Reflections of a Young Adult Minister

Faith and Works: A Defense

2010-04-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

During the Protestant Reformation in the early 1500s, a familiar term regarding salvation was "sola fide," Latin for "by faith alone." The reformers, at that time, accused the Catholic Church of departing from the "simple purity of the Gospel" of Jesus Christ. They stated it was faith alone, without works of any kind, that brought a believer to eternal life. They defined this faith as "the confidence of man, associated with the certainty of salvation, because the merciful Father will forgive sins because of Christ's sake."

This view of salvation is a crucial issue because it strikes at the very heart of the Gospel message eternal life. Roman Catholicism teaches that we are not saved by faith alone. The Church has taught this since 30 A.D. as part of the Divine Revelation. The truth of the Catholic Church's teaching can be demonstrated from Sacred Scripture alone.All who claim the title "Christian" will be able to agree on the following two truths: salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8) and salvation is through Christ alone (Acts 4:12). These biblical facts will be our foundation as we explain the teaching of the Catholic Church.If we take a concordance and look up every occurrence of the word "faith," we come up with an undeniable fact the only time the phrase "faith alone" is used in the entire Bible is when it is condemned (James 2:24). The epistle of James only mentions it in the negative sense.The Bible tells us we must have faith in order to be saved (Hebrews 11:6). Yet is faith nothing more than believing and trusting? Searching the Scriptures, we see faith also involves assent to God's truth (1 Thessalonians 2:13), obedience to Him (Romans 1:5, 16:26), and it must be working in love (Galatians 5:6). These points appeared to be missed by the reformers, yet they are just as crucial as believing and trusting. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) should be heeded by all it's certainly an attention grabber.To continue reading the enitre defense, click on the title of this post.

-- EWTN Network Library

How do you become a Saint?

2009-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Canonization, the process the Church uses to name a saint, has only been used since the tenth century. For hundreds of years, starting with the first martyrs of the early Church, saints were chosen by public acclaim. Though this was a more democratic way to recognize saints, some saints' stories were distorted by legend and some never existed. Gradually, the bishops and finally the Vatican took over authority for approving saints.

In 1983, Pope John Paul II made sweeping changes in the canonization procedure. The process begins after the death of a Catholic whom people regard as holy. Often, the process starts many years after death in order give perspective on the candidate. The local bishop investigates the candidate's life and writings for heroic virtue (or martyrdom) and orthodoxy of doctrine. Then a panel of theologians at the Vatican evaluates the candidate. After approval by the panel and cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope proclaims the candidate "venerable."

The next step, beatification, requires evidence of one miracle (except in the case of martyrs). Since miracles are considered proof that the person is in heaven and can intercede for us, the miracle must take place after the candidate's death and as a result of a specific petition to the candidate. When the pope proclaims the candidate beatified or "blessed," the person can be venerated by a particular region or group of people with whom the person holds special importance.

Only after one more miracle will the pope canonize the saint (this includes martyrs as well). The title of saint tells us that the person lived a holy life, is in heaven, and is to be honored by the universal Church. Canonization does not "make" a person a saint; it recognizes what God has already done.

Though canonization is infallible and irrevocable, it takes a long time and a lot of effort. So while every person who is canonized is a saint, not every holy person has been canonized. You have probably known many "saints" in your life, and you are called by God to be one yourself.

--Taken from "Catholic Online" at www.catholic.org/saints/faq.php

On the Origin of Rosary Beads

2009-01-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

The complex history of the rosary deals normally with the following stages of development:

1. Repetition of the Hail Mary, in the 12th century, related to the joys of Mary, first five (Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, Assumption)

2. For the next two centuries (13th and 14th) a similar development regarding Mary's sorrows (five, later seven) takes place (from Franciscan and Servite influences).

3. In the 14th century the rosary also has the meaning of florilegium, a collection of pious thoughts or little poems about Mary.

4. The 15th century sees the appearance of the Carthusian and Dominican rosary, both still prayed today. The Carthusian rosary (Dominic the Carthusian of Trier, Germany, ca. 1410) is a succession of 150 Hail Marys with appended references to the lives of Christ and Mary (for example: Annunciation...). The Dominican rosary (from Alain of Roche, Douai, ca. 1460) is structured in three groups of mysteries related to the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection of Christ. This latter rosary recitation became the most common, even the norm, since the end of the 15th century, not least thanks to the confraternities of the rosary (since 1475).

The Rosary Beads

The physical "rosary" is not a Christian invention. It was, and is, essentially a tallying device, known in Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. It has had the same function in Christianity since antiquity (pebbles, strings, chains).

1. Originally, this tallying device served to monitor penitential exercises. Penitents used strings or little cords with knots to count the number of "Our Fathers" to be recited. The name given to this tallying device was Paternoster or Pater. The Paternoster is older than the physical rosary but co-existed with the latter throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

2. The transfer of the name rosary from the prayer form to the physical object took place at the beginning of the 16th c. Long before this occurred, the tallying devices, later called "rosary," were either simple cords or closed chains of various lengths, with or without subdivisions, and made of a variety of materials (wood, bone, coral, mother of pearl, pebbles, seeds, pits ...).

taken from a reference posted by the University of Dayton, Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio 45469-1390

Faith and Works: A Defense

2008-12-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

All who claim the title "Christian" will be able to agree on the following two truths: salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8) and salvation is through Christ alone (Acts 4:12). These biblical facts will be our foundation as we explain the teaching of the Catholic Church.

If we take a concordance and look up every occurrence of the word "faith," we come up with an undeniable fact the only time the phrase "faith alone" is used in the entire Bible is when it is condemned (James 2:24). The epistle of James only mentions it in the negative sense.

The Bible tells us we must have faith in order to be saved (Hebrews 11:6). Yet is faith nothing more than believing and trusting? Searching the Scriptures, we see faith also involves assent to God's truth (1 Thessalonians 2:13), obedience to Him (Romans 1:5, 16:26), and it must be working in love (Galatians 5:6). These points appeared to be missed by the reformers, yet they are just as crucial as believing and trusting. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) should be heeded by all it's certainly an attention grabber.

To continue reading the enitre defense, click on the title of this post.

Statements of Dogma by the Pope

2008-11-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Invocations of the Pope's Solemn (or "Extraordinary") Magisterium are rare. Since 1870 only one statement exercising the Solemn Magisterium has been made, Pope Pius XII's explicitly defining in 1950 the doctrine concerning the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Some commentators regard the dogmatic definition of Papal Infallibility itself in 1870, and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854, to be other recent examples of infallible pronouncements.

For more information on this topic, click on the title of this Blog Post.

Taking some time out for you (with the Bible)

2008-10-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Lectio Divina, Most Catholics seldom pick up a bible no less pray with it. This is another example of the many fascinating and very enriching traditions we have within our 2000+ year old church that can have a positive impact on your life. Lectio Divina is a great example of how a simple practice of faith can have an amazing affect, without all the hassle of being someplace or being involved with an event. So, if you are always complaining that you never have enough time for yourself, cannot go to sleep because your head is still buzzing from the stress of our hurried and harried secular life. Stop whining and try Lectio Divina.

Find a Catholic Bible your comfortable with, place it on your night stand, find a simple kitchen timer, turn it to 10 minutes. Now, open your bible to any part of the old or new testament (Romans or Psalms maybe). While sitting upright in your bed, focus on a specific passage. Read the first verse, breath deeply, focus on the words of the verse in your mind and follow your thoughts wherever they take you, then read a significant word from that verse out loud and read the second verse. Repeat this until you finish the section you have picked or the timer rings. Now go to sleep and rest in quiet contemplation of the mystical, eternal and wonderful love of God!

For more information on Lectio Divina, click on the title of this entry, it will take you to a very informative website on this great practice of our faith.

Adoration and Veneration: The Difference

2008-09-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

St. Thomas declares what idolatry is in the "Summa Theologica", II-II:94, and explains the use of images in the Catholic Church (II-II:94:2, ad 1Um). He distinguishes between latria and dulia (II-II:103). The twenty-fifth session of the Council of Trent (Dec., 1543) repeats faithfully the principles of Nicaea II:

(The holy Synod commands) that images of Christ, the Virgin Mother of God, and other saints are to be held and kept especially in churches, that due honor and reverence (debitum honorem et venerationem) are to be paid to them, not that any divinity or power is thought to be in them for the sake of which they may be worshipped, or that anything can be asked of them, or that any trust may be put in images, as was done by the heathen who put their trust in their idols (Ps. cxxxiv, 15 sqq.), but because the honor shown to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that by kissing, uncovering to, kneeling before images we adore Christ and honor the saints whose likeness they bear (Denzinger, no. 986).

As an example of contemporary Catholic teaching on this subject one could hardly quote anything better expressed than the "Catechism of Christian Doctrine" used in England by command of the Catholic bishops. In four points, this book sums up the whole Catholic position exactly:

"It is forbidden to give divine honor or worship to the angels and saints for this belong to God alone."
"We should pay to the angels and saints an inferior honor or worship, for this is due to them as the servants and special friends of God."
"We should give to relics, crucifixes and holy pictures a relative honor, as they relate to Christ and his saints and are memorials of them."
"We do not pray to relics or images, for they can neither see nor hear nor help us."

Fortescue, Adrian. "Veneration of Images." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 24 Sept. 2008 .

Faith as a Church Leader

2008-09-19T13:57:00.001-07:00

I thought the Bishop's remarks at the last Theology on Tap were a sterling example of the true servant leader. "All I wanted to be is a parish priest" stated Bishop Mike. In my mind, he is pastor to us all and reflects the humility and charity requisite of a servant leader. In the second reading in the office of readings for September 19th ,the feast day of Saint Januarius, a Bishop in the early church martyred during the Diocletian persecutions, Saint Augustine does an excellent job of recalling his own joys and challenges as a leader in the church with this quote from his sermon #340:

elieve me, brothers and sisters, if what I am for you frightens me, what I am with you reassures me. For you I am the bishop; with you I am a Christian.

"Bishop," this is the title of an office one has accepted to discharge; "Christian," that is the name of the grace one receives. Dangerous title! Salutary name!

Not Learned but Wise and Courageous

2008-08-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

From the homily on the first letter to the Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom:

It was clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive, in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Their discourse was not of unimportant matters but of God and true religion, of the Gospel way of life and future judgement, yet it turned plain, uneducated men into philosophers. How the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and his weakness stronger than men!

Early Church Fathers

2008-08-05T20:12:00.002-07:00

Early Church Fathers are a gold mine of insight into the beginnings of the Catholic Church and provide some of the greatest proof that what we believe has been around since the Apostles. For a good introduction into some of the Early Church Fathers, check out http://earlychurchfathers.org it is brief, well organized by topic or father and a great place to start. An example of the great material found there is a early writing on the conduct of the Mass from the Didache (pronounced Did-a-Kay) published around 140 A.D.

Didache 14:1,3

"But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: "In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations."

The insights into the earliest apostolic development of our church, its belief', doctrines, and traditions is very enlightening.