Things Protestants Don't Understand About the Catholic Church - Worshipping Mary

C A T H O L I C S   D O   N OT   W O R S H I PM A R Y 

W E   N E V E R   H A V E   A N D   W E   N E V E R  W I L L 

I wanted to get the main point of this post out of the way very early on, and in a very clear manner, so that even those of the most limited attention span would have time to grasp what this post is all about.  To reprise, Catholics do not worship Mary.  This would be offensive to God, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.  It would be offensive to Mary herself and so we do not do it.  Mary is a created creature, like ourselves, except in one very important aspect which is discussed below. 

Mary was a very pious young lady in an age where piety reigned.  To look at her you would see nothing special.  She was a normal person, perhaps just a bit happier than most but her

outward appearance was normal. 

Inwardly, Mary was very special indeed. She had been chosen from all creation to be the Mother of God.  She had been chosen by God as early as in the Garden of Eden when God Himself set her and her offspring as enemies of evil.  

To understand what made Mary different from any other created creature on earth we have to understand a little bit about the very nature of God.  God is all good, all loving, all knowing. God is not surprised by anything.  He does not live in time.  He sees and is present in what we consider the past, the present, and the future all at the same time.  He is all powerful. I believe He COULD create a rock that he could not move simply because he would will it so.  He would then, of course, will it out of existence because it would be a nuisance in his living room!  I do not think that any of my Protestant friends would disagree so far with my very brief description of the attributes of God.  Let's add Mary to the mix. 

Mary was a created creature. She was different from you and me because the stain of original sin never touched her soul.  She was immaculately conceived in the womb as a special gift of God to her.  Please understand that Mary, as a human, needed a savior.  As she was going to be the mother of Jesus, she was saved by Jesus in a very special and wonderful way.  God, in his mercy, applied the merits of the Cross to her before she was born so that the devil had no hold what-so-ever on her.  I can hear you asking how can this be?  Well, God, who is all-knowing and is not hampered by time saw the obedience of His Son and acted accordingly.  Here is an example of what was done.  For you and me, when we were born, we had the sin of Adam and Eve on our soul.  We were an enemy of God.  We were cast into a pit and Jesus came and drew us out of the pit by his saving death on the cross.  Mary too was saved by Christ.  In her case, she was carried over the pit and her soul never was touched by the original sin of Adam and Eve.  This special favor is what is called The Immaculate Conception of Mary.  She was born in the furnace of human love between her mother and father and was saved from original sin by the merits of Jesus.  Just for the record, Martin Luther believed in the Immaculate Conception and perpetual virginity of Mary.  

Mary in the Gospels does not speak often but when she does she says a whole lot in just a few words.  Can you remember the wedding feast at Cana?  Wedding feasts went on for days back then.  The feasting and drinking often went on for days as the community celebrated the birth of a new family.  The couple in this case either did not buy enough wine or the guests were making merry at a much higher rate than was expected for they ran out of wine.  This was a disaster for the young couple and there was not much that they could do about it.  Mary felt their pain and called to her Son and told Him the tail of woe.  He said to her that it wasn't time for Him to start his ministry yet. Mary looked deeply into His eyes and turned to the head waiter and told him to "Do whatever He tells you."  He had some stone vessels filled to the brim and told the servants to bring a ladle full to the head waiter.  When the head waiter tasted it he realized that this was the most magnificent wine that he had ever tasted.  He sent his staff out to fill the cups of the thirsty revelers and approached the bridegroom.  He asked him why he had saved the good wine for last?  Because he knew that at most parties the best wine was served first because the guests would enjoy it more and then when their pallets were dulled by the alcohol they would not notice that a lesser vintage was being served.   The point here is that Mary, all through scripture, never points to herself.  She always points to Jesus.  She knew who her Son was. 

Catholics do not worship Mary, as good as she is, as sinless as she is, she is but a creature.  We do venerate her.  She has a very special place in salvation history.  She is the mother of Jesus.  Jesus made special provision for her when he was dying on the Cross because he knew that a woman without a man to take care of her would be in desperate straits.  From the Cross he told John, "Here is your mother" and to His mother, He said,"Mother, here is your son."  The Bible tells us from that moment on John took her into his house and cared for her.  Jesus was not only giving Mary to John, he was giving her to us to be our spiritual mother. 

I think we all can agree that Jesus led a perfect life.  He fulfilled the Law without any of slips that we call sin.  His life was perfection indeed.  The ten commandments were followed perfectly by Him.  One of the commandments tells us to "Honor our Father and Mother."  Jesus did this perfectly throughout his whole life.  He committed no sin. So, if Jesus did this and we are to imitate his life in what we do then we too as adopted sons and daughters of God should honor our Mother in heaven.  It would not offend God that we honor the new Eve, the new Ark of the Covenant.  Catholics do just that.  We honor our mother.  

We honor Mary in various ways.  As the greatest saint in heaven, we pray to her and ask her to pray to Jesus for us.  Remember please, for a Christian, life is changed and not ended when we die so Mary can pray for us and is pleased to do so.  

But Jesus is the mediator between God and man.  Does praying to Mary asking for her intercession mean she is taking the place of Jesus and as such is forbidden?  No, not at all.  We are told in scripture to pray for one another.  We pray for our friends that the surgery goes well, or that the problems in their marriage heal.  When we pray for another we are acting as an intercessor for them and yet scripture commands us to pray for one another so it cannot be wrong.  So, if for a Christian life is not ended but changed then the saints in heaven, of which Mary is the greatest, can pray for us just like your best friend can here on earth. 

I want to touch on the apparitions of Mary on Earth.  It is widely believed that Mary has appeared in certain places at certain times.  The Catholic Church believes that public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle.  All of the apparitions, both those that are approved by the Church, such as Fatima and Guadalupe and unapproved ones fall into the category of private revelation.  The approval of the Church does not certify the apparition as a dogma of the Church, it only certifies that Christians are free to believe in the apparition or not as their conscience dictates as there is nothing contrary to the faith being taught.  The amazing thing about all of the approved apparitions is that in none of them is Mary commanding anything for herself.  She is always pointing to her Son and recommending prayer and repentance.  

Mary is revered by Catholics.  No Catholic who is knowledgeable about their faith would consider worshipping Mary.  Have there been excesses? Yes, I would say that there have been.  Some Catholics in ignorance can go off half cocked when it comes to Mary.  But, the mainstream Catholic knows who Mary is and knows how she wants to be considered by her adopted children. 

This is a very complicated subject and the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is available online for free treats this subject much better than I can.  If you are going to criticize the Catholic Church, I would recommend you do so from a position of strength using her official teachings which can be found easily online.  The funny thing is that once you read the real teachings of the Church and see the Biblical origins you might have to take writers such as Bittner and Jack Chic to task as to why they spend so much of their time lying about the Church and what she believes.  Ignorance is a curable disease.  God bless you. 

 

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.   

Confirmation - Then and Now - Still Making A Difference

It was the 1970's and the Church was just starting to come out of the Kumbaya, I'm OK You're OK era. The cool breezes of Vatican II stirred the embers of the old Church as the reforms flooded onto the fertile ground of Holy Mother Church. 

These needed modern   reforms were mis-understood and in the attempt to become more relevant the Church shot itself in the foot. This is simply because the changes instead of being rolled out carefully with the due diligence that the old Church was famous for they were poured out like water on an unsuspecting class of believers. The average adult believer became a victim of shell shock as it seemed that the old practices that everyone was comfortable with were gone in a flash. 

Into the arena steps our hero, a twenty something young man who left his secure job at a well known mid western bank, taking his retirement fund, his whole capital of eight hundred dollars and he joined the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance in the mountains of Pennsylvania. He suffered through a very cold winter and in the summer he was transferred and became Brother Michael TOR a novice in the order at the Sacred Heart Monastery in Winchester VA. The lad really grew up in this the springtime of his life. He learned to cook, how to run a retreat house, shoveled manure,worked with what were called back then the mentally retarded and he taught a class of seventh graders enough religion at a little church in Pureseville VA. 

This last job, teaching the seventh graders at St.Francs de Sales Church was among the most rewarding things I ever did. There are a hundred stories I could tell about this job that was foisted upon me but suffice it to say that I could see in those youthful faces the future of the Church. Teaching them was a real pleasure. The big day arrived and the bishop (I don't remember his name) arrived early as did I and we sat down with the Franciscan Conventional Friar (again I cannot remember his name) and ate supper together and the conversation turned to teaching youth and of course here is novice brother Michael telling a bishop just what "we" could do to improve the religious education of youth. He was very polite and did not tell me to shut up, I guess that why he was a bishop, he WAS trained to overlook stupidity.

Today as part of the St.Mary of Vernon choir,some forty years removed from my experience with that class of wonderful kids, I will be singing at our parish's confirmation mass today where another class will take their place as young adults in the Church. It is so different today.  I remember when I was confirmed, there was memorization of facts from the Baltimore Catechism and endless class time spent on what it meant to be confirmed. We were to be soldiers of Christ. Today, thank God, the kids get some practical experience as to what that means. At our parish they are required to put in time doing service work, giving practical application to the book knowledge that they have to attain as well.  

Confirmation for the class of 2016 will give these young people's faith wings. Maybe a good percentage of them will stay active in the Church and take up the burdens that become to heavy for people to carry as they age. I believe that in yesteryear the confirmation classes were the last bit of Catholic education a young person would receive if they did not go to a Catholic high school and college. I think that the classes of yesteryear, through no fault of their own, did not get the benefit of using the book knowledge that they had attained and it became just another class to be taken. 

The future of Catholic Church is being built brick by brick with each confirmation class that we matriculate. Eventually the Kumbaya, feel good years will become a distant memory and the young adults that are confirmed today will help the Church bring the spirit of Vatican II into being in the Church. When that happens, look out, good things will happen. There will be a Renaissance and the Church will become stronger and able to meet the future head on.  Like it or not the Catholic Church is the only thing that stands between us and completely Godless, pagan society. The denominations are slowly sinking into depravity in order to keep themselves relevant. The Church on the other hand still continues her mission of speaking the truth and pointing the way to the narrow road.  The youth we confirm today will be our future. May God guide and keep them.  May God also forgive the old fool who writes these words for being so weak for so long. I cry out in a loud voice; Come Holy Spirit Come!"    

Ashes to Ashes - Dust to Dust

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of our forty day journey with Jesus in the desert.  When I was a boy the only thing I thought of on this day was that now on Friday's we would be having fish for dinner.  Fish normally consisted of either Mom's Tuna Fish Salad or the dreaded fish sticks. Some days during Lent we got a double whammy, at school we would be given fish sticks for lunch with a dry lump of U.S. Government cheese, coleslaw and a cup with a peach in heavy syrup in a cup. There was a reason God made fish the way He did, you know, fish shaped, that was to remind you that fish were meant to fish shaped and should be eaten fresh and never carved into sticks.  But that's in the past and today I never have to eat fish sticks. Not eating meat on Friday was really ingrained into us those days. One year my father took us to see the Chicago Auto Show on a Lenten Friday.  We stopped for a snack and he bought me a hot dog. I had taken a bite of it and before I could swallow it he mentioned that it was Friday.  It meant nothing to him, he did not follow the faith even though he was a baptized Catholic.  I excused myself and spat the mouthful of David Berg Kosher hot dog and bun into the garbage can and followed that up with by fling the reset of the hot dog.  My father laughed at my antics and shook his head as he took a bite of his hot dog.  By the end of the night I was a bit hungry and even a fish stick would have tasted good, everything tastes good when you season it with enough ketchup. 

Our journey with Jesus is one that takes us into the desert. It is a time that we can spend reviewing our life, working out what we need to change to become ever better followers of Jesus.  Why the desert?  The desert is a place like no other. It  is desolate, you can go a long time without seeing another person.  The only sounds you will hear is the howl of the wind. You will be utterly alone without any distractions. There will be no one there to flatter you or criticize you.  It will just be you.  The solitude will allow you to focus on yourself and your relationship with God.  That what Lent is all about. It would be a wrong to classify it merely as spring cleaning, because it it much more than that.  The desert, a place where you can begin to see yourself as God sees you.  

So as we step out of our comfort zone and begin to take some time to learn about ourselves and become closer to Christ let us resolve to make this Lenten journey the best one we have ever had. 

LET ME SING OF YOUR WONDERFUL NAME
LET MY LIPS TELL THE JOY OF YOUR LOVE.
THE HEAVENS PROCLAIMING THE GLORY OF GOD
AND YET NO SOUND CAN BE HEARD
THE WORLD IN IT STILLNESS ARE WRAPPED IN YOU SILENCE
NOW FATHER GIVE US YOUR WORD!
LET ME SING OF YOUR WONDERFUL NAME
LET MY LIPS TELL THE JOY OF YOUR LOVE. 

Lent - The Season of fish sticks and beans

It seems just moments ago we were wishing each other the greetings appropriate to the holidays and now it seems that the season of Lent is knocking at the door.  Wednesday next is the day we call Ash Wednesday and marks the forty day period that the Church provides us to prepare for the Solemn Easter Tridium, the celebrations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter vigil. For some of us this period of time is remarkable only due to the fact that we Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on  Friday's of Lent. The Church also mandates fasting on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.

Lent literally means "spring."  What does the word "spring" bring to mind?  To me it brings to mind the ground thawing out after a chilly winter and new growth breaking the soil and plants opening up their leaves to catch the warm rays of the sun.  It is a mystical season that restores life where once there had been no sign of it. So it is with our lives and the season of Lent. 

When I was a boy I hated the season of Lent. In our household it was the season of fish sticks. There is nothing nastier on God's green earth than fish sticks. It was also the season of giving up something, usually candy if you were a kid, and that was a painful thing to do. Remember too that back then no one told the kids that Sunday's are not counted in the forty days of lent and you could gouge yourself with all the candy you wanted on Sundays!  No, Sister Emerita and her fellow sisters kept that as a Canonical Secret so we kids would not get out of the habit of giving up candy. In our household my father was an agnostic so Lent was not really part of his year but he put up with the fish sticks and vegetarian beans that was the staple of Lenten Friday dinners. We kids tried to remain faithful to our promise to give up candy but it was hard.  Why even in the school I went to the lunch time candy table was set up so you could get your sugar fix that would last you until three o'clock. Sales were off a bit but some kids still bought candy and we were told not to judge them because it was just possible that they were doing something else for Lent.  This was hardly likely because we knew who was buying the stuff and Eddie McIntyre and Albert Winkler were hardly the holy type that would eat candy and then go home and beat themselves with rosebush canes! 

Lent also brought with it a shortened school day on Friday.  This was not greeted with glee by most of us.  School would let out at about two or so in the afternoon and we would adjourn next door to the church where we would undergo the Stations of the Cross. This entailed forty minutes of  standing, genuflecting, kneeling, listening as the fourteen stations of the cross were prayed.  For a young boy this was a tedious rite and personally I longed for the joys of math class to break this prayer marathon. Actually I understood the Stations of the Cross much better than I understood the New Math that the good sisters were teaching so that is how desperate I was. 

 Not everyone hated the Stations of the Cross.  Jackie Gleason (no not the TV and film star) who had perfect posture and never went around with his hands in his pockets as the nuns always reminded us, usually served as one of the altar boys that accompanied Father around the Church as walked with Jesus to Calvary.  I always thought that Jackie wanted to actually be crucified on those Friday's, as we got closer and closer to the Crucifixion you could almost see the stigmata appearing on the boy. The ritual finished usually about a quarter to three so the good sisters gave us the opportunity to kneel for fifteen minutes before we were marched out of church one row at a time, keeping silent until we felt the sun and cold Chicago air on our faces. Then all hell would break loose as the weekend had officially started! 

On Saturday, we went to confession.  There were four priests and all of them spent four hours or so hearing confessions. We did not do this as a class, but we saw all of our classmates waiting in line.  I wonder how bored the priests must have gotten with several hundred children confessing that they had disobeyed their parents or swore or something of that nature.  They probably rejoiced when they got an adult parishioner that confessed that he had committed adultery, murdered a bishop, and burnt down two schools!  

Then on Sunday morning we would all gather at the 9:00 AM children's mass and sit with our class for Sunday Mass.  When the time was right the ushers would pass the basket and our children's envelopes filled with part of our hard earned allowance, nickles or dimes, would go into the basket. On Monday morning the totals were posted for each class with the names (but not the amounts) of those kids who contributed.  If a name from your class was missing, it was assumed that they had skipped Mass and were in big trouble and should be very careful until they could confess their sloth next Saturday at confession. 

So we are once again coming into the Lenten season. My boss, who knows I am a Catholic asked me what I was giving up.  I told her that I was giving up nothing this year. I explained that I would be trying to do something special for Lent, something positive, something that will help others during this season in the Jubilee Year of Mercy.  

What I am going to do personally for my own spiritual growth will be to forsake some TV time to do some Bible or other spiritual reading and to do this daily.  I will resolve to eat less so as to share the hunger the needy feel every day of their life. I will resolve also to do something about that hunger by making donations to organizations that fight hunger. I resolve to be kinder, to swallow my pride and to turn my other cheek when I am insulted or ridiculed.  I will also resolve to be a better ambassador for Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.  I will engage in dialogue with those who write hateful things about the Church but I will not criticize them, I will just criticize their words. 

I want for myself this Lent to be something special, a time of growth for my soul.  I invite you whether you be Catholic or Protestant to do the same.  It really just requires that you keep your eyes open, your pride in check, and to be open to the Spirit working in your life.   

God Bless you and may the Crucified One light your way this day. 

 

Imitation of Christ

There is an old saying that says that the greatest compliment a person can receive is when someone imitates them. This may or may not be true. But what we are called to do as followers of Christ is to imitate Him in all we do. This is a very tall order for us to fill. Let's examine just what it means to imitate Christ. To do so we have to examine just what it is that Christ did and then how we can best emulate it. 

First and foremost Jesus came to earth.  Now, how in the world can we imitate that feat? Are we defeated before we have begun?  No, because what Jesus did we CAN do.  He left heaven and came to earth, stepping out of "his comfort zone" so to speak.  So to imitate this we need to do the same. We need to choose to work with people that we normally would not work with. Maybe the homeless, maybe stepping up and working with right to life, the opportunities are there we just need to seek them out. 

Next, Jesus spent His life doing the Father's will.  We need to determine what the Father's will is for us and we need to act on it. I think it just means to be open to the promptings of the Spirit and taking up the challenges that are presented to us day by day.

We need to become bold. Many people think that Jesus never would say a cross word (no pun intended) to anyone and that He was always gentle and meek.  Well, He made a whip out of cords and drove the money changers out of the temple.  We need to show people we are pro Christ and we have to be ready to point out errors and sinfulness where we see it.  This is a dangerous activity because as you know the incident at the temple was one of the things that led to the Crucifixion of Jesus. We can and should do this with charity, but we must be prepared for the fallout because Christian ways go counter culture to the rest of the world.

We need to pray and to take care of our spiritual selves by imitating what Christ did. The New Testament mentions many times where Jesus went out and spent time in prayer. Time spent in prayer looks to the world as if it were time spent doing nothing. But our strength as Christians comes from our communication with God.  He will give us the strength to complete the missions that are presented to us.  Trying to complete a ministry without prayer is like trying to swim with a four hundred pound rock strapped to your back. Once you get away from the shore and into deeper waters you will certainly drown. 

Christ held nothing back, he gave it all when he stretched out his arms on the Cross for us. This is the hardest thing for us to imitate. It requires a level of trust in the Lord that may of us haven't yet cultivated.  We have to be so much in love with Jesus that we have to accept even death should that be where our ministry takes us.  I think of the Christians killed by ISL.  They lined up the Christians and had them kneel. To a man they kept praying as long as they could. Their example is what we must be prepared to do. Is this something that I have come up with from the deep pit which is my imagination?  No, our Lord and Savior in Matthew 16:24 says very clearly: 

If anyone wishes to come after me, 

let him take up his cross and follow me.

So, the essence of following Jesus is the Cross. If we are to be His ambassadors we have to be willing to carry the cross, falling and rising as he did, moving ever forward towards resolution and seemingly dissolution on Calvary's hill.  The advantage that we have that Jesus didn't is that the parts of our cross that are too heavy He will bear for us. All He asks of us is to try our best and He will help with the rest.  

God bless and keep you and your family this day. May the light that is Christ light your way to His side. 

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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.

Angels

Do you remember the TV series "Touched By An Angel?"  I was a big fan of that series.  If you never had the chance to watch it the show depicted four angels doing their work on earth at the behest of the Father.  It was a great show and it dealt with a lot of different human issues. The show included the angel of death. Angels are real.  We know this because they are mentioned in the Bible.  Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, was visited by an angel and it was then that she accepted the mission that God had planned for her.  She became the mother of Jesus, a person worthy of the greatest respect.  We also have an angel appearing to Jesus during His agony in the garden where he prayed the all too human prayer asking for the approaching suffering to be taken away. The angel was there, says Jim Bishop in his wonderful book "The Day Christ Died" to offer comfort and to confirm to Jesus that he had to undergo the coming trials. Angels are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. They are the constant servants of God. The a Seraphim are the closest to God, they guard the throne of God. They burn with love for God. 

Angels are superior to us in every way yet there are two classes of angels. The good angels and the evil angels. At one time there was only one class of angels and all served God.  The brightest among these was Lucifer. He was so puffed up with his greatness that he fermented a rebellion in heaven.  He fought against the angels who were loyal to God and lost. The leader that threw Lucifer down to hell was the Archangel Michael, the strongest warrior in heaven. With Lucifer went all of the rebellious angels who form the cadre of devils and they will remain in hell forever.  They proudly proclaim that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. They spend their time tempting us to sin.  They want nothing more than the ruin of our soul so we can join them in eternal darkness, grief, and punishment. 

God has made provision for each of us in the form of a personal angel called our guardian angel. Our guardian angel is there and tries to guide us in the path of right but he is not allowed to interfere with our God given free will. Mother Angelica relates her encounter with her guardian angel when she was young.  A truck was heading right for her. She was unable to get out of the way. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was out of harms way on the side of the road, safe.  She did not walk herself, she gave credit to her guardian angel. 

The website I clipped the above from included a long prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.  We Catholics are more familiar with with the shorter version: 

Angels and especially guardian angels are just another way that God shows His care and his love for us.  

The Truth Within You

No, I am not some New Age guru selling chants and magic stones.  Far from it.  The New Age movement and all of its beliefs are incompatible with Christian beliefs. And I do not mean just Catholic beliefs. The things taught by the new age people are simply a return to pagan thought. Am I narrow minded? When it comes to these tools of the devil you bethcha!  No, I am talking about the Truth that lies within each one of us.  When we were created God programmed us to know good from bad.  This programming was augmented hopefully by our upbringing. That is why when I stole a cookie when I was a child I knew I did wrong.  I also knew that I did wrong when I lied about it. I should have wiped the crumbs from my lips before I told my tale, but I got caught. 

We Christians, Catholic and Protestant, are taught from young age to listen to the little voice inside of us. That voice is the voice of your conscience. It is one of the best gifts we have received from God.  When it comes to conscience we have two choices. We can listen to and be guided by it or we can stifle it and do what we want to do. 

If we have formed our conscience in the way of the Lord we will never be taken down the wrong path if we listen to it.  If we choose to do our own thing well, that will soften volume of the warning our conscience gives us in the future. 

The path to hell is lined with things such as "just once" or "a little won't hurt" or "no one will notice."  Each of these excuses is our way of quieting that little voice and justifying our sin to ourselves. Done often enough and the voice becomes quieter and quieter. It will never completely disappear but we can train ourselves to ignore it.  This is very dangerous to our spiritual health. 

A Christian needs to listen keenly for the wisdom being broadcast by his or her conscience.  Before taking action we need to realize that our conscience should be our guide.  When we are born we have basic instructions inside of us as a gift from God.  Our parents and teachers and clergy, if they are doing their jobs properly, will help us augment our basic conscience. We ourselves will sharpen our database by studying scripture.

So next time you come to a fork in the road listen carefully to what the truth within you is counseling you to do. If you do this and if you actively follow Christian principles in your life you will never be led down the path of selfishness and vainglory.  God has given you your conscience.  Thank Him for it and use it. 

My book "Journey to Emmaus" is available for your Kindle.  It is a thirty day, five minute a day, journey through scripture that will bring you closer to Jesus.  

You can purchase your copy at Amazon. The link below will take you directly to the page that shows the book. 

Journey To Emmaus - Click Here

Feeding Frenzy

The past week all over America there was a feeding frenzy of sorts. You know what I mean of course, we all got caught up in it, the Powerball Lottery. Now I never play the lottery, except this time I did, yes this straight laced Catholic Christian boy plunked down four hard earned US of A greenback dollars for the privilege of dreaming and dreaming big!  For a couple of days I was thinking how I would outfit my new Gulf Stream jet and who I would invite for the initial ride. I thought what my parish would do with the ten percent of the winnings that they would get right off of the top.  I envisioned a five story PADS shelter. I would have funded research into finding cures for cancer.  I would have funded a food bank that would wipe out hunger in my state.  There would have been scholarships galore for those whose grades like mine were average or slightly above. I was planning to do so much good.  That is what my four dollars bought me as I joined the feeding frenzy that captured the minds of my fellow citizens.  I have to tell you that it was kind of fun and all in all was worth the four George Washington's I plunked down to the man of mid-eastern extraction behind the counter at the Peacock Mobil Station who pushed a button that caused a machine to spit out two lines of random numbers.  

Well, I am back in the real world again.  The next lottery drawing will come and go without capturing my attention. My dollar bills will stay comfortably inside my wallet until they are called upon to purchase some pedestrian need. But I take solace in the fact that although I cannot fund my large dreams, I can fund smaller ones. I can look out for opportunities to be kind, to be generous, to let the light of Christ shine through me. If I do this without expecting any reward or payback, my example may be what brings a sinner home like the prodigal son, home to God the Father who loves him without end. My example, my love expressed can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone I do not know. 

So yes, I proved my humanity and jumped into the middle of the feeding frenzy.  It was fun and it allowed me the opportunity to think once the announcement of where the winning tickets were sold and my town was not mentioned, that I was luckier than the winners because I have Christ in my life.

Peace to you today and may the light of Christ flood your soul. Act on your good intentions today. Spread a random act of kindness wherever you go.  God bless you and yours. 

The Convert-a-Catholic Challenge is still waiting it's first daring Protestant to take up the cause. Convince this cradle Catholic that the Catholic Church has got it all wrong and that your denomination has got it all right.  Chick to start the debate rolling.  Click here/

Catholic Resources for your use: 

Catechism of the Catholic Church   (Click Here)  don't live in ignorance. If you are going to criticize or even condemn her, use her own words against her.  This free resource tells what we believe in an easy to read format.

Catholics Come Home  (Click Here)  If you are a Catholic and have been away from the Church for awhile, well, we have missed you and consider this an invitation to come home. 

Headquarters - The Vatican - (Click Here)  Nose around at the Vatican. Get to know Pope Francis a little bit better. Find out the inside story right from the horse's mouth.