Category Archives: Evangelism

The Conversion of St. Paul – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Before his conversion, Saint Paul was known as Saul. He was a Pharisee who was born in to a devout Jewish family and he was well educated in his faith. He described himself as being “of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee”. Saul, to say the least, was a good Jew who loved the Jewish law and followed it. He loved being a Jew and he saw Christianity as a threat to his religion, a threat that had to be eliminated.

The scriptures tell us that Saul persecuted the Christians and would enter homes looking for them, drag them out, and put them in to jail. He is even listed as being at the death of the first Christian Martyr, the deacon Saint Steven. The early Christians feared Saul and saw him as one of their primary persecutors. Saul hunted down Christians in Jerusalem and even received permission to go to Damascus to hunt them down. On his way to Damascus, something amazing happened. The risen Jesus appeared to him.

Acts Chapter 9 tells us; “ 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.” In Damascus, Jesus sent Ananias to heal his sight and to baptize him and to teach him the good news. Saul, after his conversion, became Paul. He would soon become probably the greatest Christian evangelizer ever. Paul experienced a profound conversion. He went from being a zealous persecutor of Christians to being a vessel of God’s grace and intense sharer of the Good News of Jesus.

Conversion, in the Christian sense, is turning away from what is not Jesus and turning towards Jesus. Conversion can be a very profound thing like Saul/Paul experienced, or it can be as simple as turning away from tv and reading more scripture. Throughout our lives, God is continually calling us to conversion. We are called to turn away from what is not leading us towards Him, and turning to things that do lead us to Him. We are called to transform ourselves in to the very image of Jesus.

Conversion can also be seen in the large sense of turning form someone who is not Catholic, to someone who is. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is a program within the Church to help non-Catholics do that. Over 50 years ago, I went through the RCIA program, and my life was changed forever. I was brought up as a Methodist and during my younger years attended Sunday School and Church. As I got older, I started to question my faith and by the time I was in college, I thought that religion was not important and that God was only a force that held the universe together. I married a good Catholic girl and was actually quite unkind as to what I said to her about her faith. After almost three years of marriage, we were quite unhappy. We knew that we loved each other, but there was something not right (my lack of faith). We were close to separating when God stepped in. Through some miraculous events, we were brought in to a Life in the Spirit Seminar. In the seminar, I experienced people talking about God as if He was someone who they knew and talked to. I still questioned that type of God, but I wanted a faith like they had.

The Life in the Spirit seminar is a series of weekly talks which talk about God’s love, his gift of Salvation, the need for repentance, the gift of His Spirit and it prepares the person to ask God to touch them and fill them with His Spirit. I still remember the fifth week night when my wife and I were prayed with to experience God and His Spirit. I had a remarkable experience of God loving me. For the first time in my life, I saw God as a person who loved and cared for me. There was no bright light or voice of Jesus like St. Paul had, but it was so very real for me. It changed my life forever. I had a real desire to know Him better so I began reading scripture and spiritual books. Since this all happened in a Roman Catholic church, I decided to look in to that faith. I started reading the documents from Vatican II and decided to become a Catholic. I went through the RCIA program and became Catholic. Our marriage was made anew and later on I received the call to become a deacon. God did so many marvelous things in our life. I still find God calling me to more conversion in my daily life.

For the season of Lent, which begins soon, I will be doing more articles on the call to continuing conversion. Right now I want to celebrate my major call to become a Roman Catholic. It has fulfilled me so much. In line with this celebration I would like to mention some famous people who have become Catholic. There are thousands more.

  • Actors: John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Jim Nabors, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Price, Susan Hayward . Patricia Neal and many others
  • Academics and intellectuals: Hadley Arkes (Amherst), Mortimer Adler (Great Books), Robert Bork (Yale) and G.K. Chesterton
  • Royalty; King Charles II (Great Britain)
  • Artist : Peter Paul Rubens
  • Heroes of the Old West: Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill and Doc Holliday
  • Musician: Dave Brubeck
  • Famed coach: Knute Rockne (Notre Dame)
  • Playwrights: Tennessee Williams and Oscar Wilde
  • Novelists: Ernest Hemingway, Evelyn Waugh, Sigrid Undset and Dean Koontz

Our House of the Sacred Heart by Annabelle Moseley – a book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Once in a while you come across a book that is not only interesting and inspirational, but is also something that is so needed for the difficult times we are in. Our House of The Sacred Heart is one of those books. It is a very interesting book. The writer is a gifted poet who is able to deliver both prose and poetry in a way that stimulates the intellect and makes the reader continue to look for more. I found it very difficult to put the book down. As if her writing was not enough (which it is), Moseley presents scripture quotes, words of wisdom and beautiful art work to further stimulate our very being. She tells so many beautiful stories about her family and the way she was brought up. These show us how the gift of faith, especially through the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, makes life bearable and even joyful during both times of trial and times of cheer. When I read her previous book, Sacred Braille, I thought to myself that this is truly a woman of faith. After reading House of the Sacred Heart, I now can see where that faith came from.

I also found the book to be quite inspirational. Now inspirational can mean many things from how God inspired the writing of the Bible to how a hero can inspire others to do good. This book is inspirational in both ways. Now I am not saying that Our House of the Sacred Heart is inspired like the Bible is, but I can say that the same Holy Spirit that inspired the writings of the Bible also inspired Annabelle Moseley to put together this book using her God-given (inspired) talent of writing and using the inspired scriptures and using artwork that everyone can see is inspired. For the foundation of her book she uses the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She takes the 33 titles of the litany and weaves stories around them from her family to help show what each litany means. At the center of the family stories is what she calls Our House of The Sacred Heart, or the Red House, which is her grandmother’s house. So much of what her family is, centers around that house. The house is so much more than a dwelling, it is where the faith has been taught and lived out. I particularly like the cover design showing the Red House. The cover was done by my talented friend, T.J. Burdick. I wonder how much it resembles the actual house?

This book is something that is so needed for this time. Our culture has seen family life being disrupted over and over again. It has also seen a significant decrease in people who find their faith meaningful or even relevant to their everyday life. This book shows, in so many ways, through examples from several generations, how important strong faith and strong family life is. It shows us that faith and family, together, can bring us through the darkest moments and can even bring us joy in the midst of difficulties. The book also shows us that our faith is definitely handed down from one generation to the next. This book can not help but to awaken any dormant faith within us.

Annabelle Moseley has definitely written a book to inspire people towards a better appreciation of family life and a better appreciation or our faith. The book can be used in so many different ways. It is a great book for a person to read and appreciate by themselves. It is also a book that could lead an individual to make a Consecration to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. That consecration could use the book in the popular 33 day consecration method to do this. Moseley has included beautiful prayers at the back of the book to not only lead an individual to the consecration but to also do a Consecration of their home. I also believe that this book could be used in the parish setting by offering a group study that leads to the consecration. I certainly hope that this book becomes popular and that a large number of people read it. It is most interesting, very inspirational and certainly very needed for these difficult times. Do yourself, and your family, a favor and buy and read this book. You will be glad that you did.

SPECIAL ADDITION: The author has personally told me that: “I’m leading a Consecration to the Sacred Heart through my website! For those who sign up, they’ll get on each of the 33 days leading to their Consecration a brief daily podcast reflection that includes classic prayers to the Sacred Heart, contemplation of the Litany line of the day, and a brief soundbite to inspire deeper devotion to the Sacred Heart. The consecration begins on May 9th and ends on the Feast of the Sacred Heart: June 11th (on that day participants will get access to a Consecration Day-webinar and along with an author talk will be open to participant Q&A etc).  For anyone who signs up, I will also offer a special parish Book Group “Meet the Author” zoom for any parishioners who have read the book… all they have to do is sign up and then email me at annabelle@annabellemoseley.com ” I think that we should all take advantage of this opportunity. I know that I am and have already signed up. I encourage you to do so too by using the following link. God is good.

Here’s the link: https://www.annabellemoseley.com/consecration-to-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus/

PUSHING GOD AWAY – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

I would suppose that every generation, as it gets older, laments the changes that occur in the world that they have been used to.  I am now in my early 70’s and I am beginning to experience that sadness when I see the changes from what we had, to what we now have.  Sure, there has been tremendous growth in technology, and the ability to do things easier and more efficiently.  I love most of those changes, but what makes me sad is how our society today has pushed God away.  When I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s God was very present in society.  People talked about Him, popular songs mentioned Him, television made positive remarks about Him and prayer was a part of everyday life, especially in school.   Going to church was the norm for most families and life was respected and people cared for each other.  God and religion were seen as a normal part of everyday life.

Slowly, but determinedly, God has been pushed away in our society.  Not only has God been pushed away, He, and his believers have been made fun of and even vilified.  Our money still says IN GOD WE TRUST, but my guess is, even that won’t last much longer.  Prayer is no longer allowed in school and it is even difficult to get permission for a God based group to use school space, even for students.   People do not attend Church the way they used to.   Many churches and religious schools have had to close due to non-attendance.   There is a tremendous shortage of vocations in all of the churches.  Sex scandals have plagued the churches and things seem hopeless.  Along with that, family life has suffered greatly.  The number of divorces continues to grow and so many children have lost their way to drugs and alcohol.  Our entertainment venues (TV and movies) are filled with violence and sex and drugs, and it is very difficult to find anything that is wholesome.  Our youth are experimenting not only with drugs and alcohol and sex, but also with finding a new way to identify themselves sexually.  Getting married seems to be a thing of the past while young adults just choose to live together openly.  I could go on and on, but even I am getting depressed, I don’t want you to.

So what do we do?  Do we throw up our hands in to the air and say, “that is the way things are, we just have to accept it”?  .  .  .  .  .  .   No, we don’t!  If anything, this is a time for us to stand up tall as Christians and tell the world about the love and mercy of God.    This is a time for us to live in hope and not despair.  I know that it is not easy, but when we look at the history of the Jews and Christians  throughout history we see that often things like what we are going through have happened, yet God raised up a remnant of people and anointed them with power to be able to turn others back to God.   When everyone else seemed to be turning away from God, He has continually used a small group, or remnant, to bring the faith out again.  My friends, we are that remnant.  He will anoint us with His power to bring people back to Him.

I really believe that this gradual turning away from God and all that is associated with it is the work of Satan, the great deceiver.  He wants people to turn away from God and he works very hard to accomplish that.   He entices people to think that the things of this world are far better than the things of God’s Kingdom.   He uses our own human weaknesses for destruction.  I think that the priest sex scandal is a great example of this.  But as much as Satan wants us to fall and turn away from God, God himself wants even more for His people to come back to Him.  He has given each one of us the Holy Spirit inside of us to help us accomplish this.  St. John tell us that, “greater is he that is in YOU, than he that is in the world.”

It is up to us, along with the Holy Spirit within us, to listen to God and to go to the people and places that He tells us to lead others back to Him.  We need to tell others of the great Mercy and Love that God has for us.   We need to lead by example showing people that good and God centered living brings true happiness.  We cannot be afraid to share with others what God has done in our lives and what He continues to do.  We need to be proud of being good Catholic Christians and we must announce the Good News to all that we see, especially those who have gone away from it.  I have no doubt that our God is a strong and powerful God who can accomplish great things through us. We just need to say YES to Him and allow Him to use us.    We can change the world.  We can help to bring God back in to our society.  With God there is still HOPE.  When we end every mass, the deacon or priest gives us a mission.  He tells us to GO FORTH… “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord” and “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life”.   These are serious times; let us take our mission seriously.  Let us be a people of action.

Epic Saints: Wild, Wonderful and Weird Stories of God’s Heroes by Shaun McAfee – Review by Steven R. McEvoy

I enjoy writing book reviews of books that I have read and then posting them on my website.  However, I didn’t feel comfortable writing a book review for this book since I am one of the contributors to it.  I did read the book and really enjoyed it and would recommend it to my readers.  For the review, I turned to my friend, Steven R. McEvoy and obtained his permission to post the review that he had written and originally appeared on his website:  www.bookreviewsandmore.ca  .  Steven does a great job of reviewing books and you should check out his website.  Here is his review of Epic Saints.

Epic Saints 
Wild, Wonderful, and Weird Stories of God’s Heroes

by
Shaun McAfee 


TAN Books
ISBN 9781505115123
ASIN B083Y67LD7

I love books like this one. I love reading about saints and am currently reading books from 4 different series about saints. But what a book like this does is introduce me to a few new saints, it gives me some more information and examples from saints that I am more familiar with. This was an EPIC READ that I could hardly put down. It is mostly eBook about specific saints and But there is also a lot of great information about the process of saint making, and the canon and calendar of saints. But the volume is not just the work of Shaun McAfee there are several contributors. Those contributors are:

Alex R. Hey
Sarah Spittler
Jessica Mcafee
Theresa Zoe Williams
Brooke Gregory
Deacon Marty Mcindoe
Shaun Mcafee
Laura Hensley
Mike Panlilio
Maggie Van Sciver

The essays interspersed through the biographies are:

Have Saints Always Been Canonized The Same Way?
What Is The General Roman Calendar?
Can These Stories Be Allegorical?
Are We Really Expected To Believe These Stories?
Why Are Some Saints Not On The Calendar?
What Is The Process For Canonization?
What Should We Do With Saint Narratives That Contain Errors Or Inconsistencies?
Why Are Some Canonized Quickly While Others Have Been In The Process For Centuries?
Can I Become A Saint?

And on top of that are profiles of 74 saints. Shaun and the other contributors do an amazing job or highlighting so many saints in such a short space. There are almost a dozen saints I need to go find further readings on. And my son is already looking forward to my rereading this book with him. 

In this volume there are a few tales about dragons. Saints pulling practical jokes and pranks. A bilocating death and many, many more stories of saints, of Martyrs and holy men and women. 

Though I will be honest with you, the pieces in this volume are so well written you might have a hard time picking a favorite. And you will definitely want to read more on at least some of the saints. An excellent read that I highly recommend. 

Love Is All About Giving – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Love Is All About Giving – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

During this time around Valentine’s Day most of us are concentrating on finding just the right gift for the one that we love.  I certainly realize that giving to the one we love is something that should be done constantly in our relationship with them.  But Valentine’s Day sets aside a special day for us to do that.   If we truly love someone, we want to give to them at Valentine’s Day and throughout the year.  It seems naturally built in to us as humans to want to give.  I think that is because we are made in the image of God, who is the great giver.

We all know John 3:16 which says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  This is the gift above all gifts.  It is also the gift that keeps on giving, as the commercials say.  I would like to take a look at this precious gift.  To begin with, our very life is a gift given to us by God.  It is a precious gift that should be held sacred.  Secondly, the scriptures tell us that God formed us in His own image.  This too is a precious gift.  We, like God, are made to live throughout all eternity.  We, like God, are also given the gift of free will.  This is also a very precious gift, but one that has gotten us in to trouble.  Unlike God we sometimes choose to be selfish and not loving and not giving.  In order to remedy this, God decided that He would come to us and bring us the gift of salvation.   The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  He did this for a specific purpose, for our salvation and for our formation.

I have always been interested in Social Anthropology, where we study the behavior of cultures, both ancient and sometimes contemporary.  I have found it extremely interesting that almost every culture recognizes that there is a God (or several gods) and finds it necessary to offer sacrifices to this God.  This too seems to be built in to our human DNA.  We have a need to worship God and to offer sacrifice to God.  Jesus came to the Jewish people who were accustomed to sacrifices and offerings to their God.  Jesus became for us the fullest sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus died a horrific death so that our sins could be expiated and we could obtain eternal life.  His was the perfect sacrificial offering.  However, that is not the only reason he came.  If it was, he could have been slaughtered by Herod as an infant, or one of the many times in the Gospels where the people tried to kill him.  Each time He escaped because His time had not yet come.  He had more to do.

I believe that one of the primary things that He wanted to do was to start His Church.  He wanted to find and train the right men to do the job.  When He chose the twelve apostles He was making new the Jewish Kingdom of the twelve tribes and starting the new Kingdom, the Church.  He chose Peter as the “Rock” upon which He would build this Church.  All twelve disciples were important, even the one who betrayed Him, but Peter was to be the Head of them all and the Head of the Church.  The scriptures are very clear about that.  Jesus spent three years in ministry with them to train them and show them what would be called the seven sacraments.  When the time of their training was completed, Jesus turned towards the means of His death.  He wanted His death to be a renewal of the Jewish Passover so He went to Jerusalem at the time of Passover.  He walked right in to the hands of those who wanted to kill him.  He would become the new Passover.

The death of Jesus on the cross is so much a part of the Jewish Passover Feast that we cannot separate the two.  Dr. Scott Hahn’s book, The Fourth Cup is one of the best references for us to study this.  In this book he shows us how our redemption followed a plan established by God from the very beginning of time.  When Jesus celebrated the final Passover (which we call the last supper) with His disciples it really wasn’t completed until His death on the cross.  During that Last Supper Jesus gave us an extraordinary gift, the gift of His own Body and Blood and Jesus instructed the disciples to continue to give this gift.  The Church that Jesus formed was to continue to celebrate His sacrifice and continue to give out His body and His blood to His people.  It has been doing that for 2,000 years.

After Jesus died and ascended back to heaven, He gave another gift to us all.  He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.   This gift of the Holy Spirit was given to strengthen us and to continue to help us in all that God calls us to do.  The gift of the Spirit has been lavished upon us.  Though the Sacrament of Baptism, the gift of the Spirit is placed within us.  In the Sacrament of Confirmation the fullness of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are made manifest.  Through the gift of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist we are given the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus.  We are empowered by Him and called to be formed in His image.  In the gift of the Sacrament of Marriage and the Sacrament of Holy Orders we are again empowered in to the Vocation that God calls us to.  When we are sick, the gift of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick brings us healing.  And when we turn away from God and turn to sin, the Sacrament of Reconciliation forgives us and brings us back to Him

All of the gifts that God gives us continue through the precious gift of the Church.  The Church gave us the gift of the Bible and helps us to understand it.  The Church gives us the gift of Tradition which was (and still is) so venerated in Jewish life.  Tradition helps fill in what the Bible hasn’t given us.  It helps us to understand where we have come from and helps us to see that we are still the same Church founded by the Apostles with Peter as the head.  The Church gives us the gift of its hierarchy, which continues (literally) what Jesus has taught us.  The present day Pope is the 266th man who has sat on the chair of St. Peter.  All of our bishops are spiritual descendents of the twelve disciples.  We can trace the lineage of ordination right back to the early Church.  As.000

  great as the Church is, we are all still human with human weaknesses.  We have had some “bad” Popes and Bishops, yet the Church continues on.  No other institution on earth has remained for 2000 years.  Jesus was right when He said that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

In summary, God is the great giver of gifts that keep on giving.  Our salvation is a precious gift that we celebrate every time we celebrate mass.  Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity is always present to us in the Eucharist.  The Church is always present to us as Jesus’ own body here on earth.  The Church is always giving us the gifts of the Sacraments and of God’s grace.  The Church is always proclaiming the scriptures and teaching us how to live them out.  There is no doubt that God has given us every good gift, and they keep on giving.

I’M CATHOLIC. NOW WHAT? By Shaun McAfee – a book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

I’M CATHOLIC.  NOW WHAT?   By Shaun McAfee – a book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Shaun McAfee, founder of EpicPew.com, blogger at National Catholic Register, contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine and many other Catholic resources has written a new book published by Our Sunday Visitor.  Personally I think that this is the best book he has written; and I really enjoyed his other books.  When I first saw the pre-publication announcement for this book, I immediately put in an order for it.  The title and description led me to believe that this book would be a great resource for my parish RCIA program.  I have been involved in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program for many years and know that those who have gone through it need a really good resource book to continue their journey after the time in the program has finished.  After reading this book I not only realized that the book is perfect for that, but that the book is perfect for all Catholics on their journey of living out the beauty of the Catholic faith.

The author of this book is a convert and has gone through the RCIA process to become a Catholic.  How I wish that all of the people who go through RCIA become as good a Catholic as Shaun and his wife have become.  Shaun’s overall knowledge of the Catholic faith and Catholic Theology (he has a graduate degree from Holy Apostles College) is amazing.  The way he lives out that faith with his wife and family is even more amazing.  Faith is made to be put in to action and Shaun certainly does that.  I have followed Shaun and his family on Facebook for almost six years and although I have never met him in person, I see the faith filled life that he leads.  That faith filled life pours over in to this book.  Shaun tells us all the things we need to know to be a good Catholic and he gives us personal examples of how to be a good Catholic.

This 335 page book consists of 100 chapters that give us a lot of information on the Catholic Church and why we do the things that we do.  I find it very refreshing that he takes the times to not only tell us the things that we should be doing to be a good Catholic, but also tells us why we do those things.  He often refers to the Holy Scriptures as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  He also uses stories from the early church Fathers and the Saints to explain.   Besides that, he gives us plenty of personal examples from his own life.  He covers just about everything that you can think of that speaks of Catholicism.  He not only covers different topics but also gives us things to do.  For example, not only do we learn about Baptism, but he also gives us ideas on how to celebrate our Baptism day.  He talks to us about the priesthood and then encourages us to invite a priest over for dinner.

Shaun’s section on BEING A MODERN CATHOLIC has so much richness to it when discussing evil, relativism (a must read), marriage, sexuality, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, gossiping, giving, and consumerism.  His discussion of the current sex abuse scandal and cover up is enlightening.  He deals with all of the current issues in the Church today.  His way of facing these issues clearly shows the HOPE that we as Catholics are called to have.  Shaun ends his book with a section on EVANGELIZATION: IT’S FOR EVERYONE.  The chapters in this section remind us of our calling as Catholics to share the Good News that we have received.  He explains the “New Evangelization” and encourages us to reach out to those around us, especially to our children.

I highly recommend that ALL Catholics read this book.  The book covers serious subjects but is very easy to read.  It is informative as well as interesting.  It is a wealth of information on the Catholic faith.  This book is not only for those who have just recently come in to the Church, although it is great for them, but it is for all of us on our journey towards Jesus in His Church.  We can all benefit from the explanations and the suggestions that Shaun makes in this book.  As I write this, we are approaching the LENTEN season.  I highly suggest that every Catholic get this book and read it and study it and live it out for Lent.  It might be the best thing that you ever did for Lent.

Women and the Power of God Part III – Powerful Women Saints – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

In Part 1 of this three part series, we dealt with some of the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and how God used them in building up His Kingdom.   In Part 2 we looked at some of the women of the New Testament.  This third part will look at some of our women Saints and how God used their strength and courage to continue to build up His Kingdom.  As was the case in both Parts 1 and 2, this is by no means a complete list, but includes some that I personally feel should be mentioned.

Part 3 – Powerful Women Saints:

1.  St. Helena:  Saint Helena was born in to a poor and simple Roman family in Asia Minor in the mid 200’s.  Somehow she married in to a higher class Roman family when she married Constantius Chlorus.   In 274 she gave birth to Constantine and in 292 her husband, Constantius became co-regent of the West.  Shortly after that, her husband divorced her to marry the Emperor’s step daughter.   When her husband died in 308, her son Constantine became Emperor and moved her in to a place of prominence in the Roman government.  She became an Empress.

Constantine’s conversion to Christianity greatly influenced his mother and she became a good Christian.  Constantine asked his mother to find Christian relics and so in 328 she traveled to the Holy Lands.  Through contact with the local bishops there she was able to locate many Christian relics and Holy Places.  When she located the Holy places, she had large Churches built over them.  She often replaced earlier Christian structures.  In the year 130 the current Roman Emperor built a Temple to Venus over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion in order to keep Christians from worshiping there.  Helena tore down that temple and did excavations to find the original location.  In doing so she uncovered the three crosses that the early Christians venerated.  Not knowing which cross was the one Jesus died on, she had a woman who was near death brought to all three.  When she touched the first cross, nothing happened.  The same occurred on the second cross.  When she touched the third cross the woman was miraculously and immediately healed.  She found the true cross of Jesus.

Helena had a large Church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built over that place.  She had large columns brought in from Rome that can still be seen to this day.  Helena also had churches built over the other Holy places including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.  Many of the Holy Places we visit today had churches built there by St. Helena.  She brought back to Rome many relics, including the True Cross.  Not only did she do this, but she is noted for helping the poor and the destitute.   She was a devout servant of God and true Christian who helped spread the Good News throughout the world.  She was a woman born in to a poor family who rose to be Empress of the Roman Empire.  She also, through a lot of hard work, re-discovered the Holy places of the Holy Lands.  Because she built large Churches over these, we can still visit these Holy places today.

2.  St. Monica:   Saint Monica is known most for her persevering in prayer.  For thirty years she prayed for her wayward son, Augustine to leave his wicked lifestyle and to become a Christian.  Not only did he become a Christian, he became one of the greatest Saints ever known.   Monica was born in 331 in Tagaste (modern day Algeria).  When she was young she was married off to a Roman pagan, Patricius.  Her husband had a violent temper.   To make things even worse, his mother lived with them and she too had a violent temper.  This caused a great deal of stress to Monica.  Monica was a good Christian but her husband would not allow their three children to be baptized.   For years she prayed for her husband and her mother in law to become Christian.  Finally about one year before her husband’s death, both became Christian.  Two of Monica’s children, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but Augustine preferred a life of drinking and laziness.   Monica sent Augustine off to school in Carthage.  There he became a Manichaean, a non-Christian religion that saw things as light or darkness.  When Augustine shared this with Monica she became so upset at him that she kicked him out of the house.  Sometime later, Monica had a vision that led her to reconcile with Augustine.   She continued to pray for his conversion but Augustine seemed to enjoy the drinking and loose life more.  Monica did not give up praying for him or trying to convince him.  She followed him to Rome and then Milan where she found the Bishop Ambrose.  St. Ambrose helped her in convincing Augustine of the trueness of Christianity.  Finally, after many years of prayers, Augustine became a Christian.  He was baptized in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Milan.  After his baptism he and Monica planned to travel together to Africa to draw more people to Christ.  She died before that could be realized.  St. Augustine shares that when Monica was close to death she told him, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.”  Her perseverance had won for the Church one of the greatest and brightest Saints it has ever known.

3.  St. Adelaide of Burgundy:  St. Adelaide was born a princess in 931 in Burgundy in Italy.  Even though she was a princess, she had a difficult life.  Her father died when she was only six.  When she was only 15 or 16 she was married to Lothair, the King of Italy.  Her life as a queen was difficult too.  She became a widow at the age of 18 and her Kingdom was taken over by Berengar of Ivrea and she was thrown in to prison.  Berengar wanted to have her marry his son, but Adelaide wanted nothing to do with that.  She suffered greatly in prison but knew that she had to escape.  Somehow she found the strength to escape and when heading north to Germany she found the Emperor Otho I who the Pope had sent to rescue her.  He soon became her second husband and together they were able to recapture the Kingdom of Italy that she had lost.   Pope John XII crowned them both rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in 952.  In 973 she became widowed again and her son Otto II became regent.  At this point in her life Adelaide spent most of her time in building many monasteries and churches and helping the poor.  This kind heartened and brave woman is the patron of people with second marriages and widows.

4.  St. Clare of Assisi and  5.  St. Agnes of Assisi:  St. Clare was born in 1194 to a very wealthy Italian Count.  She was known as a very beautiful girl.  As a young girl Clare dedicated herself to prayer.  When she was 18 years old she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and went up to him asking that he help her to grow closer to God and to become more Christ like.  On Palm Sunday in 1212 she left her family and went to the chapel of Porziuncula to meet St. Francis.  At that chapel her hair was cut off and she was given a plain robe and veil and sent to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo for formation as a nun.  Her father was furious and tried to get her to return home but she refused.  She told him that she would have no other husband than Jesus Christ.  She desired solitude to be with Jesus.  In order to give her even more solitude, Francis moved her to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo monastery. 

St. Clare had a sister named Catarina.  Catarina also wanted a life with Christ and solitude that she could not find at home.  She joined St. Clare at this new monastery.  The two sisters remained there until a home could be built for them next to the church at San Damiano near Assisi.  This made their father even angrier and he sent a contingent to bring her back home by force.  Because of the prayers of St. Clare, miracles occurred that made it impossible to do that.  When a sword was drawn to strike Catarina, miraculously the man’s arm went limp and he couldn’t wield the sword.  Then they tried to pick up Catarina (now called Agnes because Francis named her that due to her being gentle as a lamb) she miraculously became too heavy for the men to pick up.  They then gave up and left.  Francis immediately welcomed her in and she too was put in to formation.

When the home at San Damiano was completed, both St. Clare and St. Agnes went there.  There they lived a simple life eating no meat, wearing no shoes and lived in a poor house.  They maintained silence most of the time.  Their lives consisted of prayer and manual labor.  Soon other women from Assisi joined them there and they lived according to rules of St. Francis forming the Second Order and were known as Poor Clares but officially were the “Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano.”  St. Francis initially  was their director.  In 1216 he made St. Clare the abbess.   Later, in 1219 St. Francis made St. Agnes an abbess and sent her to Monticello near Florence.

We have some of the letters that the two sisters sent to each other.  They reflect their love for each other, for Jesus, for the Poor Clares and St. Francis.  It should be noted that Clare and Agnes had to stand up to the current Church leaders who wanted to impose upon them the rule of St. Benedict.   They stood their ground and followed St. Francis’ rule.  They also had to stand up against Muslim invaders.  In 1240 Muslims were invading the whole area around Assisi.  St. Clare, although quite sick, prayed hard to repel them and took the Eucharist and with the sisters behind her commanded them to go away.  Miraculously they obeyed.  St. Clare knew that the power of prayer and the Eucharist could stand up to these invaders.

Clare had drawn up a rule for her sisters and in 1253 Pope Innocent IV declared Clare’s rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare’s Order of Poor Ladies.  Two days later Clare died, with Agnes at her side.  She was declared a Saint two years later.  St. Agnes died three months after St. Clare.   These two women went from riches to rags, but helped to change the face of the Church.

6.  St. Joan of Arc:  Joan of Arc was born in 1412 to a poor farming family.  From her earliest childhood she loved God and was often seen in prayer.  She also loved the poor.  Around the age of 13 she started hearing voices accompanied by flashes of light.  Gradually she recognized figures who she described as Michael the Archangel, St. Margaret, St. Catherine and other Saints and angels.  These voices seemed to be leading her to go to the aid of the King,   At first she doubted these voices, but in May 1428, when she was 16 years old, she knew that they were real and that she had to do what they said.   They directed her to King Charles’ military commander Robert Baudricourt.  He was quite rude to her and said to the cousin who accompanied her: “Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping.”  The war continued on and King Charles and his supporters thought that defeat was imminent.  The voices continued to persuade Joan to go but she resisted saying, “I am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight.” The voices only reiterated: “It is God who commands it.”  At that, she decided that she must go.  She went back to Baudricourt who remained skeptical.  However, her perseverance and her descriptions of battles that were later confirmed caused him to send her to the King.  Joan went to see the king dressed in male clothes.  This was probably to protect her from the soldiers along the way.

When Joan came in to the King’s presence, something interesting happened.  The King was wearing a disguise to test her and was among many other men.  Immediately, without ever having met the King before, she went to him and saluted him.   The King’s inner court thought Joan was crazy and advised the King to have nothing to do with her.  However, the voices revealed to Joan a secret that only the King knew about (probably concerning his birth) and when she told him he started to believe in her mission.  However, to be sure, he had her undergo a trial headed by bishops, doctors and theologians.  Joan’s  faith, simplicity and honesty convinced the trial committee that she was indeed of sound mind and faith and recommended that she be allowed to continue with further examination of her actions.  She returned to King Charles who gave her a sword as she prepared a campaign for fighting.  However the voices told her to have the King get a sword that was buried behind the altar in a nearby Church.  That sword was found exactly where the voices said.  She also had the King make up a shield with the name of Jesus and Mary on it as well as a picture of the Father and angels.  Interestingly the King received a report, before the battle saying “that she would save Orléans and would compel the English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with other things which the King keeps secret.”

Before leading the battle, Joan told the King of England to give up.  Of course, he didn’t and battle ensued.  Joan led the battle and even though many of her commanders scoffed at her and didn’t always do what she said, the battle was won.  Joan was wounded by an arrow in the battles just as the letter said that was written 8 days prior to the campaign.  King Charles was also crowned at Reims and the English left, as the letter said.  In a battle about a year later, Joan was captured by a follower of John of Luxemburg.  He then sold her to the English for a large amount of money.  They couldn’t kill her for winning against them, so they decided to try her as a witch.  The Bishop of Beauvais was an unscrupulous and ambitious man who was a tool of the English.  The examination trial seemed quite unfair but Joan continued to show her love of God.  She was finally found to be a witch and heretic and was burned.  Her ashes were thrown in to the Seine River.  Twenty four years later a revision of the trial was made.  The appellate court and the Pope found that injustice was made by the first examination and that it was declared illegal.    Her beatification cause was begun in 1869 and she was declared a Saint in 1920.  This very young holy woman listened to God no matter what it cost her.  She fought harder that most men could and never gave up, no matter how badly she was treated.

7.  St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton:  Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native born American to become a Saint.  She was born just two years before the American Revolution to a wealthy New York City family.  The family was Episcopalian.  Elizabeth was a bright girl and prolific reader.  She especially found comfort in the reading the bible.  In 1794 she married a wealthy businessman, William Seton.   The first couple of years of their marriage were wonderful but when William’s  father died the couple had to take in William’s seven younger half brothers and sisters.  They also had to take over running the father’s import business.  William’s health started to fail as did his business.  He had to declare bankruptcy.  His health was deteriorating so bad that they felt that a move to Italy would help.  William had business friends there that they stayed with.

Unfortunately William died of tuberculosis while in Italy.  Elizabeth was very moved by the Catholic faith of the family that she lived with in Italy.  She found that their love of the Eucharist helped her to better understand the true presence of Jesus.  Also, since Elizabeth’s mother had died when she was young, their devotion to Mary helped satisfy her need for a mother.  Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and headed back to the United States.  Since she was a widow with many children to feed, she opened a school to help support them.  The first school was all Protestants and when the parents had heard that Elizabeth had converted to Catholicism, they withdrew their children from school.   Fortunately, Elizabeth met a priest who encouraged her to open up a school for Catholic children in Emmetsburg, Maryland.  This is seen as the beginning of Catholic education in the United States.  Shortly after opening the school, Elizabeth founded an order of Catholic women to help in educating poor children.  This was the first congregation of religious sisters to be formed in the United States.  They are known as the Sisters of Charity and have grown tremendously throughout the United States, Canada and the Philippines.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a hard working woman who suffered from the deaths of many loved ones.  Her faith continued to allow her to make a tremendous change to the Catholic faith in the United States.  Pope Paul VI canonized Mother Seton on September 14, 1975, in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.  In his words, “Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American. All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful heritage.”  NOTE:  if you would like to hear about how Elizabeth Ann Seton personally changed my family go to:  http://deaconmarty.com/saint-elizabeth-ann-seton-and-how-she-personally-brought-a-miracle-to-my-family-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/

8.  St. Marianne Cope:  St. Marianne was born in Germany in 1838 but spent most of her life in Hawaii ministering to lepers.  She is often known as Saint Marianne of Moloka’i.    One year after she was born her family moved to the United States.  She attended a Catholic parish school until the eighth grade when her father became an invalid and she had to leave school to go to work and help support her family.  When her father died, and her siblings became mature she quit her factory job and became a novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis based in Syracuse, New York.  She became a teacher and later principal of a school that helped immigrant children.  She also helped in setting up the first two Catholic hospitals in central New York.  In 1883 she became the Superior General of her Congregation.   Shortly after, she received a letter from King Kalakaua of Hawaii asking for aid in treating leper patients who were isolated on the island of Moloka’i.  The King had already been declined by more than 50 other religious institutes.  St. Marianne went with six sisters arriving on November 8,1883.  She originally managed a hospital on the island of O’ahu, where victims of leprosy were sent for triage.  The next year, Mother Marianne helped establish the Malulani hospital on the island of Maui.  The government had appointed an administrator for the hospital on O’ahu when Mother Marianne left.  However, she heard news of his abuse and returned to O’ahu and demanded that the government fire him.  They did and put her in charge.  Mother Marianne continued to help the leper patients, including clergy who had contracted the disease.  She continued working, even when she was in a wheel chair.  Miraculously, the disease never came to her.

9.  St, Katherine Drexel:  St. Katherine is the second native born American to become a Saint.  She was born in 1858 to a wealthy banker.  Her mother died shortly after her birth but her father remarried and Katherine grew up in a home that was both financially and spiritually endowed.  She received a private education and travelled throughout the United States and Europe.  The family was very devout in their faith and an excellent example to Katherine.    Her father prayed 30 minutes each evening and on weekends they opened their home to help care for the poor.  After seeing her step-mother suffer with cancer for three years, Katherine’s life took a significant turn.  She developed a passionate love for God and for neighbor.  She especially felt called to help black and native Americans.

Katherine’s father passed away about a year after his wife’s death.  He had a substantial estate of over 15 million dollars  and he gave a considerable amount to charities and left the rest to his three daughters.  The daughters worked together to try to help Indian missions.  In 1887 they had an audience with Pope Leo XIII and asked that missionaries be sent to the Indians.  Pope Leo XIII looked directly at Katherine and asked her to be a missionary.  When she arrived home she met with her spiritual advisor and decided to give her life, and her money, to God as a nun and missionary.  She started a religious order called  “Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored” and spent the rest of her life serving blacks and native Americans.  She worked hard to found schools throughout the west to educate Native Americans.  She even founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans.  She spent her fortune on the blacks and Native Americans.  She also gave fully of herself in helping them until she finally had a serious heart attack at the age of 77.  She lived until the age of 96 praying for her missions and writing.  By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.  This one woman changed the face of America for the better.

10.   Servant of God Dorothy Day:  Although she isn’t a Saint yet, she is on her way.  Dorothy Day is a great example of a woman who was a sinner, but turned toward being a Saint.  Her love of the poor, and her love of God make her an outstanding woman of God’s power.  Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan calls her “a Saint for our times”.   Dorothy Day started out being someone quite outside the Catholic faith.  She described herself as having an attraction to the radical life among  anarchists, socialists and communists.  She was arrested on many occasions and spent time in jail.  She drank heavily and had an abortion and had an illegitimate child.  This isn’t what usually makes up a Saints life.  However, all of these ups and downs helped her to think seriously about where she was headed.  The heartache that her abortion caused her helped her to become staunchly pro-life.   She was very moved by Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven” and its description of the relentless pursuit of God towards man.  One day she found herself in the back of Saint Joseph’s Church on Sixth Avenue in New York City and found solace in watching the mass.

Dorothy had a daughter with a man that she lived with.  She said that the birth of her daughter connected her to the beauty of the Divine in a deeply personal way.  She wrote, “The final object of this love and gratitude is God”  She was moved to worship with others and even though the man she loved rejected religion she had her daughter baptized Catholic.  About six months later she too was baptized.   This ended her common law marriage.  About five years later, Peter Maurin, a French immigrant taught her about Catholic radicalism.  Together they founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 and began publishing the Catholic Worker to promote their radical Catholic vision to oppose Communism.  They also opened a “House of Hospitality” to welcome everyone, especially the poor.  They focused on helping the poor.  Dorothy Day said, “The mystery of the poor is this:  That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him.  It is the only way of knowing and believing in our love”.   Dorothy Day was noted for seeing the beauty of God in everything and every person.   She truly was a Saint for our times.

11.  St. Faustina Kowalska:  St. Faustina was born in 1905 to a very poor but quite religious family.  She was the third of ten children.  When she was seven years old she attended an Eucharistic Adoration and immediately felt the call to become a nun.  When she finished her schooling at the age of 16 she wanted to enter a convent, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to.  Instead she cleaned houses to help support the family.  In 1924 she saw her first vision of Jesus who told her to go to Warsaw and join a convent.  She immediately packed her bags and left.  When in Warsaw she tried to enter several convents but was rejected because of her looks and her poverty.  Finally the Mother Superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy told her she could enter if she could pay for her own habit.  St. Faustina worked cleaning houses and finally had enough to pay for the habit.  She entered the convent in 1926 at 20 years old.  She worked primarily as a cook and traveled to several of the convents.  In 1931 she was visited by Jesus who told her that He was the “King of Divine Mercy”.  He asked her to become an apostle and secretary of God’s Mercy.  She said that she would.  Jesus also instructed her to have painted an image of her vision of him.  Since she didn’t paint she had to have a painter paint it based upon her description.  She was never fully happy with the way the painting came out.

Sister Faustina told her fellow sisters about her visions but they weren’t initially receptive to her.  She took some harassment because of them.   Sister Faustina told the priest spiritual advisor of her visions and calling.  He had her evaluated by a psychiatrist who found her in perfect mental health.  Eventually this priest saw the truth of her visions and the Divine Mercy apostolate and he was the first to preach about it at mass.  Fortunately Sister Faustina kept a diary that is still in existence today and makes for a great read.  Even though her health kept failing, she continued to do all that she could to spread the devotion to the Divine Mercy.  Unfortunately, due to several mistakes in translations and printings, some of her writings were seemed objectionable to the Church and the Divine Mercy apostolate was quieted for many years.  In 1965, Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) took an interest in the Divine Mercy and opened up an investigation into Sister Faustina and her writings and apostolate.   The Church formally approved the apostolate and began procedures for her canonization.  The apostolate of Divine Mercy spread and Sr. Faustina was made a Saint in 2000 and a Feast day for the Divine Mercy became part of the Church calendar.  This poor and sick little woman was chosen by God to become an Apostle of the Divine Mercy.

12.  Sr. Gianna Beretta Molla:  St. Gianna was born in Italy in 1922.  She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family.  As a young child Gianna loved her faith and loved learning about it.  She saw the need for prayer and she enjoyed life for all that it was.  In 1942 Gianna began studying to be a medical doctor.  She was a great student and a great practitioner of her faith. In college she joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and worked with the elderly and the needy.  In 1949 she received her medical and surgical degree and within two years specialized in pediatrics at Milan Hospital.  She felt a very strong calling to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.  She became involved with Catholic Action and considered her practice of medicine a mission.  She wanted to join her brother, who was a priest, in Brazil by tending to the health of the poor women there.  Unfortunately, her health prevented her from doing so.   IN 1954, Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office.  They were married the following year.  Gianna considered marriage a precious gift and vocation.   She considered her marriage a gift from God and planned dedicated herself to “forming a truly Christian family.”  Gianna wrote to Pietro, “Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women.” 

She gave birth to her first child, Pierluigi in 1956.  Her second child, Maria was born in 1957.  She had the third baby, Laura in 1959.  She loved being a mother and wife and worked hard to keep her family going along with her practice.  In 1961 Gianna became pregnant again with her fourth child.  Unfortunately near the end of her second month she had intense pain in her abdomen and they discovered that she had a tumor as well as the baby in her uterus.  The doctors recommended that she choose from three possibilities;   One, an abortion that would save her life and allow subsequent pregnancies, but take the life of the baby.  The second was a hysterectomy which would save her life but take the life of her baby and not allow any further pregnancies.  The third option was to take out the tumor which would save the life of her baby but might result in further complications for her.  She chose the third option which saved the baby’s life but put hers in danger.   She told the surgeons that her baby’s life must be saved at all costs, even if it cost her own life.    She said that her comfort was in having the baby and in her prayers and in putting her faith in to action.  They did what she asked.  She had the operation which removed the tumor but allowed the baby to continue to grow.  Gianna continued her pregnancy but with many complications.  Her faith gave her the strength to continue on as a mother and as a doctor.  Gianna told the doctors that they must save the life of her baby even if it meant she died.  She kept insisting, “save the baby”.  On April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela Molla was successfully delivered by Caesarean section.  One week later Gianna, the mother, died from septic peritonitis.

Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, and officially canonized as a saint on May 16, 2004. Her husband and their children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended her canonization ceremony, making this the first time a husband witnessed his wife’s canonization.  Pope John Paul II said that Gianna was “a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love.”  The first pro-life Catholic health center in New York, the Gianna Center, was named after her.  In today’s world where abortion is rampant and often mothers have abortions because the timing is inconvenient, the story of Gianna and her love for life and for her children stands out as a beacon of light.

CONCLUSION:  God gave mankind a precious gift when he created us male and female, in His image.  Each sex brings its own flavor towards helping God in the building up of the Kingdom.  Too often the male has been seen as the strong sex, but looking back at how God has used women in the Scriptures and as Saints, we can’t help but to see how strong women are.  We are all called by God to help build up his Kingdom.  Let us answer that call with a resounding, “be it done to me according to thy will”.  Men and women work together in building God’s Kingdom.  After all, we are His children and brother and sister to each other.  There is so much work to do.  We must do it together and celebrate what God can accomplish through our strengths and our weaknesses.  With God all things are possible.

Part II – Powerful Women of the Christian Scriptures – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

This is the second part of my article on Women and the Power of God.  In the first part I looked at some of the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).  Today we will look at some of the women of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament).  Next week we will look at some women Saints.  God consistently uses women to show His power and to help bring about the Kingdom.

PART II – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES (NEW TESTAMENT)

MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS:  We start our New Testament list of women with the woman who made it all possible.  Because of her resounding YES, the second person of the Holy Trinity, The Word, became Jesus.  We must remember that Mary was just a young teenage girl when the angel appeared to her.  Try to imagine what it must have been like to be a young teenager, engaged to be married and have an angel come to her with the revelation that God was calling her to become the mother of His son.  She quickly pointed out that she did not know man and wondered how this could happen.  The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come over her and she would be with child.  That would be scary for any woman, but Mary, because of her love of God and her trust in Him, said yes.  Think what it must have been like to travel to a foreign town and have to give birth in a cave with animals.  Imagine having the three Magi come to her bearing gifts and coming to see the King of Kings, her baby.  Her amazement continued with the Shepherds coming and describing their own visit by an angel announcing Glory to God in the Highest.  When she presented the baby Jesus in the Temple, Simeon said to her, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”   How those words must have cut in to her spirit.  Think about how Joseph told her that Herod was going to kill their baby and that they needed to flee to Egypt where she would spend a significant time away from her family and friends in a foreign nation.   Mary had to be a very strong woman to handle all of this and to do it so graciously.  Think of the strength that she had to have during Jesus’ ministry and especially at the time of his Passion.  Mary continually showed her strength and trust in God.  There is so much that could be said about her that I really don’t have the space here.  Mary is the Theotokos, the Mother of God.

ELIZABETH:  When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she went to be with her elder cousin, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was probably between 60 and 70 years old and was miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist.  Elizabeth was the wife of the priest, Zechariah and was a strong woman of faith.  Scripture tells us “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit”. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”  This statement of Elizabeth is filled with so much faith and such recognition of who Jesus was.  Elizabeth’s encounter with the pregnant Mary caused her to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The baby in her womb, John the Baptist, leapt for joy.  Those same words were used in the Old Testament when David leapt and danced before the Ark of the Covenant.  Mary, pregnant with Jesus, is the new Ark of the Covenant and Elizabeth recognizes this immediately.  Elizabeth was a strong woman of faith.  She was also strong enough to protect her child, John the Baptist, from being killed by Herod’s soldiers when he ordered the slaughter of the innocent.

MARTHA AND MARY:  These two women and their brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus.  Their names often come up in the scriptures.  Martha is seen as the working servant and Mary as the quiet listener.  They certainly each had their own personalities, but they seemed to put all that they had into following Jesus and working for the building of His Kingdom.    The important thing about their relationship to Jesus is that it seems to be on par with the relationship men would have with their rabbi.  Normally women would not be so close to the rabbi and wouldn’t be seen as important enough to “sit at their feet” in learning and also wouldn’t be seen as workers with him.   Jesus, in his relationship with Martha and Mary showed us that gender was not an issue to Him, even if it was to His culture. 

MARY MAGDALENE:  Mary Magdalene is often misunderstood in the scriptures, art and tradition.  Her name is so common that she is often confused with other Mary’s.   Unfortunately, in the Western world, she is also often seen as the repentant prostitute mentioned in the scriptures.  Truth of the matter is that in 1969 the Roman Church officially said the she was not that sinful prostitute.  Enough bible study and study of early Church writings showed that she wasn’t.  In 2016 Pope Francis gave her a feast day, June 22nd, ranking her with the male Apostles.  If you study the early writings it appears that she supported Jesus both financially and spiritually.  Eastern tradition has it that she went with Mary, the mother of Jesus to Ephesus to live and that she was considered an early leader in the Church.  Mary Magdalene was a strong disciple of Jesus right until the very end.  She was present at His crucifixion and was a witness of His empty tomb.  Whenever scripture mentions her with other women, her name is always first.  The Resurrected Jesus appeared to her at least twice.  Our modern study of scripture and early writings show that she was a powerful disciple and leader of the early Church.  Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican’s culture minister, said Mary Magdalene’s reputation was sullied by her depiction in art over the centuries.  He said, “Art history made her become a prostitute, which is something that is not present in the Gospels, It is important to find the real face of Mary Magdalene, who is a woman who represents the importance of the female aspect on the side of Christ.”   Mary was a strong leader and tremendous help to Jesus during His ministry.  She continued to be a strong help to His Church.

THE SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN (MARK)/CANAANITE WOMAN (MATTHEW):  Matthew and Mark tell us of the Pagan woman who comes to Jesus requesting healing for her daughter.  The woman’s name is not given.  The incident occurs in Tyre (modern day Lebanon) which has a long history of being an enemy of Israel.  The woman is not a Jew, yet she comes to Jesus asking for help.  She more than asks for help, she screams for help over and over again.  Jesus seems to ignore her.   She pleads with Jesus who finally says that he was “sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”.   Matthew tells us that the woman throws herself at the feet of Jesus and pleads for his help.   Jesus tells her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  The woman tells Jesus that “even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table”.  To this, Jesus replies to her, “O woman, your faith is great; let it be done as you have requested.”  Jesus emphasizes the word great.  At that moment the daughter is healed and Jesus tells the woman to go home to her daughter and to trust.  She does.  There are several things in this story that tell us of the strength and cunning of this woman that allows the power of Jesus to shine through.  First of all her persistence in trying to get Jesus to help is commendable.    Secondly her use of the word Lord and Son of David in addressing Jesus shows us that even though she was not a Jew, she knew about Jewish thought on the messiah.  The very fact that she went to Jesus, and was persistent shows us of the faith that she had.  When Jesus makes the comment about feeding the children and not the dogs, she didn’t show anger but was smart enough to come back with the line that even the dogs eat the scraps that drop from the table.  To this Jesus remarks about how great her faith was and he healed her daughter.  Lastly, when Jesus told her to go home in trust, she did exactly that.  She trusted that her petitions to Jesus were answered.  We all need to learn from this powerful, faithful, persistent, trusting woman.

LYDIA:   Lydia was an educated and wealthy woman from Thyatira (modern day Turkey).  She did not follow the numerous gods of that region but instead showed an interest in the one God that the Jewish people professed.  She was a business woman who sold rare dyes (particularly purple) and had her business centered in Philippi Greece.  There she met the apostle St. Paul who told her about Jesus.  She was the first person converted by Paul during his trip to Greece.  She was so convinced in her conversion that she immediately shared the good news with her family and they followed her in to being a convert to Christianity.   She opened the first Christian church in Greece in her large home.   Paul and Silas remained with her for several weeks training her in the faith.  Because of her business connections and trading in many areas she was responsible for the conversion of many Greeks.  Not only had she started the first Christian church in Greece, but she also helped to spread that faith to many areas.  God used this strong and successful business woman to help spread the faith.  We can’t help but to be thankful for the way that she turned all that she had made (and it was significant) to be used for spreading the Good News.

DAMARIS:  Damaris was an intellectual woman in the city of Athens.  When Paul went to Athens he spoke in the streets about Jesus and although this was scoffed at by many, some of the intellectual Greeks there found him quite interesting.  He was invited to speak to the Intellectual Council there.  One of the members present was a woman named Damaris who was intrigued by all that Paul taught about Jesus and after many discussions with Paul, she converted and helped to lead many people to Jesus.  She became a leader in the church in Athens.  God used this intellectually gifted woman to help build up his Church.

PHOEBE:  Phoebe was a successful business woman from Corinth.  Paul spent a considerable amount of time in Corinth setting up his Church.  Phoebe was an integral part of the work that he did there.  In a letter to the Romans Paul describes Phoebe as a servant leader of the Church there and a benefactor to the Church.  Just like Lydia, Phoebe used her significant resources to help the Church.  She also used her “connections” to help spread the Word.  Paul called her a saint and a leader in that church.

PRISCILLA:  Priscilla was a Gentile from the Roman aristocracy who married a Turkish Jew named Aquila.  They originally lived in Rome and helped Peter set up the Church there.  By profession they were tent makers.  In 51 AD they were expelled from Rome (for their Christian work) and moved to Corinth.  There they met Paul and worked with him in evangelizing Greece.  They were so important to Paul that he brought them both with him to help spread the Good News in Ephesus.   Even though Priscilla and Aquila worked together, Paul always mentions Priscilla first indicating her importance.  It seems that her role as an evangelist and a leader in the Church is something that Paul wished to emphasize.  Later they both returned to Rome and again helped build up the Church there.

CONCLUSION:   When we look at the women of the New Testament we can’t help but to see that they stood out as being equal to men as evangelizers and leaders in the early Church.  What makes this so extraordinary is that in the culture of the time, women could hardly do anything in public.  Their place was in the home.  Jesus and the early Church quickly showed the fallacy of this.  These women were strong leaders and servants that helped to spread the Good News.

Living in a Gnostic Culture – by Father Bill Peckman

Living in a Gnostic Culture by Father Bill Peckman

A general rule of thumb for me is that if one truly believes something, it changes their behaviors. If I see someone preaching something or becoming an activist for something, but I do not see their behaviors follow suit, I dismiss it as hypocrisy at best and as neo-Gnosticism at worst.

In the USA, we live in an increasingly Gnostic culture. Gnosticism is a belief that the created order is the result of a malevolent entity, the height of that disorder is humanity, and that a benevolent entity has planted within us a spark and a soul that most are too ignorant to act upon. This spark is a special or secret knowledge. This created an elite group.

Gnosticism sees anything that creates more human beings as evil. Abortion, suicide, mercy-killing, birth control, homosexuality, and other forms of sexuality and life issues contrary to Christianity were seen as positives. As Gnostics are dualists (body bad, soul good), salvation comes not from renouncing sin, but from being released from ignorance about the created order. Gnosticism takes a very dim view of organized religion as a whole.

What we see today, I call a neo-Gnosticism. What makes it different is a two-tiered system of elites who posses the knowledge and the commoners who don’t. Rules do not apply equally to the two groups. Gnosticism is certainly the ‘religion’ of the eugenics movement. Gnosticism has found itself in the man-made climate crisis controversy.

I am a man who is very much in favor of NOT dumping pollutants into our land, sky, and water. I think we wildly over-consume. I am in favor of re-usable anything. The personal choices I have made reflect this. I think that many scare tactics are in use with the debate and that the debate has taken a near zero sum quasi-religious fervor. Again, since I believe belief should effect action, when I see celebrities and politicians who champion the cause but whose lifestyles would give no witness to these beliefs (they fly private jets, have limos, several homes, etc), it makes me question the veracity of their beliefs. While I might not agree completely with anyone, I will respect those who actions are in line with their beliefs in this matter.

My own opinion about so much of the debate in this country is that is it about control. Elitism in any of its forms is about a general disdain for the unenlightened. In this worldview, the enlightened are duty bound to save the ignorant masses from themselves, even if that means culling the herd. The tools for this are via the government: legislative activism, judicial activism, and punitive taxation. However, for this to work, division among the ignorant masses needs to happen. It is like the popular kids getting unpopular kids to attack other unpopular kids with the promise the attackers will become part of the elite..which seldom happens and makes useful idiots of them. The neo-Gnostic mentality allows for this.

Progressive politics are rooted in neo-Gnosticism. So is progressive Christianity. It is little wonder that progressive Christianity has adopted Gnostic views on life issues and the use of human sexuality. Certainly there are forces within the Catholic Church, who believing themselves to be oh so reasonable, want to follow suit. While they might not say it outright, that the majority of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence is of no concern. For a Gnostic posing as a Catholic, the Incarnation itself would be problematic, hence all things that flow from the Incarnation, especially that we consume the Flesh and Blood of the Word made Flesh would seem ridiculous. As Gnosticism does not see sin in the way Catholics do, the consequences of sin would also mean little (who needs Confession? No such thing as spiritual warfare) and means to rectify the consequences would be ignored as irrelevant.

No heresy ever really dies. It morphs and adapts. It goes by new names while keeping its essential character. We live in a Gnostic culture in the west and the Americas. Just as Gnosticism wanted to be the orthodoxy of Christianity from the beginning, so too today. Heresy counts on ignorance of the truth to spread. 50 years of horrid catechesis within the Catholic Church is now bearing consequences that are a major contributory factor in the emptying of our pews and the despoiling of the flock by ravenous wolves.

Demanding the truth, living the truth, and giving witness to the truth is how we have always battled heresies; it will be the way we do now.

Father Bill Peckman’s website can be found at: http://www.ramblingsofacountrypastor.blogspot.com/

Catholic Priests and the Sacrifice of the Mass – by Luke Haskell

August 4th is the Memorial day of St. John Vianney the Cure of Ars. He was a great priest who serves as the patron Saint of all priest. In view of that, I would like to share an article from my friend Apologist Luke Haskell about the priesthood. Check it out below – Deacon Marty McIndoe

If there is a New Testament priesthood established by God, then this is one of the most important aspects of faith in our world. It would mean that there is a sacrifice that is needed for the world. This affects every human who has ever lived and all who will live in the future.  The main purpose for a priest is to offer sacrifice. This may sound archaic but we must consider the fact that God does not change.  If people come to the awareness that God established a New Testament priesthood, then this should have a profound effect on their faith.

As far back as you go, even to the beginning of Christianity, there is a priesthood and the Holy Mass. The early Christians were adamant about keeping a true understanding of faith. If the priesthood were a later invention, then you would see the pages of history scream out over the heresy. The Arian heresy that almost destroyed the church would have paled in comparison. The pages of history are silent because from the beginning, there was a priesthood and a Holy Mass as there still is today, 2000 years later. That in itself is a sustained miracle. “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations.” (Eph 3:21)

It is an interesting fact that the reformer Tyndale’s translation of the Bible was condemned in England and it was burned by other Protestants. Thomas More charged Tyndale with falsely translating scripture in order to remove references to the priestly office. He was calling Tyndale out as a heretic for doing so. In Tyndale’s Bible, the word priest became senior and was changed to elder in his revised 1534 edition. The word “church” became congregation. The word “penance” became repent and the word “charity” became love. Words are powerful. Changes in words have a huge impact over time. This is the main reason why the church outlawed many protestant Bibles. There appears to have been an active process to manipulate history in order to remove the image of the priesthood God established.

The New Testament priesthood developed out of the bishopric during apostolic times. When it comes to the structure of the church, everything was not put in place as soon as Pentecost. The church had to grow in knowledge of itself and of its purpose; a mustard seed that would grow into the biggest tree. The apostles at different times, were Bishop, Deacon, and Priest. “For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let their habitation become desolate, and let there be none to dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take.” (Acts 1:20)

“Diakonos” means “servant” or “minister”. “Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament.” (2 Corinthians 3:6) In the beginning, these terms were fluid. The New Testament was the Holy Mass for 360 years before it was a book. The apostles were ministers of the sacraments and the Holy Mass. Paul tells us, “Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor 4:1) From the word mystery we get the word mysterion, sacramentum, sacrament. Paul being a priest is a minister of the sacraments of God.

Paul tells us, ‘For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.” (Hb 7:12) There was both a change in priesthood that occurred in the New Covenant between God and man, and there was a change in law.

The New Testament, scripture contains both an image of a universal priesthood and the priesthood of the ordained. The universal priesthood consists of all who enter the church through a Trinitarian baptism. This is  understood as the mystical body. The mystical body of Christ as a royal priesthood, is shown in scripture to be called in the Greek text, hiereus. Christ is the head of the body. “And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy:” (Colossians 1:18) Those who have past on in a state of grace have not left the mystical body, but celebrate the Holy Mass with the hosts of heaven on the other side of the veil.

 From Strong’s Greek concordance we define hiereús (from word 2413 /hierós, “sacred because belonging to the Temple”) – a priest. Word 2409 /hiereús(“priest”) is used in the NT: Christ is the true Temple. Those belonging to the Temple are sacred. The New Covenant sees the hiereus  sacred, and belonging to the Temple.

“Priest is defined as Old English preost probably shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon and Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, all from Vulgar Latin *prester “priest,” from Late Latin presbyter “presbyter, elder,” from Greek presbyteros (see Presbyterian). An alternative theory (to account for the -eo- of the Old English word) makes it cognate with Old High German priast, prest, from Vulgar Latin *prevost “one put over others,” from Latin praepositus “person placed in charge,” from past participle of praeponere (see provost). In Old Testament sense, a translation of Hebrew kohen, Greek hiereus, Latin sacerdos.”

Hiereus is priest, presbyter is priest. The English word priest is different from  hiereus. It is not derived phonetically nor etymologically from the word hiereus.  It is derived from “Presbyteros”. From the beginning the elders, or presbyters in the church structure, were the respected and ordained leaders within the royal hiereus, or, within the body priest. The apostles assigned the leaders of the church to the presbytery. They were the ordained through the process of laying on of the hands of the bishop, starting with those who received the spirit in the upper room at Pentecost. This is the process of apostolic succession. This image fulfilled what the priesthood of Aaron and Moses did before. “Impose not hands lightly upon any man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins. Keep thyself chaste.” (1Timothy 5:22) “Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.” (Numbers 27:23) There is no true atonement for sins in the sacrificing of bulls and goats in the Old Testament. The images are to show us the mystery of sacrament and how the priesthood of Christ is fulfilled in the New Testament. The types in the old, become the truth in the new. The New Testament priests are those that administer the sacraments.

 Timothy was an elder in the church of one doctrine, yet he was very young. Historical documentation tells us he was a bishop of Ephesus in Turkey.  Bishops are both bishops and priests who perform the sacramental office. When one is ordained, his ministry becomes sacramental. It is ordained by God through the laying on of hands of the bishop, and given special graces by the Holy Spirit.

John in Revelation tells us, “He has made us a Kingdom of priests.” Priest as in  Hiereus. This is the entire mystical body inside the high Priest Jesus Christ. Peter says, “You are a chosen people a Holy Nation a Royal Priesthood.” Paul says: “That I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:16) In Paul writing to the Romans, he is writing as a priest of the church who in the sacramental office, through the Holy Spirit, sanctifies the oblation of bread and wine. Paul is describing his own ministry which he was called to by God. In the Greek, he is using a variant of the word “hiereus”.

He explains, “of the grace from God that makes him a “minister of Christ to the Gentiles in a priestly service (hierougounta=priestly work.) The bread that becomes the Eucharist through the Holy Spirit is sanctified. Paul tells us, “Is not the bread that we break, participation in the body of Christ?

 Webster’s defines the word “sanctify” as to, set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use consecrate, to free from sin : purify  to impart or impute sacredness, inviolability, or respect to… to make productive of holiness or piety.

An oblation is an unbloody sacrifice. In the Old Testament the unbloody sacrifices are of bread and wine. Paul offers a consecrated, holy, unbloody, oblation through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, for the Gentiles. Through the Holy Spirit, the priest of the mystical body, sanctified bread and wine, therefore setting it apart, consecrating it, making it holy for a holy purpose. An offering to God through Jesus Christ our high priest and mediator in the Holy of Holies, for the sins of the entire world. The holy of holies in the meeting tent represents heaven. The holies is the church. This is a prophecy of Malachy fulfilled.

“For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11)

The Gentiles were not baptized into the church until after the cross, so this clean oblation is offered from where the sun rises to where it sets, after the cross. The Old Covenant is fulfilled in the new. In the old, God told Moses that the bread of the presence must always be placed before Him. This bread was to be eaten every Sabbath by the priests in a holy place. Three times a year the sacred bread along with consecrated wine, was brought out of the holies to the Jews. The table containing the bread and wine was raised and the priests would say, “behold God’s love for you.”

The types are fulfilled in the heavenly realities. “This is my body”. Behold Gods love for you. Christ raised this image to the covenant memorial of the cross where His glorified essence that does not conform to time, space, and matter, in the Eucharist, is present before the Father before the Father sees the sins of the world. This is called a covenant memorial. It is a covenant memorial of the crucifixion of Christ. Christ at the last supper told the first priests of His church to, “do this in memory of me.” He was saying, keep the covenant memorial of the cross before the Father for the sins of the world, like the bread of the presence was in type. Without the Holy Mass, the crucifixion is only an execution. This priesthood that was established by the apostles through God, was passed on to their disciples, and continues into our present day.

The word covenant comes from the Semitic word “berit”. It means to cut a covenant. It means an oath secured by a shedding of blood. “This is my blood of the New Covenant”…

We can see the priesthood in scripture and we can confirm it with history. St. Hegesippus  (A.D. 180) records that the Apostle, St. James the Less, wore Temple vestments; and St. Polycrates of Ephesus ( A.D. 196) records that St. John the Beloved Apostle, wore a primitive Bishop’s mitre, in which he was buried. The Holy Mass is indigenous to Christianity. There is no Holy Mass without apostolic succession of the priesthood.

“The oriental liturgy, or mass, which bears the name of this apostle (James the just) is mentioned by Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and by the council in Trullo, and is of venerable antiquity. St Basil, indeed, testifies that the words of the sacred invocation, in the consecration of the bread and the cup, were not committed to writing, but learned and preserved by tradition, down to the fourth century.” (Butlers Lives of The Fathers, Martyrs and Other Saints.” )

Irenaeus  (died about 202) a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John the apostle tells us, “For David had been appointed a priest by God, although Saul persecuted him. For all the righteous possess the sacerdotal rank. And all the apostles of the Lord are priests, who do inherit here neither lands nor houses, but serve God and the altar continually.” (Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV, Chapter 8)

From the book titled Clement of Rome Recognitions book 6 ch 15. The author is talking about Peter and his priestly office. “and baptized them; and celebrating the Eucharist with them, he appointed, as bishop over them, Maro, who had entertained him in his house, and who was now perfect in all things; and with him he ordained twelve presbyters and deacons at the same time. He also instituted the order of widows, and arranged all the services of the Church; and charged them all to obey their bishop in all things that he should command them.”

Hippolytus of Rome (170 – 235 AD) When a deacon is to be ordained, he is chosen after the fashion of those things said above, the bishop alone in like manner imposing his hands upon him as we have prescribed. In the ordaining of a deacon, this is the reason why the bishop alone is to impose his hands upon him: he is not ordained to the priesthood, but to serve the bishop and to fulfill the bishop’s command. He has no part in the council of the clergy, but is to attend to his own duties and is to acquaint the bishop with such matters as are needful. . . .On a presbyter, however, let the presbyters impose their hands because of the common and like Spirit of the clergy. Even so, the presbyter has only the power to receive [the Spirit], and not the power to give [the Spirit]. That is why a presbyter does not ordain the clergy; for at the ordaining of a presbyter, he but seals while the bishop ordains (The Apostolic Tradition 9 [A.D. 215]).

 We must not deny facts. We must build on facts in order to establish a clearer image of truth that has been lost to most of our world. Scripture through proper exegesis shows us a Priesthood established by God through the apostles. If there is a priesthood established by God then there is a sacrifice that is worthy of God that the priesthood has been ordained to offer. The early history of the church confirms this priesthood and shows us the growth of the priesthood established. All those who have been given a Trinitarian baptism are part of the Royal Priesthood who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb in the Holy Mass. Many modern Christians have received a valid Trinitarian baptism, but do not participate in what that baptism calls us to. It will always come down to faith though. The great doctor of the church Thomas Aquinas said, “with faith, no explanation is necessary. Without faith, no explanation is possible.”

“Christ our true pasch (Passover Lamb) has been sacrificed. Let us keep the feast. (1 Cor 5:7)

Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know…It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!” St. Padre Pio

Luke Haskell is a Catholic Apologist and can be found on Facebook and LinkedIn

Strengthened with Power – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Strengthened with Power – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

We are a child of God and He calls us to live out that call, to be his son or daughter.  We should be different from those who don’t know or follow God.  We should be empowered by our relationship with God.  So often we are not.  We, as mere humans, seem to want to settle for less than God has given us.  We are often anxious and afraid and weak and seem to lack direction in our lives.  We claim to be “saved” but more often than not, we are lost.  While writing these words I can’t help but to think about the Apostles right after Jesus ascended to heaven, leaving them on their own for the first time in three years.  They too were lost and afraid and weak and lacked direction.  But, they did what Jesus told them.  They went up in to the Upper Room and prayed.  Perhaps their going in to the Upper Room was a way of hiding from the authorities that they were afraid of.  But it was in the Upper Room that they came together as a community, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and prayed.  They prayed for nine days (our first novena) and something very powerful, something very life-changing happened.  The Holy Spirit fell upon them.  They received what Jesus had promised them.  It changed them permanently.  It empowered them.  It gave them strength and power and direction.

That same Holy Spirit has been given to us to so that we might be empowered and strengthened and given direction.  It is what can help us to live fully as a son or daughter of God.  That same Holy Spirit gives us so many gifts and fruits to make our lives empowered by God so that we can be the person that God has called us to be.  We just need to be open to that Spirit and ASK it to empower us and to work within us.  The Spirit has been given to us in Baptism and Confirmation but so often it just lies dormant within us waiting for us to learn about its power and ask to be open to and to be filled with its power.  One of the best ways to learn about the Spirit and to really desire the Spirit to be at work in our lives is by going to a Life in the Spirit Seminar.  These are offered in many parishes around the world.  Another great way is to experience the video series, The Wild Goose by Father Dave Pavonka.  This is available for purchase as DVD or Blueray.  You can also watch it on Youtube.   Both of these are great tools to opening ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit.   The scriptures and our Catechism also tell us a great deal about the Holy Spirit.  I would like to share a few scriptures with you to hopefully make you desire a better openness to the Holy Spirit.

In John 14: 16 Jesus tells us, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth.”.  In verse 26 Jesus says, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.”

St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians (1:17-20) says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…”

St. Paul also adds in Ephesians 3: 16-20,  “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Besides POWER, the Spirit gives us many fruits.  Catholic tradition follows the Vulgate version of Galatians in listing 12 fruits: charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity (kindness), goodness, longanimity (generosity), mildness (gentleness), faith, modesty, continency (self-control), and chastity.

The Spirit also gives us many gifts.  We traditionally talk about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.  In the Book of Isaiah 11:2-3, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are described. In the passage the gifts are considered ones that the Messiah would have possessed. Through Jesus, we also receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Wisdom helps us recognize the importance of others and the importance of keeping God central in our lives.

Understanding is the ability to comprehend the meaning of God’s message.

Knowledge is the ability to think about and explore God’s revelation, and also to recognize there are mysteries of faith beyond us.

Counsel is the ability to see the best way to follow God’s plan when we have choices that relate to him.

Fortitude is the courage to do what one knows is right.

Piety helps us pray to God in true devotion.

Fear of the Lord is the feeling of amazement before God, who is all-present, and whose friendship we do not want to lose.

The Spirit also gives us other gifts, sometimes known as Charisms which St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, tells us are given for the building up of the whole Church.  These include, the word gifts of wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, preaching and teaching.  There also are Gifts of powerincluding healing, miracles and exorcism.  There are also service gifts such as pastoral care, alms giving, leadership and administration.   Further gifts included the prayer gifts like intercessory prayer, singing in tongues, being filled and guided by the Spirit, and to contemplate and worship God.

These lists of gifts and fruits and charisms are only some of the things that the Holy Spirit can do for us and through us.  His power is amazing.  Looking at what the Spirit can do for us helps us to see how the Spirit can and will empower us to be God’s children.  Be open to God’s Holy Spirit.  Learn about the Spirit.  Invoke the Holy Spirit in all that you do.  Become alive in the Holy Spirit.  It is God’s precious gift to us.  It empowers us to be His children.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit for Universal Renewal

Holy Spirit,
fulfill in us the work begun by Jesus.
Let our prayer on behalf of the whole world
be fruitful and unwavering.
Hasten the time when each of us
will attain a genuine spiritual life.
Enliven our work that it may reach all human beings,
all who have been redeemed
by the Blood of Christ and all His inheritance.

Take away our natural presumption
and uplift us with a holy humility,
with reverence for God and selfless courage.
Let no vain attachment impede the work of our state in life,
nor personal interest divert us from the demands of justice.
May no scheming on our part reduce love
to our own petty dimensions.

May all be noble in us; the quest and the respect for truth,
and the willingness to sacrifice even to the cross and death.
And may all be accomplished
in accord with the final prayer
of the Son to His heavenly Father
and in accord with the grace
that Father and Son give
through You, the Spirit of love,
to the Church and to her institutions,
to every soul and to all peoples.
Amen.

MYSTAGOGY – AN EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF US – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

MYSTAGOGY – EXPERIENCING THE MYSTERIES

In the RCIA program, the period following the reception in to the Church is known as a period of Mystagogy.  Mystagogy is a time where the mysteries of the Church are revealed to the new Catholics.  It is revealed through their experience of the Sacraments and through all that the Church offers them.  Although teaching is involved, experience and sharing about that experience is the way the mysteries are revealed.  The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (Chicago, 1988) manual states: “. The purpose of the mystagogy is to enable the newly baptized to draw from their sacramental experience a new sense of the faith, the Church, and the world”.  As a leader in the RCIA program in my parish, I try to encourage our Neophytes to experience as much as they can, the resources that the Church offers them.  Truly, I believe that this is good for all the people of the Church as well.

Those who have gone through the RCIA program have experienced at Easter NEW LIFE.  They are, in a spiritual sense, born anew.  I have truly seen, throughout the years, a big change in them.  They are more alive in the faith.   We established Catholics have also been enlivened by experiencing all that Lent and Easter has given us.  Our faith should truly be renewed.  I believe that a period of mystagogy is appropriate for us too.  We need to experience all that the Church offers us, and there is so much.  We are constantly called to grow in our faith by using the sacraments and other tools that the Church gives us.  When we grow in our faith we become more of who God wants us to be.  When we do that, we become happier, more fulfilled and more at peace.   We can grow in our experience of all that the Holy Spirit gives us by receiving the Spirit’s gifts and fruits.  Literally, we can set the world on fire.

I would like to share some of my thoughts on how to do this.  I thought that I would do this in a list format.  Sometimes it is good to have a list of some of the things that the Church can offer to us so that we can grow in our faith.  Here is a list (certainly not a full one) of things that will help us to grow in our faith:

TWELVE STEPS TO HELP US GROW IN OUR FAITH

1 – Go to mass at least every Sunday.  The mass is the Summit and Source of our faith.  In the mass we hear God’s Word proclaimed and explained and we receive the most precious gift of His Body and Blood.   We pray together and experience community and are sent forth.  I attend daily mass because I believe it can do more for me than anything else.

2 – Pray.  When you are in Love with someone, communication is a natural expression of that Love and a way that Love can grow.  Prayer is communication with God.  There are so many ways to pray.  I love praying the Liturgy of the Hours.  It is now so easy to do and so available by placing an app on your smart phone.   I use the ibreviary app.  It is a no cost app.   Try it out, you will be glad that you do.  I would suggest at least praying Morning prayer and Evening prayer.

I also like to use what I call “gut” prayer.  This is totally spontaneous and can be done at any time.  It comes from deep within us, our “gut”.   Sometimes my gut prayer is filled with praise and thanksgiving.  Often it is filled with “why me God?”  And “why are you allowing this to happen?”   It is a prayer of honesty and truth and feelings.

3 – Eucharistic Adoration.  This is also a form of prayer, but it goes beyond regular prayer.  It is a time to adore the Lord as he is present to us in His Risen Body in the Eucharist.  It is certainly a time for prayers of thanksgiving and praise but can also be a time for prayers of supplication.  I go to Eucharistic Adoration at least once a week.

4 – The Sacrament of Reconciliation.   St. Paul tells us that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  All means all.  Christians too sin.  Even the Pope goes to confession.  There is no doubt that when I do something that I know is wrong, or more often, fail to do something I know that I should have done, I immediately ask for God’s forgiveness.  However, it is very freeing to regularly confess our sins to a priest and to hear him give us God’s forgiveness.

5 – The Rosary.  I love praying the rosary.  I try to do it every day.  In the rosary you can meditate on the mysteries of God’s touch to mankind.  The rosary is meant to be a meditative prayer where we literally focus on many of the stories from the scriptures about our salvation.  I look at it as a mini-course on God’s love and action.

6 – The Bible.  The Bible is a special gift that the Church has given to the world.  In it we hear God’s Word and receive direction and support for our lives.  Every liturgy that the Church does has at least one reading from the Bible.  We should listen closely to it at every liturgy but it also should have a special place in our homes.  The Catholic Church has given us the Bible and it is up to the Catholic Church to help us understand it.  I highly recommend using a Catholic study guide; My favorite is The Word Among us.   Going to a good Catholic Bible study is great (stay away from Protestant ones as they can misinterpret the Bible).  There are many online resources to help us (see last page).

7 – Charity and Service.  Every Christian is called to be a person of action.  We are called to feed the poor, heal the sick, visit the lonely and those in prisons etc.  Every parish has some sort of ministry to help us do that.  Check it out and become involved.  Put your faith in to action.

8 – The Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Lord literally gave His mother to us to help us in our journey towards Him.  Since the very beginnings of the Church Mary has been held in high esteem and has helped the Church and all Christians in many ways.  It is good to learn about Mary and to ask her intercession in your life.  She loves you as her own son or daughter.

9 – The Saints.  The Saints were all ordinary people just like you and me.  They struggled with the same things we struggled with and they were able to grow so close to Jesus and follow Him that the Church assures us that they are in heaven.  They intercede for us in prayer and they love it when we ask them to do so.  Try to learn as much as you can about the Saints and learn from them how to follow the Lord.

10 – Go on a Retreat.  A retreat is simply a time set aside for you to get away from the normal distractions in life and to draw closer to the Love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have for you.   Some retreats have themes, and some are simply quiet time with the Lord.  Try one, you will love it.

11 – Visit Holy Sites.  Throughout the world there are places that one would consider a Holy Site.  It might be one because of its history and what happened there, or it could be just an ordinary place that has been set aside for people to visit and grow closer to God.  I have been fortunate to visit many Holy Sites throughout the world, including the Holy Land, Rome and several places where Mary has appeared.  I have one Holy Site nearby, The Shrine of Our Lady of the Island that I love to visit and spend time with the Lord.

12 – Be Proud to be Catholic.  The more you learn about the Church, the prouder you will be.  Yes, the Church is not perfect (the priest sex scandal shows us that), but it is something that Jesus Himself started and maintains.  No other organization on this planet has lasted as long as the Church has.  It is an instrument of God’s grace.  Let your pride in the Church show.  Tell others about it.

There are so many other resources that the Church offers us that we should take advantage of.  I have compiled a partial list of some important Internet Resources and include that here.  There are also so many great books out there that you could (should) read.  Perhaps another time I will look in to that.  May our good Lord bless you in your walk with Him.

CATHOLIC    INTERNET    RESOURCES

CATHOLIC WEB SITES

SITES EVERY CATHOLIC SHOULD USE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR FAITH:

The Vatican:                                       www.vatican.va    (choose English in the menu at top right)

EWTN:                                                 www.ewtn.com

New Advent:                                       www.newadvent.org

Catechism of the Catholic Church:   www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

US Conference of Bishops:                www.usccb.org

Catholic Answers:                              www.catholic.com

News Vatican:                                     www.news.va

Catholic News Service:                       www.catholicnews.com

Rome Reports:  (video news)                        www.romereports.com    Choose English at top right

Jimmy Akin:                                        www.jimmyakin.com

Life Teen:  (for Youth, but….)                        www.lifeteen.com

Amazing Catechists:                           www.amazingcatechists.com

Cardinal Newman Society:                www.cardinalnewmansociety.org

Strange Notions:                                www.strangenotions.com

uCatholic                                            www.ucatholic.com

Catholic Lane:                                     www.catholiclane.com

Institute of Catholic Culture:            www.instituteofcatholicculture.org  FREE Catholic Courses

Word on Fire:                                     www.wordonfire.org

Dynamic Catholic:                              www.dynamiccatholic.org

CATHOLIC APPS FOR YOUR SMART PHONE:

Search your play store for these apps

Liturgy of the Hours:                          ibreviary

Catholic prayers and readings etc.   laudate

Novena prayers etc                            pray

Catholic radio                                     Relevant Radio

The Bible                                            Bible

Eternal Word Network                      EWTN

Mass times                                         Catholic Mass times

Catholic Dating                                   Ckiss

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


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

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

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

 

 

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

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


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?

Tepidity by A.J. Avila

There’s a show on television called Air Disasters, and some time ago they ran a segment on the September 25, 1978 PSA crash in San Diego.
I remember that day very well. Like everybody else, I saw the news coverage on television. On approach to the airport, the PSA jet had collided with a Cessna flying in the area. The jet’s right wing caught on fire, and both planes crashed. Everyone on the planes, along with seven people on the ground, perished.
[SIDENOTE: The photo above is of the actual plane going down. The collision was so loud it was heard on the ground, and a photographer aimed his camera upward and took that picture.]
But what I didn’t know, until my sister phoned me, was that a friend of mine had been on board the PSA jet. He was only 26 and was on his way to San Diego to open a photography studio.
I debated whether or not to record the Air Disasters show. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what my friend went through those last terrifying seconds of his life. After I did record it, it sat in my DVR a couple of days before I got up the courage to watch it.
A lot of things, I saw, went wrong that day. I discovered several factors had contributed to the crash. For example, an imminent collision alarm had gone off in the control tower but was ignored because the alarm had been sounding when there was no problem. The PSA pilot had seen the Cessna but then had lowered his seat, which took it out of his line of vision. The Cessna was flown by a student pilot who was learning to operate by instruments only, and so he was wearing a helmet that allowed him to see nothing but the control panel. And for some inexplicable reason, he had changed course. The radio transmission from the PSA pilot was a bit garbled, but it sounded to the air traffic controller like the pilot had said he had already flown past the Cessna. The combination of these incidents led to a terrible disaster.
Something else went wrong that day, horribly wrong. It wasn’t something that caused the crash. It was something that happened after the crash, or rather, something that didn’t happen after the crash. As ashamed as I am to admit it, not once did it occur to me to pray for the soul of my friend.
I had been raised Catholic, attended Catholic elementary school, and in fact was teaching in a Catholic high school at the time. I knew about Purgatory. I knew how important it is to pray for our deceased friends and relatives.
Why, oh why did it not occur to me to pray for my friend? You’d think all the news coverage, including a photo of the plane going down, wing afire, on the cover of Life magazine, (yes, that picture above is the one) would be enough to kick-start me into a rosary, at least. Yet somehow, it wasn’t. Why not?
Well, I’ll tell you why. That is what happens when you become a tepid Catholic.
If you’d asked me back then, I would have told you I was a great Catholic. I put in my hour at Mass every Sunday. I put money into the collection basket. Hey, I even taught in a Catholic school!
Yet the rest of the time I pretty much ignored God, except, of course, when I wanted a personal favor. My rosary was packed away in a drawer. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been to Confession.
In Luke 17:10 Jesus has some harsh words for those who do the bare minimum, calling them unworthy servants. In Revelation 3:16, He even states that He spits lukewarm souls out of his mouth. (The Douay-Rheims version uses the word “vomits” instead of “spits.”)
I thank God that He eventually wacked me over the head with a spiritual 2 x 4, and I finally came to my senses. Prayers and Masses were offered for my friend and other souls for whom I should have pleaded.
I don’t know if such things work retroactively. But, if my prayers were too late for my friend, I am certain they were applied to other members of the Church Suffering.
Let’s not forget those who have passed on before us. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) And let’s be useful, not worthless, servants who live our faith daily through prayer and sacrifice.

The original post can be found at:  Reflections On My Catholic Journey

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

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

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