Category Archives: Church

How To Achieve Constant Prayer – by Matthew Leonard

Church, Early Church Fathers, Prayer, Rosary, Scripture, Spirituality

How To Achieve Constant Prayer – by Matthew Leonard

Did you know that every part of our life is meant to be powered by prayer…everything!
Is that even possible?
Since “with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26) , the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
How?
Well it starts with what we call “finite prayer.”
A finite prayer is one that has a beginning and an end. It’s active prayer. Examples would the rosary, a litany, or any spontaneous prayer.
But while it has starting and a stopping points, finite, active prayer is meant to lead us to something deeper – habitual, or constant, prayer.
Constant prayer is the name of the game, the golden goose of the spiritual life.
Quoting the ancient monk Evagrius Ponticus, the Catechism states “we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing” (2742, italics mine).
Of course, we’re all familiar with St. Paul’s admonition to “pray constantly” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. As a kid I remember thinking, “Seriously, Paul? Not only are people going to think I’m nuts as I walk around muttering to myself, but multi-tasking is not natural to my gender.”
But before we knock Paul off of his high horse (again), let’s take a moment to see what we he means.
Constant prayer is not an act of prayer, so to speak. Otherwise we’d never be able to focus on our duties in life. It might even be dangerous! (Forget about texting, I’ve nearly wrecked my car on several occasions while attempting the rosary on the freeway.)
So what is Paul talking about?
He’s referring to a permanent attitude, one rooted in trustful surrender and merging of our will to God’s. It’s an inner peace that accepts whatever happens as God’s good will for our life.
Now don’t think he means we just sit back and do nothing. Rather, he means we have to develop an attitude of cheerful compliance founded on the knowledge that what God wants us to experience in life is best.
How do we attain this peaceful, permanent attitude of constant prayer? Again, primarily through finite prayer.
You see, constant prayer is fed by acts of finite prayer which operate on the “surface” of the soul.
Think of constant prayer as glowing embers down in your soul. They’re always hot, but not enflamed, so to speak.
Finite prayers are like little gusts of wind that come down, blowing across these embers, igniting a fire of love in our hearts that bursts into flame.
Finite prayers feed the flame so that we develop a life of constant prayer.
Of course, the reverse is also true.
Constant prayer feeds and fuels our acts of finite prayer so they become more focused and fruitful. And when we can establish a state of constant prayer, submitting ourselves gladly to God’s will, everything we do becomes an act of prayer.
God bless!
Matthew

P.S. Matthew is leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Jim Caviezel, star of The Passion of the Christ!  We’ll also be joined by Fr. Don Calloway and John Michael Talbot! It’s going to be epic!  CLICK HERE for details!  HOLY LAND

P.P.S. If you’d rather go to Italy, Matthew is heading there on pilgrimage, too!
Join him in March 2019 for a time of deep spiritual renewal and amazing adventure in Rome, Assisi, Orvieto, LaVerna, and much, much more!   CLICK HERE for details!  ITALY

A Pope, the Spirit and the Church – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Evangelism, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Spirituality


We are fairly comfortable with having God as Our Father and we easily can identify Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but who is the Holy Spirit to us? Evidently Jesus thought highly of the Spirit because he said in Mark 3:28-30: “Truly I tell you, all sins and blasphemes will be forgiven for the sons of men. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Jesus also tells us in John 6: 17 “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you”. We so often forget about or don’t understand the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is so important to us. It is the lifeblood of the Church.
Fortunately Pope Saint John XXIII knew about the power of the Holy Spirit. This very gentle and unassuming man who led the Church for only five years (1958-1963) accomplished so much for the Church and the world because he relied upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppi Roncalli, the fourth of thirteen children, of a farming family in Italy. He was a holy young man who began Spiritual Direction at the age of fourteen. He was given a good Catholic education and excelled in the Spiritual life. He had considerable reflective contact with both St. Charles Borromeo and St. Francis de Sales, two very holy and spiritual men. He also had several tastes of the worst of humanity. He served in the Italian Army in WWI as a medic and then as a Chaplain. He saw the horrors of war. After the war he continued serving the Church in many ways as a priest, then Bishop, and then Cardinal. During WWII he helped to save many Jews from the Nazi extermination camps.
Angelo Ronacalli was elected Pope at a time when conservative and liberal elements within the Church were having a hard time finding a person who they both could agree upon. Angelo Roncalli was chosen not just because of his holiness and experience in the Church, but also because he was older and would probably have a short pontificate. Angelo Roncalli surprised everyone by taking the name John XXIII. During the western schism of the 15th century, an antipope had used that name and no one had used it since. Angelo Roncalli said, “I will be called John. A name sweet to Us because it is the name of Our father, dear to Us because it is the name of the humble parish church where We received baptism, the solemn name of numberless cathedrals scattered throughout the world, and in the first place of the most holy Lateran Church, Our Cathedral. A name that in the extremely ancient series of Roman Pontiffs has the primacy of plurality. Twenty-two Johns of indisputable legitimacy are numbered among the Supreme Pontiffs, and almost all had a brief pontificate. We have preferred to hide the smallness of Our name behind this magnificent succession of Roman Pontiffs.” Now this was a very humble and holy man.
Pope John XXIII listened to the Holy Spirit and decided that it was time to “open the windows,” to let fresh air into a church much in need of reform. He called for a Church Council to ‘Throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through.” The prayer of Pope John XXIII at the beginning of the Vatican II Council says, “Divine Spirit, renew your wonders in our time, as though for a new Pentecost, and grant that the holy church, preserving unanimous and continuous prayer, together with Mary the Mother of Jesus, and also under the guidance of St. Peter, may increase the reign of the Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace, Amen”. The Council most definitely allowed the Holy Spirit to work. Pope John XXIII wanted to allow the Holy Spirit to move in and through the Church. Later Popes reflected on this.
Saint John Paul II wrote “I am convinced that this movement is a sign of His action of the Spirit. This world is much in need of this action of the Holy Spirit, and it needs many instruments for this action. Now I see this movement everywhere.”
Pope Benedict XVI said “What we learn in the New Testament on charisms, which appeared as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit, is not an historical event of the past, but a reality ever alive. It is the same divine Spirit, soul of the Church, that acts in every age and those mysterious and effective interventions of the Spirit are manifest in our time in a providential way. The Movements and New Communities are like an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in contemporary society. We can, therefore, rightly say that one of the positive elements and aspects of the Community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely their emphasis on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and their merit lies in having recalled their topicality in the Church.” It would appear that the Vatican II council helped to set the stage for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal which has moved so powerfully through the Church and has helped us all better identify the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Pope Benedict also said, “His openness to the Holy Spirit made possible the “truly special gift” of Vatican II to the Church”
When Pope Francis canonized Pope John XXIII, he pointed to Pope John’s willingness to follow the Spirit: “In convening the Council, Saint John XXIII showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit. He let himself be led and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader, guided by the Holy Spirit. This was his great service to the Church; for this reason I like to think of him as the pope of openness to the Holy Spirit.”
This very humble man, Pope John XXIII, opened wide the doors of the Church and allowed the Holy Spirit to flow through. The people loved him and called him the “Good Pope”. Many people liked the humor that he showed. When the pope was innocently asked by a journalist how many people worked in the Vatican, he deadpanned, “About half of them.” Another time Pope John XXIII was visiting a hospital in Rome called the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, run by a group of Catholic sisters. The mother superior, deeply stirred by the papal visit, went up to him in order to introduce herself. “Most Holy Father,” she said, “I am the superior of the Holy Spirit.” “Well, I must say you’re very lucky,” replied the pope. “I’m only the Vicar of Christ.”
We are very fortunate that this great man listened to God’s Holy Spirit and because of that the Church was renewed by the Spirit through Vatican Council II. The day of his feast, October 11, was selected because it was the date of his opening the Second Vatican Council in 1962. It is interesting to note that Pope John XXIII confessed that he had some difficulty in falling asleep on the night of the memorable day that he announced the convocation of the Second Vatican Council. He said that he talked to himself in this way: “Giovanni, why don’t you sleep? Is it the pope or the Holy Spirit that governs the Church? It’s the Holy Spirit, no? Well, then, go to sleep, Giovanni!”

Proud to be Catholic – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Charity, Church, Demons, Eucharist, Evangelism, Healing, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Sacraments, Scripture, Teaching

On the back of my car I have a sticker that says, “Proud to be Catholic”. With all that has happened in the recent sex abuse scandal some people might wonder how I could be proud to be Catholic and continue to publically acknowledge that. Nonetheless, I am proud to be Catholic and I am also ashamed at what some of our Catholic priests and bishops have done or even failed to do. It is so sad that those Catholic priests, who performed all sorts of atrocious acts on Children, failed to live by their calling. They are very sick men. I think that it is even sadder that some of our Bishops hid what had been happening thus perpetuating more abuse. St. Luke, in Acts 20:28 talks to the bishops of the early Church saying “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Some day these bishops will be held accountable before the Lord. But even though these priests and bishops are a big part of the Catholic Church, they do not account for the whole of the Catholic Church. The Church itself is Holy. St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians Chapter 2, verses 20 through 22 says “Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” The Church is Holy, but these men are human and are sinners.
We have to remember that for 2,000 years, the Church has been the presence of Jesus to the world. The Catholic Church put together the bible that we use. It is God’s word and we deliver it to a world that needs it so badly. Every day, in just about every area in the world, the Church brings forth the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and continually offers to the sick (and dying) the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as well as the other Sacraments. Besides all those things that you would expect the Church to do, it “has been the means of reducing more languages to writing than have all other factors combined. It has created more schools, more theories of education, and more systems than has any other one force. More than any other power in history it has impelled men to fight suffering, whether that suffering has come from disease, war or natural disasters. It has built thousands of hospitals, inspired the emergence of the nursing and medical professions, and furthered movement for public health and the relief and prevention of famine.” – Kenneth Scott Latourette, Sterling Professor at Yale University: A History of Christianity, Vol. II, originally published by HarperCollins Publishers 1953, revised 1975, pp.1470,14.
In Saint John’s Gospel (13:35) we read, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.” For me, the Catholic Church excels at showing the love of Jesus to all people (not just its own). Matthew Kelly tells us, “Every day the Catholic Church feeds more people, clothes more people, houses more people, and educates more people than any other organization in the world…” That is something to really be proud of. Statistics provided by both Forbes Magazine and Business Week confirm this statement. They state that, “The Catholic Church is indeed the largest charitable organization on the planet BY FAR.” Some of the statistics are quite interesting. Charity and healthcare centers run in the world by the Church include: 5,391 hospitals, most of them in America (1,627) and Africa (1,295); 16,610 dispensaries, mainly in Africa (5,181); America (4,731) and Asia (3,520); 604 Care Homes for people with Leprosy, mainly in Asia (296) and Africa (187); 16,270 Homes for the elderly, or the chronically ill or people with a disability, mainly in Europe (8,348) and America (4,086); 9,924 orphanages, mainly in Asia (3,934); 12,376 nurseries, mainly in Asia (3,247) and America (3,435); 14,551 marriage counseling centers, mainly in America (5,546) and Europe (5,666); 3,776 social rehabilitation centers and 38,484 other kinds of institutions.
To me the Catholic Church is the very presence of Jesus in the world. It continues to bring His healing and compassion and teaching and presence to those who need it so badly. It is made of human beings who often fail at being what God calls them to be, but it is empowered by the Holy Spirit and will continue the mission God has given it. I have no doubt that Satan loves to try to pull apart the Church. Satan knows how to use human weakness to harm the Church, but, as Jesus says, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). I am proud to be a Catholic. I will continue to love my Church and do whatever I can to build it up. I will support all those many good priests and bishops that we have who have been so hurt by this scandal. I will also pray for all of the victims of the abuse and for all who have been affected by it. I will be vigilant in fighting the evils that are attacking and are within the Church. St. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Our Church is the Body of Christ, the Victor!

The ‘Poison’ of Spiritual Indifference – by Matt Nelson

Apologetics, Books, Church, Evangelism, New Age, Sacraments, Social Media, Teaching

The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that all of philosophy aims to answer three basic questions: What can I know? What can I do? What may I hope? He then linked these three questions to three more: Does God exist? Is man free? Is there life after death?
The failure to take seriously life’s biggest questions—all of which are inherently religious—is one of the most unflattering characteristics of our day. Of all the great civilizations that have ever existed, ours “is the first that does not have to teach its citizens any answer to the question why they exist,” laments Peter Kreeft. “As society grows, it knows more and more about less and less. It knows more about the little things and less about the big things.”
How can we evangelize in such a spiritually indifferent culture?
The first step is to understand the problem.
When I was in my early twenties, I suffered from a wicked bout of spiritual restlessness. After a couple years of university, my Catholic upbringing had lost much of its hold on me. But although I was no longer attending Mass or receiving the sacraments—or living my life as though God existed—I was still open to the idea of something like God existing “out there.”
On some days I leaned towards a deistic view of God—the idea that a divine power had created the world but was no longer present to it. On other days I was swayed towards pantheism, the “everything is God” view that is characteristic of New Age thought. And still on other days I felt a pull, however slight and brief, towards the Catholic faith of my youth. Spiritually, I was all over the spectrum.
Not one of these fleeting attractions, however, ever amounted to a conviction. The problem was not that no case could be made for those worldviews. The problem was that I failed to take any of them seriously enough to consider the case for or against. Instead I was like a child, “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).
I think we can look at religious indifference in just that way: the failure to 1) think seriously about religion and 2) to give God his due. One failure is intellectual and the other is practical. But, since will follows reason, most people won’t give God his due if they’re not even thinking seriously about him. What we choose follows what we know. Thus, the intellectual component is primary.
Since our minds are naturally ordered toward truth, to be indifferent to the most persistent human questions about reality is an unnatural way to live. Whether we like it or not, it matters whether God exists—and it matters what kind of God exists. It matters whether we are free or not. It matters whether heaven and hell really await our choosing. Many of our ordinary assumptions—like the existence of free will or of objective morality—hinge on how these questions are answered. “All our actions and thoughts,” reflects Pascal in his Pensées, “must follow such different paths, according to whether there is hope of eternal blessings or not.”
Catholic philosopher Robert Sokolowski contends that it is at the core of man’s nature to desire the truth of things. This desire, he says, “is very deep in us, more basic than any particular desire or emotion. We are made human by it, and it is there in us to be developed well or badly.” Our appetite for truth, then, is not optional—it makes us what we are.
That is why religious indifference is so crippling. It is like ignoring your hunger for food and not eating because you “don’t feel like it.” Ignore it long enough and it may become numbed, but such desensitization will not prevent the ensuing weakness, sickness, and death—it will only mask their approach.
How did we become so indifferent towards humanity’s most persistent questions? Surely there are many reasons, but a big one may be the rise of “smart” technology and its impact on how we see ourselves and others. Psychology professor Jean Twenge notes that the generation born in the mid-1990s and after—what she calls the iGen—has never known a time before the internet and smartphone. According to her research, not only is this generation the most digitally connected; it is also the least religious generation in U.S. history.
Given all that modern technology does for us, it should be no surprise that people are becoming more and more convinced of their own self-sufficiency. Such radicalized autonomy makes it easy to accept the illusion that we are masters of our own world. We rely on others—and the authority of others—less than ever before. The temptation to “be as gods” has been around since Eden, but no culture has ever made a sense of omnipotence easier to attain. Who needs God and his rules when we can be gods and make up our own?
“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference,” wrote St. Maximilian Kolbe. But although the problem is urgent, it is not insurmountable. For one thing, the Catholic Church is a seasoned veteran when it comes to facing cultural resistance to its mission: it always finds a way to persevere against the odds and get the job done. And of course, the Church’s mission of making disciples has the almighty power of Christ behind it, and it will until the end of the age.
We must remember, too, that even the most hopeless indifferentist is never a total write-off. His nature can never totally shed its thirst for truth and, more importantly God never ceases to draw him into all truth (John 16:13). As the Second Vatican Council declared in Gaudium et Spes:
Man is continually being aroused by the Spirit of God and he will never be utterly indifferent to religion—a fact proved by the experiences of ages past and plentiful evidence at the present day. For man will ever be anxious to know, if only in a vague way, what is the meaning of his life, his activity, and his death. The very presence of the Church recalls these problems to his mind. The most perfect answer to these questionings is to be found in God alone, who created man in his own image and redeemed him from sin (41).
This is all good news, but it’s not the only reason for hope. There are practical things that we can do in our witness to others that will help them respond to God’s prompting and bravely seek the answers they long to know. By leading with open questions, open ears, and a patient tongue, and by challenging them to face with seriousness the true costs of their apathy over life’s Biggest Questions, you can engage the indifferent effectively. After all, they’re not dead—they’re just asleep. With the right tools, you can awaken them from their spiritual slumber.

NOTE: Matt’s new book, JUST WHATEVER is available by clicking here: JUST WHATEVER

 

 

Consuming God’s Word – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Ethics, Eucharist, Family, Holy Spirit, Liturgy, Pope Francis, Prayer, Saints, Scripture, Teaching

Consuming God’s Word – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
When I was growing up my father was very concerned about healthy eating. He had read several books about nutrition from Adele Davis and used the mantra “You are what you eat”. Adele Davis, and many nutritionists of the 1950’s and 60’s, used this phrase taken from Victor Lindlahr’s 1942 book of the same name. I heard that phrase over and over again. Dad grew almost all of our own food in his garden and went to local farmers to get eggs and chickens. Mom bought very little from the grocery store. The whole idea was that processed food and non-organic food was bad for you. Only wholesome, organic food should be ingested. It was a lot of work, caring for the garden and canning and freezing foods for the winters. I do think it was worth it. I am a pretty healthy person. We all know that the more we eat healthy food, the healthier we will be.
The Scriptures have some interesting things to say about eating God’s Word. Jeremiah 15:16 says, “When I found your words, I devoured them; your words were my joy, the happiness of my heart, because I bear your name, LORD, God of hosts”. In Ezekiel 3: 1-3 it says, “He said to me: Son of man, eat what you find here: eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he said to me, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey* in my mouth. Then he said to me, Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them”. And again in Revelation 10: 10 it says, “I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour”. Psalm 119: 103 tells us, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Now I really don’t think that we should start tearing pages out of our bibles and eating them, but I do think that we should look in to these words of scripture telling us to consume His Word.
God’s Word that is given to us in the scriptures is a very precious gift. It is not given to us to put on to a shelf and look at only occasionally. It is a gift for us to use and consume every single day. Pope Benedict says to us, “We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27)…Belief in Jesus Christ, then, is the way to arrive definitively at salvation.” How true this is! The mass reflects this perfectly, first we feed on the Liturgy of the Word, and then we feed on the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The two go hand in hand; both the Word and the Eucharist our needed for our spiritual growth. We need both of them. For the Eucharist, we need to go to our church and receive it from our priests but we cannot take it home with us. God’s Word is different. We do receive it in church, but we also can receive it in our home with our own hands. With smart phones we can literally take it with us wherever we go.
Having God’s Word on a book shelf or even on a smart phone isn’t enough. We quite literally have to consume it and consume it often. Pope Francis tells us, “Be constantly nourished by the Word of God.”. He also says, “I would like so much for all Christians to be able to comprehend ‘the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ’ through the diligent reading of the Word of God, for the sacred text is the nourishment of the soul and the pure and perennial source of the spiritual life of all of us.” We all need to be nourished, and to use my dad’s mantra, “You are what you eat” think about what you put in to yourself. Think about what you read and what you watch on TV and what you see in movies. Is this wholesome food, or junk food?
I challenge you to also think about your families. Family life seems to be hit hard by today’s society. In some ways it seems to be disintegrating in to nothingness. Bringing God’s Word in to your family for nourishment is so important. The family consumes so much junk from society; it is time to give it the good wholesome nourishment of God’s Word. Again Pope Francis tells us, “A Bible for every family! …Not to place it on a shelf, but to keep it at hand, to read it often, every day, both individually and together, husband and wife, parents and children, maybe in the evening, especially on Sundays. This way the family grows, walks, with the light and power of the Word of God!”
My friends, we are truly called to consume God’s Word and yet we often ignore it and often consume “junk food”. I believe that we can change the Family, the Church and the World if we consume God’s Word every day. If you are not already doing this, start it as soon as possible. There are many resources out there to help you. As Catholic’s we should make sure that we use Catholic resources to help us. I personally like THE WORD AMONG US and MAGNIFICAT for looking at the scriptures of the day. Don’t be afraid to do some prayerful reading of the Bible on your own. Use a good Catholic bible with footnotes to help you in this. Make sure that you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you. It is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible. Consuming God’s Word involves both prayer and study. St. Pope John Paul II tells us, “Pray and learn to pray! Deepen your knowledge of the Word of the Living God by reading and meditating on the Scriptures”. It is certainly time for us to grow with good nourishment remembering that “You are what you eat”.

Social Media Magisterium by Shaun McAfee – A book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Books, Church, Communication, Converts, Evangelism, Family, Holy Spirit, Pope Francis, Relationships, Social Media

Shaun McAfee has done it again. This is his fourth book and like the others it is easy to read and very informative. It also offers very practical advice based upon the years of experience Shaun has had using Social Media. This is a book that all Christians should read. It clearly presents Social Media as the tool to use to spread the Good News of God’s love. The title should grab most Catholics (Magisterium), but I hope that all Christians read it. Never before has the Church had such a great means to spread the Gospel message as we have today because of the Internet and Social Media. It would be a sin (probably literally) for Christians not to use this.
I have always viewed media as a powerful tool for society. I was co-editor of my High School news and in college I was a radio newsman and radio disc jockey. I was a member of the National Honor Society for Communications and studied communications in college. All of what Shaun says in this book fits in with what I have learned. I was pleasantly surprised that in the beginning of the book he mentions Marshall McLuhan (the intellectual of communications studies), who I studied extensively, but only found out from Shaun that he was a Catholic of extraordinary faith and had a real devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We never learned that in our studies. Marshall McLuhan really predicted the birth of the Internet 30 years before it began. He called it the “global village” that communications would forge. Today we have that global village and as the scriptures say in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”. You and I need to meet that call.
This book will help you meet that call. Shaun starts out with a history of the many documents issued by the Church on media. He then gives a little background, or as he calls it, “re-introduction in Social Media”. Both of these chapters are great but his third chapter “The Media and the Family” impressed me greatly. All parents and grandparents will find this chapter interesting and judicious for their time spent in the family. There is no doubt that as good as the Internet is; it also has its dark side. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for bad. It can be under-used and over-used. This chapter looks at the use of the Internet and the affect it has upon family life. Don’t miss this chapter. You probably should read it twice. There is a lot of “meat” there.
The fifth chapter is on Ecumenism: Sharing the Idea of Unity. I absolutely loved this chapter. I am a convert to Catholicism and so is Shaun. He presented many ideas that I have thought about over the last 40 years. As a convert I know the great presence of faith within the Protestant tradition, but I also know of the great lack of Unity there. As a Catholic I recognize the truth of our faith and how in our faith we are called to always share the truth but also seek to deal with Protestants as our own brothers and sisters in the faith. Shaun does a great job showing how all of us, with the proper use of Social Media can do both. Social Media is not just for Evangelizing unbelievers, but is also great for helping all of us grow towards obtaining what Jesus prayed for; that all might be one.
The last chapters of the book give great practical advice to bloggers and really to all that use Social Media in any of its forms. This too should be a must read. Shaun has had a great deal of experience in the use of all forms of Social Media and his suggestions are great. He tells us of things to do and things not to do. Both of these are important to know. His suggestions, as practical as they are, also fit in to what the many Church documents call us to do. The sub-title of this book is “A No-Nonsense Guide to the Proper Use of Media”. This book certainly does this. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has used social media in any form or who plans on using it shortly. I think that covers just about everyone.
Note: I can’t help but to mention the cover of this book which is done by the very creative TJ Burdick. It is the very famous “Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. However, on the cover Adam is holding a cell phone showing its apps and God the Father is pointing towards it apparently ready to touch one of the apps. It is said that Michelangelo has God the Father pointing to Adam’s outstretched finger ready to impart the gift of life to him. Perhaps we can fast forward and say that God the Father has given us the Internet to continue to give life to mankind. I do think it can do that. In the original fresco God the Father is clothed and Adam is in full frontal nudity. However, on this book cover (back) the book bar code covers this up much better than a leaf would. Nice placement, TJ.

THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS – FR. GEREON GOLDMANN, OFM – Review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Angels, Anxiety and Worry, Blessed Virgin Mary, Books, Charity, Church, Eucharist, Evangelism, Healing, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Miracles, Sacraments


After reading this book, I now have a new hero: Fr. Gereon Goldmann. Fr. Goldman was an ordinary yet exceptional man who was filled with love for his God and for all of God’s people. He continually put this love in to action in the midst of one of the darkest times in human history. Father Goldmann was a proud German man who quite early in his life felt the call to the priesthood. In 1939, while he was a seminarian, he was drafted in to the German Army under the Nazi Regime. He despised the Nazis but served his country the best way that he could while still keeping his faith. His draft brought him in to the dreaded Nazi SS headed by Heinrich Himmler, but even in the midst of this darkness he was able to bring forth the light of God. The darkness continued even after his capture when he was taken to a French prisoner of war camp in North Africa. The French hated the Germans and treated them very poorly. In spite of all of this, Goldmann kept his faith and stood up to the darkness and prevailed.
I really do not want to give a further synopsis of this book. My hope is that you will read it yourself. This is a book that should be read by every Christian, especially Catholics. It is filled with suspense and harrowing war stories. It certainly shows the evil of war and most certainly shows the evil of the Nazis. What really shines out through this book is the faith of this one man and the faith of many associated with him. Faith can give us the strength to not only handle the difficulties thrown at us, but to rise above these difficulties and to shine. Fr. Goldmann certainly does this. I quite literally had a hard time putting this book down. This book surprises you over and over again and you can’t help but to want more.
The book deals not only with the experiences that Fr. Goldmann had during the war and during his imprisonment, it also shows those civilians left behind and how they dealt with the horrors of war. Over and over again a common thread of Faith and Prayer weaves together to form a blanket of protection over Fr. Goldmann. He should have been killed so many times, but wasn’t. He was also able to maintain his desire of not hurting or killing anyone during the war. As a matter of fact, the only time he seemed to use his gun was while threatening a Bishop and a Priest on two separate occasions. You need to read the book to learn about that. The Lord, often against apparently resolute Nazi orders, seems to take Fr. Goldmann all over Europe (even to meet the Pope) and Northern Africa. The Epilogue and Appendix show his post war work in Japan and in India. It is absolutely amazing how God has used this man in so many different places.
Fr. Goldmann had so many miracles happen around him that you will be totally astonished. To say that God worked through Fr. Goldmann would be an understatement. God empowered Fr. Goldmann to be able to do what would normally be impossible. There is no doubt that the angels were with him. This is true not only during the war and prisoner sections of this book but also in what happened after the war. Fr. Goldmann dreamt of being a missionary to Japan and his dream came true. He was so much more than a missionary. He was a beacon of light within the darkness of evil.
Central to Fr. Goldmann’s ministry was to bring physical healing (he was eventually a medic) and spiritual healing. His love of the Eucharist and Confession brought so much spiritual healing to those around him. Through this work he became quite an evangelist causing large numbers of people to come back to the Church or to be welcomed anew in to the Church. He stood up to the Nazi propaganda against the Church and people saw through its falsehood because of him.
This book has challenged me to be more of the man that Fr. Goldmann was. It challenged me to deeper prayer and deeper appreciation of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. It opened my eyes to see how God works through any situation, even those that seem so dark. The book challenged me to deeper trust in God and His call to me no matter where I am. It challenged me to believe more in the power of intercessory prayer. My challenge to you is to read this book. I am certain that you will be glad that you did. The book was originally published in 1964 and later in 2000 and then 2008 by IGNATIUS PRESS. I purchased it on Amazon. Go for it, you will be happy you did. What are you waiting for?

Blessed Among Women by Matt Nelson

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Early Church Fathers, Holy Spirit, Jewish roots, Saints, Scripture, Sin, Spirituality

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

The biblical view of Mary is that she has been specially set apart by God in the order of grace. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, was one of the first to affirm this when she proclaimed Mary’s blessedness upon her visitation:

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! (Luke 1: 41-42).

The Christmas season is a prime time for us to get re-acquainted with the mother of our Lord and reflect on some of the reasons why she is considered “blessed among women.” Not only for our own spiritual lives, but to prepare for conversations with non-Catholic family and friends who may have reflected very little on the place of Mary in salvation history.
One reason that the Virgin Mary is set apart from all other women is because of the weight of her “yes” to God’s plan—and because of God’s “yes” to her. Following her consent to bear the Christ child in her womb, her flesh was united with the body of Christ in the most literal sense. No other woman will ever experience this kind of union with Christ, this mother-with-child communion. Clearly, by this fact alone, Mary is blessed among women.
To steal a phrase from Einstein: God does not play dice. So Mary was not randomly endowed with her maternal role. Rather, from all of eternity, she was chosen by God for the task. She was favored by God to bear him, to raise him, to laugh with him—to suffer with him. The apologetic point here can be deceivingly simple: if God has honored Mary so singularly, shouldn’t we? If we are to reverence the mothers of our friends and relatives, shouldn’t we reverence the mother of our Lord?
And Mary is also our spiritual mother, because of her co-operative role in bringing into this world the Savior who would make it possible for man to be “born again.” The fathers of the Second Vatican Council put it this way.
In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace (Lumen Gentium 61).
This spiritual motherhood is hinted at in John’s Gospel when Jesus speaks the words, “Woman, behold your son” to Mary who stands at the foot of the cross with John. “Behold your mother” says Christ to the beloved apostle (19:26-27). And as our Lord speaks these words in a literal sense to Mary and John, he speaks them in a spiritual sense to the Church throughout the ages. Thus St. Augustine would affirm:
That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members (Holy Virginity 6:6).
She can be the mother of the Church because, as the Church’s Sacred Tradition holds, from the moment of her existence Mary was endowed by God with perfect sanctity. In 1854 Pope Pius IX declared in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus:
We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God.
Pope Pius’s dogmatic declaration was not a nineteenth-century invention pulled out of a hat. Its purpose was to affirm in an official and formal way, as all ex cathedra statements are, a long-existing tradition passed down since the age of the apostles.
Saint Paul wrote that “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23). The context here is personal sin—that is, sin which is done rather than inherited. (Original sin is dealt with two chapters later in Paul’s epistle.) So have all sinned? In general, yes. But there are exceptions—beginning with Jesus himself! Other exceptions could include infants and the severely disabled, since a sufficient degree of knowledge and consent are key requirements for an offense against God. And there are other biblical exceptions besides Christ. Indeed, Mary is not the first woman to be conceived without sin: Eve too, the mother of humanity, was created free of sin—but eventually fell by disobedience. Mary did not fall.
Steeped in the writings of the early Church Fathers and drawing from their reflections on Mary, the convert Bl. John Henry Newman fittingly called the mother of Jesus “the daughter of Eve unfallen.” Indeed the earliest Church Fathers hinted at Mary’s sinlessness in their writings when they alluded to Mary, implicitly and explicitly, as the second or new Eve. St. Irenaeus, for example, writes in the second century that “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith” (Against Heresies 3:22:24).
The later Church Fathers conveyed the blessedness of Mary even more explicitly. Consider the words of St. Ephrem in the fourth century:
You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare in beauty to these? (Nisibene Hymns 27:8).
Even Martin Luther believed that Mary had received special graces from God, professing in a 1527 sermon:
It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary’s soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God’s gifts, receiving a pure soul (On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God).
Of course, this recognition began with the biblically unique greeting of the angel Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace” (Luke 1:28). He greeted Mary with a title—and an angel never speaks anything but exactly what God wants him to speak. This explains why Mary in all her humility “was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29).
If an archangel of God greets Mary with such reverence, should not we also?
Aside from meditating on Sacred Scripture, one of the best ways we can reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin is to return to the writings of the early Christians. They were the closest in time to Mary and the apostles (indeed some of them were apostles of the apostles) and although their writings were not inspired, they serve as a kind of historical and theological extension of the New Testament, providing for us further context and commentary.
At the very least we should remember, as St. Ambrose did in his commentary on holy virginity, that Mary’s life “is like a mirror reflecting the face of chastity and the form of virtue.” We have ample reason to believe that Mary was a perfect model of obedience and humility, and so we can do no better than to reflect on her life, though but for the grace of God she would have been conceived in sin and unfit to be Christ’s mother and ours. Nobody has understood our dependence on God’s grace greater than she whose sweet voice proclaimed in the home of Elizabeth:
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 (Luke 1:47-48).

***This article was originally published for the Catholic Answers Online Magazine, under the title Our Mother’s Singular Grace

Saint Junipero Serra – an early American Saint – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Converts, Evangelism, Godly Patriotism, Prayer, Sacraments, Saints, Service, Vocation

July 4th is a special day for the United States. It is the day that we celebrate our Independence and the beginning of our country. Back in 1776, when the Revolutionary War was being fought, a Franciscan priest named Father Junipero Serra was active in forming what would become the State of California. He accomplished so much there that he is known by the Church as a Founding Father of the United States, the Father of the California Missions, as well as the Patron of Vocations, Apostle of California, and Evangelizer of the West,. On July 1st we celebrate the Feast Day of Father Junipero Serra. He is the first Saint to be canonized by a Pope inside of the United States (Sept. 23, 2015) at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. Father Junipero is special to the United States, as well as the world wide Church. Throughout the world his feast day is celebrated on the day that he died, August 23rd, but here in the United States we celebrate his Feast Day on the day that he entered the United States, July 1st (1769). That is how special he is to the United States.
On November 24th, 1713 Miguel Jose Serra was born to Antonio Nadal Serra and Margarita Rosa Ferrer in the town of Petra, on the island of Majorca, Spain. His parents were simple farmers. Miguel was so sickly when he was born that he was baptized that same day at St. Peter’s Church. Fortunately he became stronger and lived, although he was always extremely small in stature (5’ 2” as an adult). He attended a local Franciscan school and at the age of 18 was taken by his parents to Palma to study in the field of philosophy held in the Franciscan monastery of San Francisco. He later became a Novice at the Convento de Jesús outside the walls of Palma on September 14, 1730, and made his profession on September 15, 1731. He was ordained a priest around December 1738 and obtained his doctorate in theology in 1742 from the Lullian University, Palma. He was called to the Duns Scotus chair of theology at the same university and taught Philosophy and then left the easy life of a beloved priest and professor in 1749 to become a missionary to the Indians in the New World.
Fr. Serra landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico on December 7, 1749. Although horses were available for the friars, Serra chose to walk the 250 miles between Vera Cruz and Mexico City. They reached San Fernando College on January 1, 1750, spending the previous night at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. During this walk an insect bit his left leg which later became infected. This infection plagued him for the rest of his life, often to the point of almost losing his life. This seemed to be one of many crosses that he bore. Other crosses were inclement weather, military leaders and the politics associated with that, and Native Americans who were not happy with his converting their family and friends. His leg infections often kept him from walking or even standing, yet he had the will to continue spreading the Gospel. He spent the first 18 years in the New World in central Mexico and the Baja Peninsula before coming to modern day California in 1769. His zeal to preach and convert and start missions is almost legendary. The first mission that he founded in California was in San Diego in 1769. This was also almost the last as there was no food and everyone wanted to return to Mexico. Saint Junipero began a novena to St. Joseph, and sure enough a supply ship appeared. That enabled them to continue their mission journey and more missions were founded (Monterey/Carmel (1770); San Antonio and San Gabriel (1771); San Luís Obispo (1772); San Francisco and San Juan Capistrano (1776); Santa Clara (1777); San Buenaventura (1782) and twelve more were founded after Serra’s death). It is believed that he personally baptized at least 6,000 people and confirmed 5,000. During his lifetime, the Churches that he founded baptized 101,000 people and performed 28,000 marriages and 71,000 funerals. Throughout his time in the California area, he showed amazing zeal for Evangelization which seemed to be fed by his large amounts of prayer.
Saint Junipero was not only concerned about the spiritual well being of the Native Americans but also for their quality of life. He taught them life skills such as sound methods of agriculture, cattle raising, and even arts and crafts. He fought for their rights and protection with the Spanish military and government producing what could be called a Native American Bill of Rights. This would be used to become the first legislative action in California. He was so very loved by the Native Americans that he served. When he died, a large number of them came to pay their respects. He is buried at Mission San Carlo Borromeo, Carmel.
In the 1940s, a movement began to have him canonized. Pope John Paul II beatified Serra in 1988. Unfortunately this was not without objection by some Native Americans of that day who complained that Father Serra robbed the Native Americans of their culture and treated them poorly. The Church, in studying his life determined that Father Junipero Serra deserved to become a Saint.
What does the life of Saint Junipero Serra teach us today? First of all, we should emulate his great zeal for spreading the Gospel. Secondly, we should use his example of fighting for the rights of those who are looked down upon in society. Thirdly, we should work to help better the life of those who don’t have what we have. There certainly are more things that we can learn, but don’t let us forget the example Father Junipero Serra set in depending upon the Lord for all things through a serious prayer life. As a “founding father of the United States” let us call upon Father Junipero to join us in praying that this great country may turn more and more to God. In God we Trust. God bless America.

 

Four Questions About the Bible You Should Ask Your Protestant Friends by Matt Nelson

Church, Evangelism, Scripture, Spirituality

I believe in the following Christian principle: everything the Bible tells us is true. I do not, however, believe that everything the Bible tells us is clear. Along with Protestants and Catholics I stand with Saint Paul who wrote that the Holy Scriptures are inspired by God. They are therefore inerrant, or free from all error. But this does not change the fact that the Scriptures are not always simple to interpret. Take for example Paul’s letter to the Colossians in which he writes:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions…” (Col 1:24)
What are we to make of this? Was something lacking in Christ’s suffering? On the surface this seems to indicate that His death on the cross was not enough. But elsewhere we are told with full assurance that we have been saved once and for all through Christ(see Hebrews 7:27). Either the Bible is contradicting itself—or a very subtle interpretation must be applied to the given text in order to square it with the rest. I obviously opt for the second option (for more on this particular passage read this).
Saint Peter warns us that there are things in the Sciptures that are hard to understand “which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:16). He also warns us that “no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Pet 1:19). The bottom line is this: interpretation of the Bible is serious business.
A core tenet of Protestantism is sola scriptura, or the belief that the Bible alone possesses infallible authority to instruct the Christian in regards to faith and doctrine. They completely reject, therefore, the infallible authority of Sacred Tradition (oral teaching passed down by the apostles) and the teaching authority of the Church.
Catholics believe something different: we believe that the Bible and Sacred Tradition both together bear the Word of God. Furthermore, we believe that Jesus gave his Church the authority to teach infallibly, or without error, in matters of faith and morality. In other words the Church—through the teaching office of the bishops—works hand-in-hand with the Bible and Tradition as their official interpretor “because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet 1:21).
Catholics have a special interest in evangelizing their Protestant brothers and sisters because they have a special interest in Christian unity. Jesus prayed that we “may be one” and, unfortunately, we are now far from it. Since the Protestant Reformation and the widespread acceptance of “interpret for yourself” Bible study, Christian denominations have drastically multiplied. Without the guiding and unifying authority of the Church, Protestant denominations now number in the thousands. Doctrinal contradictions abound.
How should Catholics challenge their Protestant friends to reconsider sola scriptura? We might start by asking the following four questions.
Question 1: Where does the Bible teach that the “Bible alone” is God’s Word?
The Word of God comes to the believer in three forms. First in the person of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1). Second it comes in the written form of the Old and New Testaments. Third it comes to the believer in the form of oral tradition. Consider:
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God…” (1 Thess 2:13)
and,
“but the word of the Lord abides for ever.”
That word is the good news which was preached to you. (1 Pet 1:25)
These passages are not knock-out arguments for the inspired authority of Sacred Tradition but they certainly suggest that God’s Word may be written or spoken. Keep in mind that Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is probably the earliest New Testament letter, which means that little if any other New Testament Gospels or letters had been written (or preached) at this time. The next verse helps to put this in better context:
“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)
Apparently Paul believes that Christians should “stand firm” and “hold” to both written and oral traditions. This indeed has been reflected by the Catholic Church for two thousand years, keeping in sync with the Bible which tell us that God’s Word comes to us three forms: in a written tradition, in a spoken tradition, and unltimately in the form of a Divine Person.
Question 2: Where does the Bible say that the “Bible alone” has infallible authority?
In short: it doesn’t. Often the passage about the Beroeans (Acts 17) is invoked or Jesus’ encounter with the devil in the desert where he counters the evil one’s temptations with Scripture verses (“It is written…”) but these passages say nothing about the Bible alone being the sole rule of faith. The verses only affirm what Catholics agree with: that the Bible is true and authoritative and worthy of serious study.
I have often welcomed my Protestant friends to provide a biblical basis for their belief in sola scriptura. The best verse I have been presented with is 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
“All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Still this passage fails as definitive proof for “Bible alone” theology. Again it asserts nothing that Catholics would disagree with: All Scripture is inspired (check). All Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (check). All Scripture is profitable in making the man of God complete, equipped for every good work (check). But this passage says nothing about only Scripture being infallible. Neither does it say anything about Scripture being complete and fully equipped.
Indeed Scripture is fully equipped in the sense that it is a closed canon and thus cannot be changed or added to. But it is incomplete in the sense that it does not interpret itself. This is evident in the proliferation of contradictory “Bible alone” churches and congregations that exist today. These churches not only contradict each other in faith and doctrine. They also contradict the teachings of the apostles and the early believers who followed after them.
Question 3: Where in early Church history did Christians profess belief in “the Bible alone”?
Again the Protestant will come up empty handed here. Some Protestant apologists have attempted to quote early Church Fathers and ecclesiastical writers like Ireneaus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, or Athanasius but to no real avail. The quotes are usually fragments of larger works, ripped from their context.
They might quote Clement of Alexandria, for example, who says “They that are ready to spend their time in the best things will not give over seeking for truth until they have found the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves,” (Stromata 7:16:3).” But Catholics agree with Clement! We should search the Scriptures (like the Beroeans) to confirm our doctrines. This resembles the passage above where Paul writes that “All Scripture is inspired…” which, in fact, says nothing at all about the Bible being the sole rule of faith.
It is also noteworthy that in another letter Clement affirms the authority of apostolic tradition:
“Well, they preserving the tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul….came by God’s will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds (Miscellanies 1:1).
Often the same early Church Fathers that are quoted by Protestant apologists can be found elsewhere in their writing affirming apostolic tradition. Furthermore, Ireneaus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Athanasius, Augustine and the other cited authors also collectively affirm and defend doctrines such as salvation and regeneration through baptism, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, special honour due to Mary, the primacy of the Pope, the sacrifice of the Mass, and others. These are doctrines that most Protestants will readily reject. It is no small wonder why they, nonetheless, give these Catholic authors the authority they do when it comes to affirming sola scriptura.
Question 4: How do you know what belongs in the Bible?
Every Protestant must accept at least one tradition that cannot be found anywhere in the Bible: namely, the New Testament canon. This is sometimes called the “tradition of the Table of Contents.”
How does the Protestant know what belongs in the Bible? How does he know that the Bible—or what we call the canon of Scripture—cannot be further added to today? Protestant theologian R.C. Sproul has recognized the difficulty, going so far as to suggest that perhaps the New Testament is “a fallible collection of infallible books.” But how does he know that the New Testament is not a “fallible collection of fallible books”?
Catholics look to the authority of the Church for assurance regarding the New Testament. Since the fourth century, the bishops of the Catholic Church have repeatedly affirmed “what belongs in the Bible” through synods and ecumenical councils. The Church did not decide this on its own authority; rather it was guided by the Holy Spirit to discover (rather than invent) the New Testament. From this it follows that Protestants—provided they accept the New Testament as infallible—unwittingly hold to what amounts to a tradition of the Catholic Church.
Final Thoughts
The point of all this is not merely to show Protestants that they are wrong. It is to show them that they are right when it comes to the Bible’s infallibility; that they are right when it comes to the veneration they give to the written Word of God; that they are right about the importance of testing our beliefs by turning to Scripture. It is not that they believe too much; it is that they believe too little.
In Shakespearean fashion we might ultimately want to say to our dear non-Catholic friends that “there are more things in Christianity, dear Protestant, than are dreamt of in your theology.” By rejecting sola scriptura and accepting the authority of apostolic tradition and the Church, we Catholics along with our Eastern brethren are offering much more. We are offering the fullness of biblical Christianity; and we are offering what Christ offers.
In evangelization it is always easier to ask questions than to assert facts. These four questions will hopefully be a helpful starting point for you in future ecumenical discussions.
Visit Matt Nelson’s web page at Reasonable Catholic

Memorial Day Reflection – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Family, Godly Patriotism, Peace and Justice, Prayer, Service

Ecclesiastes 3:8 Tells us that there is “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. “ Unfortunately there have been too many times for war and too many lives lost in war. Also, sadly there are too many lives affected by the losses of war. This includes not only parents, wives and children and other family and friends but also numerous innocent refugees. As General William T. Sherman has said, “War is Hell”.
This weekend our country pauses to celebrate Memorial Day. For many people it is a day off from work and a day to get together with family and friends and of course, to have a barbeque. I don’t see these things as wrong as long as we take the time to remember what this National Holiday is all about. Memorial Day is supposed to be a day of solemn remembrance of all of our soldiers who died serving the United States Armed Forces. It originally was celebrated following the Civil War and in 1971 became a National Holiday. Many people visit cemeteries to visit deceased soldiers. Many people also confuse it with Veteran’s Day when we remember all veterans. Memorial Day is to remember only those who died serving our country.
For Catholics, this should be a very special day. We should honor those who gave their life in service to others and remember Jesus’ words in John 15:13, “No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends.” It is also a day for us to pray for the deceased. We as Catholics know how important this is. There are many deceased soldiers out there that have no one to pray for them. We can step in and do this. It is also a day for us to look at all ways possible to work for peace rather than war. It is better for everyone to have a time of peace and not a time of war. It is also a time for us to help the poor and refugees who so often are adversely affected by war.
We as Catholics should be very concerned in promoting family life and teaching our children good values. Memorial Day (and the whole weekend) is a great time to go, as a family, to a Memorial Day parade and to go, again as a family, to visit a National Cemetery or visit a soldier’s grave in a regular cemetery. There is nothing better than going as a family to visit a deceased soldier father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, etc. and talk about him or her to our children. It is also a great time to pray for that deceased relative and talk to our children about praying for the dead.
In summary, no matter what you do this weekend, please do not forget to remember and honor our deceased soldiers. When you have that great family Memorial Day Barbeque, stop and remember and pray. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops shares with us a prayer from “Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers”:
God of power and mercy,
you destroy war and put down earthly pride.
Banish violence from our midst and wipe away our tears,
that we may all deserve to be called your sons
and daughters.
Keep in your mercy those men and women
who have died in the cause of freedom
and bring them safely
into your kingdom of justice and peace.
We ask this though Jesus Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen

 

Pentecost and Mary Mother of the Church – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Early Church Fathers, Evangelism, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Miracles, Pope Francis, Prayer, Scripture, The Holy Land

Pentecost is traditionally seen as the birthday of the Church. Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and disciples assembled together in the Upper Room. They had been praying for 9 days after Jesus ascended in to heaven. They had gone in to the Upper Room with sadness because the Lord was no longer with them. They were weak and unsure or what to do. They prayed their novena and the Spirit came and filled them and they left the Upper Room in joy and in strength and with a sense of purpose that they never had before. The Church was truly born that day. As we celebrate Pentecost we must look at the life of the Holy Spirit within our own lives. We should give thanks and praise for all that the Spirit has given us and we should also be resolved to be more open to the Spirit and its gifts and fruits. Reading the book of Acts is a great place to start.
The scriptures tell us that the Blessed Virgin Mary was present in the Upper Room with the Apostles and disciples praying for and receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. You can picture Mary gathered there with all of her son’s friends. At first she must have been disappointed in the Apostles for the way they had abandoned her Son at the cross. She was probably concerned that all that Jesus had done was now in jeopardy due to the lack luster Apostles. Yet, she was there with them, praying with them and most likely praying for them. She must have looked upon them as a mother looks upon their children, encouraging them and hoping and praying that they would become what God called them to be. How joyous she must have been seeing the power of the Holy Spirit coming down upon them and empowering them. I am sure she was a proud mother looking at the growth in her children. She herself is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. She knew the Holy Spirit and was now empowered again to be part of the birth of new life, the new life that the Church was called to be. We can never separate Mary from the great day of Pentecost. Her being there was part of the plan and action of the Spirit to make the Church the true Body of Christ.
How beautiful it is that this year we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost on Sunday and then the next day celebrate the NEW memorial feast of Mary Mother of the Church. The title Mary Mother of the Church goes back to the beginnings of the early church. We first see it written down by Saint Ambrose of Milan (340-397). He was appointed Bishop of Milan in 374. Over the ages the title has been used in many places.
In recent times, Pope Paul VI, himself a former Bishop of Milan, closed the third session of Vatican II using words similar to St. Ambrose saying, “For the glory of the Virgin and our consolation, we proclaim Mary the Most Holy Mother of the Church, that is, the Mother of the whole People of God, both the faithful and the pastors.”
In 1981, shortly after his assassination attempt, Pope John Paul II had a mosaic of Mary Mother of the Church installed on a building facing St. Peter’s Square as a tribute to her intercession in saving his life. In 1987 he repeated this title in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater. Pope John Paul II also had a monastery built in the Vatican dedicated to Mary Mother of the Church (1990). Presently Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lives in this monastery. In 1997 Pope John Paul II devoted a Wednesday general audience to the title, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Although many Popes and Bishops and ancient writers used the title Mary, Mother of the Church, the Church’s calendar did not have a universal memorial feast celebrating that title. Some countries celebrated the feast, but it wasn’t until this year that a Universal feast was set. Pope Francis declared that the Monday after Pentecost would be celebrated as Mary, Mother of the Church. I pray that we learn to celebrate by remembering the very close link between Mary and the Holy Spirit. We also need to see the motherly love of Mary for the Church. Mary is our mother.
The gospel reading set for the new feast is John 19:25-31. This gospel reading contains the familiar story of Mary and John at the foot of the cross. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” We can see how Jesus shared His mother with John, and by extension, with us. We need to take Mary in to our home. She can help us grow closer to her son Jesus and she can help us be open to the Holy Spirit and receive its fruits and gifts. Thank you Jesus for sharing your mother with us. Happy Pentecost, and Happy Birthday. God is good.

Are You Really Ready to Win the Battle? – By Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Demons, Divine Mercy, Eucharist, Evangelism, Family, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Liturgy, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Rosary, Sacraments, Saints, Scripture, Service, Sin, Spirituality, Teaching


I was fortunate to have parents who saw that Scouting could be very beneficial to the formation of a child in to an adult. I was in Scouting from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts to Explorer Scouts (in High School). I learned a lot from them to help build my character. One of the primary things that they taught me was to BE PREPARED. This helped me in school, family and social life, in business, in being an Army soldier and especially in being a good Christian. I would like to look at BEING PREPARED as a Christian.
The question is, what are we supposed to be prepared for? There are several things but I find three that stand out the most. First of all we must be prepared for the LAST DAY. That last day may be when Jesus comes again, or more likely it will be when we die and go to meet him. We have a judgment to experience when we see Him face to face. All that we do as a Christian should lead us to be ready for this judgment. I am so happy that our God is a merciful God, but he is also a JUST God. Everything that we have said and done (and thought) or failed to do, will come before us; and we must answer for that. If we live out the words of Jesus and His Church, we should be prepared. The Church gives us the tools to prepare for this judgment. Those tools are the Sacraments and the Scriptures and prayers and examples of the Saints. We should use them to the fullest.
The second thing that we need to be prepared for is our battle against evil. For those of you who fail to believe in evil and the battle that we fight, you are sadly not prepared. The Church has always, from the very beginning, recognized the power of evil in the world. Our first Pope tells us: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” 1 Pet. 5:8-9. Unfortunately today, too many people dismiss the devil and demons and evil as old fashioned and untrue. The devil and his demons are real, and we need to fight them. The war is already won in Jesus, but Satan still continues to battle and tries to confound us. He attacks us in our weaknesses. We must use the tools that Jesus and the Church gives us to fight him. St. Paul tells us, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Eph. 6:11-17. These words of St. Paul are so much more than words of wisdom; they are words to lead us in our battle with evil. Do you hear the battle cry?
The third thing that we need to be prepared for is sharing the Good News. This is what we are supposed to be doing as Christians. It should be so much a part of us that it just comes naturally. I will spend more time on this topic on another post, but it is so important that it needs to be placed in context with this post. Probably the best way we share the Good News is by being a good Christian.
Being a good Christian is hard enough on its own, but when you have the legions of evil and darkness trying to keep you from being a good Christian, it becomes even more difficult. However, God knows the battle we fight and if we use the tools He gives us, we overcome easily. I would like to share with you some of the ways that I have found to use these tools. First of all, You MUST make them part of a daily routine. Just as you start out the day by washing and grooming, the tools need to be sharpened and put to use. I find that my morning routine is most important.
Daily I wake up at 6:30 (even though I am retired and could sleep) and I first say a rosary carefully meditating on each mystery. I then go to the local YMCA for my morning workout (the physical body and spiritual self are very connected). I then go to daily mass early enough to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament for 15 to 20 minutes. I then carefully pay attention and serve at mass asking the Lord to strengthen me to be the person He wants me to be. I see the Eucharist as such a precious gift to strengthen me for the journey and the battle. I then go home to eat breakfast with my wife (she also attends daily mass with me) and then I do my morning prayer (Liturgy of the Hours). The rest of the day I intersperse other prayers. These prayers vary from spontaneous forms of praise to the various hours of the Liturgy of the Hours. Every Tuesday I do Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Each evening my wife and I pray together. All of this is a life giving experience for me. I never see it as a burden. I find my strength in this routine.
Throughout the day I love to give thanks and praise to God for the many beautiful things that happen. I love to see Him in the beauty of creation and the gift of other people. I also try to do a lot of spiritual reading such as the Bible as well as books from great Christian authors. In the evenings I “surf” many Christian/Catholic websites. I also try to continue my learning through the New Saint Thomas Aquinas Institute and ClaritasU. As I read this over it sounds like all I do is “religious” things, but that isn’t true. I enjoy many aspects of life and do many activities from going out with the guys to the local pub for beer, to visiting with friends with my wife. However, the “religious things” are what help to make me who I believe God calls me to be.
I know that Jesus wants us to live an abundant life (John 10:10) even though the thief (Satan) would love to snatch it away from us. When I immerse myself in prayer, the sacraments and good study, my life is abundant and Satan doesn’t have a chance to snatch it away from me. I am prepared; are you?

Parish Management and Operations: The Buck Stops Here by Michael A. Brinda – Review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Books, Church, Communication, Evangelism, Service

In the book of Revelation (3:15-16) Jesus tells the church at Laodicea “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” In my travels I have seen many Catholic churches and there are very few that really seem “hot”, even fewer that seem “cold”, but many that seem “lukewarm”. If you are currently ministering in a church that is lukewarm, or perhaps we should say, mediocre, and you are content with that mediocrity, then this book is not for you. However, if you want a church that is hot, or exemplary or superior, then this is the book for you. I would go so far to say that this book could lead to a totally changed Church worldwide. Unfortunately too many people are leaving the faith and many of our parishes are suffering. This book could stop that exodus and actually help to bring people back.
The author, Michael A. Brinda combines his obvious business management skills with a deep faith that the Church is called to serve God’s people. He tells us that we must serve God’s people in an exemplary way. There is no room for mediocrity in the Church. This involves all people in all ministries in the Church. We, lay or ordained, are all called to superior service. Thus this book is not just for pastors. It is for anyone in a leadership/ministry role in the parish. There is no doubt that the ways of the pastor most influence the culture of the parish and it is extremely important for all pastors to read this book. I have worked in parish leadership ministry for over 40 years, 37 plus of them as an ordained deacon. This book changed my thoughts on how a parish should be managed.
At the very heart of the author’s message is the idea that each parish needs a good Parish Management person who is trained in how to bring about exemplary, not mediocre, ministry from parish personnel. He believes, rightly so, that we need to look at the culture of the parish (which probably has been formed and perpetuated for many years) and that you cannot try to change this culture, but that you must kill it and then install a new culture. If this seems difficult to you; it is. However, the author gives us many tools to help bring this about. I was very impressed by the tools that he gives us. There is no doubt that this hard work will bring about what God calls us to be and do. Using the words of the author, “And why do we bother with this process? As always, so that we can serve greatly those we are called to serve. If something were worth doing at all, why wouldn’t it be worth doing in a superior way? Are the barriers to superior performance too tough and too high for you overcome? No. Never.”
I received my degree in Business Administration – Management and worked my entire career in management and I can tell you that the tools and wisdom given by the author in this book are exemplary. I am also an ordained deacon for 38 years now and have worked even more than that in parish ministry. This book is not just a book written by a businessman to apply to the Church. It is written by a businessman who has a deep faith and knows that the Church is called to use all of its resources in an exemplary way to spread the Good News and to serve the People of God. The Church is in dire need of this book.
The good news is that this book is well written and easily read. Putting what it says in to practice will be difficult, but all of us know that you can’t accomplish anything great without hard work. Throughout the book, the author gives us numerous quotes from a wide variety of individuals from spiritual writers to business writers to pop culture individuals. He makes the book an interesting read. I was really disappointed when it ended. I wanted more. If you are in any type of parish ministry, especially leadership roles, this book is for you. Do yourself a favor and read the book. It will benefit you, the Church and the building of the Kingdom of God.

A VIGIL OF LIGHT AND NEW LIFE by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Converts, Diaconate, Eucharist, Evangelism, Liturgy, Sacraments, Scripture

The well used 2017 Easter Candle

The Brand New 2018 Easter Candle

I absolutely love the Easter Vigil. It is the night where we celebrate the LIGHT that has come in to the world in the Resurrection of Jesus. It is the night where new LIFE comes to all of us because of the Resurrection of Jesus. It is a time of joy and celebration and has a history that dates back to the early days of the Church. It is a time of WELCOME. We welcome the Resurrected Jesus again and we welcome new adult members in to the Church. We emerge from the darkness in to the LIGHT. God is so good!
For those of you who have never attended an Easter Vigil service, I highly encourage you to do so. We start out with the church in darkness and build a fire in the front of the church. This fire reminds me of how great it is to gather around a fire and tell stories. And boy do we tell stories this night. The fire is blessed and then a brand new Easter Candle (Paschal Candle) is lit from the fire. The Deacon carries the lit Easter Candle in to the church and sings THE LIGHT OF CHRIST and the people respond THANKS BE TO GOD. The deacon then uses the Easter Candle to begin lighting the candles of all of the people in the church. The lighting starts from the back and goes out sideways as one person passes the light to another person. The Deacon stops in the middle of the church and again sings THE LIGHT OF CHRIST and the people respond THANKS BE TO GOD. He then continues towards the front as candles are being lit. He stops at the front and for the last time sings, THE LIGHT OF CHRIST and again the people respond THANKS BE TO GOD. The candle is put in its stand and the ancient and beautiful hymn the EXSULTET is then sung. It is beautiful to see how the dark church is lit up by all the people sharing their light. It reminds us that together we are called to share our light, the light of Christ, and then we can conquer the darkness.
The Liturgy of the Word now begins. There can be seven Old Testament readings each with its own responsorial psalm and prayer before we come to the Epistle, another responsorial psalm and then the Gospel and homily. Music plays an important part of the Liturgy of the Word and often at least one of the readings is sung.
After the Liturgy of the Word the Baptismal Liturgy begins. If there are candidates to be baptized the Litany of the Saints is sung. The baptismal waters are blessed and the candidates are questioned. Baptism and Confirmation are given and then all of the people renew their own baptismal promises. The prayer of the faithful is read and then the mass continues as does every other mass with the Eucharistic Prayers. The candidates that have been received in to the Church this evening receive first and then all of the congregation are invited to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. After our final prayers and blessing we leave the church refreshed by the Risen Jesus. We leave in rejoicing the Risen Lord.
The Easter Vigil begins the Easter Season of Joy and Alleluia and New Life. It continues until the Feast of Pentecost when the Church celebrates its beginning with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Some candidates for Confirmation may be received at Pentecost.
In the pictures above you see the old 2017 Easter Candle and the new 2018 Easter Candle. The old one is quite short and almost used up. That is because the Easter Candle is the symbol of LIFE and is lit during the Easter Season and lit at every Baptism throughout the year and at every Funeral throughout the year. Baptisms are all about new life. So are funerals. It is only right that the symbol of New Life is lit for each of these.
Easter is a time not only for us to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord, but also to be refreshed and to find New Life in our own lives. Jesus has so much to give to us, all we need to do is to go to Him and ask. May this Easter season be one of New Life and Rejoicing for you and your families. Happy Easter.

THE BONES OF ST. PETER, A ROMAN CITY OF THE DEAD AND A SCAVI TOUR – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Holy Orders, Relics, Saints

The tomb of St. Peter under St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

On February 22nd the Church celebrates “The Chair of Peter” which looks at the gift that Jesus gave us in St. Peter and his successors. Symbolically “The Chair of Peter” represents the position of authority and leadership and pasturing that comes to us from the Pope. Physically there is a wooden chair that has been encased in a Bronze sculpture in 1666 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini that is believed to be the chair that St. Peter sat in. It is in the apse of St Peter’s in Rome behind the main altar. It is quite visible and readily seen. What you can’t easily see is the treasure that is buried directly underneath the main altar of St. Peter’s. There you will find the actual bones of St. Peter himself.
The only way you can really see these bones is by going on a SCAVI tour underneath St. Peter’s. I was fortunate to be able to go on the tour on one of my trips to Rome. The tour is absolutely fabulous. It takes you below the present St. Peter’s and below the original St. Peter’s built by the Emperor Constantine in 326. On this tour you go through an ancient Roman Necropolis (city of the dead) and finally to the actual tomb of St. Peter (and early monuments built there in the first and second centuries). Most people do not know that the original St. Peter’s was built on top of a Roman Necropolis and then the present St. Peter’s was built on top of the foundations of the original one. Excavations and archeological digs during the 1900’s uncovered the Necropolis and the tomb of St. Peter.
St. Peter was martyred in Caligula’s Circle in 64ad in Rome. His body was buried nearby on Vatican Hill and early Christians venerated the site by building small memorials and a place to celebrate the Eucharist. It was fairly easy for them to hide this (the Roman’s persecuted the Christians for 2 to 3 centuries) because it was small and within a Roman Necropolis. The Necropolis consisted of above ground Mausoleum’ separated by streets and alleys. The Mausoleum’s were large enough to allow the Romans to put their loved one’s remains (after being cremated) in jars on shelves in the room. The relatives would often gather in the room to honor the dead. The early Christians would not allow cremation and always buried their loved ones in the ground. St. Peter was buried in a tomb underground. The monuments were built above that.
When the Emperor Constantine became a Christian he ordered the Roman Necropolis to be filled in with dirt and a Christian Basilica be built there so that the main altar was directly over the venerated grave of St. Peter. This was the original St. Peter’s Basilica built beginning in 326. Several modifications were made to the basilica between the 7th and 12th centuries but all of these modifications kept the main altar directly over the grave of St. Peter. The present day St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world, was begun on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. It is the work of the best of the Renaissance artists. After taking down the original St. Peter’s, but leaving its floor and some foundations and columns, it was built on top and past the original size of the first St. Peter’s. It too was made to have the main altar stand over the very grave of St. Peter.
When starting on the SCAVI tour you go to the lower St. Peter’s and see some of the floor and columns of the original St. Peter’s. You then go under the floor of the church built in 326 in to excavations of the Roman Necropolis. It is amazing to see these streets and alleys and Mausoleums in such great conditions after more than 1600 years. You can even see rain marks in the original soil streets. When Constantine had the Necropolis filled in with dirt, it protected these. We walked in to several of the ancient Roman Mausoleums and saw paintings inside and the shelves where the remains of the Romans were. You could almost picture the families gathering inside (sometimes even sharing a meal there) in honoring their dead. We then proceeded to the place of the tomb of St. Peter. On the way we saw many graves of early Popes and Cardinals who wanted to be buried near St. Peter. There is a small early chapel there and the monuments built in the first centuries. When you come to the place of the burial of St. Peter there is a wall there with ancient Graffiti written by an early Christian that says, “Peter is Here”.
Because there was a time when the Basilica was under attack, the Church leaders took the bones of St. Peter out of his original grave and placed them inside a nearby wall. This was done to protect the bones so they would not be taken. On the tour itself you can see the bones inside a Plexiglas case that our tour guide told us was made especially for them by the US Army (I haven’t been able to verify that). For me, visiting the tomb of St. Peter and seeing his bones was a very emotional and spiritual high. I hope you get a chance to experience that too. These are the bones of the man that Jesus chose to head His Church.
I would highly recommend you do the SCAVI tour if you go to Rome. Tickets are limited and you must contact the Vatican office for them. If you would like to take a virtual tour of the Necropolis and the Tomb of St. Peter, click here: SCAVI tour and on the top right click EN, unless your Italian is good.

 

Mary’s House, Stations of the Cross and Visions – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Jewish roots, Liturgy, Miracles, Mystics, Prayer, Saints, Spirituality, The Holy Land

Mary’s House in Ephesus

We find the Stations of the Cross in just about every Catholic Church. Walking and praying the Stations of the Cross has been a popular Catholic devotion from the earliest of times. It is especially popular during the season of Lent. Did you know that the first Stations of the Cross were made by the Blessed Virgin Mary and that what we have today followed the pattern that she set up 2000 years ago? Our earliest traditions tell us that St. John took the Blessed Virgin Mary out of Jerusalem to Ephesus to protect her from the dangers in Jerusalem. Tradition tells us that Mary, after Jesus’ ascension used to walk the path that He had walked on His way to the Cross. When she moved out of Jerusalem she could no longer walk on that very path.
St. John built for her a House on a hill just outside of Ephesus (modern day Turkey). I was fortunate to be able to visit that home and it was an earthshaking spiritual experience for me. When Mary lived there she decided to walk out a path remembering the way of the cross that Jesus and she walked in Jerusalem. She set up stones and markings on trees to commemorate Jesus’ walk. Mary would walk along that path with its Stations of the Cross just like she had walked it on the actual streets that Jesus had walked. It was a special devotion for her.
One of the Church’s modern mystics and visionaries was Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich who was born in 1774 and died in 1824. She had numerous visions of Jesus and Mary and in her writings she recalled her visions, “Behind the house, at a little distance up the hill, the Blessed Virgin had made a kind of Way of the Cross. When she was living in Jerusalem, she had never failed, ever since Our Lord’s death, to follow His path to Calvary with tears of compassion. She had paced out and measured all the distances between the Stations of that Via Crucis, and her love for her Son made her unable to live without this constant contemplation of His sufferings. Soon after her arrival at her new home [in Ephesus] I saw her every day climbing part of the way up the hill behind her house to carry out this devotion. At first she went by herself, measuring the number of steps, so often counted by her, which separated the places of Our Lord’s different sufferings. At each of these places she put up a stone, or, if there was already a tree there, she made a mark upon it. The way led into a wood, and upon a hill in this wood she had marked the place of Calvary, and the grave of Christ in a little cave in another hill. After she had marked this Way of the Cross with twelve Stations, she went there with her maidservant in quiet meditation: at each Station they sat down and renewed the mystery of its significance in their hearts, praising the Lord for His love with tears of compassion. Afterwards she arranged the Stations better, and I saw her inscribing on the stones the meaning of each Station, the number of paces and so forth. I saw, too, that she cleaned out the cave of the Holy Sepulcher and made it a place for prayer. At that time I saw no picture and no fixed cross to designate the Stations, nothing but plain memorial stones with inscriptions, but afterwards, as the result of constant visits and attention, I saw the place becoming increasingly beautiful and easy of approach. After the Blessed Virgin’s death I saw this Way of the Cross being visited by Christians, who threw themselves down and kissed the ground.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich’s writings were published about 50 years after her death. At that time Mary’s House in Ephesus was unknown to the western world. Two priests, Fr. Julien Gouyet and Fr. Eugène Poulin were so intrigued by the descriptions of Mary’s house in Emmerich’s writings that they went in search of it. The house was found using the descriptions from the visions. It was located in the center of old ruins of a monastery. The foundation of the house dated to the first century and Hebrew inscriptions were found on its stones. Even the hearth was located at the exact location of Emmerich’s visions. Although unknown to the western world, the locals celebrated the place for as long back as they could remember. They called the place “Panaghia-Capouli” which meant “The Door of the Holiest.” Perhaps more remarkable to us today is the fact that the locals had an annual pilgrimage that took place each year on August 15th, which was not declared the Feast of the Assumption of the Immaculate Virgin Mary until 1950. Today, some use the name “Panaya Kapulu” to describe the house on the hillside. Even though the majority of the locals are Muslims, they continue to celebrate and honor Mary there.
Our local guide told us that about ten years ago there was a terrible brush fire on the mountain where Mary’s house is. They said that the town people (Muslims) gathered to protect Mary’s house from the fire, even leaving their own houses in harms way. Fortunately they were successful.
I hope that each Friday of Lent you are able to pray the Stations of the Cross. When you do, say a special thank you prayer to Our Lady.

NOTE: There are several traditions about Mary’s house and about the location of her Assumption.  The Church has not ruled on this.

THE FOURTEEN STATIONS OF THE CROSS

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus takes up his Cross
3. Jesus falls for the first time
4. The Virgin Mary meets Jesus
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to help Jesus bear the Cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls for the second time
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls for the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Jesus is crucified
12. Jesus dies on the Cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross and laid in the arms of Mary
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Quotes from St. Francis de Sales by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Communication, Converts, Evangelism, Saints, Spirituality

A Picture of a stained glass window of our church, St. Francis de Sales in Patchogue, Long Island, New York

Saint Francis de Sales is one of the most quoted Saints and I thought that on this, his Feast day of January 24th, I would share some of them with you.  St. Francis was known as the gentleman Saint.  He is one of the great Reformation era Saints who helped people to return to the fullness of the Church.  Enjoy these quotes.

If your eye is simple all of your body will be too.
Make yourself familiar with the Angels, and behold them frequently in spirit. Without being seen, they are present with you.
The most perfect degree of humility is to take pleasure in contempt and humiliations. It is worth more before God contempt suffered patiently for love of Him than a thousand fastings and disciplines.
All the good we do, we do for love of God, and the evil we avoid, we avoid for love of God
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.
Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.
‘Be very quick to turn away from whatever leads or allurs to lewd conduct, for this evil works without our knowing it and from small beginnings moves on to great difficulties. Such things are always easier to avoid than to cure.’
A sign that we love truly love God is that we love Him the same in all occasions
If we say a little it is easy to add, but having said too much it is hard to withdraw and never can it be done so quickly as to hinder the harm of our success.
The saints feel that Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is diffuse and communicated totally in their souls and bodies. He repairs all, modifies and vivifies; loves in the heart, hears in the mind, sees in the eyes, speaks in the tongue; does all in all, and then it is not we who live, but Jesus Christ who lives in us.
The soul cannot live without love. All depends on providing a worthy object to love.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and everyday. Either he will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.
Know that the virtue of patience is what assures us the most perfection.
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.
Nothing is more like a wise man than a fool who holds his tongue.
The true and solid devotion consists in the constant will, resolve, promptness and activeness to execute what is pleasing to God.
Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing so gentle as real strength.

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.

Holiness is found in a path opened to us in our daily lives, the duties of our daily lives are offered to us with unequal attractiveness.
Let us not lower our eyes without humiliating at the same time the heart; let not others think we want the last place without truly desiring it.
When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.
‘Those impure words which are spoken in disguise, and with an affectation of reserve, are the most harmful of all; for just as the sharper the point of a dart, so much deeper it will pierce the flesh, so the sharper an unholy word, the more it penetrates the heart. And as for those who think to show themselves knowing when they say such things, they do not even understand the first object of mutual intercourse among men, who ought rather to be like a hive of bees gathering to make honey by good and useful conversation, than like a wasps’ nest, feeding on corruption. If any impertinent person addresses you in unseemly language, show that you are displeased by turning away, or by whatever other method your discretion may indicate.’
A heart full of love loves the commandments and the more difficult it seems, the more sweet and pleasing they become because it pleases the Beloved and gives Him more honor.
We have to do everything for love, not out of force.
Prayer, united with the Divine Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, has an indescribable force; therefore by this means celestial favors united to the Beloved abound in the soul.
Within the practices of religion, the Blessed Sacrament is what the Sun is to the stars; it is truly the soul of the Christian religion. It is the ineffable mystery that comprehends divine charity, by which God, truly uniting to us, communicates to us his magnificence, graces and favors.
O my child, bethink you that just as the bee, having gathered heaven’s dew and earth’s sweetest juices from amid the flowers, carries it to her hive; so the Priest, having taken the Saviour, God’s Own Son, Who came down from Heaven, the Son of Mary, Who sprang up as earth’s choicest flower, from the Altar, feeds you with that Bread of Sweetness and of all delight.

Stretch forth your hand towards God as an infant towards its father to be conducted by Him.
There is a light-hearted talk, full of modest life and gaiety, which the Greeks called Eutrapelia, and which we should call good conversation, by which we may find an innocent and kindly amusement out of the trifling occurrences which human imperfections afford. Only beware of letting this seemly mirth go too far, till it becomes ridicule. Ridicule excites mirth at the expense of one’s neighbour; seemly mirth and playful fun never lose sight of a trustful, kindly courtesy, which can wound no one. When the religious around him would fain have discussed serious matters with St. Louis at meal-times, he used to say, “This is not the time for grave discussion, but for general conversation and cheerful recreation,” – out of consideration for his courtiers. But, my daughter, let our recreation always be so spent, that we may win all eternity through devotion.

The Last Jedi and 6th Century Irish Monks by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Jewish roots, Movie Reviews, Prayer, Relationships, Spirituality

I have to confess, I love the Star Wars movies. They appeal to my love of science fiction as well as my love of seeing good triumph over evil. The last two movies have been quite interesting. In the 2015 The Force Awakens we are reunited with some of the original cast members. It ends with the search for the Jedi, Luke Skywalker. They search throughout the galaxy and he is finally found, all alone, in a mysterious land with ancient stone structures. The new 2017 movie, The Last Jedi takes us back to this mysterious land. It is beautiful and remote and ancient looking. The movie cameras do a great job of capturing the strange beauty that this land holds. Luke Skywalker went there to “get away” and now a new Jedi comes to be trained by him in the ways of the Force and the Jedi. The interesting thing is that this new mysterious beautiful land is not a construct for the movie. Rather, it is a place that has been a “get away” since the 6th century. It is an island off the coast of Ireland called Skellig Michael.
Skellig Michael appears to have been uninhabited until the 500’s when Irish monks came and built their monastery there. It is a beautiful island surrounded by turbulent seas and high winds. That is what kept the people from inhabiting it and what caused the monks to move there. Escaping from the world or getting away is nothing new. From about the 2nd century before Christ, the Jews had a monastic community called the Essenes. They escaped from the main communities by going in to uninhabited parts of the Jewish desert. Early Christians knew of the Essenes and also knew of St. John the Baptist who “got away” and of Jesus who went in to the desert for 40 days and nights to pray. Inspired by this, early Christians would often go out in to the desert and live in caves and pray. Around the 3rd century they started forming small monastic communities in remote areas so they were away from the normal society and its distractions. Eventually monastic rules of life developed and larger communities thrived. Most of this originally was in North Africa, the mid east and the holy lands. This spread somewhat in to western Mediterranean cities in Italy and France. By the 500’ s it spread to England and Ireland. Skellig Michael is one of the early Irish monastic communities.
The monastic community on Skellig Michael was a small community but flourished until the 13th century when climate changes and changes in Church culture forced it to be abandoned. The structures now there consist of stone bee-hive buildings as well as a larger gathering hall and a Church. After the monks left Skellig Michael the only inhabitants were the sea birds. The buildings that we see today are those built 1500 years ago. The Irish office of Public Works repaired some of the buildings in the 1800’s. At that time they built two lighthouses on the island. Except for lighthouse personnel, the island has remained uninhabited. In 1996 it was made a World Heritage Site. When the Star Wars producers decided to use the location for filming the Irish government gave them permission. Because of this, there are now tours out to the island. I didn’t know about it the last time I was in Ireland, but the next time I go, I plan on visiting it. I am a little worried about the 600 stone steps you need to take to get to the monastery.
So how does this affect us? This Hollywood movie that takes place in the future has caused us to look back at our past. Just as the future Luke Skywalker went to the island to get away and reflect, the early Christian monks went to the island to get away and reflect. This need to remove ourselves from the distractions of everyday society is no less valid today than it was for the Essenes over 2000 years ago or for the early Christians or for us today. Everyday life and its distractions make it difficult to reflect on what God is trying to tell us. We all need to get away once in a while to try to center in on God. It isn’t necessary to go to Skellig Michael. We certainly can find places much closer. We don’t have to spend our lifetime away, but we should spend a little time away as often as we can. Certainly religious retreats can help us with that, but sometimes things much easier are good too. If we plan well, we can find some down time to sit by ourselves and reflect. Sometimes it is as easy as turning the radio off when we drive or going out for a quiet walk.
Star Wars talks about the Force. They continually use the phrase, The Force Be With You. We Catholic ‘s should be used to the phrase, The Lord Be With You. It is easy to see that the Star Wars force is none other than a reflection on our own God. Just as in Star Wars when the Jedi are called to put the force to the work of good, we too are called to put our faith to the work of good. Just as in Star Wars the Jedi need to reflect on and grow in their use of the force, we too need to reflect on and grown in our use of faith and God’s presence. Luke Skywalker knew what the early Irish monks of Skellig Michael knew; that to get closer to the Force/God, we need time away. Do yourself a favor; find some time to get away.

REFORM YOURSELF – a review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Books, Church, Converts, Evangelism, Miracles, Relics, Rosary, Sacraments, Saints, Scripture, Spirituality, Teaching

REFORM YOURSELF! How to Pray, Find Peace, and Grow in Faith with the Saints of the Counter-Reformation: written by Shaun McAfee – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

If the main title, REFORM YOURSELF! doesn’t catch you; take a good look at the subtitle: How to Pray, Find Peace, and Grow in Faith with the Saints of the Counter-Reformation. The subtitle is exactly what this book is all about. For me, it lived up to what it promises. I love to read and some books are really great…..this is one of them. It is easy to read, informative, interesting and causes a change to the very Spirit within us.
I have read two other books by Shaun McAfee; Filling our Fathers House (2015) and St. Robert Bellarmine (2016). I enjoyed both of those and in reading them, saw Shaun as an upcoming author. This last book proved me correct. His writing style has grown to the point that I would say that he definitely is a great author. I am anxious to see what he comes up with next.
Shaun belongs to the same “club” as Brandon Vogt, Jennifer Fulwiler, Peter Kreeft, Scott Hahn, and so many more people do that I don’t have room to mention including myself. That “club” is that we are all converts to the Catholic faith and live much of our life trying to spread the good news of new life in Jesus, especially through Catholic spirituality. It makes me proud, as a convert, to see Shaun do such a great job of this. Shaun is a lay Dominican (Order of Preachers) and this book shows that he continues the Dominican tradition of preaching and teaching.
The book is timely as we recognize the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017; it looks at the Catholic response to the Reformation by choosing ten Saints who ministered during the Catholic Counter-reformation. The importance of this book is that it not just a historical book, but rather a book where we can look at these Saints and bring about REFORM within us. The ten Saints that Shaun chose are all great examples of what we need to do to walk with Jesus and respond to His call to share the Good News. They are all powerhouses of faith. Shaun also shows their true humanity which helps us see that we too can strive to achieve what they did.
There are ten chapters, one for each Saint. The ten Saints are; Francis de Sales, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Robert Bellarmine, Aloysius Gonzaga, Pope Pius V, Philip Neri, John of the Cross, Frances de Chantal, and Charles Borromeo. In each chapter Shaun tells us about the Saint and shares some stories from their lives. He includes some of their quotes and makes suggestions on how we can be more like them. He includes a number of scripture passages to augment his suggestions. When reading many of Shaun’s suggestions I felt like I was listening to a Spiritual Director. Shaun ends each chapter with a conclusion, information for further study and a prayer to the Saint. I definitely grew spiritually through the experience of reading, and praying, this book. I believe that you will too. I highly recommend this book. It is available from its publisher, Catholic Answers (www.catholic.com), Amazon (www.amazon.com) and other bookstores.