discussion about the hatchet job he did on the Church and its effect on millions of souls over the intervening years. 

Jesus on the night before he died did something wonderful.  He prayed to His Father, out loud, in the presence of His apostles.  Can you imagine being privy to a conversation between God the Father and God the Son?  The apostles had to be awestruck.  In this prayer, Jesus says that he wanted His followers to be one as He and the Father were one.  When the Church was cut into two pieces, into the Roman Catholic (Universal) Church and the Lutheran Church, the person who caused this division stepped outside the will of God as expressed by Jesus.  

But, couldn't we say that the new church founded by Martin Luther only formed because of the will of God?  Isn't the founding of this church a sign that the Church that Jesus had founded had gone astray, fell into apostasy and this was God's way of repairing it?  No, I am sorry but this scenario does not work simply because Holy Scripture clearly says differently in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, where Jesus, the Son of God, says, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my charge and the gates of hell shall not prevail it."  To tear down the Roman Catholic Church and replace it with the church of Luther (and the other reformers) you would first have to make null and void the words of Christ and state that the gates of hell did prevail against the Church.  Then, if the gates of hell did prevail against the Church in spite of what Jesus said then He was wrong and if he was wrong about such an important institution that He calls His Church then He was nothing more than a spellbinding pious fake. We know that this is not true, we know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior who came to earth and saved us from our sins.  It follows, therefore, that Luther and by association the other reformers were wrong in splitting the Church asunder. Once it started, it never stopped. If we assume that the Holy Spirit spoke the truth to Martin Luther, then why did John Calvin feel it necessary to break away from him?  If Calvin heard the word from the Holy Spirit then why did Knox form his own church? Why did Wesley find it necessary to create a church in his own image?  On and on it goes until today we have at least thirty thousand Christian denominations. Wikipedia lists forty-one different Lutheran church bodies in America alone!  Which one of the forty-one has the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Christian unity is called for by Paul as well in First Corinthians Chapter 1 verse 10, "I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement." It seems we have failed to be even close to the ideal required by Jesus and requested by Paul  

Can Christianity be salvaged?  Can we truly become one in Christ like we are supposed to?  I do not know.   In his wonderful book "If Protestantism is True" Devin Rose says this, and I do not think I could say it any better: 

"What will it take for us to answer Paul's appeal and be reunited?  Firstly, it will take humility on the part of every Christian. Secondly, it will require mutual respect for one another. Finally it will take an honest examination of our beliefs, their origins, and the reason behind them, and a willingness to be shown something more fully true than what we currently believe..."

Pride is what got Luther into trouble.  Pride is what caused the Church to abandon all hope in reasoning with Martin Luther and excommunicating him. Pride afflicted all of the reformers up until this very day. Pride is what caused Adam and Eve to sin.  Humility and the love we bear for one another under Christ the Lord is the only thing that will take this mish mosh of churches and return it to be the one True Church that Christ prayed for before He died. Remember, it is not the Popes Church or Luther's Church.  Jesus said He would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. 

God bless.  Please, leave a comment.  I would love to know what your thoughts are on this topic.  Feel free to leave a question if you have one. 

Things Protestants Don't Understand About The Church - The Bible

The Bible is the written, inspired, and inerrant Word of God. 

Roman Catholics have always believed this and have always revered this collection of holy books with awe. What my Protestant friends fail to understand is the Bible was built by the Church and not the other way around. This collection of holy books contains every kind of literature known to mankind. It has in it many wonderful stories and lessons for us to learn what the will of God is for His children. It is through this marvelous collection of tales, history, and parables that we learn how God has been with His people through the ages.

The book has been divided into two sections which we call the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament reveals stories that include our creation and subsequent disobedience. After the disobedience, we are told that God Himself will make things right again and will send us the Messiah. It tells us a bit about the first family and how Cain killed Abel. This wonderful book relates the story of the Exodus, the Flood, King David and his Psalms all the way up to the Book of Revelation where we are shown the celebration that takes place in heaven.

The Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible are not quite the same. Catholics have forty-six Old Testament books while the Protestant denominations recognize thirty-nine. The New Testament books for both Catholics and Protestants are the same. The reasons for this difference are kind of complex but it boils down to the fact that the reformers accepted the shorter list of books in use by the Jewish community in the first century while the Roman Catholics used the canon of scripture that included these missing books because works from the earliest times included quotations from these seven books deleted by the reformers. Modern Protestant scholarship is coming around to the view that these books are indeed inspired works.


The Bible did not just fall out of the skies. The Holy Spirit inspired the individual authors to write what they wrote but we cannot say that He dictated it to the writers. But just who decided what books belong in the Bible and what books do not? Why is the Gospel of Mark included in the New Testament while the Gospel of Thomas is not? The Church had quite a job on their hands because there were writings a-plenty circulating in the early Church. The Church had to decide which books were inspired and which books were not. It did so under her teaching authority. The oldest record we have is that the canon was approved under Pope Damasus in 382AD and subsequently, the list was confirmed in 392AD at the Synod of Hippo and the Third Council of Carthage in 397AD. The Council of Trent on April 8, 1546, declares as "sacred and canonical all the books of the Old and New Testament contained in the Vulgate." The Vulgate? What is that? The Vulgate is a late fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was the translation of St. Jerome who was commissioned by Pope Damascus I to revise the "Old Latin" collection then in use by the Church. So we can see that the Canon of Scripture was decided upon early on. It was only later the "reformers" threw out the Old Testament books found in Catholic Bibles. We can see that the Roman Catholic Church took (and takes) a lively interest in Holy Scripture. It is her mission to keep Scripture pure. To make sure that only books that can be demonstrated to be inspired by the Holy Spirit make their way in between the covers of this great collection.


The Catholic Church surely had a hand in carrying the Bible and passing it down through the generations assuring that only the inspired word is found in its pages. But the question is why are some Catholic beliefs not found in the Bible? Protestants believe that the Bible is the whole rule of what a Christian should believe and do. We Protestants believe in Sola Scriptura and we believe that the Church is in error because it uses human traditions as part of the belief system it follows.


The Roman Catholic Church believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. As such is takes a prominent place in her life of faith. It is part of every sacrament she dispenses, it is in her prayer life, it is in the Mass where we are fed both by Holy Scripture and by the Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The "traditions" you speak of are not mere human traditions. One of the Traditions of the Church is the Bible! Sacred Tradition is the act of passing down the belief from one generation to the next. The process began in the first century and continues to this very day.


The pillar and foundations of the Church are not the Bible. Heresy? I think not. We read in 1st Timothy Chapter 3 verse 15, "I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God the pillar and foundation of truth."


Look as hard as you want, sola scriptura is not a principle you will find that is taught in the Bible. The verse often quoted in defense of sola scriptura is 2nd Timothy, Chapter 3, Verse 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." There is not a Catholic living on earth or happy in heaven that would dare to disagree with this passage. It just doesn't say that the Scriptures are the only way to do these things, it states that it is just a way that can be used.




Let's look at Sacred Tradition. In my household, we have a tradition of putting up and decorating a Christmas tree every year. The people next door have a tradition of going to visit their relatives at Thanksgiving time. Both of these things are traditions, but they are not Sacred Traditions. Bobby may go to church to pray the rosary daily, that is his tradition, but it is not a Sacred Tradition. If we were to suddenly say that Sola Scriptura was the way to go, we would have a problem in supporting that position. The first century there were no written Bibles. So, how was the Word of God preached to the first century Christians? It was shared by word of mouth. The letters of Paul were read to the people and they carried them in their heart. They did not get a copy of them to take home and ponder. They relied, unknowingly, on Sacred Tradition. Sacred Tradition is the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. It has nothing to do with human traditions. The Church is protected from teaching error by the Holy Spirit. This Sacred Tradition is how the church has moved year by year and century by century teaching her unchanging doctrine.




Roman Catholics often are scolded for a lack of Biblical knowledge. This is true, some of us have not taken the time to study the Word of God as we should. It is going to be hard to stand before the Lord when he asks, "Did you read my book?" Here you are standing by God and what can you say, "Seventy-eight years was not enough time, I was busy." I don't think that will wash. The Church has always revered the scripture. In the twentieth century, Catholics were taught scripture through catechisms such as the Baltimore Catechism. It taught Biblical principles and relied on the Bible for the truth it taught but it did not give us the familiarity of the Bible that Protestants have. This being said, it should not be thought that Catholics were being starved to death for want of the4 Word of God. We Catholics are obligated under pain of sin, to attend Church every Sunday. At our worship service, called the Mass, we are served up heaping helpings of Scripture, including a reading from the Old Testament, A Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and finally a reading from the Gospels as the main course. As a matter of fact, the Catholic who attends Mass daily will hear most of the Bible read to him over the course of three years.




Our last topic is who can interpret the scriptures? The reformers said the Word of God conveys such a simple message that any man with the help of the Holy Spirit can interpret scripture. I don't think so. If this was true, then why are there so many different interpretations of so many different passages of scripture? Is the Holy Spirit the spirit of confusion? Would he tell one person one truth regarding a passage of scripture and another person a different interpretation of it? The church Luther split because of the interpretation of scripture. At the time of that first split whose interpretation of scripture was each side relying upon? It would seem that the Holy Spirit had gone schizoid because he changed His story. No, the Holy Spirit is not nuts. People take it upon themselves to make scripture fit the way they think. Because of this, instead of one Church, we have the Church and thousands upon thousands of denominations who interpret the Bible differently. Scripture was never meant to be interpreted in such a manner. I am very fortunate that as a Roman Catholic I can rely on authoritative interpretations from the organization who has handed the Book of Books unsullied down through the generations. The Authority of the Church is guaranteed by Christ to be without error.




The Bible is the paramount bastion of where we should get our plan of life. God has given us a great gift in this work of inerrant inspiration. I call upon my fellow Catholics to accept the church's invitation to immerse yourself in the Word of God. If you do not know the Bible, you do not know Christ. To my Protestant brothers and sisters, keep up your studies, the truth will set you free! Let each one of us pray for the unity that Christ wants for his children on earth.