Lord I Am Not Worthy...

When Jesus entered Capernaum,

a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."  He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply,

"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man subject to authority,

with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven."

If you wanted to describe the passage from Matthew in one word, I would say that the word you could use would be "remarkable."  Here we have an official of the Roman Army approaching a Hebrew street preacher to ask for help in curing his servant from some sort of paralysis.  We can assume that the Centurion had already exhausted remedies suggested by Roman medical authorities who were very often nothing more than slaves with a little bit of knowledge on how to stop bleeding and not much more than that. Unsatisfied that his servant did not attain any relief from the Roman medical community, he decided to reach out to the locals who seem to have better medical care than the occupiers of the country.  The Jewish people were healthier than most people of the era and had such modern things as toothbrushes and toothpaste made out of grit and a bit of honey.  Even so, the Centurion did not approach a medical professional but rather Jesus.  This is interesting because a Centurion was an important official in the Roman army.  He was generally a professional soldier with several tours of duty under his belt. At various times in history the number of soldiers he was in charge of ranged from thirty to one-hundred.  At this time, the Centurion in the Roman Army was in charge of one-hundred Legionnaires.  The Centurion reported to the Tribune and was in charge of and infamous for brutal disciplines meated out to those who needed it under his command.  He was expected to be a leader and one that could rally the troops when things were not going Rome's way in battle.  He must always appear resolute and he could count on being executed if he showed any cowardice when engaging the enemy.  Most of those with this rank would retire as Centurions but advancement was possible.  He could be promoted to the emperor's bodyguard and even be promoted to various civil offices including the Roman Senate.   So it was remarkable that this man would seek out a Hebrew to solve a medical problem. It shows that Jesus was known, even to the Romans, who took little notice of the religion of Israel except where it affected the power of the emperor. 

Jesus for His part, takes pity on the sick person, even though the servant was obviously not a Jew and was ready to set off with the Centurion to effect a cure.  The Centurion would have none of it.  He told Jesus that he was not worthy to expect Jesus to come under his roof.  He explained that as a person with authority he knew how to get things done.  He would tell one soldier to go and he would go and another to come here and that soldier would come running to see what was needed.   He knew enough about Jesus to know that Jesus was a man with authority and if he commanded the sickness to be gone, it would be gone.  Jesus was struck by this pagan's faith in the authority of the Christ.  He cured the servant, the Centurion went about his business and Jesus remarked that faith such as what was displayed by the Roman soldier could not be found in all of Israel and Jesus prophesied that non-Jews coming from the East and the West will sit and dine with Abraham, Isaac, and  Jacob and that salvation would be for all that could accept it, not just the Jews. 

We say the words of the Centurion every time we go to mass.  We are called to express our confidence in the ability of Jesus to do what Jesus said He would do.  Then we take the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ inside of us.  No closer union is possible for us outside of being in heaven.  How many of us walk up to communion and receive it without really realizing what it is we are receiving?  Do we understand that Christ is inside of us as He is with all of the other people that have received?  Do we receive and then return to our place and take out the bulletin and catch up on parish news or do we open our minds and souls and speak to the God who is within us and who has given us this great gift?  Do we thank Him for all of the good things He has given to us in our life or do we look at our wristwatch and wonder if we will have eggs or pancakes when we go to breakfast after mass?  The Centurion was sure that Jesus could command nature and had the power to cure and he was a pagan.  We, on the other hand, have been brought up with this gift from a God who loves us and I fear some of us do not take it as seriously as we ought.  Next time you go to communion, communicate with Jesus, He IS present within you in a special way. Don't let Him come and go unrecognized.  

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. They are souls full of joy and yet they suffer for they long to see God.  Pray for them and they will remember you in your time of need.  Remember, as they are, one day you may be. 

Things That Protestants Don't Understand About The Church - The Mass & The Eucharist

Well, here we have another two for one special because the Mass and the Holy Eucharist are so intertwined that I cannot discuss one without the other.  Unfortunately, this means that this post will be somewhat longer than the others in this series, but, I promise you it will be one that I am proud, pleased, and passionate to write about.  So, put on your seatbelts and let us begin. 

One of the things that we Christians do and are famous for is that we gather on Sunday, the Lord's Day, to worship our God.  We worship on Sunday because it commemorates that day when Jesus defeated the arch-enemy of mankind (to include womankind LOL) death by rising from the dead.  So, in accordance with the commandment to keep holy the sabbath day we gather together to sing the Lord's praises.  We pray for one another, for the Church and we sing hymns and we hear the written word of God, the Bible. Sunday should be a day of joy for all Christians.  Sunday is such a joyful day that it is not counted in the forty days of Lent so that any Lenten disciplines you may have assigned yourself can be foregone on Sunday.  So, for Christians, Sunday is a special day indeed.  In the Catholic Church, members are obligated to attend Mass every Sunday and on certain specific Holy Days.  It is considered a sin if you miss Mass without good cause. That is how important we Catholics consider our worship. 

At the Protestant services, I have attended it appears to me that they go something like this.  First, there is some singing, followed by an opening prayer, and then perhaps a Bible reading followed by a half an hour or so where the minister preaches his(or her) sermon. There may follow a Lord's Supper service where crackers and grape juice are passed around and people remember the Last Supper of Jesus. Then there may be more singing and finally, a benediction (blessing) and everyone departs for home.  Some Protestant denominations have the Lord's Supper once a month, others have it four times a year.  It generally does not form a very important part of the weekly service. 

For a Catholic Christian, the Mass follows pretty much the same pattern.  As the priest enters, we sing a song. The priest or deacon leads us in a prayer of repentance and we next express our joy by singing or reciting a prayer called the Gloria in which we praise God for being God. After an opening prayer, we sit and hear a reading taken from the Old Testament.  We then recite or sing one of the Psalms of David and then we hear a reading from the New Testament, the Epistles of Paul for example.  Then we rise from our seats and sing a hearty Alleluia and then the priest of deacon reads to us from the Gospel.  After the reading, the priest or deacon will spend five or ten minutes explaining the reading and helping us to integrate them into our lives. Next, we recite the Nicene Creed which is familiar to many denominations, it spells out what we believe.  We next pray for each other in a prayer called "The Prayer of the Faithful."  In this prayer, we pray for the Church, for our country, for fellow Christians, for our friends, and any other special intentions.  It is at this point where the normal Protestant service and the Catholic Mass part ways.  At this point, all of the things done at a normal Protestant service have been accomplished.  At the Catholic Mass, there is more, much more to follow. 

The first part of the Catholic Worship Service, aka the Mass, is called the Liturgy of the Word.  It extends from the beginning of the Mass to the end of the Prayer of the Faithful.  What follows next is the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is Holy Communion.  It begins with the collection of gifts, the basket is passed around and we place money into the basket for the upkeep of the church and its ministries. The money collected is placed into one large container and a member of the congregation brings it up to the altar where it is accepted by the priest and placed before the altar.  Behind this gift of temporal things are members of the congregation that brings up the bread and wine that will be consecrated by the priest.  There are some preparations that the priest makes including making sure that there are enough hosts (pieces of bread) and wine to distribute to the congregation.  Then he symbolically washes his hands and invites us to pray.  He says:

"Pray brothers and sisters that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father."  The congregation responds; May God accept the sacrifice at your hands for our good and for the good of His holy church."

Here I see the first real bone of contention between Catholics and Protestants.  How can we Catholics sacrifice Jesus again and again and again and again on the cross when he died once to save us?  Good point, and I am glad you asked.  Catholics call their worship the "Sacrifice of the Mass" not because we sacrifice Christ over and over again on the cross, no, we rather present again the sacrifice Jesus made once to the Father, and the Father who see this finds this pleasing. 

At this point after a preliminary prayer, we raise our voices in song with the angels and saints in heaven and sing the hymn that we find in the book of Revelations, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Your Glory, hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest."   The most sacred part of the Mass follows.  The priest prays the prayer of consecration, using the words that Christ spoke at the Last Supper.  "Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is My Body."  The priest then raises the host so everyone can see it and we worship it because we believe it has been transubstantiated, that is changed, into the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  Now stay with me here.  Next, he raises the chalice filled with wine and says the words of Christ, "Take and drink for this is the chalice of my Blood which has been shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me."  The priest then raises the chalice which now contains not wine, but the very blood of Christ.  The priest then invites us to recite the Mystery of Faith.  We respond with one of four possible formulas, the one that is used on most Sundays is; "When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death O Lord until you come again."  We are then invited to come forward and receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Holy Eucharist that was consecrated by the priest.  We approach the communion minister and he or she will say "Body of Christ." and we will respond, "Amen."  This "amen" means a whole lot more than you might think.  It means: I believe that this is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  I believe Christ is physically present in me as I consume this sacred meal."   

I hear some Protestant's gasping in unbelief that we Catholics could be so ignorant as to think that a small round piece of bread and some common wine could contain the God of the Universe!  That's okay, let's finish Mass and we will discuss the Eucharist in some detail.  If you were at a Catholic Mass you would see some people taking only the bread while others take both the bread and wine.  The ones that don't take the wine, therefore, are not receiving the body and blood of Christ, they are receiving just His body.  Well, that sounds logical but it is not.  If you separate someone's body and blood you have what is known as a corpse and the Eucharist is a living thing, not a dead thing.  It is the Resurrected Christ as He is now, today, in Heaven.  

At this point in the Mass, we spend a few moments in silent prayer. Then the priest gathers all of our prayers together in a closing prayer and he gives us God's blessing.  The deacon tells us to go and spread the Good News.   We sing a closing hymn as the priest leaves the altar and then, some would say, all too soon we depart and go back into our mundane world.   So that is what the Catholic Mass is.  As you can see, you cannot separate it from the Eucharist. The Eucharist is considered so important that leftover hosts are kept in the tabernacle for those that are too sick to come to Mass. The Church dispatches ministers of communion to homes, nursing homes, and hospitals in the area to serve the Catholics that could not attend.   There must be a reason why Catholics consider the Eucharist so important.  Let's talk about the very Bread of Life next. 

There is one reason that I would never forsake the Catholic Church. That is because when I go to Mass, I receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.  "Yeah, sure, that is what you believe, but just believing in something does not make it true.  "Excellently spoken. grasshopper! it shows you are a person that thinks things through."  I have scant minor proof to show you that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus.  I have the words of Jesus, I have the words of Paul, I have the words of the first century Christians, I have the fact that the reality of the Presence was believed by all Christians, everywhere, for the first fifteen centuries of Church history.  

The first task is to consider just who this Jesus was.  For that let us go to the beginning of the Gospel of John, 

John 1: 1-5
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without him, nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life and this life was the light of the human race and the light shines in the darkness.

We know from the above passage that Jesus, the Word of God is God, the maker of all things.  It is He that made the universe and set all things into motion. In His time outside of his immediate family he was recognized as the Promised One by John the Baptist: 

John 1:29
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World."

There are more passages where Jesus proves his bona fides, but I think we can see from these two passages that Jesus was and is the Son of God, the Savior promised to us.  As God, He is all-powerful and can do anything. Need more proof?  Well let's look at the following: 


John 6: 16-21

16 When it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea * and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. 20 But he said to them, "It is I. * Do not be afraid." 21 They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.

The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake approximately 33 miles around, 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.  At 209 meters below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake in the world and only the only body of water that is lower is the Dead Sea, which is a saltwater lake.  Jesus and his companions were about in the middle of the lake when the storm blew up and they saw Jesus walking on the water. They thought it was some sort of ghost.  He told them to not be afraid and suddenly the boat was on the other shore.  Jesus can control the nature of objects, i.e. he can walk on water and he can control motion because they immediately arrived at the other shore.  So we can see Jesus has many powers. 

 
We next move to Jesus in arguably the most important chapter in the Bible, John, Chapter 6.   First, we have the feeding of the multitude.

John 6: 1-14

1 After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was near. 5 When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" 6 He said this to test him because he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little ( a bit)." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. 12 When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." 13 So they collected them and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. 14 When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." 15 Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king. He withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Do you remember the story of the wedding feast at Cana? Recall how Jesus changed water into wine and not just ordinary wine but the finest vintage and not just a little, he produced gallons of the stuff so that the party could continue.  This was the first sign that Jesus was the messiah promised because it was believed that when the messiah came that there would follow an abundance of food and wine.  When Jesus fed the multitude he fed them not just a little bit, he fed them abundantly and there were twelve baskets full of leftovers.  The symbolism is easy to interpret, the twelve baskets represented the twelve tribes of Israel, or more exactly, everyone! Jesus was showing that He would be able to feed everyone abundantly! 

We now move to the heart of the matter. Jesus is asked for a sign so that the crowd would believe in Him.  

John 6: 30-35

30 So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

The crowd sees something good here.  Food forever, drink forever, they could quit work and rest and play forever.  They ask for this bread and Jesus says HE is the bread of life.  The crowd now says what is he talking about?  Jesus does not retreat.

John 6 49-69

49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" 61 Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? 62 What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, "For this reason, I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." 66 As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

Jesus tells the crowd that they have to eat the flesh of the Son of Man or they will not have eternal life.  The crowd shrinks back and are sickened by what He told them.  There is no way Jesus is speaking figuratively here.  The word being used for "eat" is the word that means "chew, or rip, or tear flesh."  That is why the crowd was taken aback. Then we have the saddest verse in all of the scriptures, John 6:66, "As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him."  Jesus did not call them back saying, I am only speaking figuratively.  He let them go.  He then asked His apostles if they too wished to leave.  Peter answered for them all and answered by saying "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy one of God." 

I have often wondered if Protestant pastors cringe when they read this passage?  One of the tenets of Protestantism is the Bible above all. Here the Bible says we must eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His Blood or we will not have life within us.  I would imagine that most Protestant pastors skip this passage.  

Finally, let's look at the Last Supper. Did Jesus really give us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity then?  Did he also make it possible for His apostles to imitate Him and do this time after time through the ages?   Recall what the Last Supper was recalling.  It was the prescribed ritual that the Hebrew people practiced to recall the Exodus where God saved them from the Egyptians.  At this meal, they ate lamb. That lamb had to be spotless, have no imperfections and it was sacrificed at the temple.  The lamb had to be roasted without any of the bones being broken.  They ate this meal standing with their staff in hand and ready to travel. Along with the lamb , they ate unleavened bread and wine.  Four cups of wine were to be consumed at this meal. The feast went along following the ritual right up until the third cup wine. It was then that Jesus took bread and passed it around and told His apostles to eat it as it was His body.  Then he passed the wine around and told them it was His blood.  He then told them to do this in remembrance of Him.  The important word in that sentence is the word "this."  The word refers to the actions that Jesus had just performed.  He had given the Passover meal a new and permanent meaning.  They then sang a Psalm which was supposed to be followed by the fourth and final cup of wine.  But they did not drink that fourth cup.  Instead, they all left and went out into the night, to the Garden.  The fourth cup of wine was never drunk. The Passover was never finished.  Later that evening, Jesus was arrested and eventually after being tried, convicted, tried, found innocent, tried and found guilty, he was taken and scourged with a cruel whip tipped with bone. He then carried his cross, was crucified.  It was a tradition that those who were to be crucified were offered a cup of wine with a bit of incense in it.  It was thought to dull the senses and thought to be a mercy.  It did not do much but mostly the criminals drank what was given to them.  When this cup was offered to Jesus, he refused it.  That was very surprising because he had nothing to eat or drink since the previous evening.  He was then crucified and He did fare well on the Cross.  Remember, he had been cruelly scourged by Pilate in a bid to capture the sympathy of the crowd so that Pilate could let Jesus go.  This plan failed because Jesus was just too big of a thorn in the heel of the high priest.  Right before the end, Jesus cried out, "I Thirst."  Very funny! He was there to die not to drink.  But one man lifted up a sponge soaked in wine to Jesus, and this time Jesus took the wine and then in a loud voice, it was not possible to shout when you were nailed to a cross but in spite of this irrefutable fact of human physiology, he yelled, "It is finished." He had concluded the new Passover, he had drunk the fourth cup. 

The evidence for the Real Presence is strong. Paul cautions us to not receive the Body of the Lord in vain.  Would he do that if the bread and wine were just a mere memorial?  Would Jesus have let followers walk away if he wasn't serious?  Why did Jesus not finish the Passover the night before He died? How can millions of Protestants ignore the evidence right in front of their eyes in John Chapter Six?  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a rich source of information on Catholic belief and it is available for free, online.  If you want to burn down the Catholic Church and all she stands for then why not do it with her own words?  People that hate the Catholic Church do so because they hate what they think the Catholic Church is, not what she actually is.  Our beliefs, our doctrine have not changed from the beginning of the church until now.  Why are there so many denominations?  Is God a god of confusion?  Argue from a position of strength.  You will be surprised once you read what we believe and why we believe it how intelligent and logical our beliefs are. 

Transfiguration

I never thought much about the transfiguration of the Lord before. When I was a kid I just thought it was some sort of magic trick that Christ performed. I do not remember any lessons the Sisters of St. Joseph gave on the subject and I do not remember the sermons preached at the 9:15 AM Children's Mass that we attended as a group with our classmates.  I just it thought it as something that Jesus did to show off for them. Now that was when I was a kid and I have to confess that my beliefs have changed since then! 

Oddly enough I do not consider this event a miracle. The miracle is when Jesus returned to His human state, concealing His true self. 

The important part of this story for us is the fact that Moses and Elijah were standing with them conversing and God the Father says that "This is my Son. Listen to Him." 

The lesson here is that the Jews who rejected Jesus should now accept Him as the Messiah. This message is meant for us too.  We have to approach the times that we did not respond to the urging of the Holy Spirit. We are simply reminded who Jesus is and why we should follow Him.

Today at Mass we also heard the reading about Abram being taken outside by God and told the count the stars of the sky if he could. Well if you read the passage very carefully, you will see God brought Abram out during the daylight hours so he could not see any stars. It is not until later that we are told that night had fallen. Interesting, isn't it?

  

Catholic vs Protestant ?

Before we start let me say that this entry is NOT going to be a tirade against Protestantism. I really consider, as my Church tells me to, my Protestant friends as brothers and sisters in the faith. But we have to admit that there are differences of course in what we believe and there is clearer marker of this fact if we look at the symbols that adorn our places of worship. The main symbol that separates us is the cross and the crucifix. For some reason we hold different beliefs on what is proper. Catholics show a representation of the Crucified Christ on their crosses in church while in most Protestant places of worship a simple cross, without the corpus, is used. I would imagine, and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, that the Protestants feel that the representation of the corpus is a graven image and violates the first commandment. Well, the Catholic view on this is that we need to be reminded that Jesus went to the Cross for us, He hung in the burning sun, scorned, ridiculed, in deadly pain, bleeding, being set upon by flies and other bugs. We do not pray to the figure on the Crucifix, for we realize that it is but wood, or stone and is inanimate and has no power. We use it as we would use a picture of a loved one, a reminder or a prayer aid. This is how Catholics view all statues and other representations of Jesus, the Trinity, and the Saints. They are mere reminders and help us elevate our thoughts and prayers to God. No sane Catholic would ever think of praying to a statue or for that matter a cross or crucifix.

Our respective views of the Lord's Supper divide us as well. For many Protestants it is a ritual that is a simple memorial service that recalls the Last Supper. Some denominations believe that Christ is present in the bread and grape juice as long as the congregation is present but once the service is over the remnants can be fed to the birds and the juice can be dumped down the drain. For the Catholic believer the Holy Eucharist, the bread and wine are, through God's mysterious action, are transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Examination under the most powerful microscopes would show no change to the bread or wine that we could see with out senses. But we Catholics take the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John very seriously indeed. The power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood was given to the Apostles at the Last Supper. 

The center of Catholic worship is the Holy Eucharist, the person of Christ that has been consecrated by the priest at Mass. Christ is NOT killed again and again, but rather, His sacrifice is re-presented to the Father at each Mass celebrated. At Catholic Mass we are fed with the Word of God in readings from Holy Scripture. At each Mass we hear a reading from the Old Testament, a reading from the Psalms and a reading from the Gospel. It is at this point that mist Protestant services conclude. Teaching from the Word is shared, songs of praise are sung and a sermon is preached. At Catholic Mass after we are fed from the bounty of God's Word we then are fed by Christ with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the bread and wine. So, we Catholics are fortunate to be nourished by both word and Christ Himself. We Catholics believe that the Eucharist is an awesome gift that is given to us by God and the way he chooses to be with us until He comes back for us at the end of time. 

For most Protestants there is a theory of Once saved, always saved. In other words, once you commit yourself to Christ, usually by saying "the sinners prayer" you are forever marked as being bound for heaven. My questions would be first, where is the sinners prayer in the Bible? Secondly, personal responsibility for how you live your life, what happens to it if once saved always saved is true? Luther said "sin boldly" while Scripture counsels us; "...because it is written be ye holy for I am holy...1 Peter 1:16 KJV. For us Catholics we realize that the gift of salvation is just that, a gift that cannot be purchased or earned. It is available to all as a birth right of all Christians but as we see in the story of the prodigal son it can be squandered and thrown away. God is always there ready to welcome us back but using our free will we have cooperate with His grace and return to His house. He is always watching and waiting for us to return. Christ gave us Catholics a way to heal the hurt of sin and that is called the sacrament of reconciliation or confession. Christ gave this power to the Apostles when He told them that those sins that they forgive are forgiven and those that they held bound were held bound.  It stands to reason that in order to decide if a sin is to be forgiven it has to be verbalized.  We do this in confession and receive the forgiveness of Christ and his Church for no sin only affects the sinner, it affects the Church, the kingdom. Imagine a placid pool of water and a person throws a rock into the middle the water is disturbed and the effects of the rock is felt from the epicenter to the shore of the pool. 

There are other differences between Catholics and Protestants but that would be the subject for a book and not for a blog post. The things that divide us are not trivial but I think that we are closer that even Jack Chic, the most anti-Catholic person ever to draw breath would suspect.  We have in common Jesus Christ who uses each of us, each denomination through the action of the Holy Spirit to get the work of the Kingdom done. He will return one day and it may amaze us who he gathers to his right side and who are sent shamefully to the left. 

There is a great danger in the world today. The soil of the earth is being enriched by the blood of Christian martyrs, both Protestant and Catholic by the misguided followers of Islam that swear allegiance to ISIS. Closer to home we are attacked on all sides by a society that has been sinking down into moral depravity since Row v Wade became the law of the land and human life became cheaper.  We Christians, Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, all of the thirty thousand plus denominations have to pray for unity. If a return to one church is not possible yet, then we must unite ourselves beneath the banner of Christ and cry out with loud voices when injustice appears. In our country it is not fashionable to be a Christian of any sort anymore. It is more fashionable to be a homosexual activist, an advocate for the murder of babies in the womb, a disciple of Jack Kevorkian demanding that life of the old, the diseased, be snuffed out because their life is no longer worth living. The age old question of life echos into our frail ears; "When the Son of Man comes will He find any faith on the earth?"

May God bless and keep you this day. Watch for opportunities to be Christ to people and burn with the fire of His love in your heart and show it by your life.   

We Are One Body - How To Live A Saintly Life

One of the joys in my life is music. I love to listen to it and I love to sing it.  I am a member of the St. Mary of Vernon Choir and I look forward every week to singing at Mass. This does present a bit of a problem.  I do not read music very well so I am a bit timid when I am the lone tenor at Saturday evening Mass. It is really a lot of fun for me when other tenors present.  Jerry and Todd, two of our expert tenors make it look so easy and as they are "singing in my ear" the notes on the page seem to come alive and I have a better time of keeping with the group.  This is First Corinthians 12 in action! 

Yesterday I wrote how the Catholic Church formally canonizes those people she considers as worthy examples for us to emulate in living our life. But what can you and I do as people in the real world to become a holy person? 

First let's define what a hole person is. A holy person need not be a religious person. As a matter of fact I know some religious people that are not living a holy life (forgive me for judging them.)  A holy person is a person that is whole.  Their whole being is turned to God.  They are hopelessly in love with God and do not want to turn away from him. This burning love to God is a hallmark of a holy person.  Well, I hear you say, that lets me out.  Not so fast there good buddy. You don't become a whole person overnight, it takes a long time.  For some of us it will take to our last breath and that is okay. A holy person is a person that is making the attempt to be better.  So you probably are on the way to becoming a holy person. Here are some things that we have to accomplish to complete on our journey.  Consider it our bucket list to heaven.

• PRAY.  Prayer is the beginning to establishing a relationship with God.  It is also a simple thing to do. Talk to God like you are talking to a friend.  After a while, perhaps years, you will realize that you are doing all of the talking. That is okay but you may realize that a relationship where one does all of the speaking can be improved. 
• LISTEN.  When we realize that God may have something to say to us we will try to listen.  It is NOT an easy thing to do. When you quiet your mind and start to focus on God events of the day, issues you are dealing with, outside distractions will tend to intrude. That's okay. Chase them away.  Be kind to yourself, do not be discouraged.  At the start if you can be in absolute silence of mind and focused on God for thirty seconds, then consider that a success.  Be faithful.  Talk to Jesus every day and after you have had your say, quiet your mind and try to listen for the voice of the Lord.  If you were able to do ten seconds one day, try for eleven seconds the next time you pray. Slow and steady progress is what you strive for.
• ACTION.  The word Christian and Catholic should bring to mind action. Prayer is good and is heartily recommended but we must be people of action.  As Mother Theresa once said we must be willing to do small things with great love.  Christian action can be as simple as helping a child tie shoe or giving a cold drink of water to a man on a hot day. In other words your actions do not have to be earth shaking. We are presented with dozens of events over the course of a week where we can be Christ to another person, watch for them. 
• CONFESS.  End every day with a brief examination of conscience and an act of contrition. Once a month walk into the confessional and confess your failings. The Church only requires you to go to confession once a year. Would you take a shower once a year?  Would you wash your car once a year?  Would you scrub your floor once a year?  No, each of these things are routine maintenance items. Confession for some reason terrifies some people so they do not go to confession.  When I was a kid we went every week and the priests would be available for three hours on Saturday afternoon and there was always a line to get into what Edith Bunker, Archie Bunker's wife in the 70's sitcom All in the Family, "Telephone booths to God."  I don't know why confession has fallen out of favor today. Maybe people don't sin anymore. But confession will give you graces that will help you to defeat sin and you will have a fresh start. 
• COMMUNION.  Go to communion every chance you get. We can get no closer to Jesus on this mortal earth than when we take Him into us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  When you take communion Jesus is truly present in you.  Talk to Him, do not ignore Him.  He wants to hear your needs, your apologies to Him, your praise.  He gave us this great sacrament as a sign of His ever loving care for us until He returns to bring us home. 
• FORGIVE.  This is very important and for some of us it will be very hard. But when you say the Our Father we ask God to forgive us our sin as we forgive those who have sinned against us.  When my mother passed away my heart was filled with rage against the doctor that mis-diagnosed her and indirectly caused her to die young.  I carried that rage inside of me for six long months. During that time I was also in a deep depression. Had that doctor stepped in front of my car I would have done my best to run her down, and this is not a joke.  One day on my way to work I passed a Catholic Church and a thought entered my head. I realized that the Blessed Sacrament was only yards away and brick and glass could not shield me from His love. I knew at that moment what I had to do.  I had to forgive.  When I did my depression left me and the rage I felt was replaced by a deep seated feeling of peace.  Since that time it has become impossible for me to hate anyone.  Would I eat lunch with that doctor? No, I do not hate her, but I also realize that she is one of God's beloved children and I have no right to hate her. So when I released my hate and rage, God granted me a deep peace. So forgive your enemy, you will be doing yourself a great favor. 
• PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS.  It is a fact that most of us will not make it directly to heaven. There will be imperfections on our souls that will need to be scrubbed away before we will feel that we can enter heaven. Once in Purgatory we can no longer help ourselves. We have to wait until we are ready for heaven or our time can be cut short because of the prayers of the people still alive for us.  If we pray for the poor souls and if we pray even one soul out of purgatory and into heaven, he or she will not forget us when we are in need. 

I think that if we do these things we will begin to enjoy heaven right here on earth because we will have stepped outside ourselves and shared the love that has been showered on us by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

May the light that is Christ guide you this day and this week. 

How To Become A Canonized Saint

Sainthood - is it for me?

What is it that God wants of us? What is closest to His heart? What dream does he dream for us?  

God's fondest wish for us is to be with Him in heaven forever. He wants to share the perfect happiness that we mortals cannot even begin to understand how very wonderful it is!  That is why we are on earth.  Okay, then the question becomes if God is so gungho for us to be with Him in heaven then why did He place us on earth?  Well, go back to the very beginning. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Paradise, which I've always thought of as kind of an earthly type of heaven where everything was perfect. He put us there because he wanted to see if we would want to be in relationship with Him by our own free will.  Well, we know how that turned out.  Using our free will we turned away from Him and he immediately planned and began to implement our return to relationship through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. 

The people who have died in God's friendship and live with Him in heaven are called saints. The media latches on to the Church's formal recognition of certain people as having lived heroic Christian lives through canonization. The last one you may have heard of was the canonization of Father Junipero Serra, the missionary that helped bring Christianity to California. There are literally thousands of canonized saints that have been enrolled by the Church.  But does that mean that only those that the Church recognizes and has canonized are in heaven? Certainly not!  Besides the thousands of canonized saints there are untold millions of people, men and women just like you and I that have lived holy lives and are with God in heaven. The point here is that there is nothing more glorious than a soul entering heaven to be with God forever and nothing so sad and forlorn as a soul that through a life wasted on rejecting the Father's friendship ending up in a place without God.   I believe that we will be welcomed with great joy into heaven by Jesus and the Saints, all of them!  

Okay, let's say you are the type of person that only wants the best/ None of this anonymous sainthood for you. You want the full treatment and full recognition of the Church that you lived a life worthy of being emulated by the faithful.  How do you go about it? Well, I could spend some time discussing canon law but I won't. Here in layman's terms is a rather whimsical view of how get your life recognized as being saintly.

The Canonization Process – Very Simplified

So, you want to be a canonized saint.  Make 

sure you put this document with your will so that your heirs will know what to do.  The most important thing is that you be dead, so take care of that first.  Then make sure your heirs do the following:

1.       WAIT FIVE YEARS.  Candidate has to have been dead for five years.  This is to allow time for “cooler heads to prevail. It allows more objectivity. 

.       GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER. The cause is started in the diocese where the candidate lived.  A promoter group, for example the parish, religious congregation, or pious association asks the bishop to open an investigation. The bishop asks Rome who sends a letter of “nulla osta” or “no impediment” and a tribunal is formed.

.      PRESENT THE FACTS and WRITE ‘EM UP and GET ‘EM TO ROME. The tribunal calls witnesses to recount the facts of the candidates life and how the candidate exercised Christian virtue especially; prudence, justice, temperance, faith, hope and charity. Documents are gathered and sent to Rome, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  If the Candidate has made it this far, he (she) is entitled to the title “Servant of God.”

       WIN THE ELECTION. The documents and evidence are examined in Rome by nine theologians. If the Servant of God gets at least five votes the congregation presents the results of the Pope who will give his approval (or not) and authorizes a public decree which is publicly read and distributed.

.       PERFORM A MIRACLE. For beatification a miracle, verified after his (her) death is necessary. This miracle is investigated and if it is shown to be a miracle, a decree is read. The candidate is now called “Blessed.”

   PERFORM AN ENCORE. For final canonization another miracle occurring AFTER his beatification.  It is investigated as was the virtues and first miracle were and the matter is sent to the Pope who can make the final decision if the Blessed candidate is to acquire the title of Saint.  

There you have it!  It is a simple and straight forward process and you will really get to  know who your friends are if they stick it out.  Oh, I almost forgot - you should make some provision to pay the expenses involved in the process.  Here is what you should allow for:  

For decoration of the Basilica, lights, architectural designs, labor, and superintendence — 

Lire 152,840.58 

Procession, Pontifical Mass, preparation of altars in Basilica —  Lire 8,114.58 

Cost of gifts presented to Holy Father —  

Lire 1,438.87 

Hangings, Sacred Vestments, etc.

Lire 12,990.60 

Recompense for services and money loaned — 

Lire  3,525.07 

To the Vatican Chapter as perquisites for decorations and candles Lire 18,000.00 

Propine and Competenza    (unforeseen expenses)                            Lire 16,936.00      

Other incidental and unforeseen expenses —  

Lire   4,468,40 

Total Lire 221,601.05

Total US 1913 Dollars        $42,816.87

Lawyers and Documents     $20,000.00

Total US$                            $62,816.87                                                                                               

Grand total in 1913 US$    $62,816.87   which is approximately 

$209,601.05 in 2010 dollars.

Let's remember, too, that prices may have gone up since 1913!

This whole process can and in some cases has literally taken hundreds of years.  The church is very careful who she canonizes as a saint.  There are a lot of rules that are not mentioned here, for example a "devil's advocate is appointed who brings out the less savory incidents of your life, if he can find any. 

This may be irreverent but I think of canonized saints as those that made the All Star team, and are people we should imitate and respect.  Remember too, that for every canonized saint there are thousands of millions of saints that for whatever reason did not go through this process.  The total number of saints in heaven is known to God alone.  I hope you will be the first human to count them all when you get to heaven.

Why Catholics Go To Church Every Sunday

The Main Ceremonial doors leading into St, Mary of Vernon
Church in Indian Creek, Illinois. 

One of the features of being a Catholic is the requirement that we attend Mass every Sunday and holy day of obligation.  For the average Protestant actual attendance at Church is not a requirement although there are many Protestants that attend both on Sunday and come back on Wednesdays, but this is not a requirement that binds under sin.  For a Catholic Sunday is the most important day of the week and attendance at mass is mandatory. Failure to attend is considered a very serious sin.  But, why is this so? Why is it considered so very important? There are any number of excuses that can serve to allow us to blow off Sunday Mass.  For example, we might just not feel like going, or we may feel that it is boring, or maybe we are convinced that we can worship God anywhere and do not need to be so formal about prayer and worship.  Maybe we think that we are too busy, too tired, or any number of other self-serving excuses. But as we will see, none of these excuses work very well. 

With thanks to Our Sunday Visitor here are ten reasons why Catholics believe attendance at Sunday Mass is so very important. 

• God asks us to make one day holy. We are to set aside one day to refocus physically, mentally, and spiritually. Going to Mass allows us to see things from a different perspective. We realize that not every idea that we have about God or how to live a Christian life is exactly on target. We exchange our agenda for God's.  We receive inspiration and strength for the week ahead. 
• Jesus gives us the gift of Himself. When we gather as a community we fulfill the command of Jesus to love and to be loved by God. We receive and are fed by the Word of God, the Scriptures that we hear proclaimed and we receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 
• We need to be part of a community.  Man is a social creature. A human being who keeps themselves away from other human beings can become an authority in themselves in that they begin to believe that their ideas are the only view of the world that are correct. They have no one to answer to but themselves. This is scary. When we are in a Christian community we give each other support, we make each other accountable and we give encouragement to one another, sometimes just by being there.  We see that we are not alone and we are reminded that we are part of the Body of Christ. 
• God has a special message for us.  We come together and listen to the Word of God and the prayers of the Mass and God speaks to us in a special way.  Each Mass should allow us to walk away with one thought that will help us in our spiritual lives. We receive this gift simply by focusing on what is going on around us and we open ourselves to what God is telling us. 
• People need our prayers.  Scripture commands us to pray for one another.  Certainly we can (and should) do this at home but when we pray for others at Mass we pray in a special way.  We pray as part of the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, and heaven and earth are united and the bonds of space and time are loosened. 
• We need to stand up for what we believe.  Being a follower of Christ calls us to be counter-cultural. Think back to the early Church. People would attend the Breaking of the Bread knowing full well that they might be arrested and become entertainment for the emperor in the arena. Today too our attendance shows that we are not closet Christians but rather Christians that are testifying to the Truth by being publicly present at public worship. We pray the Nicene Creed and publicly proclaim what we believe and who we are.  
• We need to acknowledge our mistakes.  At every Mass we have an opportunity to review the previous week and see where we have fallen short in word, deed, and thought. We admit that we have sinned in what we have done and what we have failed to do and we seek the forgiveness of God.  This serves as a reality check.  Are we as "good" as we think we are? Before communion we acknowledge that we are not worthy and ask God to heal us. 
• We need ritual in our lives.  Mass is a ritual. This means that through the prayers, movement and the changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ we are formed, disciplined and consoled. The sameness of the Mass carries us along the spiritual journey and we pray even if we don't feel like praying. 
• We need to experience something bigger than ourselves.  At Mass we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus and enter into God's great plan for our world to bring the Gospel message to all people. At Mass heaven and earth are joined in expressing praise to God and we join the choir of angels and sing the eternal praise of God when we sing; "Holy Holy, Holy..."  The Mass gives meaning and purpose to our lives and gives us a sense of wonder and awe.  

So you can see that for a Catholic going to church each Sunday while it is an obligation, it also provides many benefits.  I think that regulations, such as the "obligation" to go to Mass every Sunday are written for the people that only want know what the minimum requirements are.  For most Catholics attending Mass on Sunday is the high point of each week and they attend willingly and are very sad indeed when serious circumstances do not allow them to attend. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ brighten your life this week and may you feel a part of the Communion of Saints. 

The 2016 Convert - A - Catholic Challenge is underway. I am looking to be saved from the Catholic Church and looking for your most compelling arguments as to why I should join your denomination.  Write me by clicking this link.Click Here 

Ten Answers to Your Questions About the Catholic Church

Happy New Year to all of you. I am starting 2016 with a top 10 list.  These are the top ten questions that Protestants ask Catholics about the Catholic Faith.  I am indebted to Our Sunday Visitor for the information that I am going to share with you today.  Catholics are often misunderstood by our Protestant brothers and sisters. Sometimes it goes deeper than misunderstandings for example Chic publications prints what they know to be untruths about the Catholic Church and unfortunately people believe the stories he tells.  There are also great tomes, such as Roman Catholicism by Bettner that spreads lies about what Catholics do and what we believe.  So I want to take this opportunity to answer the top ten questions Protestants ask about the Catholic Church. 

Question 1: Are your beliefs found in the Bible?

"All Catholic beliefs can be found in the Bible in some form, whether plainly or by indirect indication."   The Bible itself does not teach that all beliefs Christians should have need to be in the Bible.  For example Paul says; "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth  or by letter. (2 Thes 2:15)  The early Church did not have a Bible to open to settle differences. They held councils which made binding decrees.  (Acts 15: 1-29)  The canon of the Bible was not decided by the Church until the late fourth century so Tradition and Authority were necessary for us to even have a Bible to open today! 

Question 2: Why do you obey the Pope? 

Jesus knew that he would be returning to heaven. He knew that His Church would need to have a leader. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said to Peter; "And I tell you, you are Rock and upon this Rock I will build My Church.  He also told Peter that "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 16: 18-19)  The Pope can make infallible pronouncements binding the faithful under certain conditions. The Pope is protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error.  This does not mean that the Pope is sinless, he is a man and he can sin.  As a matter of fact the Pope generally goes to confession at least once a week.  Some of the worst popes, the ones with secret children, concubines also had this faculty to and even these Popes never taught heresy.  the worst among them were too busy enriching themselves to bother with teaching anything. Because of the Pope and the Cardinals we have an authority to look to for correct interpretation of scripture. This because of Papal authority the Church, unlike the Protestant denominations believe one truth and are unified in worship as Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper. 

Question 3: Why do you call your priest "father"?  Christ said "Call no man father."

Jesus did say call no man father in Matt 23:9 but you have to understand what he meant. He is not speaking in an absolute sense.  If he was then what we call the husband of your mother?  Jesus is saying that the ultimate authority is God the Father. Jesus Himself uses the term Matthew in Matt 15: 4-5 and several other places. In the story of Lazarus Jesus has addressing Abraham as Father Abraham, twice (Luke 16:24, 30) St Paul also writes in 1 Cor 4:15 "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." 

Question 4: Why do you pray for the dead? Dead is dead.

For the Christian, death is not an end but rather a change. We exhale our last breath on earth and take our first breath standing before the Lord to be judged. In 2 Maccabees the living prayed for the dead who died because they were wearing idols that were forbidden for them to wear.  St. Paul writes of being baptized on behalf of the dead.  In this case the term baptized indicates prayer and fasting for the dead.  Also Paul is praying for Onesiphorus in 2 Tim 1:16 -18.  

Question 5: Why do you pray to idols (statues)?

The answer to this question is very simple.  We do not worship or pray to statues. What does a statue and baseball bat have in common?  Both are made of wood by human hands.  Neither of them have any extraordinary powers. Statues serve the same purpose as photographs of loved ones that most people carry around in their wallets. The pictures in our wallets remind us of our loved ones and statues remind us about our loved ones in heaven.  No Catholic prays to a statue. We pray to the saint that is in heaven and ask them to pray to Jesus for us.  It is no different than you asking me to pray for your surgery to be successful.  The statue can be there or not, our prayers are just as effective and are heard. 

Question 6 Why confess your sins to a priest? 

The picture to the left is slightly out of date because in most churches today the confessional is a room where there is a kneeler and a screen where you can confess your sins without the priest seeing who you are and a couple of steps away from the screen there is a chair that you can sit and confess face to face.  This is the method most people use today.  Jesus gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins when He said in Matthew 16:19 "If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven, if you retain them they are retained."  With these words Jesus instituted the sacrament of Reconciliation, AKA confession, AKA penance.  If we don't confess our sins out loud to the priest how will he know which ones to forgive and which ones to retain?  See also Matt 3:5-6, Acts 19:18 and 1John 1:9. 

Question 7: Why do Catholics worship Mary?

Once again the answer to this question is quite easy, we don't.  We venerate her. Worship is reserved for God alone.  Mary is the greatest of all the saints in heaven. We show her veneration, or great respect because of who she is.  She is the Mother of God!  Think of this if you want to understand why Mary deserves the respect we give her.  She was the first Christian. She believed she was carrying the Messiah in her womb. Mary began life without the stain of original sin. This was done to her by God as a special gift to her who would be the Mother of God. Remember, God is not bound by time or space. He knows what will happen and He could see the redeeming death and obedience of His Son on the Cross. Mary needed to be saved and so He applied the merits of Jesus' death on the Cross to Mary at the time she was conceived, thus we call her The Immaculate Conception as one of her titles.  Mary is very humble and while she does not speak much in the Gospels what she does say conveys her humility and she never points to herself but always to Jesus.  What did she say at the wedding feast at Cana?  "Do whatever he tells you."  Good advice both back then and now. 


Question 8:  Why do you worship wafers?

The bread and wine that are consecrated at mass are not simple wafers, they are the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. Most Protestants are not too familiar with the Gospel of John, especially the sixth chapter. Protestant ministers have a hard time dealing with this chapter as they deal with the rest of the Bible. Protestants generally believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols and the act a simple memorial of the Last Supper. The Gospel of John reports Jesus saying repeatedly that "he who eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life." Also, Paul tells us that if you take communion unworthily that you are guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:27).  We cannot sin against the body of someone by destroying their picture which is a symbol of the person.  Also, read in the accounts of the Last Supper and look at the words of Christ. He does not suggest that the bread and wine are mere symbols, the word eat that he uses in Greek is the word that is used for gnaw or chew, the actions you use when you eat something real.  Finally, Jesus is portrayed as the Lamb of God and our Passover. Go back into the Old Testament, what did the children of Israel have to do so that the angel of death would pass over their house?  They had to mark the doorposts with the blood of the lamb and they had to eat the lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Question 9: If you died tonight would you go to heaven?

I have assurance of salvation if I am faithful and keep the commandments of God.  If I die in this state I will immediately enter heaven. But since nothing unclean can enter heaven I might need further purification to purge these imperfections from my soul. This purging takes place in purgatory.  It purges the soul of anything that is imperfect.  Once again let us look to what Paul says about this subject in 1 Cor 3:13, 15, "Each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose because it will be revealed with fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done...if any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved but only as through fire." 

Question 10: Are you saved? 

Short answer is YES. I as a Catholic am as sure as anyone else that I am in God's good graces. But because God has given me free choice, the gift of my salvation can be cast off any time I choose.  Once saved always saved is not a Biblical concept which makes no sense at all. For example on day one I say the sinners prayer (where is that found in the Bible anyway?) and according to the principle of once saved always saved, I've got it made. From that day forward I live a good, clean, Christian life. I  pray, I tithe, I go to church.  Then one day I wake up, grab my pump shotgun and rob a bank and in doing so I kill no less than three innocent people.  As I am leaving the bank I walk into a hail of bullets and am killed. Would it be fair for me to enjoy the bliss of heaven with the blood of three people on my hands?  Can you imagine this unholiness being in heaven?  Yes, for most of my life I was "saved" but in the end I chose to throw my salvation away in pursuit of money.  My friendship with God is completely voluntary and I can walk out of relationship with him by making sinful choices at any time.  Notice please that it is I that walk away from God. He never leaves us.  He is always but arms length away from us even when we are like the prodigal son wasting our inheritance on riotous living. So even at the last moment of life I can turn back to Him providing am contrite for what I have done.  

I hope that these ten little paragraphs help you understand the Catholic Church a little better.  I am one of the luckiest people ever born on this earth. No, I've not won Publisher's Clearing House or the Power Ball lottery. I was born into the Catholic Church and through it have access to the complete truth of the Gospel, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.  I am a member of the one true Church founded not by a mere man but by Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Through her I receive grace through her Sacraments including forgiveness of my many sins through the Sacrament of Confession and I receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  I am the luckiest man alive. 

God bless you on this Feast of the Epiphany when Jesus was recognized by the three wise men.  May the light of the Christ Child light your way today.

The 2016 Convert-a-Catholic Challenge has been made and I am waiting for one of you to accept the challenge and to convert this cradle Catholic to your denomination.  Just prove to me where the Catholic Church went wrong and I will convert to your denomination,  Click here to begin.  

Thanks to Our Sunday Visitor for their pamphlet "Top Ten Questions Catholics are Asked"