A Storm In Bethlehem

Gospel MT 2:13-18

When the magi had departed, behold,                                                          

the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,      
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,  Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.


At the time of the birth of Jesus, Bethlehem was a small and very insignificant town. The name means House of Bread and Jesus was born in a stable and his crib was the manger, the place where the animals would go to get their food. We think of the place as silent, innocent, a great place to be born and raised.  Then enters king Herod, an evil despot whose whole mission in life was to keep his job as king.  You can imagine the rage that built up in him when he realized that the magi were not coming back to tell him where to find the so-called new King of the Jews.  But, he had a solution.  He did not know who, but he did know where.  He dispatched his soldiers and told them to kill every boy-child two years of age and younger.  Herod felt that this would surely end the reign of this upstart who had designs upon his throne.  And so it happened as he commanded.  We are not sure how many boys were killed that day but we know that the child that would one day die for our sins upon a cross was able to escape to Egypt. 

These boys were the first martyrs for they were victims of a persecution against Christ. These children died in place of the Christ child and in doing so saved His life. Herod was satisfied with the blood spilled in that little town and was sure that his reign was safe.  Of course, his rule was never in any danger from the Gentle Child.  Jesus did not come to rule a physical kingdom but rather He came to rule our hearts.  Our hearts must ache when we think of the blood spilled over the ages in the name of Christ. He did not come that we might shed blood in His name, no,  He came that we all may be one as He and the Father are one and learn to live as one people with one God and Father above and heaven as our inheritance. He prayed for this unity at the Last Supper. 

What we learn from the slaughter of the innocents is that we should always be ready to defend and explain our faith and we should do this without thinking of the consequences.  In this world today there are many like Herod who do not want the truth of the Gospel spread and like Herod, they will reach into their bag of tricks and do what they can to stifle the growth of the kingdom.  But we walk into the future, whatever it may hold, secure in the knowledge that God has already won the ultimate victory.  

Was He Kidding Or What?

Foreward:

There is no work as onerous as reinventing something that has already been invented, found to be useful and still does the job.  What follows is a reprise of a blog entry made several years ago on the Feast of Corpus Christi.  I was writing with passion that day and except for the addition of a comma here and an article there, I am reproducing it here.  Sometimes, and this is one of those occasions, I can't find anything to fix.  Praise to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Corpus Christi 2017  Michael

For fifteen hundred years there was no conflict when it came to the Holy Eucharist.  The Church believed that it was the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Some of the "reformers" took issue with this, notably not the prototype heretic Luther who maintained that it was a sacramental union between Jesus and man.  Other reformers such as Calvin, Knox, and others believed it was only a symbolic memorial.

The Council of Trent at that time confirmed what everyone up until that time believed:

 Christ “instituted this Sacrament, in which He poured forth as it were the riches of divine love towards man” so that the Eucharist would be:

a remembrance, “to venerate His memory” and “show forth His death until He comes to judge the world.”

the “spiritual food of souls, whereby” He feeds and strengthens “those who live with His life.”

an “antidote, whereby we may be freed from daily faults [venial sins] and be preserved from mortal sins.”

a “pledge of our glory to come, and everlasting happiness”

a “symbol of that one body whereof He is the head, and to which He would fain have us as members be united by the closest bond of faith, hope, and charity…   Source: Laura McAlister

The Council of Trent like many councils was a reactionary council called to combat issues that came to because of the rebellion of Luther and the others.  Contrary to what some critics of the Church say the Council of Trent did not invent transubstantiation but rather codified what up until that time had been believed by everyone, everywhere.  I can see why today's Protestants would have trouble with the concepts codified by Trent.  The Council rightly defined the Eucharist as the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  This position taken to its logical end proves the Catholic point and thus was bitterly contested by the "reformers."  But for the sake of this blog let us suspend the tenants of the Council of Trent and go to what the "reformers" claim is the only source of Christian Doctrine, the Bible itself.  Let us also restrict ourselves to what the founder of the Catholic Church, Jesus, Himself said about the Eucharist.  (Please supply quotation marks where you think they should go,,,)

While they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave to his disciples and said; Take and eat. This is My Body And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them saying: Take and drink this.  For this is My Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto the remission of sins.  (John 26: 26-28)

Amen, Amen, I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from Heaven, but my Father gives you the true Bread from Heaven.  For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.

John 6:32, 33

I Am the Bread of life: He that comes to me shall not hunger and he that believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:35

I Am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead. This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven; that if any man eats of it, he may not die.  I Am the living bread which came down from Heaven.  If any man eats of this bread he shall live forever, and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.

John 6: 48 - 52

Amen, Amen I say unto you: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you.  He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has everlasting life: and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6: 54-55

For my Flesh is food indeed and my Blood is drink indeed.  He that eats my Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in Him.  As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats me, the same shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your Fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats this Bread, shall live for ever.

John 6:56-59

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him.

John 14:23

From the above, we can see that Jesus considered the gift of His Body and Blood essential to salvation. The Doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a hard thing for some people to believe. It was hard for the people in the time of Jesus.  In John chapter 6 verse 60 we read: " After hearing it, many of his followers said, 'This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?' Jesus does not say that He is only kidding, or what he said before should be taken as a symbol.  When he refuses to compromise or place a spin on what he said, the saddest moment of His life up until that time occurred because the people turned away and John says " After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more."  (John 6: 66) This too is what the "reformers" did or caused to happen among the poor souls that the clawed away from the Church.  They rejected the great gift of Jesus and just walked away, 

So, there you have it. The Blessed Sacrament is a gift that is misunderstood by some, laughed at by others, seen as a symbol, seen as a rite of passage, seen as something "you do."  The Blessed Sacrament is the union of Jesus and the recipient. You cannot get closer to God in this life than by receiving Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity into yourself.  If God can create the world in seven days from nothing, can He not also give us Himself in the form which appears to our senses as being bread and wine?  Does He not have the power and the will to do this?  If you say no then your God is too small.

Tears Are Flowing Like A River

http://www.poetrybyloree.com/393.html

I am not a bad writer.  True I am no Hemingway or even Poe and right now I am doing the kind of writing that I do not do very well.  Yesterday, at a concert in Manchester England an angry lone terrorist took it upon himself to end the lives of at least twenty-two people. We will probably find out that this murder was done in the name of God. I  cannot fathom why people find it necessary to kill in the name of God.  Is God so weak that He cannot fight for Himself?  I know my Church teaches that the Muslim worships the same God as I do, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob. I do not believe that these terrorists that find fulfillment in cutting off the lives of innocent men, women, and especially children know a thing about God. A person that professes to love God cannot be a lover of violence. So, I do not know who the radical Islamic terrorists pray to, I know it is not the God who went to the Cross for us. I know it is not the God who loves us with an unspeakable love that will draw us to Him in eternity if we want it and show that we want it by being faithful to the commands of His Son.  To hate is to defy God for God is love and hate is abhorrent to Him.   God does not even hate those that hate Him. He waits, He watches, He whispers, hoping that the example of Love that was shown to all by His Son will break through the cobwebs of hate that block salvation to those who insist on having their own way. If God could cry, his tears would flow like a river for He sees what we do to each other in His name and he realizes that we do not have the slightest idea of how much He loves and wants to draw us to Him.  Today we mourn for the twenty-plus people whose lives were ended and for those who were injured whose lives will never be the sam again. The grayness of cloudy morning where I am sitting writing this seems apt and proper.  Let us pray.

My God and Father, once again Cain has raised his hand against Able and the soil of your garden accepts the blood of your children. My Father, for those who have died in this latest atrocity, please be merciful in your judgment. To those who were injured in body, Lord, speed their healing and restore to them robust good health. And for those whose spirits have been injured, quash the thirst for revenge in their hearts, dear Lord, for the sword raised in anger will remain until it finds another sword with which to clash.   I pray that you move your hand and help end the violence. Let us regain the knowledge our ancestors had about how sacred life is. Let this rampage of the evil one end and rescue your children Lord for we know not what we do.   Amen.  

Lent - Palm Sunday - Irony

When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, 

but that a riot was breaking out instead, 

he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd,

saying,

"I am innocent of this man's blood.

Look to it yourselves."

And the whole people said in reply, 

"His blood be upon us and upon our children."

There was a lot of innocence being proclaimed here.  Both of the parties doing the proclaiming were far from being innocent.  Pilate, what a wimp he was. Earlier, he had found Jesus innocent.  Pilate at that moment should have simply ordered Jesus to be freed and he should have given a hard glaring look at the crowd and with all of the dignity of a Roman Procurator he simply should have walked away.  Instead, he reopens the case.  The Temple gang keeps insisting that Jesus is a criminal and deserves to die.  Pilate keeps trying to release him, especially once his wife sends word that she had a dream about Jesus and advised Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus as he was an innocent man.  Eventually, Pilate is backed into a corner and he, the Roman Procurator, employs a Greek procedure and while washing his hands proclaims that he is innocent of shedding this man's innocent blood.  The rabble from the temple yells back that his blood is on them and their children.  This was simply saying that they felt no guilt about condemning this man because they knew he was guilty.

I say that this last saying, about the blood being on them and upon their children, is just what Jesus had in mind for the events of this day.  In history, these words said by the Jews on this fateful Friday were used to begin persecutions of the Jews by making it seem that they, and they alone, were responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus came into the world to die on that cross, for our sins, and so that we might live forever in heaven.  The blood of Jesus flowed that day on every man, woman, and child that was there. His blood flows down to every generation, cleaning them and making them fit for heaven. To God, there is no Jew or Gentile any longer.  We all are washed by the blood of the lamb.  

We like to think of ourselves as being different from the delegation from the temple there in Pilates courtyard that day.  We like to think that we would have yelled for Jesus to be freed.  Is that really an honest assessment?  The truth is that most likely we would not have known what was going on and would not have been there at all.  If in fact, we were with the crowd, which side would we have been on?  

I propose that what the Jews said that day turned into a prophecy that came true.  The blood of Jesus was poured on them and it has flowed to each generation since that first one. That was what the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was all about. 

 

The Cross

The cross is a very personal thing. Jesus knew this. The cross of Jesus affected his whole body. The pain he was feeling was so severe that the temptation to prove his power by removing himself from the cross had to be running through his head.  Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, it is this fact that makes the cross relevant. If Jesus were just human He could not use the cross to show God's great love for us, He would have been just another sacrifice like those being made at the temple. On the other hand if Jesus was just divine, He would not have experienced life and the dying process as we His creatures do. Both of the elements, humanity and divinity,  had to be and were present.  So the first way the Cross affected Jesus was mentally.  He had to refuse the all too human facility to go against the desires of the Father by using the power that He had as the Son. This required Jesus to put complete trust into God and surrendering Himself as a human to the will of the Father.  

The next way the Cross affected Jesus was physically. Death by crucifixion was a death by inches. The major process was suffocation.  The woulds caused by the nails were just "minor" injuries that the body could healed if the person had been taken down from the cross while still alive. The process that a person goes through while dying on the cross is this. You had to hold yourself up to breathe and that strain on your arms was monumental and the fatigue was cumulative as lactic acid built up in the muscles. The condemned used their legs and the nail that had been pounded through the feet to give some purchase to stay where one could breath. But the pain from the wound in the feet was great and the arms tired and the culprit would sag down into a "Y" formation. The pressure on the diaphragm would make it impossible to breathe and the victim would have to push himself up again.  Depending on the strength of the one on the cross, this could go on for days.  In the case of Jesus, He was already battered and beaten and so his strength was expended in mere hours.  Death on the cross as I said was a death in inches.  The merciless sun beat down upon the criminal and insects of all types alighted on the body. There was the psychological aspect of the punishment as well to consider.  In most of the empire the criminal was exposed naked on the cross. In Israel, the benevolence of Caesar allowed the wearing of a loin cloth because the Jews were scandalized by nudity.  

So for hours Jesus suffered through the dying process. Then near the end he did several things that showed that this was no ordinary execution.  He awarded sainthood to a fellow criminal suffering with Him on that day. On the cross a criminal could be counted on to answer the scorn heaped upon him with curses. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." Jesus perfectly fulfilled his obligation to honor His mother and father when he put the Virgin Mary, who had no other relatives to help her into the care of the apostle John for a widow with no relatives would have to resort to begging to meet the needs of the day.  Just before He died, he said, "I thirst."  A sponge was soaked in cheap wine and held up to His lips. He took some and he then said, "It is finished."   What was finished?  Do you remember the last supper? It ended before all of the ritualistic rubrics had been completed. They sang a long hymn. After the hymn there was supposed to be a final cup of wine that would conclude the Passover meal.  It was never consumed and the Passover meal was never completed.  By taking that wine on the Cross, Jesus, the Lamb of God, completed the New Passover and redeemed us,  Then one of the evangelists says "He uttered a loud cry."  A loud cry? From the cross? After being scourged, beaten, bled and bloodied?  The loud cry was followed by Jesus handing over His spirit.  voluntarily for us.  It was very hard to speak at all from the cross. To hear a loud cry come from someone near to death must have been  startling to the onlookers.  The loud cry shows that Jesus handed over His life, that it was not taken from Him, He gave it willingly. 

Today at Mass we read the Gospel where Jesus asks who do the people think I am.  After a few answers he asks the apostles who they think He is. Peter answers "The Christ of God."  He then tells his followers that to be his follower we have to take up our cross daily and follow Him.  What does this mean?  The cross is a very personal thing.  But we as followers of Chris, what we need to do is this,  We need to wake up each morning and pick up our cross and follow Jesus with it.  A cross is a very personal thing.  For many of us it may be a fault we are working to correct and never can seem to conquer it and it is causing us anguish. For some of us it might mean going to a job you hate because you receive no recognition for your contributions and to contribute to the best of your ability anyway.  It may be dealing with any number of things, but we must pick it up, put it on our shoulder and carry it every day for that is what is means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

The Age of Martyrs

In 1998 my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland.* It is a most beautiful country with a warm and charming people. After a nights rest in Limerick and a call to the car rental people to send someone to fix our boot (trunk) because someone had hit our rental car in the parking lot, we set out for one place and ended up in another.  We actually ended up in Galloway Bay, a beautiful town on the coast.  We found a bread and breakfast that had room for us and after a wonderful dinner we found our way to the local church for Saturday Evening Mass.

 When we walked into the church we were greeted with the sound of angels singing.  The youth choir at this church was singing a prelude song before Mass started.  It was absolutely beautiful. I noticed that the Irish people had a great reverence when they were in church. It was quiet, no idle chatter disturbed the peace. The mass itself was said with a joyfulness that I have only found here in the states a couple of times.  All through Ireland we found this same attitude towards worship. I got the feeling that the people actually wanted to be there. As we explored the country I tried to figure out why the Church seemed so different there.  Then it hit me. The pestilential British made martyrs of Catholics and the right to worship came at a very high cost. Much blood was spilled and many churches were destroyed yet the Church could not be extinguished at the point of a sword. 

Today we face barbarians that make the shenanigans of the British against the Irish seem like child's play. The people who claim to be Muslims jihadists in the Arab countries are enriching the soil of the lands that they infest with the blood of Christians some of which have been there since the second century.  These members of Isis will not be able to win. It is not the military might of the United States or the Coalition that will defeat them, it is the blood of those that they martyr that will serve to extinguish their lust for power.

I look at what my brothers and sisters in those lands have gone through and still have kept the faith and I wonder if I too would have the strength to offer my life for my fellow Christians.  I like to think that I would.  The power of the example of the martyrs is what will keep the church alive. The barbarians had lined up about 30 Coptic Christians to execute them. Included in the group was one man who was not Christian.  The Coptic men kept repeating the name of Jesus and kept praying while waiting for their death. The cowardly barbarians asked the man who was not a Christian to immediately convert to Islam and his life would be spared. The man, without any hesitation said, "Their God is my God."

In today's first reading at Mass we see that Paul and Barnabas where brought before the leaders and they without fear spoke out on how they had to obey God's word and not man's.  They were punished and expelled from the district, but the church still grew. 

As you enjoy your Sunday bring to mind all of those that came before us that made it possible for us to worship as we do.  Thank God for the martyrs and for his One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  

If you are interested in more information about the persecution of the British against the Irish, click on the link and you can read a brief paper about it.    (  LINK  )

*1998 was a long time ago of course, and the Irish Church has had some set backs as has the Church all over the world. The errors of common society have unfortunately been embraced by many Irish people. 

Martyrs

This week Islam in a show of just how it sows peace and love throughout the word created more Christian Martyrs in Yemen. At least four nuns who were working and taking care of the elderly were brutally shot and killed by these manly and brave jihadists. Why is it that these people always are going after those that cannot defend themselves? 

But let's move beyond the mayhem and talk a little bit about the martyrs themselves. I know that they have arrived in the bliss of heaven. These women had dedicated their very lives to working with poorest of the poor and caring for them in a land that is violently hostile to Christians.  They knew the chance that they were taking, but they stayed and did their work anyway. 

There have been so many martyrs of late giving us their example. The Coptic Christians come to mind. As they knelt waiting for their cowardly captives to execute them they were praying in the name of Jesus. One of those kneeling was not a Christian and he was asked if he would like to become a Muslim and he said simply that to his captives "Their God is my God." In joining his brothers in death, he secured for himself everlasting life. 

We in America have it good. Even though our society is becoming more and more anti-Christian we still have the right to worship as we want to. We do not have to live in fear that our churches will be set upon. Even Muslims in this country receive this protection. 

With all of the protection afforded us I have to ask myself if I, a Christian and a cradle Catholic would have the wherewithal to be a martyr for my faith.  I would like to think that I would but I just do not know. 

Let us pray this day for the defeat of ISIS and radical Islam. Let us pray for the day when we do not train for war anymore and be change our spears into pruning hooks.  Let us renew our prayers and ask God to protect our brother and sister Christians of all denominations in the Middle East from the evil of terror. 

He said what? The Reformers Curious Quotations

Today's post will cause all of us especially the Protestants among us to pause and scratch our heads. Some of the things we think that we know about the 16th century founders of the new and novel Protestant churches is mixed up and wrong.  Lest you think I am a great brain and have done a lot of research on this subject, let me confess, I have not. The quotes were researched by a wonderful author named Devin Rose in the book entitled If Protestantism is True which is available through Amazon.com's Kindle service.

Protestant apologists often castigate the Catholic Church for believing things that they cannot find in the Bible.  Well, to them I would say where does the Bible say that all Christian belief has to be found in the Bible.  But that is a subject for another post.  Today I am going to let the great "reformers" to speak on several subjects that are bones of contention between Catholics and Protestants. I will not comment on what they say, I will let their quotations stand on their own merit.  I have to say that these people are the ones responsible for creating the many thousands of Christian sects that exist today. It was through their words that we have Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, Baptist Churches, Churches of God, and all of the other denominations that have sprung up.  It was their sword that carved up the Church and destroyed the unity that Jesus prayed for.  And so, without further delay, direct from the frozen tundra of Illinois I present to you the reformers.

On Mary the Mother of God

Martin Luther:

"In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things given her that no one can grasp them. Not only was Mary the mother of Him who is born in Bethlehem, but of him who, before the workd was eternally born of the Father from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (1)

John Calvin:

"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son granter her the highest honor. Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God." (2)

On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Martin Luther

"Scripture does not say or indicate that she later lost her virginity. When Matthew says that Joseph did not know Mary carnally until she had brought for her so, it does not follow that he knew her subsequently; on the contrary, it means that he never did know her. This babble is without justification he (one who interprets the Bible against Mary's perpetual virginity) has neither noticed nor paid any attention to either scripture of the common idiom." (3)

John Calvin

"The inference Helvidius drew from Matthew 1:35 was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband. No just and well grounded inference can be drawn from these words as to what took place after the birth of Christ.  He is called the "first born"; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that He was born of a virgin. What took place afterwards the historian dies not inform us. No man will obstinately keep up the argument except from a extreme fondness for disputation."  (4)

Martin Luther on Jews 

"The Jews are full of devil's feces which they wallow in like swine. (5)

Martin Luther on Marriage

"I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case civil authority has nothing to do in such a matter. (6)

Back to my narrative. These quotes are shown how the two greatest reformers thought about things.  I found the antisemitism and his tacit approval of polygamy striking.  

When there appears any article about the Roman Catholic Church on the internet you can bet that the trolls that hate the Church will come out in force and trot out all of the old tried and true accusations against the church such as that we worship Mary, pray to statues, worship bread and wine, you know the stuff.  I take a few minutes to correct the troll, knowing full well that I am not going to change the troll's mind. But there may be some out there who will read what I say and perhaps, just perhaps, their heart will soften and they will start looking at the resources I recommend to them. 

We Catholics have a great responsibility to our Protestant brothers and sisters.  I am not excluding rabid anti-Catholics either, those such as Jack Chic to give an example of someone who truly hates the Catholic Church.  We are tasked with bringing them home and to undo five hundred years of separateness back into the unity Christ wanted in the first place.  The quotes just serve to indicate that some of the people that hate us the most have no idea how far they have strayed from not only the Catholic Church but from their own Protestant roots. 

We are called to be one in Christ. It is not for the Catholic Church to divide herself among the denominations to bring this about. It is rather the denominations, large and small, that must unite themselves into one Church that teaches the Good News to those who need it most.  

I have come a long way in a short period of time in my own personal understanding of our differences. At one time I considered all Protestants beyond hope and hell bound.  Then I studied what my Church teaches and found out that I was in effect the Catholic version of Jack Chick, unreasonable, uncharitable, and not very Christ like.  The Catholic Church write in the documents of Vatican II what my understanding should be: 

"Even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly condemned. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church-for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame.  The children who are born into these communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection. For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church event though this communion is imperfect.  (7)

In the Decree on Ecumenism we read: 

Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments with together go to build bu and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spitit, and visible elements too.  It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as a means of salvation which devive their efficacy frin the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. 

I as a dutiful son of Holy Mother Church therefore am to treat Protestants with great respect, admiration, and love.  This is contrasted with certain Protestant sects that teach that he Catholic Church are idol worshipers, calling the pope the anti-Christ. 

So that is all I have to say today.  thank youfor listening. 

Footnotes 

(1) On the Divine Motherhood of Mary, Weimer's The Works of Luther English translation by Pelikan Concordia St Louis V7 P 572

(2) Ca;vini Oera Corpus Reformatorium Braunschweig Berlin 1863-1900 V 45 P 348

(3) Pelikan ibid v45:206, 212-3 / That Jesus Christ was born a Jew

(4) Pringle vol 1 p 107

(5) On the Jews and Their Lies - circa 1543

(6) Martin Luther, DeWette, II 459.

(7) Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintgratio, I 3

A Crusade To End ISIS

Some time ago, when Christians were united in one Church there arose a scourge in the land that called itself Islam.  Islam itself is said to be a religion of peace but through the generations the followers of this religion have spawned many men whose only desire was to plunder, rape, and savage people in the name of their god.  They robbed and killed Christians who were making pilgrimages to the Holy Land.  The Pope called for the faithful to rise up and mount a crusade to protect the pilgrims and to take the Holy Land back from the pagans. 

Today we face a similar gang of ruffians who in the name of God are killing Christians, both Catholic and Protestant.  The soil of the killing fields are being enriched daily by the blood of the martyrs. The cowards have now declared war on unarmed innocent civilians that have done no wrong to them.  Hundreds have been killed in the name of their moon god. 

Like our ancestors, it is time to call for a Crusade to wipe out the cowardly killers.  We must not however resort to violence ourselves. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit waits on his children to call on His Name.  Our crusade must be a prayer crusade and we all must be Knights of the Holy Cross of Prayer.  Our sword is sharp and our enemies are defenseless against the Son of God. 

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we can defeat the Isis and Al Qaeda menace if we use a weapon that is more powerful than the hydrogen bomb, more deadly to them than anthrax spores.  That weapon is the weapon of prayer.  Fall to your knees and pray that God moves his mighty hand against the devilish murderers. Pray that our Christian brothers and sisters are protected from these heathens,  Prayer, fasting, sacrifice, are what is needed.  If we storm heaven with our cries, can our Father ignore them?  God's uses the weak, us, to show His strength.  He waits for our request and He will act and the enemy will be confused and will be routed. 

Join the Great Prayer Crusade against the evil of ISIS! 

Storm Clouds Gather - A Modern Christian Writes a Psalm of Lament

STORM CLOUDS GATHERING

Today is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the Church presents us with readings that tell us of storm clouds gathering in the life of Christ.  The first reading form Wisdom  tells us that there are those that will be plotting against God's Holy One to the point where they will put Him to death in a shameful way.  The second reading is from James and reminds us that discord and disharmony come from our propensity to covet what we cannot have and from our unbridled passions. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that He will suffer and die and after three days rise again,  Here is my "Psalm" of lament to My God. 

Hear us oh Lord for our fears are many. 

We are simple human beings my Jesus,

How can we be unmoved and unconcerned as we watch 

Daily the violent deaths that are inflicted on God's children,

By Isis And the Army of Satan 
And the followers of the False Prophet?

They sow death and destruction .

The people and land cry out. 

Their malevolent eyes and hands spoil the land. 

They kill, rape, maim, and martyr Your holy ones. 

They cannibalize their own followers as well.  

These followers of Satan take joy in murder. 

Day and night they water the soil with blood of the innocent.

Young and old, men and women, girls and boys and babies at the breast fall to their swords.

We look on in horror and ask; "What can we do?" 

The answer comes on the wind, 

The answer is audible to all of your servants, 

You call us to trust in you Lord..

Lord, fill my heart with trust in You.  

For You know the day of your triumph. 

On that day all things in the cosmos, in Heaven, on the Earth and under the earth will call You Lord. 

Let me trust again Lord in the Rainbow. 

Let my heart be lightened by the Star of Bethlehem.  

Let me trust that you will move your mighty arm when the time is right and bring all things under your subjection. 

Lord, let me work for the establishment of your Kingdom on earth. Let me be a brother to my brothers and to my sisters as well 
For we have but one Father.  
Let my example be one of patience and joy 
For I will wait in prayerful hope for your victory to be manifest. 
Let me last just one minute longer than your enemies 
Lord, for in that minute your strength and love will be forever written in the sky. 

Lord, I trust in You to be my Hiding Place, my Rock and my fortress. 

I hand to my enemies my body.
With my body my Jesus, with that they can do as they will 

But my soul, my soul, my soul Oh Jesus, that I give to you! 

I am your possession, 

I am your slave, 

I accept Your will for me and thank you for your great mercy.

All praise and glory and honor be to the Name of Jesus, a name of the Son of God our Father   

Amen