Our Bishop's Christmas Message: Come Home to the Church

Keeping Mass in Christmas Keeps Christ in Christmass

Once again as advent winds down we approach Christmass, waiting in anticipation. We have hopefully spent a little more time in prayer, gave a little more of ourselves and our resources, and perhaps received the sacrament of penance more often. The ultimate purpose of advent being to "prepare Him room" in our hearts and once again with joy celebrate the coming of the God of the universe into our world, taking human flesh from Mary and showing us the way back to heaven. It all started in Bethlehem, the House of Bread and continues today through His coming to us in the Breaking of the Bread, the Eucharist.

For my non-Catholic brothers and sisters:

To fully keep Christ in Christmass, why not celebrate the mass of Christ this year? The liturgy of the Eucharist is designed with the whole purpose of bringing us to Christ, uniting us to his sacrifice for us. What better way to keep Him in Christmass than celebrating with the Mass of Christ? There are plenty of masses on the vigil of Christmass as well as Christmass day. Go to Mass Times here, find a nearby Catholic Church (they are everywhere, be assured) and quietly give homage to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Though you are not Catholic, or have left the Church, you can still benefit from a spiritual communion without partaking of the Eucharist.
Perhaps this will be the year that you will come home for Christmas.

Sola Scriptura Leads to Sola Worldura

Check out this article.(h/t to Bedlam or Parnassus)
We have seen how the deterioration of morality in society has slowly changed the morality of Christianity in American. First the main-line denominations, now the evangelicals, my former church home. The Anglicans 20 years or more ago embraced homosexuality, then the Methodists, then the ELCA Lutherans, and most recently the independent evangelicals. This is no surprise but certainly a sad reality. How has it come to this? Pastor Tidd of Highlands Church says:

"We reach an understanding of the Bible not just by studying God's word, but by studying his world," Tidd said. "If you think he's the author of both, they both inform each other."

If evangelicals can disagree about end-times theology and baptism methods and still be considered authentic Christians, he thought, why can't the same tent hold disagreements about homosexuality?

There you go. It seems to me that the principle of sola scriptura, has lead to sola worldura! We study God's world and come up with our own interpretation to guide us in establishing moral guidelines. Ouch!

Without a final authority outside of themselves that speaks to faith and morals some pastors believe they have the freedom to disagree on moral issues in much the same way they do with theological issues.

The Catholic Catechism tells us to love christians with same sex attraction recognizing they have a heavier cross to carry than most of us. The Catholic Church condemns the homosexual act but affirms the dignity of the homosexual. Catholic moral theology does not change with the times, but will remain unchanged as long as time exists.

The Incarnation and the Eucharist.

I wrote this little play two years ago after meditating on the Incarnation and its relationship to the Eucharist. God comes to us in the most unlikely of ways.

ACT I

The setting: A stable outside the forgotten little backwater town of Bethlehem (House of Bread). Shepherds and their families and kings from the East as well as a few curious onlookers stare at a newborn wrapped in coarse linen in a feeding trough meant for animals. A bright star overhead strangely illuminates the otherwise dark night.

Shepherd boy, while yawning, says to his father: “Just looks like a new born baby to me. Can’t we go home now?”

Father to boy: “ Thomas, the angels in the field said something about a savior and king coming to us tonight. Let’s just stay awhile.”

Boy: How could a Savior and King look and.... yecch!… smell like a little baby? He looks just like any other baby to me!”

King from the Orient, kneeling before the makeshift crib says in a whisper: “Shhh, don’t you know the ancient prophecies? God would come to us through a virgin’s womb?

Balthasar looking at the Child then raising his eyes to heaven says: The God of Israel has chosen this night to redeem us. Our Savior and King has come to us as a little child.

ACT II

Fast forward 33 years.

Setting: Jerusalem at Passover. The city is buzzing with the noise of pilgrims and bristling under the Roman occupation.

At the Seder Meal of the Passover, Jesus surrounded by his companions prays the blessing. As he breaks the bread he stretches out his hand holding the bread saying:

“Take this and eat. This is my body….”

One of the twelve disciples leans over to another and says under his breath;

“How can this be? It looks just like any other piece of bread to me? How can He give us His body to eat?

The disciple whom Jesus loved said to him: "Thomas, don't you remember last year when he told us He would give us his body to eat and His blood to drink?

Then as supper was ended, Jesus took the cup and gave it to his disciples saying:

"This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many…"

Curtain closes .

THE END.

Just as Christ came to us in the improbable form of a human baby, He continues to abide with us in the equally preposterous “breaking of the bread.” God chose the common things of this world to reveal Himself. First a baby born in Bethlehem and then bread and common table wine. As we approach the Lord’s Table at Midnight Mass this Christmas Eve, our mind says: "it just looks like a piece of bread" but our heart says: "Jesus, bread of life, you have come to abide with me this night."

Advent Is All About Hope

Check out Prodigal Daughter's post about Hope.

Coffee and Catholicism or Java Papa

The other day I posted about an example of the "loosing and binding" authority of the Church, given to Peter and his successors by Christ himself. Without that authority of Peter, we would have a mish-mash of multitudinous contradictory creeds. We Catholics worship the triune God in exactly the same way the early Christians did believing the very doctrines they did with no modifications because of this authority given by God to lead us into all truth.

But a lesser known benefit of this papal authority is the gift of coffee that the western world now enjoys. Yes! Without the actions of Pope Clement VIII in the 16th century, we would probably not be drinking coffee. Read this story below:

"A Tribute to Pope Clement VIII
Ippolito Aldobrandini (1536-1605), better remembered in history as Clement VIII, was the son of an Italian lawyer who rose to the position of Pope in 1592. Clement VIII gained a reputation as a man of high character, a remarkable testimony considering that his recent predecessors, Julius II, Leo X and Clement VII, all proved to be incompetent rascals.

Clement was known as the first of a series of “restorer” popes and he had an impressive list of achievements to his credit. Among these was the preparing of the Treaty of Vervins, bringing peace between France and Spain. Just three years later he negotiated the Treaty of Lyons, brokering peace between France and Savoy. Other achievements included a revision of the Vulgate that contained some three thousand corrections. He also ordered the revision of several other service books of the Roman Catholic church. He built a monumental altar within St. Peter's Basilica over what is believed to be the burial site containing the Apostle Peter's body. Only the pope can celebrate mass at this altar.

Clement VIII initiated many other reforms and was incredibly popular. His popularity is demonstrated by the fact that in the year 1600 he was acclaimed by three million pilgrims to Rome.

Among these achievements one papal act set Clement VIII apart from all other popes. The benefits of this act continue to filter through history to bless all Christendom. During this time, Christianity had denounced coffee as “the hellish black brew” and, even worse, as a “Satanic threat to the soul”. However, this peace loving, clear thinking man of high character found coffee to be so delicious that he baptized it and declared it a Christian beverage, saying, “Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious. It would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it and making it a truly Christian beverage.” Obviously, the Christian world has grounds to honour Pope Clement VIII."
(from Pacific Bible College's Clement Cafe)

Now go brew yourself up a fresh roasted cup and thank the Lord for his Church and that "Java Papa" And don't forget to support the Mystic Monks Coffee or Jewel of the Caribbean Coffee.

Finally a Note Bene:
The next time you are in Starbucks sipping on your cappucino(which you shouldn't because they support Planned Parenthood), you can thank the Catholic Church again! Cappuccino is named for its resemblance to the color of the robes of the monks of the Capucchin order. What's not to love here?

My Catholic Roots and Saint Therese

My mom who passed away 6 years ago this November was born into a Catholic family with a long history of Catholicism from French Canada. On their honeymoon, my parents went to the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec City . At least early on in their lives, their faith was important enough to include a shrine hop on their honeymoon. How many of us evangelicals spent our honeymoons in church or places of devotion? (Well, we didn't believe in shrines and stuff, but frankly, I wasn't trying to find the most on-fire churches during my honeymoon, nor do I recall even attempting to go to church during my honeymoon, but I digress)

In trying to find out more about my Catholic heritage, I recently re-connected to my mom's youngest sister. It turns out she has been a devout Catholic her whole life and was excited to hear about our return to the Church. She told me that my step-grandfather, who once was a religious brother had a devotion to St. Therese and gave her an old statue of St Therese of Lisieux. She asked me if I wanted it and I was thrilled to say yes, since Prodigal Daughter is particularly devoted to The Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux. As a matter of fact, some of PD's first toe dippings in the Tiber 10 years ago were through the writings of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Yesterday I received a package from my aunt and, lo and behold, there was the statue. What a great surprise since we talked about it a year ago and I thought she had forgot!
So I have a 1924 vintage statue of St Therese that has been a part of my spiritual heritage for all these years and we didn't know it. God is kind and merciful to give us these little blessings in our life. Thanks too St. Therese for your intercession, and Mom and Dad and all those unnamed saints who continue to intercede for us.

PS. The statue is now displayed on our hearth, but we don't worship it or pray to it. When we look at it, we think of St. Therese and her "little way" and we ask her intercession that we too would live a life clinging to Jesus. It also reminds me of my Catholic roots and I am thankful to have been once again reconnected to my spiritual heritage.

The Venerable John Paul 2- Yes!

Today the Vatican announced that John Paul 2 has been declared "venerable." What that means is that after extensive study since his death, the leadership of the Church has declared that Pope John Paul 2 has lived a life of heroic virtue, which is the first step to being declared a saint.
How can mere men make these outrageous claims?
Is it arrogant for mere humans to declare someone a saint*?

The answer to these questions is found in Holy Scripture (Matt 16:19; 18:18). Jesus told his apostles, his successors, that what they bind on earth will be bound in heaven. The process of beatification and canonization is just one practical example of this promise being carried out here and now, 2000 years later by the successors of Peter.

*(meaning the Church makes a binding statement that an individual is in heaven and a model of heroic virtue for the faithful to emulate and request intercession)

I Gotta Get One Of These!

Why do Catholics get so excited about the pope? (regardless of who he is at the time)

Why do they post blogs about papal Christmas ornaments? (Check this out.)

Because the office of the papacy represents the unity of the Church Jesus started and points us to the reality of apostolic succession and ultimately is a sign to the world that Jesus word's to Peter are still being fulfilled 2000 years later! "Thou art Cephas (rock) and upon this rock..."

Here's what Karl Adams said about this in his Spirit of Catholicism:

In the light of this faith our Lord's words to Peter: "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church," become at once promise and fulfillment. Has not history taught us, and are we not seeing every day, that it was, and is, and will be this one rock which supports the Church of Christ, and with that Church a living faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God? There is a sacred and profound significance in the fact that Simon's appointment to be the rock of the Church was preceded by his confession: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." For faith in Christ, the Church and Peter: these three things belong together. Where there is no Peter, where men have broken faith with him, there the fellowship of the faith perishes and along with it belief in Jesus Christ. Where there is no rock, there there is no Church, there there is no Christ.

And where Peter is, there of a truth the gates of hell rage against the fellowship of the faith. There Marcion comes, and Arius, and the renaissance and rationalism, and the gospel of worldly culture. But still we abide in the Upper Room, gathered round our Lord and Master. Where Peter is, there is Christ.

Positively Judgement Street

Dr. Francis Beckwith, philosophy professor at Baylor University, author, speaker and former president of the Evangelical Theological Society came back to the Catholic Church after spending most of his life as a devout Protestant. Despite the fact that this was two years ago, he still continues to be the subject of intense debate and discussion among our separated brethren bloggers. The latest discussion is regarding whether he is really saved or not.
Well I came upon a little parody on u tube that attempts to respond to this sad state of affairs regarding the analysis of Dr. Beckwith's soul in a Dylanesque fashion. Let's keep Dr. Beckwith and all other convert/reverts in our prayers and pray that God uses their testimony to change the hearts of those so opposed to the Catholic faith.