Marriage

This week my wife and celebrated our Twenty-Third wedding anniversary.  We drove to southwestern Michigan to my father's house in a blizzard. The journey which normally took three hours took over six hours. The next day dawned clear, the sky was so very blue and the sun so very bright. We drove from my father's house to a the county seat, Paw Paw Michigan.  There Mary and I exchanged vows in front of a judge.  We were civilly married. Our marriage was blessed two years later when Mary's annulment came through and we reaffirmed our vows in front of God and His Church.  From day one I have taken my marriage vows very seriously as I not only promised them to my bride Mary, but also to God.  I believe God brought Mary and I together, it was His plan and I am bound to fully cooperate with it.  

Our marriage is a marriage between one man and one woman. This is how marriage has always been from the very start. Go back to the story of Adam and Eve. Adam did not find a partner from among any of the creatures of the earth. God therefore created a special being for him, a woman.  All through Bible history most of the people God chooses for special tasks are men that have but one wife. God considers the bond of marriage a sacred thing, not just an ordinary relationship but relationship where man and woman can cooperate together and bring new life into the world.  This is the reason why a man leaves his family and clings to his wife, to join God in the creation of new life.

Gay marriage is something that does not exist.  Our Supreme Court may say it does, our president may paint the gay rainbow in light on the White House, but that does not make gay marriage any more legitimate. Marriage is about the creation of life. Two men or two women engaged in a sexual act cannot consummate the act to join with God in creating a new human being.  You can scream all you want to about "equality under the law" but the spiritual nature of marriage and the marriage act itself makes such equality something that is impossible to achieve in the Congress or in the courts. 

But why is the Catholic Church so homophobic?  Homosexual action organizations trot out the homophobic label when they detect any disagreement with their positions. It therefore removes a persons right to disagree with their position by in effect saying that those that disagree with them are in some way irrational.   The Catholic Church do not see homosexual men or women as sinful people. The Church, however, does see the sexual acts between people of the same sex to be contrary to God's natural law.  The Church can never approve of these acts as they are not able to produce life.  On the other hand those who are afflicted with same sex attraction are welcome to be Catholics practicing and living their live in a chaste and celibate way.  Does this seem unfair?  Hardly, the Church calls all her children to be chaste and celibate and to make use of the physical act of love in the way God gave it to us, to be used to pro-create between one man and one woman.

The Church also sees a redefinition of marriage to include same sex unions to be a danger to society. Same sex marriages lack the solemnity of genuine marriages. Same sex marriages are based solely on the feeling one person for another. It does not have the same depth as a genuine marriage because no matter what the two men or women can never use their procreative powers in the way that God intended.  The feelings of love one has at the start of a relationship change through the years.  With man and woman love becomes less of a feeling and more of a way of life.  A homosexual union will go through the same sort of change, the original feelings of love will give way and the relationship will no longer meet the emotional needs of the partners and they will split and go their separate ways. 

Well, maybe two men cannot mate and procreate but they can certainly adopt can't they?  Unfortunately this is true. The children pay the price for having two mommies or two daddies. A child needs both male and female influences for them to grow up emotionally.  This balanced nurturing is required for healthy growth. 

Finally, the proponents of gay marriage are trying to change society to recognize homosexuality as a normal way of life.  They are trying to achieve acceptance of the straight community for no other reason but to silence the nagging doubt in the back of their conscience that something is wrong in their life.  Legal pronouncements will do nothing to assuage their conscience, it will remain standing in the way of a complete joyful life because they are looking for something that does not exist nor has it ever existed. 

Am I homophobic?  No, I am not.  I am a realist, I am a Catholic, and the reading and research I have done tells me that everything we do in life that goes against God's natural law leads to sadness, sin, death, and eternal loss of one's place with God.  I also because of my beliefs have to stand up and point out that homosexual actions are wrong, are against God's law and will lead to pain.  I have to stand up for what is right no matter what rabid gays thing and say.  I am a gentle person, I love life, I love people but I also must stand tall and speak my beliefs.  I have this right and duty.    

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"  

Infinity

When I was a boy you could be sure of a couple of things in life. First you could be sure that on a summer day you would find all of the neighborhood boys playing baseball in Winslow's vacant lot.  The other sure bet would be that when the show Ben Casey came on you would find my mother glued to the TV set.  Mom did not watch much TV but she had her favorite shows and Ben Casey was one of them.  If you've watched the You Tube video that is attached you know how it started.  A voice while drawing symbols is heard saying "Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity."  

Today we are going to talk a little bit about the concept of infinity. Numbers are said to be infinite but that just means for any number you can think of you can add one to it and have a larger number. This concept is useful for mathematicians.  In photography you can set your camera to infinity. That does not mean you can actually see into infinity, no, it just means that you are using the lens at its highest capability. Time is said to be infinite, but that is simply the number concept dressed up in a new suit of clothes. By its very nature time had a beginning and it will have an end.  I want to talk about infinity as it applies to us and as it applies to God, our heavenly Father. 

For us humans infinity began at conception when God breathed  life into us and created us in material form, the body, and us in our true form, the soul.  Our material form, our body is very finite indeed. When you compare the time our human form exists against the thousands of millenniums before we existed and the thousands of millenniums yet to come, our existence is but a dot on the timeline.  When we die it will be the material part of us that will stop working and decay back into the dust that it was formed of.  Our soul on the other hand will continue to live.  We will know who we are and where we have come from.  We will be completely aware and we will remember every detail of our life. It will then become time for the judgement.  We will stand before God and Jesus.  If we were friends with Jesus, took up our crosses and followed Him, if we had mercy, if we fed the poor, housed the homeless, visited the sick and the imprisoned, if we endured persecution for the sake of the Kingdom, then Jesus will be our savior. If we did not do any of these things He will be our judge.  The judgement will be rendered as either; "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the kingdom prepare for you by the Father since the beginning of time." Or we may may hear those dreaded words; "Depart from me, I never knew you."  

Either way our souls will be propelled to the eternal destiny that we ourselves worked for during our life. We will either be in heaven as one of the saints or suffering in hell as one of the damned.  (I am leaving purgatory out of this discussion as it is a temporary place where we are purified if necessary.)   We will be in either heaven or hell forever.  This infinite amount of time makes the seventy, eighty, or even one-hundred years we lived on earth very short indeed.  Therefore, I recommend that in this year of mercy we avail ourselves of giant portions of God's mercy keeping in mind just how long infinity (forever) is. 

God is Infinite. God always was and God will always be. Everything about God is infinite, especially His love for the creatures he created in His own image and likeness, the human race. God has infinite powers and has set the universe in motion and has written all of the laws that keep it in motion. God is not held in check by anyone or anything except Himself. He chooses in His infinite wisdom to be incapable of un-love. Every action he takes or has taken or will take, flows from the fountain of His love. Everything that he allows to happen in our life, either good or bad will eventually help us to attain eternal life with Him in heaven. 

God knows each of us by name and loves us and hopes we come to love Him and join Him in heaven.  As powerful as God is, he will never violate our free will. We can choose to be His friend or not by the decisions we make every day.   

God IS infinity. 

The Convert-a-Catholic Challenge is still on.  There are 33,000 or more Christian denominations out there each claiming to have the truth. There must be one brave man or woman able to step forward and "save" this poor cradle Catholic.  Prove to me where the Catholic Church has got it wrong and I will convert to your denomination.  Leave a comment below or click on the link to contact me by email. 

Michael, You gotta join my denomination  (Click Here) 

In this second week of Advent, I pray that Jesus Christ splits the darkness in your life and you come to Him as his friend and brother.