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

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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

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Community, Converts, Evangelism, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Jewish roots, Relationships, Scripture, Spirituality, Women

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.

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Community, Creation, Discernment, Family, Holiness, Jewish roots, Marriage, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Pro-Life, Relationships, Scripture, Sin, Spirituality

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

In Genesis we read, “When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; he created them male and female.”  Even though we call God “Our Father”, and Jesus was a man, I believe that the true likeness of God cannot be seen by just looking at the masculine; nor can it be seen by just looking at the feminine.  To truly see the image of God we must look at both the masculine nature and the feminine nature of humankind.  Throughout the scriptures there are plenty of examples of both but there does seem to be preponderance of the masculine.  Too often the women of scripture are in the background and don’t get the attention that they deserve.  This is probably due to social and cultural partiality.  I want to bring to the reader’s attention some of the women of Scripture that show God’s power at work.  Since there are so many, this article will be in three parts.  One, the women of the Hebrew Scriptures; Two, the women of the New Testament; and Three, women Saints of the Church.

PART I – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES

EVE:   In the creation account, Eve is seen as the mother of the living.  She is also seen as Adam’s companion and helper.  In Christian traditions, Eve is the one who led Adam astray by sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge with him.  When God confronts Adam about his disobedience he blames not only Eve for his transgression but also blames God for giving him Eve.  Eve in turn blames the serpent for tempting her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  While it is easy to think of Eve as being weak because of this, we must remember that Eve had to be a strong woman.  She, according to the Genesis account, was the first mother.  She had no one else to be an example of what motherhood was all about.  She had no mother to show her how to take care of her children.  She had no other women friends to help support her.  In the Genesis account she was the only mother.  It is in her that humanity receives life.  The Church traditionally recognizes Eve as a Saint, along with Adam and celebrates their feast day on December 24th. 

SARAH:  Sarah was the wife of Abraham and is the first woman mentioned in scripture after Eve.  She had to be a strong woman to accompany Abraham on his long journey to the Promised Land.  She also was a woman with a good sense of humor.  When God told Abraham that he and Sarah would bare a son, even though they were a century old, Sarah laughed.  However, she also was a woman of faith because she took God at His Word.  The letter to the Hebrews tells us that, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”  Can you imagine how much strength she would have to have to bring up children at her age?

SHIPHRAH AND PUAH:  These two women were Hebrew mid-wives in Egypt who were ordered by Pharaoh to kill the newborn Jewish boys when they were born.  Pharaoh felt that the Jewish people were getting too strong and too powerful so he ordered the midwives to kill the baby boys.   Shiphrah and Puah knew the sanctity of life and did not do this and lied to Pharaoh about it.  They knew that their stand on life could cost them their own life, but they were strong enough to follow their conscience.  They are a great example to us of people who hold life sacred and of people who can stand up to an evil government through civil disobedience.  Because of them, many Jewish lives were saved, including Moses.

SOBEKNEFRU:  Was the daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered the Hebrew children killed.  She is the woman who found the baby Moses floating in a basket.  She had the strength and courage to go against her father and raise Moses as her own child.  Fortunately, she used Moses real mother, Jochebed as the nursemaid.  Jochebed must have had a lot of strength and love for her son Moses to disobey Pharaoh and keep her son alive.

MAHLAH, NOAH, HOGLAH, MILCAH AND TIRZAH – THE FIVE DAUGHTER OF ZELOPHEHAD:  Zelophehad was a descendent of Joseph who left Egypt with Moses and died in the wilderness.  He had five daughters and no sons.  Under the Jewish law only sons could inherit the property of their father.  The five daughters of Zelophehad went to Moses and Eleazar and petitioned them to change the law.  Through divine intervention, God told Moses to give the land to the daughters and to change the law so that if there were no male offspring, the estate could go to the daughters who would rightfully own it.  Because of the vision and persistence of these women, Jewish law was changed forever.  They had the strength to stand up against the established leaders and fight for equality.  God honored their fight.

TAMAR:  Tamar was married to Judah’s son, Er.  Er was a wicked man and died and Judah asked his other son Onan to provide offspring for Tamar (a Levirate union) so that the family line would continue.  Onan slept with Tamar but because he didn’t want her to have a child, he kept “spilling his seed on the ground”.   Onan was more interested in a larger share of Judah’s estate, than continuing the Family line.  Tamar knew that it was necessary for the family line to continue so she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah.  He did not recognize her.  From that Union she brought forth twin sons to continue the family line.  The one son, Perez is an ancestor of Jesus.   Even though Tamar’s action seems odd in today’s world, Tamar received a great deal of respect from Judah for the bold thing that she did.  Not only was she strong and bold to do this, but she was very bright to come up with a way to prove that Judah was the father (read Genesis 38).  Because of her strength and cunning, the Davidic line continued on.

RAHAB:  Rahab, who is listed in the genealogy of Jesus, is a most unlikely person to be an ancestor.  First of all, she was not a Jew but was a pagan Canaanite.  Secondly, she was a prostitute.  Rahab lived in the city of Jericho and when the Jewish people were ready to attack that city Joshua sent in some spies.  Rahab, was quite intelligent, perceptive and well informed.  She recognized the two Jewish spies and told them that she had heard of their God and how He had set His people free from the Egyptians.  She told the spies that all of the Canaanites were fearful of the Jews and their God.  She even spoke a phrase of faith by saying, “For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”.  She told the spies that if they could spare her and her family, she would help them.  Rahab went against her king and and her country and religion and she hid the spies in her home.  Because of this, they were able to obtain tactical information.  The Jews conquered the city and spared Rahab and her family.  Rahab later married a Jewish man and continued the Davidic line to Jesus.

RUTH:  During the time of the Judges rule of Israel, there was a famine in the land.  Elimelech and his wife Naomi left their home in Bethlehem with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to go to the land of the Moabites and escape the famine.  They were there several years and Elimelech died.  Both sons had married Moabite women.  Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpha.  After about ten years both sons died and Naomi decided to go back to her homeland.  She told both widowed daughters in laws to return to their families and to remarry.  Orpha did return to her family, but Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and go back to Bethlehem.   Ruth said to Naomi, “For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  Ruth went with Naomi to Bethlehem.  It must have been very difficult for Ruth to leave her homeland and her family and to travel to an unknown land.  Her relationship to Naomi and the witness of faith that Naomi provided gave her the strength to do go to Bethlehem.  There Ruth supported herself and Naomi by gleaning in the fields of a man named Boaz.  Boaz had heard of Ruth’s loyalty to her mother in law and saw her great kindness.  He also saw her as a hard working woman.  Boaz was a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech.  He bought the land that Elimelech had owned and married Naomi.  Together they had a son named Obed and a grandson named Jesse who would be the father of King David.   

HULDAH:  Most of the time when we think of Prophets, we think that they are all men.  In the book of Kings, there is one female Prophet named who was most important to the Jewish heritage.  She was one of seven women prophets (Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther) mentioned in scripture.  The scriptures tell us that Hidlah was a prophet who the priests and royal officials would often consult.  She could tell them of their fates and the fates of surrounding nations.  She spoke stern commands to the leaders and was seen as someone who could determine if writings were from God or not.  When they were rebuilding Solomon’s temple, a script was found and brought to Huldah to determine if it was God’s Word.  Huldah declared that it was God’s Word and that the temple and people would suffer because they had failed to follow it.  She told King Josiah that because of his repentance he would be spared.  Her prophecies about destruction came true.  Huldah was a woman who could stand up to anyone, commoner or king.  She was well respected for her gifts of discernment and was a woman who helped turn the people back to God through repentance. 

We can see that God chose these women, and many more besides, to help continue the Line of David and to help bring people to Him.  Even in the Middle East several thousand years ago, when women were seen as subservient to men, God used their strength and their cunning and their faith to help build his Kingdom.    This concludes Part I on the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).  In a few days we will take a look at Part II, Women of the New Testament.

Living in a Gnostic Culture – by Father Bill Peckman

Anxiety and Worry, Apologetics, Church, Community, Ethics, Evangelism, Gnosticism, Heresy, Holiness, Penance and Reconciliation, Pro-Life, Spirituality

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

Apologetics, Church, Community, Diaconate, Early Church Fathers, Eucharist, Evangelism, Holy Orders, Priesthood, Resurrection, Saints, Scripture, Spirituality, ,

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

1969: With God All Things Are Possible – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Community, Creation, Godly Patriotism, Spirituality

1969:  WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

1969 was a very special year of great accomplishments.  Today, July 20th, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of man walking on the moon.  That same year the New York Mets won the World Series and Casey Stengel began calling them the “Miracle Mets”.  In 1969 the huge Boeing 747 was first introduced. The extremely fast French Concorde jet also debuted then.  In 1969 the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am the epitome of the American muscle car was introduced.  The Woodstock Rock festival brought in an estimated 350,000 to 500,000 people.  In October 1969 the first communication was sent over the ARPANET, the predecessor to our INTERNET.    And most miraculously, the average cost of a house was under $5,000.00 and a brand new Toyota Corona cost $1,950.00 and a gallon of gasoline was 35 cents.  I personally had a lot of great achievements that year.  In 1969 I graduated from college with a Bachelors degree in Scientific Management – Computer Science and ten days later I married my beautiful wife Martha.  Within three months of my marriage I enlisted in the U.S. Army.  All three of those events changed my life for the better and I still reap the fruits of those events.

1969 also had a lot of sad events.  Members of a Cult let by Charles Manson brutally killed five innocent people.  Senator Edward Kennedy had his Chappaquiddick Affair in 1969.   That year an accidental explosion on the US Enterprise killed 27 people.  Abbey Road would be the last album the Beatles would do together and 1969 became the last year they toured together.  During 1969 the Vietnam War continued to grow and the US began the Draft.  In 1969 Richard Nixon became President of the United States.  The “Troubles” in Northern Ireland escalated as British Troops used extreme force.  In Mississippi, Hurricane Camille hit hard killing 248 people.  Australian light aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne sliced the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half killing 82 of her crew.  !969 became a year of rising inflation worldwide.

Throughout the years good things happen as well as bad.  It is just a fact of life.  There is one good thing in 1969 that I would like to look at.   For the first time in history, man was able to walk on the moon.

Apollo 11 was certainly a remarkable task.  Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and Neil Armstrong took off in a ten foot by 12 foot 913 pound capsule made out of aluminum, steel and titanium that was attached to a 363 foot tall Saturn V rocket.  That rocket weighed over 6.5 million pounds and had three stages.  It was 58 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.  The Rocket carried the capsule as well as the Lunar Module.  The Lunar Module could hold two people.  Once they reached the moon, Mike Collins remained in the capsule while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong went to the surface of the moon in the Lunar Module.  Neil Armstrong was the first man to set his foot upon the moon.  He said, ”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Just before the Lunar Module landed, there was some serious concern.  First the computers that were to do the landing began acting up so they shut them down and decided to land with manual controls.  All of this used up extra fuel and the low fuel light came on.  They were able to successfully land the Module.  Many years later, when Armstrong was visiting troops, one of the troops asked, “Mr. Armstrong, weren’t you nervous flying over the moon with all those rocks and craters, knowing that you only had a few seconds of fuel left?’   Armstrong grinned at the young soldier.  “Well, young man, Everyone knows that when the fuel gauge says empty, there’s always a gallon or two left at the bottom of the tank.”  I love to see the human spirit respond to such difficult tasks.  The moon landing was a cooperative effort that included over 400,000 people.  Neil Armstrong was right in saying that his step was small but mankind’s step was huge.  The whole world cheered the event and the common cry was, “WE did it!”

What is really amazing is that we accomplished this mission over 50 years ago.  The on board computer, which was state of the art at the time, is weaker than the computers that we carry around in our pockets on our smart phones.  I truly believe that man can accomplish great things, through the help of God.  Many people in the Space program had a deep relationship to God and I am sure that there were a lot of prayers for the mission.  The mission commander, Buzz Aldrin, described the mission as “part of God’s eternal plan for man”.    Aldrin was an ordained Presbyterian elder and decided that he wanted to take communion to the moon.  When he first spoke to NASA about this they were reluctant to allow it because Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the famous Atheist, had brought a lawsuit against NASA for reading from the bible during Apollo 8.  But Aldrin insisted and was given permission, but he was told to keep it quiet.  He brought with him bread, wine and a small chalice.  He pulled out the Chalice and bread and wine and announced over the radio, “This is the LM pilot. I would like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”  He then silently read John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”  After that he performed the Presbyterian ritual over the bread and wine.

It is interesting that Pope Paul VI was watching the lunar landing from the Vatican Observatory going between the televised version and the Observatory Telescope.  He greeted and blessed the astronauts in English:  “Here, from His Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, Pope Paul the Sixth is speaking to you astronauts.  Honour, greetings and blessings to you, conquerors of the Moon, pale lamp of our nights and (our) dreams! Bring to her, with your living presence, the voice of the spirit, a hymn to God, our Creator and our Father.  We are close to you, with our good wishes and with our prayers. Together with the whole Catholic Church, Pope (Paul) the Sixth salutes you.”   The pope later met the Apollo 11 astronauts and their wives at the Vatican.

Buzz Aldrin took a small part of the bible with him to the moon.  Later, in Apollo 12, the full bible was brought there.  Many people are unaware of the faith of the people in this program.  I personally feel that it is their faith and prayers that made the mission successful.  As Buzz Aldrin read (from John 15:5), “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”

Strengthened with Power – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Community, Evangelism, Healing, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Prayer, Scripture, Service, Spirituality

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

Apologetics, Blessed Virgin Mary, Charity, Church, Community, Converts, Easter, Eucharist, Evangelism, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Holy Week, Internet Resources, Life in the Spirit, Liturgy, Miracles, Mystagogy, Mystics, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Resurrection, Rosary, Sacraments, Saints, Scripture, Service, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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

I Know a Cure for Everything: Salt Water – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Healing, Prayer, Spirituality

I Know of a Cure for Everything: Salt Water – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

I have lived almost all of my life on an island, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound.  I feel very blessed by that.  I almost feel as if the sea is so much a part of me that I can’t fully live without being near it.   Every year my wife and I usually try to escape to warm weather for the months of January and February.  Two years ago we spent the time in the southwest traveling around Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and inland Southern California.  We absolutely loved it and appreciated the beauty of the southwest.  However, I really felt like I was out of place.  I was no where near any large body of salt water.  It just didn’t seem right to me.  I was out of place, literally.  This year we did our winter getaway in the south and in Florida and stayed almost all of the time in timeshares that were on the beach, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico.  I felt so much more at home than I did on our desert trip.  There is a real comfort and awe when we look out on the ocean.  For me, I see and feel God in the beauty and immensity of the ocean.

I came across a quote from Isak Dinesen (also known as Tania Blixen author of “Out of Africa”) from her “Seven Gothic Tales” which consisted of the following dialogue:

An old seaman says to his unhappy foster-son, “I know of a cure for everything: Salt water.”

“Salt water?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, “in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea.”

I couldn’t help but to see the truth in that statement.  The cure for everything is Sweat or Tears or the Salt Sea.  I would like to share some thoughts about that with you.  First of all, it is interesting to see the history of man’s use of salt.  The Hebrew Scriptures (The Old Testament) value salt so much that it was considered to be able to be used as a gift to God as a “covenant of salt” (Lev. 2: 13; II Chron. 13:5; Num. 18:19). It was also used in sacrifices by the Israelites (Ezek. 43:24 and Gen. 31:54).  Belief in its preservative and healing properties led to its use to dry and harden the skin of newborns (Ezek. 16:4) and to prevent umbilical cord infection.   The Egyptians and the Persians considered it such a special commodity that it could only be handled by their royalty.  The ancient Romans paid their soldiers their wages in salt (Latin word is “sal”) from which we today get the word “salary” and the expression, “worth his weight in salt”.    Salt had been used for over 3500 years as a preservative for meats and a flavoring for food.  It is still seen as a sign of hospitality and friendship in the Middle East.    In Mark Chapter 9, verse 50 Jesus says, “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”   St. Paul’s tells us in Col. 4:6:”Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Jesus also called His followers to be the “salt of the earth”.   Salt is all about preservation and healing and peace.

The Church has a special prayer for the blessing of salt.  After the blessing, the salt is often placed in Holy Water, or sometimes used by itself.  This prayer, from the Roman Ritual says, “Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”   Salt is also seen as a means of driving away evil or preserving one from evil corruption.

Salt is found naturally in the sea, in our tears, and in our sweat.  All three of these can help to heal us.  As motivational speaker Rita Schiano tell us, “Tears are God’s gift to us. Our holy water. They heal us as they flow”.  Tears come to us from our very being.  They are responses to hurt and loss as well as happiness and gain.  Tears can be shed from earthy stimuli such as movies and can also be shed from spiritual stimuli such as God’s Word or the touch of Christian love.  They are an expression that sometimes can speak louder and clearer than words.  They bring us healing in so many ways.

Sweat is a result of our hard work.  The Catholic Church has always stressed the importance of work in our lives.  The Protestant Churches are also known for their work ethic.  Work is not only necessary for civilization to flourish, but it brings a sense of purpose and often healing to the individual.  It also helps us to accomplish our dreams.  Colin Powell tells us, “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”  We find our happiness in working hard for our dreams whether it be as simple (yet profound) as a man or woman working hard to support their family, or a researcher finding the cure for cancer.  Work, and sweat, are part of who we are called to be.

The Sea is a special gift to us from God.  Our scientists tell us that life itself originated there.  For us, it is a place to enjoy in so many different ways whether it is swimming and fishing or simply gazing out towards its majesty.  As John F. Kennedy told us, “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.”  The Sea can truly be a healing influence in our lives.

In writing this article, I hope to make you think and pray about the healing influence of the Sea, Sweat and Tears.  I am including some quotes for you to think about and pray about and see how the Lord may be speaking to you.  I hope that you find some quiet time to pray and think about these quotes.  May our good Lord bless you and bring you His healing love.   May you come to better realize the healing gifts given to us in Salt Water: the Sea, Tears or Sweat.

QUOTES TO PONDER AND PRAY ABOUT:

THE SEA:

“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.”  ― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

“I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.” ― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

“The sea always filled her with longing, though for what she was never sure.” ― Cornelia Funke, Inkheart

“My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” ― William James

“Hark, now hear the sailors cry,
Smell the sea, and feel the sky,
Let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic.
– Into the Mystic” ― Van Morrison

“How foolish to believe we are more powerful than the sea or the sky.” ― Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea

“The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.” ― Sharon Creech, The Wanderer

“In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple. It is there we can see into ourselves.”
― Rolf Edberg

At sea, I feel comfortable and I come to rest. Laura Dekker

He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea. George Herbert

SWEAT:

“It’s easier to bleed than sweat, Mr. Motes.” ― Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood

“When people tell me they can’t afford to join a gym, I tell them to go outside; planet Earth is a gym and we’re already members. Run, climb, sweat, and enjoy all of the natural wonder that is available to you.” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“Most times, the leader’s ornament isn’t the smiles you see on their faces during the time of victory. It is the sweats we don’t see when they were struggling behind the scenes.” ― Israelmore Ayivor, Leaders’ Frontpage: Leadership Insights from 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Thoughts

“The sweet smell of success comes on the back of the stench of hard earned sweat.” ― Anthony T.Hincks

“Success is continually a relative of sweat.” ― Bharath Mamidoju

“The pain in your muscles and the sweat in your brow after doing a work the hard and honest way make you feel proud of yourself!” ― Avijeet Das

“And Sir, it is no little thing to make mine eyes to sweat compassion.” ― William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

“In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou earn thy daily bread: it was not a curse upon mankind, but the balm which reconciled it to existence.” ― W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

“True blessing comes in the dress of sweats, never delaying to wave bye to the excuses and procrastination. True blessing lies in hard work!” ― Israelmore Ayivor, Daily Drive 365

“The thickest sweats produce the sweetest life. A hard work surely brings unheard happiness. Dig up your gold.” ― Israelmore Ayivor, Mine Your Gold: How to Dig Up and Optimize Your Hidden Greatness

TEARS:

“Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.” ― José N. Harris, MI VIDA: A Story of Faith, Hope and Love

“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” ― Steve Maraboli

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before–more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.” ― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it, but also the father who wipes away the tears.” ― Criss Jami

“The sea is nothing but a library of all the tears in history.” ― Lemony Snicket

“Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“Tears are words the mouth can’t say nor can the heart bear.” ― Joshua Wisenbaker

“My eyes were glued on life and they were full of tears.” ― Jack Kerouac, Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings

“Tears are the noble language of eyes, and when true love of words is destitute. The eye by tears speak, while the tongue is mute.” ― Robert Herrick

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen – My Trusted Guide for Lent – by Al Smith

Books, Church, Holiness, Lent, Saints, Service, Spirituality

As I prepare for Lent each year, I ask myself the same questions: what am I going to give up, what works of mercy will I perform, or what spiritual reading might I entertain this year?

The older I get, the more I realize that I cannot go wrong with the tried and proven writings of the saints. Classics such as St. Alphonsus Liguori’s The Way of the Cross, and Lenten reflections from the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. Francis de Sales, are staples in my home. But to be honest, it is the writings of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen that continue to be my trusted Lenten companion.

I will never forget the first time I read Sheen’s book from 1939, entitled Victory over Vice. As I entered into the book, I began to feel deep, heartfelt sorrow for my sins for the first time in my life. Fulton Sheen’s words were removing the scales from my eyes. He showed me that the seven last words that Our Lord spoke from the Cross were the antidote for each of the seven deadly sins.

After reading this one Sheen book, I was convinced that I could put my trust in him, to guide me in my walk with Christ.  I desired to read every book of his that I could find, with a similar Lenten theme. Over the course of the next several months, I read books such as The Seven Last Words (1933), Calvary and the Mass (1936), The Cross and the Beatitudes (1937), The Rainbow of Sorrow (1938), The Seven Virtues (1940),  Seven Words to the Cross (1944), Seven Words of Jesus and Mary (1945), and Characters of the Passion (1946), to name a few.

I found out that during his last recorded Good Friday address in 1979, Archbishop Sheen spoke of having given this type of reflection on the subject of Christ’s seven last words from the Cross “for the fifty-eighth consecutive time.” Whether as the young priest in Peoria, Illinois, the university professor in Washington, D.C., or the bishop in New York, Sheen’s messages were sure to make an indelible mark on his audience.

Possessing a burning zeal to dispel the myths about Our Lord and His Church, each year Sheen gave a series of powerful presentations on Christ’s Passion and His seven last words from the Cross. As a Scripture scholar, Archbishop Sheen knew full well the power contained in preaching Christ crucified. With St. Paul, he could say, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

This confirmed what I had realized after reading many of Sheen’s books: that he desired most of all to speak about the mystery of love and suffering, more specifically, about Jesus Christ becoming man, and dying for our sins.

Recently, I came upon this great description of what a priest should be: a priest is someone who brings Jesus to the people, and in turn brings the people to Jesus. From reading Sheen’s books, listening to his audio recordings, and watching him on television, I have found that he fits this description perfectly. Indeed, he is an accomplished retreat master.  His love for Our Lord and the Blessed Mother permeates his every thought, binding our hearts to theirs. And isn’t that what Lent is all about, a time to put God in first place in our hearts?

Over the last ten years, it has been my privilege to speak about the life and writings of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  I never tire of hearing the “Sheen stories,” how he is still fondly remembered by so many, and how he touched people’s lives.

As a way of thanking God for the many favors that my family has received through the intercession of Our Lady and the Venerable Sheen, I compiled a collection of Sheen’s writings about Our Lord’s passion and His seven last words.  The book is titled: The Cries of Jesus from the Cross – A Fulton Sheen Anthology, and is published by Sophia Institute Press. It is collection of seven unique Sheen titles that will take the reader on a spiritual journey during Lent like no other.

For the first time ever, Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s complete writings and reflections on Christ’s last words have been compiled into this one book. Sheen masterfully demonstrates how the seven last words of Our Lord are in fact, a full catechism on the spiritual life.  From these holy words, we learn the secrets of living the Beatitudes, ways to avoid the deadly vices of anger, envy, lust and pride, and how to cultivate the heavenly virtues of fortitude, prudence, justice, and charity. Bishop Sheen teaches us how to deal with difficult people, and how to understand pain and suffering.  And he binds all of this together with touching references to the most beautiful love between Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

The Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has been my trusted Lenten guide for a number of years now.  He is that faithful priest who continues to bring Jesus to me and helps to bring me closer to Jesus.  I pray that he will do the same for you this Lent.

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Book Review, Books, Church, Communication, Community, Converts, Ethics, Family, Marriage, Pro-Life, Relationships, Spirituality, Vocation, , ,

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

When I heard that Jennifer Fulwiler had published a new book, I knew I had to have it and read it as soon as I could.  A few years ago, I read her book,” Something Other Than God”, and absolutely loved it.  She is a gifted writer and her second book continues to show how gifted she is.  I found it hard to put down, funny and thought provoking.  Her subtitle to this new book is The Rollicking Tale of Personal Passions, Family Chaos, and Saying Yes to Them Both.  The subtitle is a great description of her book.  It tells the story of her raising six children while trying to write a book.

For those of you who do not know Jennifer’s story, she is a former atheist whom God touched and led in to the Catholic Church.  You should read her first book “Something Other Than God” to find out this great story.  Jennifer is also a daily radio host on Sirius XM channel 129 as well as a noted speaker and columnist.  She also describes herself as “Mother of six with zero of the skills needed to manage a home”.  I would add that she is a gifted writer with an ability to describe life situations in ways that can only make you laugh, and sometimes cause you to shed a tear.

The beauty of her new book is that not only is it funny and interesting and hard to put down; it shows us all how it is possible to accomplish a sense of personal accomplishment in the midst of being a good, albeit struggling, parent.  I love what the book does for both men and women who find it hard to balance family life and work life.  It shows how you can incorporate both into personal satisfaction.  This book will definitely challenge any man or woman who puts work ahead of family.  However, it does show that a true balance can be made that will be very satisfying.

To be perfectly truthful, when I first started reading this book I thought it was mainly a book for women.  I even said that to my wife and told her that I knew she would enjoy it.  However, after reading the book for a while, I saw that it is for men and women.  Jennifer describes how her lifelong desire to write a book seemed to interfere with her sense that God was calling her to have a large family.  On many occasions her husband Joe was the needed instrument to help her learn to be able to do both.  At the same time Joe had to learn how to balance his work (and advancements) to fit in to their family life.  Personally I see Joe as a real hero in this story.  There is no doubt that Jennifer is the one who had to struggle and work so hard, but it was with Joe at her side and often encouraging her.  This book does so much to show what marriage and family life is supposed to be, even the messy parts of it.

The book also shows how Jennifer discovers that family is not just her and Joe and their six children, but extends to grandparents, great grandparents  and friends and neighbors and even to young girls ringing the door bell and running away (usually at the most inopportune times).  Jennifer learns that she can’t do everything by herself and it is then that family life begins to grow.  She learns how to involve her children in her writing career.  She also learns how to involve other family and friends in what she does.  In doing this she discovers that having a large family is a lot more than giving birth to many children.

I love how Jennifer is able to make us all laugh at some of the disheveled things that life throws at us.  I also like the way her faith comes forth without being preachy.  She shows herself in her weaknesses and in her strengths and we can’t help but to love her in both.  In an age where many couples have no children, or only one or two, this books delights us with the interactions of six children and the fulfillment they bring to their parents.  Jennifer is often confronted by friends and strangers for having such a large family.  I find this so sad.  Large families are a real gift that society doesn’t seem to appreciate any more.  Jennifer and Joe wanted a large family and God gave them one.  Jennifer and Joe use Natural Family Planning and Jennifer does a great job sharing how NFP has been a positive influence on their marriage.  This book certainly shows us how two people, working together in the gift of marriage, can find both personal fulfillment and family fulfillment.   There is no doubt that this is a book that I would highly recommend reading.  It is printed by Zondervan.  I bought my copy on Amazon Prime.

POWER – by A.J. Avila

Books, Church, Holiness, Holy Orders, Prayer, Relationships, Saints, Service, Spirituality

Recently my husband came home from a Friends of the Library sale. My city library sells donated books every few months, and you pay only a measly two dollars for whatever you can stuff inside a paper grocery bag. The money goes toward buying new books for the library, essential when our city has slashed the new book budget to zero.

In my husband’s bag was a book he thought I might like because it’s about Catholicism. On the back cover are quotations from many prominent Catholics—that is, Catholics who are prominent in a worldly sort of way, such as politicians and actors. One quotation struck me immediately. I’m not going to mention who said it, but it read “When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest . . . The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest.”

When I see something like that, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I did, however, read it aloud to my husband, and he burst into laughter. So maybe mirth is the more appropriate response to something so ridiculous.

If you think priests have a lot of power, read that quote to your local parish priest and see what his reaction is.

I guess the woman who said it had no idea what she was talking about. Does she not know why Catholic priests wear Roman collars? It’s because the collar is a symbol of slavery.

That’s right: Roman Catholic priests are slaves.

That is, they are slaves of Christ.

Ironically, that is where power—in a supernatural sense—resides, but since this woman is a politician, she seemed to be talking about worldly power.

If I had the opportunity, I would ask her who she thought had more worldly power: her parish priest or Mother Teresa. After all, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. She addressed the United Nations.

When’s the last time your parish priest did that?

Besides, worldly power means nothing to God, except in how it is wielded.

True power comes from conforming to God’s will, and you don’t have to be a priest to do that.

I got into this a bit in my novel Nearer the Dawn. A man who has turned away from his atheism to make an act of faith lies prone in adoration on a mountainside when he encounters God:

Here, with his nose in the dirt, he had never felt so elevated. Before, he had considered the walls of a church those of a prison or insane asylum. Now he realized the barriers he had seen were of his own construction, designed to keep him banished outside rather than let him in. At last here was Everything he had been searching for, Everything he was created for, the fulfillment of his hunger. This was not only the destination but the road that led everywhere, the key that opened all treasures. Here was the ecstasy that eternally satisfied that longing desire not only to be loved but to love fully and completely. And here was true freedom, for only by binding himself with the One he was free to be transformed, crowned with glory. No wonder he had never been able to do it alone. Relying on his own capabilities was like trying to operate on a single ohm, but now he was plugged into a Power Source mightier than all the suns of the universe, for here life overflowed with more abundance than he had thought possible.

Being a priest is wonderful, but it is God who crowns us with power and glory. The power, in other words, comes by being a saint.

The Gift of Community – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Communication, Community, Family, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Marriage, Prayer, Relationships, Spirituality


Our Lord knew that life could be difficult at times, as well as joyful.  We were created not to be a person just to ourselves, but rather a person who reacts with other people.  This way we have someone to share the joyful moments with as well as someone to help us in the difficult moments.  In our relationships with others we often form communities.   These communities can be a source of sharing great joy as well as a support for times when life is difficult.  Communities can take on different forms.  I recently was contemplating the gift of community at a time when very good friends (and members of one of our communities) lost their daughter.  It was most difficult for our friends, but the gift of community really came forth.  I would like to share with you some of the ways that I have experienced this community in action.  My hope is this will help you to better appreciate the gift of community in your own life.  The old adage; “it takes a village to raise a child” is an old African proverb but certainly relates to all of us today.  I would change that a little to say, “it takes a community to raise and support a Christian”.

My first experience of Christian Community happened in 1972.  My wife and I started going to a Catholic Charismatic prayer meeting.  That experience brought me to know Jesus and His Church and the gift of community.   The prayer group was one where I experienced joy, teachings and support.  We met every week and I looked forward to going every time.  We prayed together in the church and often had a teaching there; afterwards many of us would go over to the diner across the street just to socialize.  Because of my relationship with that prayer group, and with Jesus, my marriage became what it really needed to be.  My wife and I grew in our relationship as we grew in our relationship in the prayer group and our relationship to Jesus and His Church.  My wife and I had difficulties having children and this weighed heavily upon our relationship.  The prayer group was a great support to us and I believe it was through the prayers there that we received the miracle of our daughter.  The prayer group always shared with us our pains as well as our joys.  It was quite a gift.

We continued in weekly prayer groups until the early 1980’s when we were invited to join a prayer community called “My people”.  This continued in the same way as the prayer meeting, but with closer ties of friendship.  We prayed together and we did things to have fun together.  The friends that I mentioned earlier are part of that community.  All of us watched our children grow in to adults and then watched as our children had children.  It was a source of great joy.  At the same time there were many difficulties, from run-away teenagers to car accidents to deaths of spouses to all sorts of things that happened.  However, we were able to experience it all together.  We were able to lend support to each other.  Over and over again, God used this community to bring His loving support to us.

Over the 40 years that this community has existed, some members retired and moved away (down south).  Every year we have a community retreat and most of those who moved away come up for that retreat here on Long Island.   In some ways it was as if they never left.  We were, and are, all one community.  Those of us who still live on Long Island still meet regularly for our community prayer meeting.  We also maintain other social ties to one another.  Last month, when we heard about the sudden death of one couple’s 45 year old daughter, we were devastated.  However, the community pulled together to support them in so many ways.  Even those who moved away came up from the south to be there for the funeral.  We stayed with the family at the funeral home the whole time they were there.  We were, literally, “there for them”.  I could tell how much it was a support to them. 

I also noticed at the funeral another example of community.  Our friend’s daughter was an EMT for a local ambulance company.  They too came out in great numbers each day of the funeral.  They also provided a funeral dinner for everyone after the last service.  Their support was encouraging to all of us and especially to the parents.  We saw that many parishioners from our friend’s parish came too.  The funeral mass was quite full.  After the mass, the hearse drove past the hospital where our friend’s daughter worked in the Emergency Room.  It seemed that every worker in the hospital came outside to give her their last goodbye.  It was amazing to see how such a tragic loss of a young woman could also show so much good from the people around her.  Community is quite a gift that God uses to support us.

We can find community in our families, in our local parish, in our work, in our neighborhood, in our volunteer agencies…….in so many different places.  Sometimes we need to work on building these communities into something that God can use to help us all experience life with its joys and with its sorrows.  Anything that is good, takes a little work. 

I would ask you to look around at the communities that you are part of and give thanks to God for them.  Perhaps you can find ways to grow closer to each other in these communities.  Perhaps you can see in your family and in your co-workers ways to grow in community.  Church groups can be a fantastic way to experience community.  My wife and I, besides belonging to the “My People” charismatic community also belong to the Teams of Our Lady group in our parish.  We cherish those monthly meetings with them and the gift of community there.  I cannot picture life without these communities.  Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.   We really need community to bring out the best in us.  Hebrews 10;25-25 tells us, “ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. “

When we are in community we can experience better what it means to be “the people of God”.   1 Peter 2:9-19 tells us, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy”.   Community is also where we all can experience being the “body of Christ”.   Matthew 18:20 tells us that, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”  I Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”.

My friends, let us all drink of the one Spirit and use all the gifts that God gives to us, especially the gift of community.

10 Quotes from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton by Tom Perna

Abortion, Charity, Church, Converts, Family, Marriage, Miracles, Saints, Spirituality, Uncategorized

Today (originally published Jan 4th) is the memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first Native born American saint of the Catholic Church. She was born in New York in the year 1774 to a wealthy and prosperous Episcopalian family. In 1794, she married a young successful man by the name of William Magee Seton. They would have 5 children together. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he lost his fortune and eventually his health. They traveled to Italy to find a cure for his physical ailments, but in the end, he died while living in Italy.

During her time in Italy, she became familiar with Catholicism through some friends and eventually made a Profession of Faith in the Catholic Church on March 14, 1805. Her family and friends back home were completely opposed to her becoming Catholic, but she persevered through it all. After returning home, she found herself in financial ruin because her family and friends shunned her decision to become Catholic.

After receiving an invitation from a priest, she established the first Catholic school in Baltimore in 1808. In 1809, she created a small community of religious sisters in Emmitsburg, Maryland. At first, they were known as the Sisters of St. Joseph, but eventually changed their name to the Daughters of Charity. From the moment, she became known as Mother Seton. Her small religious community grew exceptionally in 100 years going from Baltimore to New York, then to Cincinnati, Halifax, New Jersey, Greensburg, and St. Louis. From there, the community continued to spread West. They have been in my diocese, Phoenix, since 1933.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton died on January 21, 1821 in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  She was beatified in 1963 by Pope St. John XXIII. On September 14, 1975, she was canonized by Pope St. Paul VI.

Below are 10 Quotes from the great American Catholic Saint known as Mother Seton –

1. Devotional Reading: “Give some time, if it is only half an hour in every day, to devotional reading, which is as necessary to the well ordering of the mind as the hand of the gardener is to prevent weeds destroying your favorite flowers.”

2. Faith, Hope, and Love: “Faith lifts the staggering soul on one side, Hope supports it on the other. Experience says it must be, and Love says let it be.”

3. Going to the Catholic Church: “I will go peaceably and firmly to the Catholic Church: for if Faith is so important to our salvation, I will seek it where true Faith first began, seek it among those who received it from God Himself.”

4. Heaven: “The gate of heaven is very low; only the humble can enter it.”

5. God’s will before our will: “’Thy will be done’ – What a comfort and support those four little words are to my soul. I have repeated them until they are softened to the sweetest harmony.”

6. Parental Advice: “If I had to advise parents, I should tell them to take great care about the people with whom their children associate…Much harm can result from bad company, and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse than what is better.”

7. Penance: “Penance is the purifier of the soul.”

8. Suffering: “This is not a country for solitude and silence, but for warfare and crucifixion. You are not to stay in his silent agonies of the Garden at night, but go from post to pillar, to the very fastening of the Cross. If you suffer so much the better for our high journey above.”

9. Illness/Suffering: “I never experienced so keenly the presence of this beloved Lord as I have since I have been ill. It is as if I were seeing the good Jesus, Him, and His holy Mother, here, continually seated at my side, under a visible form, to console me, cheer me, and to encourage me throughout all the hours of my long and painful suffering.”

10. Serving God: “This union of my soul with God is my wealth in poverty and joy in deepest afflictions.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton…Pray for Us 

To read how St. Elizabeth Ann Seton gave my wife and I our miracle daughter, click here:  http://deaconmarty.com/saint-elizabeth-ann-seton-and-how-she-personally-brought-a-miracle-to-my-family-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/

Great Start to a New Year by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Eucharist, Family, Healing, Jewish roots, Liturgy, Miracles, Prayer, Saints, Scripture, Spirituality

First of all I must apologize to my readers. I haven’t written or added to my blog in quite a while. This is because I had a bad cold, closed on a new house and moved in to the new house in the midst of celebrating Christmas.
We start off our New Year with a Holy Day celebrating the Blessed Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus (God). It is such a great way to start. The readings of this mass are filled with blessings. The first reading gives the Blessing of Aaron found in Numbers 6: 22-27. In this we hear, “The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!” What a beautiful blessing for the New Year. In the responsorial psalm we hear, “May the Lord bless you in His mercy”. Again, such a wonderful blessing. In the second reading St. Paul tells us that Jesus came to us, born of a woman, to ransom us so that we might receive adoption as sons of the Father. We can now call our God, Abba, Father. What a blessing it is to know that we are God’s children. In the Gospel we hear of the shepherds rejoicing at the site of the new born King. We also hear a phrase that is almost identical to one we heard last Sunday (finding of the 12 year old Jesus in the temple) about Mary where it tells us that Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. We also hear of the naming of Jesus.
Personally, I cannot think of a better way to start the New Year than to hear these readings and receive the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. God richly blesses us, over and over again. He has blessed us so much in sharing His mother with us. The love that Mary has for us is amazing. She cares so much for us and wants us to grow closer to her son. She wants to bring us His healing love and forgiveness. Starting the New Year knowing that God calls us His children and blesses us and gives us His own mother is the most important way to start anything. This year I pray that we all grow in our knowledge of God. I pray that we all grow in our knowledge of how God continues to work through the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother. I pray that we all grow in the knowledge of our call to be children of God, for so indeed we are. I pray that we can be like Mary and ponder all of the wonderful gifts, and even the difficulties, that God has chosen to give us. May this be a New Year that we all grow closer to God.
So many of our Saints have had a close devotion to Mary. One of the most loving is Saint Louis de Montfort. I would like to end with a prayer that he gave us:
My powerful Queen,
you are all mine through your mercy,
and I am all yours.
Take away from me all that may displease God
and cultivate in me all that is pleasing to him.
May the light of your faith
dispel the darkness of my mind,
your deep humility
take the place of my pride,
your continual sight of God
fill my memory with his presence.
May the first of the love of your heart
inflame the lukewarmness of my own heart.
May your virtues take the place of my sins.
May your merits be my enrichment
and make up for all
that is wanting in me before God.
My beloved Mother,
grant that I may have no other spirit but your spirit, to know Jesus Christ and His divine will and to praise and glorify the Lord, that I may love God with burning love like yours.
Amen. St. Louis de Montfort

A Time to YEARN – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Death and Dying, Eucharist, Family, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Liturgy, Sacraments, Scripture, Spirituality

 

We are at the end of the Church liturgical year. This Sunday, December 2nd, is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is a very important, but very short, liturgical season. It is there to prepare us for the even shorter season of the twelve days of Christmas. Unfortunately and at the same time, our society also places demands upon us for celebrating Christmas, or as society says, “The Holidays”. These demands of society often keep us from the real preparation for Christmas that Advent calls us to. I really do believe that some of the demands of society such as Christmas decorating, parties and gift giving are important and do help us rejoice in the birth of our Savior, Jesus. But I also believe that we too often are more concentrated on these then on the spiritual preparation of the Advent season. This is something that we must work on.
I believe that at the heart of the Advent season we must recognize a yearning. This is a yearning that we have to be close to God and a yearning that He has to be close to us. The Advent readings reflect that two fold yearning. Advent is a time of yearning and a time of preparation to meet and be with the God who yearns to be with us even more than we yearn to be with him. It is a time when we celebrate the way that God comes to us. Christmas is the time we celebrate that the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the WORD, became flesh so that we could be with God and He could be with us. Advent helps us to celebrate better that special gift of the Incarnation. We can experience the yearning that the Jewish people had for the Messiah to come to them. The Old Testament (or Hebrew) readings help us experience that. They waited so long for His coming.
Advent is also a time for us to recognize the yearning for Jesus to come to us here and now. Life often has so many difficulties such as disappointments, illnesses and death of loved ones. We need help to live through these difficulties and we yearn for Jesus to be there with us. When we open our hearts, we can see that He is. Life also has so many great experiences and joys and it seems that we yearn to have God experience them with us, especially when we are filled with gratitude and praise. In our everyday life, in all that we do, God yearns to be present to us. If we really look within ourselves we also yearn for him to be there.
Advent also reminds us that just as Jesus came to His people on that very first Christmas, and just as Jesus joins us in our everyday lives, especially in the Eucharist, we still await another coming of Jesus. This second coming of Jesus will bring with it the fullness of His Kingdom. This too all creation yearns for (Romans 8: 19). Whether we will be alive when He comes again or not, we do know that we all will meet him when our body finally fails. Most people in ordinary life do not yearn for death, and thus this coming, but I have been with so many older and sickly people who do. They literally are yearning for their death so they can meet their Savior.
We really do not know when the Lord will come again and we do not know when our own time to meet him will come, so we must learn to be prepared.
Advent, when celebrated well, can help us do this. So how do we celebrate Advent well? First and foremost, we should try to attend mass as often as possible. If possible, every day is best. When we attend we should listen closely to the scriptures and the homily. God’s Word helps form us and readies us. Receiving Him in the Eucharist is so very important. He literally comes to us there. At home we should try to use a daily Advent devotional. There are many available at religious goods stores and online. Many Catholic organizations offer free emails every day to you. They are sent out daily at no cost. I especially like Dynamic Catholic which includes a link each day to a short video to watch. It is called “A Best Advent Ever” and can be found at BEST ADVENT .
An advent wreath is a great devotional to have in a home. It consists of an evergreen wreath and four upright candles. Four of the candles are purple (the liturgical color of advent) and one is pink or rose (the liturgical color of Gaudate Sunday the 3rd Sunday of Advent). One candle is lit for each of the four Sundays of Advent. There are prayer books to accompany the wreath (check online). This gives a great experience of waiting.
A Jesse Tree is also a great devotional for advent. We used to make one every year. All you need to do is to find a fallen branch with several branches on it and no leaves. You put it in a pot of dirt to hold it upright. You can Google “Jesse tree cutouts” and get free cutouts that you can print and cut out and color and hang on the tree. The idea is that you learn about the ancestors in the line of Jesus. This is a great way for children to learn about some of the famous Old Testament characters.
Last but not least, you need to try to find time within the busyness of the Season for some quiet. This is an especially great time of year for Penance and Reconciliation.   Go to Confession.  Take some extra time alone to pray.   God comes to us when we find a place of stillness.  He comes to us when we seek Him and YEARN for Him.  Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

Rejection – by A.J. Avila

Anxiety and Worry, Communication, Family, Forgiveness, Relationships, Spirituality

We’ve all been on the receiving end of a gift we don’t want. If you can’t stand country music, ripping off the Christmas wrap and finding a CD entitled Country’s Greatest Hits isn’t going to go over very well. Nor is a DVD of a movie you can’t stand, nor a food that contains an ingredient you’re allergic to.
In my life I’ve gotten some pretty bad gifts (see ” Weird Gifts “)
So, when I get a gift like that, I figure there are four options:
1. Trash
2. Donation to charity
3. Sell on eBay
4. Re-gift to someone who will like it
As long as I’m sure the giver won’t find out about it, any of the above can be done without hurting that person’s feelings. So imagine my surprise to discover a different kind of option:
5. Give it back to the person who gave it to you—and tell her to give it to someone else.
Well, that happened to me during Eucharistic Adoration. One of the women of my parish brought back two gifts I had bestowed on her. Now, these weren’t just a couple of things I had picked up at a store. They were items I had created myself.
She’d had them for over a year, but I guess she didn’t want them anymore. I could, she said, give them to someone else.
Uh . . . that’s going to be a bit difficult when one of them—at the woman’s request—was personalized with her first and last names.
Oh, believe me, this wasn’t a case of forgetting who had given them to her. She included a thank-you note addressed to me. I’m not going to say what the gifts were, but I had put hours upon hours of care (and—metaphorically speaking—blood, sweat, and tears) into them. It had been like giving away a bit of my very being.
Sitting there, holding them in my hands, I felt like she had spat in my face. Or, worse, slapped my face.
Okay, I get that not everything I give someone is going to be that person’s cup of tea. But why not go with options 1-4 instead? Why bring these back to the one who gave them to her? Just how did she expect me to react to the message that she was rejecting my gifts? Was this supposed to make me happy?
Anyway, I sat there at Eucharistic Adoration, mostly gazing up at Christ in the Host or at the large crucifix behind the altar. It occurred to me that this must be something Jesus goes through every day—giving the immeasurably greater gift of salvation that He put His time, blood, sweat, and tears into—only to have it thrown back in His face.
I admit I wasn’t looking for an opportunity to be more Christ-like that day, but I guess I got one anyway. Lord, please help me to be more like You in every way.
Even when it hurts.
Especially when it hurts.

An Infallible Pope—for Fallible Christians by Matt Nelson

Apologetics, Church, Early Church Fathers, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Relationships, Saints, Scripture, Spirituality

There are few dogmas of the Catholic Church that have appeared more scandalous to non-Catholic believers than papal infallibility. Consider, for example, this reflection from Protestant apologist Matt Slick in one of his critical pieces on the subject:
I can’t help but wonder what new revelations and infallible interpretations will arise within the Roman Catholic Church. Will the next six million years produce the complete deification of Mary? Will Mary become the creator of the universe in Roman Catholic lore? Or perhaps the pope might be elevated to a celestial level here on earth (Infallibility, Fallibility, and the Roman Catholic Church).
As any decently catechized Catholic will know, Slick can rest assured that neither Mary nor the pope will ever be the subjects of deification by the Catholic Church; not in the next sixty years, not in the next 600 billion years. Not ever. Indeed, papal infallibility exists to prevent such heresies. It is also fitting given the primary of the pope in the Church.
Papal Primacy
In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives Peter alone “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” and the power to “bind and loose” (Matt. 16:16-20). Peter’s unique authority is powerfully exemplified in the Acts of the Apostles, at the Council of Jerusalem, when Peter made a definitive ruling regarding circumcision “and all the assembly kept silence” (Acts 15:12).
As the chief “overseer” of the Church, Peter—and his successors—was to maintain doctrinal purity, as well as doctrinal unity, in the Church. The eminent Protestant scholar James D.G. Dunn affirms this unitive role:
It is Peter who becomes the focal point of unity for the whole Church . . . he became the most hopeful symbol of unity for that growing Christianity which more and more came to think of itself as the Church Catholic” (Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, 386).
Writing in the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons gives important testimony to the primacy of the pope. Dealing with the Gnostic heretics in the second century, he asserted that the beliefs of every local Christian church must be congruent, not just with apostolic tradition, but with the teachings of every other Christian church. Why? Because the Church is essentially catholic. The primary way, wrote the ancient bishop of Lyons, that Christ ensures the unity of his Church is through the Petrine office: the church in Rome “is the greatest and most important and best-known of all . . . For with this church, because of her more powerful pre-eminence all churches must agree” (Against Heresies, III, 3.2) .
A Sensible Office
It makes sense that Jesus would establish such an authority in his absence—something like the Petrine office—because “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). We are easily fooled and distracted, and thereby often fail to hear the still, small voice of God. Yes, the Holy Spirit can and will lead us into all truth as Jesus promised—but how, exactly? Through prayer and contemplation of the scriptures, surely. But as St. Paul tells us, we are to “test everything [and] hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). How should we test and confirm our spiritual sentiments? Through the infallible guidance of the Church, especially realized in the ministry of the chief bishop of the Church.
Papal infallibility is often misunderstood, but not because it is a hard concept to understand. It makes perfect sense. We need an infallible teaching authority because we are so fallible.
And because this charism exists to prevent the teaching of error in the universal Church, it is only present when the pope fulfills three narrow criteria. First, he must be teaching as the supreme pastor of the universal church. Second, he must have the intention of deciding a matter finally. Third, the teaching must be regarding faith and morals.
Assisted, Not Inspired
The writers of the New Testament were also specially influenced by God as they communicated religious truth. But there’s a critical distinction to be made here. The New Testament writers were not merely influenced—they were inspired. Indeed they were inspired in such a profound manner that, although it was mere creatures who put letters to the sacred page, God was in fact the primary author. Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott affirms this distinction in his well-known Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma:
This assistance [involved in papal infallibility] must be distinguished . . . from Inspiration, which is a positive influence effected by God over an author, of such a nature that God himself is the principal author of the writing, and the ideas are consequently the Word of God.
Whereas inspiration is a positive influence to “write only what God wants written,” papal infallibility is essentially a negative—or preventative—charism that prevents the chief teacher of the Church from teaching “what God does not want taught,” that is, from teaching error.
Peter the Pitiful
Given his blunderous and impulsive character, wasn’t the apostle Peter rather unfit for the job as infallible leader of the Church? What about his successors? Precisely so—at least according to worldly standards. By gospel standards, however, Peter was the perfect fit.
Truly at the crux of the Good News is the paradoxical truth that God “has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree” (Luke 1:52). Jesus specializes in making something great out the pitiful. Indeed during his earthly ministry he took a special interest in uneducated fishermen, sinful tax collectors—even murderers like Paul—many of whom he gave the task of overseeing his ministry and tending his flock.
Riddled as he was with imperfections, the genius of Peter’s selection may not have been immediately apparent. Centuries later, however, the power of God is clear. For the Chair of Peter still remains; no power has yet prevailed over the Church. “All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men,” writes Chesterton. “But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link” (Heretics). Indeed, when Jesus gave Peter the keys and charism of infallibility, he infused the whole Christian people with a principle of unity that forms an unbreakable bond.
Peter’s Faith Did Not Fail
“The prayer of a righteous man is great in its effect,” writes St. James (James 5:16). How great in its effect must have been the Lord’s prayer for Peter when he said to his chief disciple, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).
Indeed, from that perfect prayer of Christ have come two miracles that have strengthened the Church ever since. The first is the witness—the martyrdom—of Peter whose faith did not fail in the end. And the second is still with us; indeed we are living it—the indestructible Catholic Church, the community of believers in grace whose faith has been strengthened century after century by the Servant of the Servants of God, the pope.

The Seasonal Church – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Converts, Liturgy, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Spirituality

I am fortunate to live in the North East United States where we experience four seasons every year. Each season brings with it new sights and sounds and something special to bring us a better experience of life. It seems that there is always a change in the air going on. We usually take these changes of seasons for granted, but I remember one year when I lived in central Texas when I didn’t experience theses changes and it really bothered me. Somehow, grilling outside for Christmas while wearing shorts didn’t do much for giving me the Christmas spirit. I know that many people live in areas where there is little or no change in seasons and probably deal with it well, but I did not. I am used to seasons and I really enjoy them.
We are now in our fall season. The air is clean and crisp and refreshing. The trees are changing their leaves from green to various shades of yellow and red and brown and gold. Fall flowers such as mums are bringing new colors in to the neighborhood. The smell of fall candles and cinnamon and spices fill the house. The sky seems to be a brighter shade of blue. We spend more time inside with our families and friends. Life is good.
When winter comes we feel the sharp cold air, but it seems to refresh and awaken us. Most of the trees and flowers are bare now, but there are still some evergreen trees and bushes that remind us that life goes on. When snow falls it is one of the most beautiful sights to see. Children can be seen snow sledding and ice skating. There is nothing like coming in from the cold to sit around a nice fireplace with a roaring fire. After a while, we tire of the cold and ice but then we see signs of spring coming.
With spring comes a feeling of new life. The trees that seemed to be dead are now coming alive again. Flowers are pushing up from the ground with seamless effort. You hear the sounds of birds chirping in the trees. The air has a fragrance of flowers. The earth seems to be awakening from its sleep.
In summer we have the warm breezes touching our skin. The flowers that bloom are filled with so many different and bright colors. Many of our activities of enjoyment are found outside. We have our times for walks and our times for going to the beach or to the pool. The children are thrilled because they are on their summer break and can really enjoy the summer life.
Just as the seasons of the earth bring us new experiences and help us to live out a fuller life, the Church, in its great wisdom, offers us seasons to do the same thing. The earth gives us four seasons but the Church gives us six. The whole Church year revolves around the Church seasons. Let’s take a brief look at these six seasons and how they help us to experience God’s love better. These seasons are also filled with their own colors and sights and sounds.
The first season of the Church year is Advent. It starts in the late fall, timed to give us four weeks to prepare for the great feast of Christmas. The color for this season is violet (with one Sunday of Rose). Advent is a quiet season of joy where we anticipate and prepare for the coming of Jesus. We look towards the coming of Jesus both at Christmas two thousand years ago and His Second Coming at the end of time. It is a time of anticipation and readiness. Advent ends on December 24th.
The second season of the Church year is Christmas. It starts on December 25th and lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. This is a season of joy and celebration and merriment. It is a time where we all give out gifts to remember the great gift given to us at Christmas, Jesus. It is a time of the smells of evergreens and baking and a time when families spend more time with each other. The color for this season is white.
When Christmas ends, we begin the third season, the season of Ordinary time. The color of this season is green. Ordinary time is a split season. The first split is right after Christmas for about four to eight weeks. It is a time when we listen to all of the stories about Jesus. It is a time for us to learn and grow in our knowledge of Jesus. It ends with Ash Wednesday.
The fourth season is the season of Lent. This season starts with Ash Wednesday and ends with Holy Thursday morning. The color of this season is Violet. It is a time for prayer and repentance in preparation for the celebration of the Easter mysteries. It is a special time for our RCIA groups to be ready for coming in to the Church at the Easter Vigil. It is a time of serious prayer and reflection and growth in our love of Jesus.
The fifth season is the Paschal Triduum. Its colors are white and red depending on the day. This season is only three days long but reflects the very act of what our Church was founded upon, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. The first day is Holy Thursday (White) when we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. The second day is Good Friday (Red) when we remember the death of Jesus on the cross. The Church does not celebrate any Sacraments that day. The third day is Holy Saturday with its Easter Vigil. The vigil mass is the highest mass of the Church year. It is one that is filled with so many sights and sounds, readings, candles, water, incense etc. The RCIA candidates come in to the Church that evening. It is a time of GREAT JOY. The liturgies of all three days of the Paschal Triduum are celebrated as ONE continuous liturgy that commemorates the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sixth season of the Church year is the Easter Season. It is a fifty day celebration that begins at the Easter Vigil and concludes on the Feast of Pentecost. The color of the season is white. We spend fifty days looking at the readings about the resurrected Jesus. The Easter Paschal Candle, lit at the Easter Vigil, burns for all liturgies during this season. Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the Resurrection and the Life. We spend fifty days celebrating this. This is what the Church is all about. We are a resurrection people.
The second part of Ordinary season starts on the Monday after Pentecost and goes until the Feast of Christ the King when the calendar of seasons starts all over again. We hear all of the stories of Jesus during this season.
It is interesting that the seasons of the earth seem to join in with the liturgical seasons. The late fall and early winter of Advent gives us a little glimpse of the stillness and waiting of Advent. The beauty of the winter white proclaims the birth of the savior. The beginning harshness of winter at Lent calls us to penance and the Spring season reflects the life and light of Easter. Just as we can enjoy the seasons of the year, the seasons of the Church can help us better experience all that Jesus has done for us and how we should respond to His love.

How To Achieve Constant Prayer – by Matthew Leonard

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

How To Achieve Constant Prayer – by Matthew Leonard

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

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

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