One Plus One Is One

And I have given them the glory you gave me,

so that they may be one, as we are one,

Here is a stumper for you, explain the Trinity.  Is our God actually three Gods?  Those of you of ancient times might remember the Baltimore Catechism's definition of who are God actually is.  Do you remember?  Well, the answer is that The Trinity is Three Divine Persons in one Divine Being. There, we got that figured out now don't we?  Or do we?   St. Patrick used to arrive at a village and the first thing (the story goes) he would do would be to find the meanest, strongest, bad boy living there and beat the tar out of him.  This got the citizens attention and then he took out a shamrock and used it to explain the Trinity, one plant, three leaves, all united.  Is that a true story? I don't know, but it sure is a good tale.  It makes one good point, that the Trinity is united, they are one even though they are separate and distinct.   The idea of three Divine Persons in One Divine Being is hard, no, impossible to get your hands around.  It is one of those things that we may never, in all eternity understand.  

The most important thing about the Trinity, as I said is that they are united, they are one.  Jesus prayed that all of His followers be of one mind but when we came to the fifteen-hundreds, we kind of messed that up now didn't we?  I am not going to get into a finger pointing session here because there was enough blame to go around.  Luther was too prideful and the Church didn't listen as well as she should have. 

Unity in our religions is something that we need to work towards.  The Catholic Church cannot move any closer to our separated Protestant brothers and sisters by changing doctrine that has remained unchanged since the Church was founded.  She can and should to try to attract her lost children back to her. We do not do that by pointing out the error of our brothers' ways and shaking our fingers at them. To do this would make us no better than old Jack Chick and his poison tracts. We must attract them by showing them what a real Christian community is like.  This is something that we have not been too good at since Luther banged a few nails into a church door.  

How do we do this?  We make the light of Christ brighter and brighter in our church communities that they cannot fail to see that we are different and that difference is the life of Christ in us shining out. We must open doors and windows.  We must be ready to be friendly and loving to those who might not really trust us because we bear the label Catholic.   The new evangelization is not new at all. It is something that we should have been doing all along.  You don't need to become a street preacher, you need not say even a word. You may let your actions do your talking for you.  What I suggest is that we take some time and look around and find a need and fill it.  Listen for the Lord to speak to you.  He is looking for men, women, and children to build his Church.  Enthusiasm will generate enthusiasm!   Love will generate love in return.  The hardest part is to start.  

That is all for today.  I hope I have given you something to think about.  God bless and don't be afraid to leave a comment.  

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. 

 

What The Protestants Don't Understand About The Catholic Church # 1 of a Series

Maybe the title of this post is just a bit too broad.  The truth be told there is a lot of things that the Protestants do not understand about the Catholic Church in general.   I don't want you to think that this post is going to serve as a general condemnation of those who are outside of the Catholic Church, far from it. Those entrapped in Protestant denominations are there because their parents were Protestants and their parents before them, going down a long line until we arrive in the 1500's when a Roman Catholic monk and priest tore asunder the unity of the Church and in doing so stepped outside of the will of God as expressed to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Martin Luther made a huge mistake when he decided to carve up God's kingdom on earth.  For 1500 years there was, as Jesus wanted, unity in the Church. There were no questions about the things that we were to believe because in the face of controversy there was an authority to bring these issues to for final determination.  That authority was the Pope.  But, Jesus never did create an office of Pope, that is not in the Bible!  Jesus did create a leader for His Church and that leader was Peter.  In later years we began to call the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.  It is a title that differentiates the Bishop of Rome from all of the other bishops. While he is a man and as a man is capable of sinning and of making mistakes, it is Catholic belief, backed up by scripture, that the Pope when teaching on faith or morals from the chair of Peter, that he is protected from teaching error.  For two thousand years, there has never been a pope that has taught error or heresy. And please note that I am including the bad popes, the ones who are most likely teaching religion to Judas and bin Laden in the deepest, hottest, and most forlorn regions of hell.  These bad popes had no time to bother about religion.  They spent their time engaging in pursuits of the flesh and making money and keeping their power and so they never taught heresy or error, they never taught anything. 

But why do we need a pope at all?  Martin Luther and other reformers taught that the Word of God could be understood by the simplest person with the help of the Holy Spirit. Well, when you have a lack of authority you have anarchy. The spirit of anarchy haunts the Protestant church to this day.  If you want proof, just look to history.  Martin Luther cut asunder the Church, which did need some reforms when he did so, there is no doubt about that. If after he did so there remained only the Catholic Church and Luther's creation, then maybe there would be a case for the reformation being decreed by God.  But that did not happen.  Not long after Luther left the Church, some of his fellow reformers found fault with some of his ideas and they broke away and formed another body of believers.  Soon, scripture was interpreted again and there were more splits.  Today, there is the Catholic Church and about forty-thousand denominations.  These denominations owe their birth to forty-thousand different interpretations of scripture. This presents us with a problem.  It is said that the Holy Spirit will help a person interpret scripture. So, my question is simple. Is the Holy Spirit psychotic? Does He keep changing His mind about what the scripture He inspired means?  If something in Scripture is true for the Lutherans, then why is it not true for the Baptists? 

The fact is Jesus knew that questions would come up. Remember that he was fully human, he knows how we think and act.  He was one of us and experienced life just as we do,  He was aware of our limitations.  In his final prayer to the Father, he made it a point to say that we should be one as He and the Father were one.  Earlier he provided us with His solution to the fact that humans would be running His Church.   He appointed Peter as the first leader and gave him the keys to the kingdom.  He was in fact made the prime minister of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.  Secondly, Jesus made it clear that Peter would be endowed with a special charism in that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church of Jesus.  Jesus created an earthly authority and protected that authority by placing it under the protection of the Holy Spirit. 

This authority is exercised by Peter and his successors.  The Bishop of Rome is where the buck stops.  In scripture, we see that when the Church had a problem, such as the discussion of circumcision for non-Jewish converts at the Council of Jerusalem, there was a lively discussion but it ended when Peter stood up and told them it was not right to put this burden on the Gentile converts.  Peter, the chief Apostle, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, made the decision. The others accepted the decision because Peter was the authority.

So, Martin Luther got it wrong. He used an axe and cut the Church into pieces and that division continues today,  So, in conclusion, we humans are walking, talking ego's and we do not like to listen to others especially when it comes to religion.  But Jesus knew how important it would be to have an authority and so He decided to appoint a prime minister for His Kingdom.  He also would protect his minister from teaching error and thus keep his kingdom whole. 

There is much more to say on this subject, but the Church has a document that is much more erudite than I am that goes into greater detail.  It is called the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  It is available free online and it tells all of the beliefs of the Church along with the scriptural basis for the teachings.  The sad part of it is that many Protestants, especially "evangelicals"  would rather live in ignorance of what the Church really is about because to know the truth would challenge the basis of their faith. 

Trusting In Jesus - His Mercy

My Jesus I Trust In You

We put our faith into many things over the course of our usual day. We trust that the others on the road will in fact obey the red light so we can enjoy using the green light.  We bury our noses and out attention into our smart phones and trust that when the elevator door opens that the elevator will certainly be there.  We trust that the doctor has a diploma and that he or she has prescribed the correct medicine.  We trust that the electrician has wired the house up properly and that we will not get electrocuted the first time we turn on the dishwasher. So you see that we place our faith into many things routinely every hour if every day.

Through Sister Faustina, a Polish nun who spoke to Jesus we are told to trust in the mercy of Jesus. We are being given an extraordinary time to accept the mercy of Jesus as the final sunset draws nearer every second.  Jesus loves you so much and He wants you to be happy with Him in heaven. He died for our sins, His Sacred Heart was pierced because of them. Mercy flows from His Sacred Heart and we need to accept it.  Each of us has to look at how we are living our lives and we have to give up those things that offend God. We have to turn to God now while there is still time to do so.  If we do not repent and accept the mercy of Jesus then we will have to accept His justice when he comes again. 

I myself am a poor sinner.  I do not mean that my sins can compare with some of the most offensive behaviors in the world today.  For example, I have not murdered anyone, I have not counseled any person to seek an abortion, I don't even read the horoscopes, since I believe in Christ and not in some goofy Greek and Roman gods. I have sinned in the past, I have repented in the past, and I have been forgiven in the past because I professed both my sorrow and my firm resolution to mend my ways. I've confessed my sins to my pastor who gave me absolution acting in persona Christi in accordance with Jesus' instructions in John 20:23, "Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained." 

So, if this is the case, why am I crowing about trusting in Jesus? I believe that all sin, no matter what sin we are speaking about, has its origin in a basic lack of trust in the providence of God.  We set up false god's because we don't trust in Him to give us all of the good things that we need. The best example we find in the Bible is that of Adam and Eve, they had everything they needed.  Yet they did not trust God enough to stay away from what was not allowed. In our world today we touch enough forbidden fruit to make a snazzy fruit salad!  We kill children in the womb in the interest of making our own life easier.  Our families are but a shadow what they were in previous generations.  We do not take care of our children,  we put them in day-care and put their early nurturing into the hands of strangers because we are afraid that the sacrifice of caring for them will cost us too much financially and our lives will be less comfortable than they could be.  We do not honor our father and mother anymore but we send them to nursing homes where strangers care for them on a daily basis and we console ourselves that this was for their own good while it makes our life easier.  In previous generations parents would be cared for and loved in person by their sons and daughters.  We steal, we cheat, we look to take advantage of our neighbors, we envy and allow greed to control our lives.  I think you get the idea here. Each sin we commit or cause to come into being by omitting a good demonstrates a lack of trust in Jesus. 

We have to Trust in Jesus.  We have to repent and flee to Him for He wants us with Him. There is good news here.  THE MERCY OF JESUS IS GREATER BY AN INFINITE FACTOR COMPARED TO OUR SINS!  There is no need for a soul to choose hell over heaven.  Whatever we have done or failed to do we can throw ourselves on the mercy of Jesus and we will be forgiven. Think of some of the most terrible people on history.  Do you realize that in their last moment they may have converted in their heart and begged for forgiveness and thus became eligible to an eternity in heaven?  St. Stalin?  St. bin Laden?  don't laugh, while it is improbable you have to admit that it is possible. 

Every sin on our soul is important, those small white lies, stealing that box of paperclips, walking past the beggar, going to the game rather than to worship all these sins are important and if you don't think that they are, then simply look at a crucifix: 

Do you see the Man on the cross? He died for YOU in reparation for the sins you committed.  He died for perpetrators of the Holocaust, for the people ensnared in ISIS, for the child that disobeys his parents, for the young girl who had an abortion, for the man who stole the paperclips from his employer.  The arms of Jesus were stretched out on the cross for every human that ever lived and for every human that will live after our turn on earth is done.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus in an inexhaustible well of mercy that was and is being poured out on His children.  The nails were not needed because Jesus would have held himself on the Cross because of His great love for us, his children. 

The time to rely on the Divine Mercy is NOW.  If we refuse the Divine Mercy, committing the one sin that cannot be forgiven, the refusal of God's mercy, than be ready for eternal darkness, sorrow and suffering. But, if we accept the Divine Mercy, make a firm commitment to repent, now our sins will be forgiven and we will be shown to our place in Heaven next to others who will love God and be with Him forever. 

Challenge:  Remember my Protestant friends, I am waiting for you to tell me where the Catholic Church is wrong and why I should convert to your denomination.  So far, no one has been brave enough to take on the challenge.  I will take on all comers.  Bring your evidence that the Church is wrong and that Protestantism is the way to go.   I am waiting, ready and willing.   

The Bread of Life - Required Reading - Required Eating

Required Reading

The past four weeks at church we have been treated to an explanation of what the Eucharist is and how it affects the life of a Christian.  The readings have been all about bread and feeding many and how important it is.  Actually, important is not the word, essential would be the appropriate here. 

The Catholic Church believes that the Bible is the Word of God and in there is found the wisdom needed to live a good Christian life.  But nowhere in the Bible will you find it stating that it is the sole source of Christian belief.  Keep in mind that like it or not my Protestant brothers and sisters have had to rely on the Catholic Church to provide them with their Bible.  It was the Church that kept the book whole and pure.  It was the Church that decided that the Book of Revelation was canonical and the Gospel of Thomas was not. Why am I making this point?  Simply said the Catholic Church is not Bible centered, no, it is Christ centered.  We use the Bible as intended by it's ultimate author, the Holy Spirit but we also depend on the Holy Spirit and Sacred Tradition.   That being said you still may be wondering why I have mounted the soap box. Read on young warrior.

If sola scriptura be true and the Bible is the only source for what is required to be a Christian, then I would like a clear explanation from a Protestant, backed up by quotes from scripture, on why they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament?  What did Martin Luther, the "prime reformer" think about the Holy Eucharist?  Here is what he thought (emphasis added): 

     "If any person could persuade me that there is nothing 

       in the sacrament but bread and wine, he would do me

       a great favor.  I have trued to extricate myself from the

       belief in the Real Presence, for I know that thereby I 

       would greatly annoy the Pope; but the text of the Gospel

       is too plain."   

The Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John is the place to go if you want to learn about the Eucharist and it's absolute place in the life of a Christian.  Jesus plainly says that if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood we cannot enter heaven. 

" 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." 

The Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John is an inexhaustible source of the positive proof of the Real Presence of Jesus, the Son of God, triumphant as He is in heaven today.  How sad that because of the so called reformation that so many thousands of people have gone their whole life without the many graces that this wonderful Gift supplies.  Sad too is that they have not experienced the joy be being one with Christ as He Himself enter physically into you and you become one.  You cannot get closer to Jesus this side of heaven! If the angels were capable of jealousy then they would be jealous because the Eucharist is not for them.  Jesus chose this wonderful gift so that we would not be orphans and it is in this way that He will remain with us until the day of His return.  For the sake of your soul I urge everyone, Catholics too, to read, meditate on, believe and act on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. 

God bless you young warrior, pray for the Light of Christ and that light will shine brightly and show you the path you should walk on.