Thank You To Our Soldiers

God has blessed America with many great gifts and the range from sea to shining sea just as the old patriotic hymn proclaims.  In this country we have the freedom to be free.  We have the freedom to be allowed to worship the Lord in the way that seems best for us.  We have the freedom to make something of ourselves.  We have the right to speak our mind, voice our opinion, and petition the government.  We have abundance and plenty.  All of this came at a cost. That cost has been paid for by those that put their life on the line to secure freedom for us all, proud members of the United States Army, Navy, Marines,Coast Guard and Air Force. 

At the beginning of our country a shot was heard around the world, and the bells of freedom tolled and there was the Minuteman, a citizen soldier serving to bring freedom and justice to a people under the yoke of a tyrant king.

We fought against England again in the War of 1812 when they sought to suppress free trade and were kidnapping and forcing American sailors to duty in their navy.  Again soldiers and sailors bled and died for America.

Then America fought itself in the War Between the States, a war that pitted brother against brother and sometimes son against father.  Thousands upon thousands of soldiers died to preserve the Union.

We fought in the Great War, the First World War the war that was billed to be the War that ended all wars.  Americans came together once again and soldiers, sailors, and airmen were martyred for liberty.

The Second World War brought our brave service people into battle of not just a people but against a philosophy of hatred and evil. Our uniformed people answered the call and from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Gima and beyond our people proved their loyalty by fighting and dying so that their children could be truly free.

Next we fought in Korea.  We protected the South from the evil of communism spreading like a cancer from the North.   Our people bled and died so that others could be free.

In Viet Nam our soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought and died in an attempt to plant the seeds of democracy in that war torn land.  Alas, the political will to win this war was not there and our valiant troops fought for naught.

A  despot in the middle east decided to attack his neighbor and our country saved the small country of Kuwait and decisively turned the invader around scurrying back to their home country but without the equipment they brought.

Then years later, this same despot threatened us once again.  This time we invaded and finished what we started, deposing and eventually capturing an executing that Madman of Iraq.  We then helped start the rebuilding process and left after turning the country back over to those that lived there.

Meanwhile we are still embroiled in Afghanistan, a country infested with the evil of Islamic Terrorists.  Our people in uniform continue to fight the Taliban and the other terrorists and they do not count the cost as they continue to bleed and die so that an alien people can eventually choose their own destiny.

In all of these conflicts our military has protected us from tyranny at a great cost but generously given.  

So God Bless the American Military man and woman and God Bless the United States of America. 

Catholic Church Exposed ! ! ! !

At long last here is the absolute truth about the

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church bases her teaching upon one source: The word of God. This divine revelation is transmitted in two ways: through Scripture and apostolic tradition. Many assume that only the writings of the apostles are the word of God. However, their oral transmission of the faith is also considered the word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). Few Protestant groups today accept the validity, let alone the authority, of tradition. In fact, many believe that Scripture is the only definitive source of divine truth. For this reason, they are critical of certain doctrines of the Catholic Church, which, according to them, have no basis in Scripture. In fact, those who embrace the theory of sola scriptura attempt to use the Bible to contradict, to prove baseless, certain Church teachings, such as the Real Presence and the existence of purgatory. However, these teachings are reflected in Scripture, as the passages we will look at illustrate.

Our purpose here is not to dissect the opposition. Rather, our purpose is to provide a scriptural evidence for these doctrines. Under each Catholic doctrine in the list that follows are passages from Scripture that witness to the doctrine’s divine origin. For the Catholic, what follows will make clear the harmony of Scripture and tradition: truth cannot contradict truth. Whether God speaks to us through the Bible or through the voice of tradition, the word spoken is always a true and steadfast guide.

Please note that all scriptural citations are taken from the Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible.

Scripture and Tradition

"I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2).

"Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us" (2 Tim. 1:13-14).

"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thess. 2:15)

"You, then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:20-21).

"‘Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete" (2 John 12).

Faith and Works

"‘Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’" (Matt. 7:21).

"‘Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and not do what I tell you?’" (Luke 6:46).

"For he will render every man according to his works . . ." (Rom. 2:6-8).

"For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Rom. 2:13).

"For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgments . . . (Heb. 10:26-27).

"What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?" (Jas. 2:14).

"So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (Jas. 2:17).

"But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . .Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? (Jas. 2:18-20).

"You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (Jas. 2:24)

The Trinity

"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . .’" (Gen. 1:26).

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19).

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

"But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’" (Acts 5:3-4)

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14).

Christ’s Divinity

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’" (Is. 9:6).

"Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’" (Matt. 16:16-17).

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

"Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).

"‘I and the Father are one’" (John 10:30).

"For in him [Christ] the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily" (Col. 2:9).

"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power . . ." (Heb. 1:1-3).

"But of the Son he says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom. . . . And, "Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands." (Heb. 1:8, 10)

Real Presence in the Eucharist

"‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed’" (John 6:47-55).

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes" (1 Cor. 11:23-26).

"Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27).

The Papacy

"And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter . . ." (Matt. 10:1-2).

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’" (Matt. 16:18-19).

"‘Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren’" (Luke 22:31-32).

"He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter)" (John 1:42).

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’" (John 21:15-17).

Purgatory

"For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin" (2 Macc. 12:44-45).

"Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny" (Matt. 5:25-26).

"Each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:13-15).

"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey . . ." (1 Peter 3:18-20).

"But nothing unclean shall enter it [heaven] . . ." (Rev. 21:27).

Honor Due to the Virgin Mary

"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’" (Luke 1:41-43).

"And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name’" (Luke 1:46-49).

"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Cor. 12:26).

Praying to the Saints

"‘And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"? He is not God of the dead, but of the living . . .’" (Mark 12:26-27)

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely . . ." (Heb. 12:1).

"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8).

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004

Source for this page is: http://www.catholic.com

The Beatitudes

I found this video on You Tube and for many of us the message that is delivered in this video will seem too simplistic. Quite honestly, it is too simple for theologians, Bible scholars, clergy, and any other person who spends time in apologetics.  I myself have written a paper on the Beatitudes and I have to confess that this video puts all my learned thought to shame.

I bid you dear reader to watch, no scratch that, take in this video. The truth it exposes will send shivers up your spine and perhaps give you some food for thought.

Leave a comment if you like. .  God bless! 

Making The Right Choice

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. (John 15:16)

The gospel reading this Sunday included part of the last conversation that Jesus had with his apostles. Chapter 15 verse 16 states that they didn’t choose Him but rather He chose them.  We all like to think that we chose to follow Christ, but He chose us to follow Him.  Does this mean that we had no choice? Does this mean some of us are destined to fall away and that we have no say in the matter?  Some believe that this is the case.  I do not believe this.  I believe that this verse applies to all people that have inhabited this earth from the beginning all the way to the end of time.  

Although we have been chosen, we are free to reject our being grafted to the vine and we can refuse to bear fruit.  If we did not have this freedom we would be nothing but slaves and God wants us to come to Him freely.  This freedom of choice empowers us to live in the freedom of God’s love or to live the life of loneliness and separation that sin provides. 

The thing to remember is that you as a person were chosen to be an adopted son or daughter in the Royal Household.  So we continue our Easter joy by remembering that we have been chosen to live in the freedom and joy our membership in the Household of God provides.  We are truly an Easter People and we can rest assured that if we love God and live as a member of His Household then He for His part will provide everything we need to spend eternity with Him in heaven. 

Until next time, God bless you. 

Michael the Lesser

I am the vine and you are the branches

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3  You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12    "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13  Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14  You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,  for the servant  does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 This I command you, to love one another.

In Matthew 15: 1-17 we read the story of the vine and the branches. The obvious message of course is that we need to be connected to Jesus to bear fruit. But it also tells us what will happen if we are not connected. We will wither and be thrown into the fire and burned.  It also tells us that we will bear much fruit when we are connected to Jesus.  But what does it mean to wither?


As Christians we are called to a life of service to those around us.  This life of service is called ministry.  All to often ministers of the Gospel, both ordained and lay people start off to win the world for Christ.  But they do not actually connect with Christ, they try to pull the whole load themselves.  They tire, they get disappointed, they lose their taste for their work in Christ's vineyard and either do the minimum amount that they possibly could do, and do it without any passion or enthusiasm or even worse they leave the ministry all together.  This is what it means to whither.  We must connect with Jesus and then our ministry will eventually bring about what God intends it to bring.  There will still be long hours of labor and even doubts about what we are doing.  But we always must remember that if we are connected with Christ our ministry will flower and we have to remember that while we sow the seeds, God is in charge of making them grow and he will be in charge of the harvest.  
If we are faithful at the end of our life when we stand before our Lord we will hear those most precious words; 

"Well done good and faithful servant."

Scandal and the Catholic Church

During the last few years there has been much talk about Roman Catholic clergy abusing their trust as religious and commiting sins against children under their care.  The scandal became world news as more people claimed to have been abused by Catholic clergy.  The situation as bad as it was was made worse when some of the higher clergy decided to try and cover it up or to transfer the offender to another place.  Both of these actions were wrong and the people that did them should have known this.

The Catholic Church is what they used to call in World War II an LST - Large Stationary Target.  It also percieved as having deep pockets filled with gold.  It is my belief that many of the stories told by victoms are the result of greed and the American passtime of suing one another.  One concrete example was the accusations against the late Cardinal Bernadine of Chicago.  His accusser said all manner of evil things about this saintly man only to recant them later.

HOWEVER

If even one child was hurt, molested, or abused in some way or if one incident was covered up by clergy that was one too many.  A child deserves our love, our guidance and should be able to trust their clergy or for that matter any of the authority figures in their life.  This goes without saying.  The Church has dismissed priests found guilty of this tragic dereliction of duty and conduct unbecomming a man of the cloth.  These people have been turned over to the authorities so that justice can be done for the victims. This is as it should be and the Church is only doing what is right in this case.  I also admit that the Church has been slightly less agressive against the clergy that made it possible for these faux priests to practice their shenanigans longer than need be.

The Church has taken it on the chin, and somewhat rightly so for these embarassments.  They also have taken steps that tilt the scale of justice one hundred and eighty degrees to the west in that it is now the accussed priest that is considered guilty until proven innocent.  This is harsh treatment indeed for some of these men who may be in fact innocent.  Father John Corapi, a very devout former Catholic priest was forced to resign from the priesthood due to the unproved accusations that he had an affair with a parisoner, not a child but with an adult woman.

The Church also has been deeply hurt by the example these men have shown the world.  While it is a very small percentage of Catholic clergy that was involved with scandal, the whole Church comes away with a black eye.  The scandal has provided much ammunition to those that are biggoted against the Catholic Church. If you read any news article say on Yahoo where the Pope or the Church is mentioned and then look at the comments people post about the story you will that these bigots, very often taught to hate the Church from early age, keep the scandal alive and well by constantly condemning the WHOLE Church for the actions of a few.  Painting with such broad strokes paints the good and the bad alike and this is a miscarriage of justice.  These comments contain a certain "holier than thou" attitude that is not very Christlike.

If these smug Protestants were to troll the internet using as the search term "Protestant Sexual Abuse" their eyes would be be opened when they see all of the abuse committed on children by Protestant clergy.  The difference between the scandals is that the Catholic Church is centralized and easier to pick apart than say a First Baptist Church or Church of the Nazarene.  Besides, in America the bias against the Church is the last "respectable" bias.

The point I am making here is simply that the scandal of the moment is not only the problem of Catholics.  It is the problem of Protestans, Jews, Hindu's, Muslims, and Atheists.  Our stand should be a united one, we should stamp out abuse of our children wherever we find it.  Also, we should take the time to display Christlike love for one another, Catholics for Protestants and Protestants for Catholics.  The differences between our faiths our real and in some cases profound.  But we should practice what Jesus taught us when He said "Love one another as I have loved you."  Before He died for us on the Cross of Ultimate Love on Calvary that first Good Friday, the night before at the Last Supper he washed the feet of ALL the disciples, even the feet of Judas who betrayed Him.  If our master could do that,can we do any less than Him?

The Saints and the Mary

We are Brothers, Sisters and we have a Mother in Faith.

Today I am going to discuss Mary and the Saints. To understand Mary and our view of her place in salvation history, you need to first have a handle on the saints, what a saint is, who is a saint and how many of them there are.  You need to have to understand a little bit of how we see ourselves as a Church family.   So the title of this session really should be The Saints and Mary. 

There is no such thing as a former Catholic only Catholics that have run away from home.  Once you are a Catholic you are one forever.  The Church sees herself and the Bible shows her as a continuing family of believers consisting of the Church on earth, the Church militant, the Church in heaven, the Church Triumphant and the Church in Purgatory, the Church Penitent.  So your membership in the Church does not end when your earthly life ends, it continues afterwards.  This is completely consistent with the church’s view of eternity which we can see in 1^st Corinthians Chapter 15 verses 51-55

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 54*  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55* “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?"

 So for Christians, the grave is not an end, it is but a portal, a door into the state of being that God has intended for his friends from the beginning.  We leave one existence and immediately take up another. If we leave this existence in God’s friendship, if our heart is totally turned to Him and He is our sole desire, we will immediately enter heaven to be with Him forever.  If we left earth without turning our hearts completely to God and we have minor sins on our conscience we will choose to go to Purgatory, a place where we can resolve these issues and turn our soul and heart over to God.  I believe that we ourselves  will make this choice because our soul, our real true selves, know the absolute goodness of God and knows that it could not bear to be in His presence before it is ready.  Finally, at the last moment, if we hated God, did not repent, did not use the graces He sent us and continued to sin, He will grant our request to be outside of his presence forever and we will choose to go to the place we call hell, a Catholic in hell has to be the saddest thing in the universe because of all the advantages he or she threw away.   Of the last group, we have to say that there is no hope.  Every person in hell has committed only one sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit, and a complete rejection of God and there is no hope for these souls.  The souls in purgatory are suffering, and this too is consistent with the Bible in 1st Corinthians 3: 12-15.

12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work. 14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.15 but if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved,  but only as through fire. 

The souls in Purgatory, therefore, are absolutely assured of their place in Heaven. So, we now see the three distinct families if you will of the Church.  The Church consists of those of us on earth, those in purgatory and those in heaven.  Our membership in the Catholic Church stretches through time and our membership lasts forever.  The Church therefore consists of a large family of members from the beginning of time of those who are already in heaven and those who on earth and those in purgatory that will sometime in the future will be in heaven.  It is this extended family that we call the Communion of Saints and you as a Catholic Christian are part of that family.  One of the things we do routinely here on earth almost without grasping the significance of it is to pray for one another. For example, Dave asks Gertrude to pray that the medical tests come back negative. Janice asks Father John to pray for her for a private reason, Jack asks Arden to pray for him for such and such.  These are normal things and we do them without thinking anything about them.  Our Protestant brothers and sisters do the same. They pray for one another and this is considered a good thing, and it is because the Bible tells us to pray for one another.  In 1^st Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 25 Paul asks his readers to pray for him, and there are a lot of other examples where we are told to pray for one another. But is it possible to ask someone who has died to pray for us?  Because the church is a family not ultimately bound by time or space and our family members are in heaven, we can ask them to pray for us.  But doesn’t the Bible say that there is one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus?  Yes it does say that there is one mediator between God and Man. 1^st Timothy Chapter 2: 5-6 is used to put Catholics in their place.

 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time.

 Who can disagree with this Biblical principle? I certainly cannot disagree with it.  

Christ IS our mediator and that is a fact.  

If we take the first Timothy verse as written then we create a grave issue that extends not only in the Catholic Church but in the denominations as well.  When Dave asked Gertrude to pray for him, he was asking Gertrude to mediate between him and God.  When we ask for someone to pray for us or we pray for another is the role we are taking on the role of Jesus?   Do our prayers constitute a sinful act? To pray for another is not a sinful act of course.  Our praying for them is not in any way sinful even though we are acting as a mediator.  Our prayers for them are directed to God.  We are actually praying to God for them, because remember Jesus is God and God is Jesus and the love of God the Father for God the Son is God the Holy Spirit so no matter which person of the Trinity we direct our prayer to, it is heard by all three in their unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Is the principle of the Trinity hard to understand?  The concept of the Trinity can never be fully explained or understood, at least here on earthly level.  Will we fully understand the Trinity in heaven? I seriously doubt it but who knows, maybe that is part of the marvel of heaven, the special gift of understanding the ultimate goodness and unity of God in the Trinity.  The point here is that when we pray for another it is not a sin.  When we direct our prayer to a saint in heaven, it is the same as asking someone on earth to pray for us, there is no sin, and it does not diminish the role of Christ as the one mediator in the slightest. Our family, the Communion of Saints, reaches through time and space. The problem as I see it with Protestant understanding of prayer to the saints is that they do not understand the concept of our Church family. They limit themselves to what they can see, hear, taste and touch.  This becomes evident when a Protestant asks with a smug smile on their face asks how a popular saint, let’s say for example Saint Anthony, is deluged with prayers in a never ending stream from thousands or even millions of believers in a hundred or two hundred different tongues all at the same time, how could he pay attention and take care of all of these requests?  Wow, good question indeed, quite well framed and certainly deserving of an answer.  The answer is that the saints in heaven have received gifts well beyond our understanding in the glory of heaven that they enjoy.  They, like God in whose presence they dwell, are not limited by the constraints of time or space and while we can hardly take care of one thing at a time here on earth, they have the abilities of a glorified soul, which we cannot really understand now, but we will when we too claim our reward.  How many saints are in heaven and is there a complete list available?  The answer is yes, kind of and no.  There are many books that offer lists of saints.  One of the most exhaustive is “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” which in its last edition published in 1956 listed 2,565 named saints. Another edition is being prepared and I am sure that the number of names will exceed three thousand. But this number is absolutely meaningless.  Everyone in heaven is a saint. You, yourself are a saint, if a provisional one, because you believe and are a member of the Church. In your present condition you still can cast off the title by rejecting God, but you are in fact a saint right here and right now even if you are a work in progress. So in heaven, there are thousands of millions of saints, your brothers and sisters in the Household of God, the vast majority of them unknown and uncelebrated but just as happy in the presence of God as those officially recognized in the Canon of the Church.  I am not going to touch on how a saint is canonized, I will be passing out a handout after the talk that will give you all of the technical details of how the Church decides who to elevate to sainthood.  But remember, for every saint in the canon of the Church, there are thousands upon thousands of ordinary people who also practiced extraordinary virtue on earth that we don’t know.  For the majority of the members of the Household of God, our Feast day is November 1, the Feast of All Saints.   With a basic understanding of what and who a saint is, let us now speak to about one of the greatest stumbling blocks our Protestant brothers and sisters have with the Catholic Church and that is how we honor the Mother of All Saints, the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy.

Mary, the Mother of God, the New Eve

Mary was the first Christian and is certainly the greatest Saint.

What do we know about Mary? What makes her so special to the Christian Community? What is the Immaculate Conception? Is Mary worthy of and do Catholics worship Mary? What is the Assumption of Mary?  Did Mary really appear in Guadalupe, Fatima, in Lourdes – do we have to believe in these appearances?  Can we pray to Mary?

All of these questions are worthy of attention and in the time we have left  we will take each one in turn and hopefully by the time we are done, Mary will be more of a friend and less of a mystery to you.  I can only scratch the surface on these subjects and would urge you to take advantage of the written and online resources are available to the searcher of truth.

What Makes Mary So Special To the Christian Community?

 Mary is the Mother of God.  That title does not make sense at all does it?  How can Mary, a creature, be the mother of the God who made her?  Actually if we add the word earthly into the mix, it becomes a bit less confusing.  The point is Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is God.  In Genesis we are promised a redeemer to come from not Adam the man but Eve the woman as we see in Genesis 3:15.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head,   while you strike at his heel."

So when the time was right, Mary becomes the new Eve, chosen by God to be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

The Immaculate Conception

The Origin of Mary

Mary was born in the furnace of human passion in the normal way. Her mother was Anne and her father was Joachim. It is said by some scholars that Mary was conceived while her parents were older, “late in life.”  Joachim was of the royal family of David and it is thought that Anne was of the priestly family of Aaron. So Mary comes from both a priestly and a royal family. Her offspring would share this and therefore Jesus sprang from both a royal and priestly family.  Mary lived her life in Nazareth and as was the custom of the time, her eventual marriage was arranged by her family to a man named Joseph.

Betrothal in this time conveyed all the rights of marriage on the couple.  Betrothal generally lasted about a year and during that time the husband would prepare a home for the bride.  Even though the couple had rights, the custom of the time was not to use them but to wait for marriage.  Mary one day was visited by the Angel Gabriel who brought her word from God. She was to be the mother of the messiah, the one the Jewish world had been waiting so long for. She said yes to the angel, “Let it be done unto me according to thy word.”  Thus she became pregnant and right after this she went to visit Elizabeth and stayed with her for three months. When she returned home she was three months pregnant. This was a bit of a problem for her because she did not have relations with Joseph; she went away for three months and came back three months pregnant. Joseph could have denounced her to the authorities and then the only recourse for the authorities would be a quick trial and a sentence of death to the adulterer by stoning.  Joseph had decided to “put her away quietly.”  He would have paid to send her somewhere to have her child and he would be done with her.  But, Joseph heard from God in a dream what had happened. He heard and he believed and he took her into his house. Some time passed and the emperor decided his treasure was looking a bit thin, so he ordered a census of all the people, to check the tax rolls and to make sure every penny in taxes would make it to his treasury.  So since Joseph was an ancestor of David, they traveled to Bethlehem, a name which means House of Bread to register. Mary had her child there and they eventually returned to Nazareth.  King Herod a thoroughly evil man decided that he did not want the competition and dispatched murderers to the region to kill the babies. Joseph was warned in a dream and he immediately fled with the Jesus and Mary into Egypt.  Once Herod died, they came back and Jesus grew to manhood and Joseph died. The rest of the story is in the Bible and I suggest you take time to read it.  I want to go back in time now to the birth of Mary, the Mother of God. Mary’s birth brings us to the first bone of contention that Protestants have with Catholics and our reverence for her.  Mary was born without the taint of original sin. This was done by God as a favor to her at the moment of her natural conception in anticipation of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.  Remember, God does not live in, nor is he limited by the dimensions of time and space. God is All in All.   Scriptural evidence can be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary when she was asked to be the Mother of God: “Hail Mary, Full of Grace…” was the greeting the angel used.    How could she be full of grace, as Christ had not yet suffered, died and rose?  Again, nothing in Scripture is there without purpose. The angel called her full of grace simply because she was full of grace. He was not delivering the grace to her. She had within her God’s sanctifying grace from the very start of her existence when her father’s sperm met her mother’s egg and she began life.  (What a testimony as to when life begins, God would not have bestowed this favor on a non living soul.) This favor of God is called the Immaculate Conception.  The angel was not delivering the gift of grace to Mary because she had had the gift since her conception in the womb. 

But what about Romans 3:23

“…all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God… “

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says (emphasis added):

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".  The soul of Mary from the very instant of her creation was preserved from original sin. She therefore was in a state of grace and although she had free will, her will was turned toward God at all times.  Her “yes” to the angel could just as easily been a “no.”  Mary occupies a most special place in the history of salvation.  She was the one who said “yes” to nullify the “no” of Adam and Eve.  She was preserved from original sin and the effects of it. 

So, what Protestant thought about Mary is that she was a sinner. Their thought processes places limits on what God can and cannot do. The Catholic position makes so much more sense and follows the Biblical pattern precisely.   The early reformers did not have a problem with the Immaculate Conception; Luther himself believed in it and had a reverence for Mary himself.  But Catholics are accused of worshiping Mary. Catholics do NOT worship Mary. We simply have the reverence for the Mother of Christ.   But is this reverence for Mary a recent invention?  Actually the first person known to have reverence for Mary was a man named Jesus who in accordance with the Commandments of God honored his Mother and Father.  Catholics therefore are simply continuing the tradition begun by Christ.  We honor Mary as our spiritual mother and the mother of the Church.  That Christ loved his mother can be seen in scripture. At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus was not quite ready to begin His public ministry. Yet he started it at her request by changing water into the finest wine.  Mary ALWAYS points to Jesus and never to herself. In the Cana example she says some of the wisest words ever recorded in Scripture (John 2:5)

His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."

The Virgin Birth is another feature of Mary. The Holy Spirit overshadowed her and the child she bore was very special indeed. Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus as she was before. Mary had no relations with Joseph or any other man.  In the scriptures where the “brothers of Jesus” are mentioned these people are not brothers in the sense that they were sons of Mary and Joseph.  The word brother in Aramaic could mean blood brother but it was also used for cousins and other male relatives.  We can look to Scripture for other examples:

In Genesis 14:13 Lot is called Abrahams brother even though he was the son of Haran, Abraham’s brother. He would actually be Abraham’s nephew.  Jacob was called the brother of Laban in Genesis 29:15.  The reason for this is that there is no real word in Aramaic for the word cousin except for a very clumsy word which translated would read “son of my uncle.”  So the word brother would be substituted.

But besides these word games there is strong New Testament Scriptural evidence available to us as well that Mary had no children other then Jesus. Remember that in the time of Christ there were no social service programs or social security.  A woman alone and on her own with no family was in desperate straits indeed.  When the end was near Jesus made provision for his mother from the Cross.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

If Mary had any children to take care of her after he was gone, Jesus would not have made the effort to place her in the care of the Apostle John. There would have been no point to it. It required supreme effort to speak from the cross and Jesus was near the end of his all too human energy.  So he took the time to place his mother into the care of his trusted friend. But what Jesus is saying from the Cross is much more than just a request for John to take care of His mother.  Jesus was also giving His mother to us as well. Remember that we are the adopted children of God, members of His household.  This makes Mary our mother too.  She is the Queen of All Saints and premier member or the Communion of Saints so it is proper and just that we ask her to pray to Jesus for us.  Her intersession takes nothing away from the role of Christ as mediator.

 What Christ did from the Cross was to continue to honor His mother by making sure that she was going to be taken care of.  We are called to follow Christ and so we are called to continue what he started, we are to honor His mother for again in a very real way she is our mother too.  

Mary was declared the Immaculate Conception in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. This leads some Protestants to believe that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was of recent origin.  However, it was the belief of the early church from the most ancient of times that Mary was conceived without original sin.  The Council only formalized what was already believed by the Church and her faithful sons and daughters.

The Assumption of Mary into heaven

The assumption of Mary is a promise of things to come.

As a result of her Immaculate Conception, Mary received another benefit that all of the faithful will eventually receive.  After her earthly life was over she was assumed body and soul into heaven.  It is important to remember that unlike Christ, she did not rise into heaven, but rather was brought to heaven through the power of God.  This mystery is not found in the Bible. But there is very strong circumstantial evidence for it nonetheless. 

In the early Church much reverence was given to the deceased among the faithful.  Churches revered the bones of martyrs for example and preserved them as relics for the benefit of the faithful. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was said in the catacombs where the martyrs were buried. You might argue mass was held there as a matter of self preservation as the Roman soldiers were not allowed to molest people visiting the underground burial sites. This rule applied not only to the Christians, but to other citizens of Rome as well. For example the followers of Bacchus, a religion dedicated to debauchery met in the underground caves. But even in times where Christians were left alone Mass was celebrated in the presence of the bones of the martyrs.    If the body of an “ordinary martyr” was honored by the Church, how much more would have the body of Mary been honored?  The fact no one ever claimed that they had the body of Mary or her tomb is quite telling.  As the mother of Jesus, her tomb would have been a place that would have been preserved forever for the faithful because of her position in salvation history.  The place where her bones would be interred does not exist because she was assumed into heaven.   This is only fitting and right because since she was conceived without original sin she would not suffer corruption of the body which is a consequence of sin. Do you find this an odd belief?  Well, you have to understand that Mary has received what we will receive. Her assumption into heaven anticipates what will happen to us.  At the end of time we will rise from the dead and be assumed body and soul into heaven.  It only makes sense that the first believer in Christ, the first tabernacle that held the precious body, blood soul and divinity of Christ would receive this honor as all of us will someday. 

Appearances of Mary

Has Mary appeared in various places at various times?

It is said that Mary has appeared on earth at various times and at various places. Why would she do that? Did she actually appear? What should I believe?  These are valid questions and worthy of a thoughtful response.  The Church through the local bishop investigates so called appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Far more appearances are not approved then are approved.  There are some very famous, approved appearances.

1830- Guadalupe Mexico, Mary appeared to Juan Diego – she appeared four times to him and her image was placed into his mantle. Scientists were given an opportunity to look at the mantle and microscopic examination of the eyes of the virgin reveal an image of Juan Diego in them.

1858-Lourdes France, Mary appeared to young Bernadette Soubirous under the title of the Immaculate Conception. She called for prayer and the conversion of sinners.

1917- Fatima, Portugal, Mary appeared to three children telling them that we should pray the rosary for the conversion of sinners and that Russia should be dedicated to her immaculate heart.

There are a lot more that have been approved.  Of late, starting 1981 Mary is said to be appearing at a small town in Yugoslavia called Medjugorje, where it is said she gives a message on the 25^th of every month.  She says that this will be the last time she appears on Earth and that she brings important messages. This appearance has not been approved by the Church yet, but the messages she brings do ring true, and point to Jesus, for example the message for September 25, 2009;

 “Dear children, with joy, persistently work on your conversion. Offer all your joys and sorrows to my Immaculate Heart that I may lead you all to my most beloved Son, so that you may find joy in His Heart. I am with you to instruct you and to lead you towards eternity. Thank you for having responded to my call."

I believe that Mary appears to her children on earth. I believe that she comes at times where she sees we need help to find our way to Jesus. That being said, the appearances of Mary, both approved by the church and not approved, fall under the category of private revelation. The approved appearances do not have a place in the depository of faith, so you are free to believe or disbelieve even the approved appearances. They are not matters of faith, they are private revelations. 

We have to be very careful that we are not led away from the truth of the Church. A true appearance of Mary will not point to herself, but rather to her Son, Jesus.  When dealing with Mary you will have no problem keeping your eyes on Jesus. If the image of Jesus begins to fade, then you are dealing with an aberration and you should backtrack and see where you went wrong. If this happens you should seek the guidance of a priest or deacon, trained professionals who will be able to help you see where you went wrong and get you back on to the right path. It is a case of trusting the Church and humbling yourself.

Do Catholics Worship Mary

Mary is our mother and Jesus is our Brother.

Catholics do not worship Mary. As the Mother of Jesus she occupies a very special place in every Catholic’s heart.  As the Mother of Jesus, she has a special place in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We ask her to intercede for us with Jesus her Son.  But Catholics do not worship Mary. Catholics realize that she is but a created creature just like us.  She was redeemed in a special way; she was spared the stain of original sin by anticipation of the sacrificial death of Jesus her Son on the Cross.  She was there at the foot of the Cross and watched her only Son die for the sins of all. She is worthy of our deepest love, our deepest respect but never our worship. We can pray to her as we can pray to any saint.  Does she have more “power” if we can use this word?  Her Son was moved to action at Cana when many scholars say that he wasn’t really ready to begin his public ministry.  I think that says it all.  If you let Mary take you by the hand, she will inevitably place your hand into the hand of Jesus.  She, like a good mother, wants what is best for you.  She does not want worship from you.

The Catholic Church honors Mary because Christ does. We pray for her intersession because she is the First among the Saints in heaven. She was the first Christian and was during the nine months she carried Jesus a living tabernacle, a living Arc of the New Covenant.  She is worthy of honor as the Mother of God.  Praying to her (or any of the saints) in no way lessens the glory of God or Christ’s status as mediator between God and man for we ask for their help and they direct their prayers and ours to Jesus.  Those of us still on our pilgrimage on earth can call on Mary and the saints and be sure that our prayers are heard:

3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.  (Rev 8:3)