St. Martin of Tours

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Martin of Tours, bishop. St. Martin is the first bishop and confessor honored by the Church in the West. He was a principal apostle of Gaul, where his feast was celebrated as a holyday of obligation with an octave and popular celebrations.

At the age of ten, he went to the church against the wishes of his parents and became a catechumen or candidate for baptism. At this time, Christianity had been made a legal religion (in 316), but it was by no means the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. It had many more adherents in the Eastern Empire, whence it had sprung, and was concentrated in cities, brought along the trade routes by converted Jews and Greeks (the term 'pagan' literally means 'country-dweller'). Christianity was still far from accepted amongst the higher echelons of society, and in the army the cult of Mithras would have been stronger. Although the conversion of theEmperor Constantine, and the subsequent program of church-building, gave a greater impetus to the spread of the religion, it was still a minority faith. When Martin was fifteen, as the son of a veteran officer, he was required to join a cavalry himself and thus, around 334, was stationed at Ambianensium civitas or Samarobriva in Gaul now Amiens, France.
While Martin was still a soldier at Amiens he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. He was at the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers when he met a scantily dressed beggar. He impulsively cut his own militarycloak in half and shared it with the beggar. That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clad me. (courtesy of wikipedia)

Gregorian Chant - Credo

St. Pope Leo the Great

St. Leo was probably born in Rome and was raised to the see of Peter in 440. He was a true pastor and father of souls. He labored strenuously to safeguard the integrity of he faith and vigorously defended the unity of the Church. He pushed back or atleast softened the onrush of the barbarians. Has the deservedly won the title "the Great." He died in 461.
He was declared a Doctor the Church by pope Benedict XVI.

The Mystery of the Incarnation is a Fitting Theme for Joy Both to Angels and to Men.

Therefore the Word of God, Himself God, the Son of God who in the beginning was with God, through whom all things were made and without whom was nothing made John 1:1-3, with the purpose of delivering man from eternal death, became man: so bending Himself to take on Him our humility without decrease in His own majesty, that remaining what He was and assuming what He was not, He might unite the true form of a slave to that form in which He is equal to God the Father, and join both natures together by such a compact that the lower should not be swallowed up in its exaltation nor the higher impaired by its new associate.Without detriment therefore to the properties of either substance which then came together in one person, majesty took on humility, strength weakness, eternity mortality: and for the paying off of the debt, belonging to our condition, inviolable nature was united with possible nature, and true God and true man were combined to form one Lord, so that, as suited the needs of our case, one and the same Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, could both die with the one and rise again with the other.

Rightly therefore did the birth of our Salvation impart no corruption to the Virgin's purity, because the bearing of the Truth was the keeping of honour. Such then beloved was the nativity which became the Power of God and the Wisdom of God even Christ, whereby He might be one with us in manhood and surpass us in Godhead. For unless He were true God, He would not bring us a remedy, unless He were true Man, He would not give us an example. Therefore the exulting angel's song when the Lord was born is this, Glory to God in the Highest, and their message, peace on earth to men of good will Luke 2:14 . For they see that the heavenly Jerusalem is being built up out of all the nations of the world: and over that indescribable work of the Divine love how ought the humbleness of men to rejoice, when the joy of the lofty angels is so great? St. Pope Leo the Great Sermon 21 Part II (Courtesy of New Advent)

What Incredible Love Is This?

Man was created for God. How do we know this? God told us. In fact the whole of history from our very beginning is this continuation of the creation. This mystery of God's love and how he can bring us home safely. We are part of the whole, longing to return to the ocean of the divine. The only thing that deters us from that journey is our selves. That is precisely why Jesus explained that it is necessary that we die to ourselves. Not a physical death, no, we are to slay the attachment of our being to the the things of the world. It is not because the natural world is somehow inherently evil. All things emanate from God who is ultimate perfection and thus ultimate goodness. God uses the natural world to impart his grace. St. Ignatius says

"God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven. All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go."

Jesus is referring to attachments that hinder you from knowing him and thus hinder you from knowing the Father. These things will deter you from your journey back.

The problem with secular thought is that it has no end game. How can you make a journey anywhere without stating your final destination? Who will argue that life is not a journey? You start out in total dependence of someone. This trust is pure and true. It only becomes corrupt as we progress in the world. The time comes when we have choice as to who to trust. All too often we choose ourselves. The world says that's ok, be independent, don't rely on others, certainly not on a God you can't see or hear.

There is a way of seeing or hearing that is not easily recognizable to our human reason. That is why the message must be received divinely through means that God chooses. We communicate through words and pictures, God communicates using people and human history. That is the whole point of Sacred Scripture, to identify how God is communicating to us.

He told us how much he loved us when he sent his only begotten Son. What is more natural than a little baby? Growing and learning from an infant to a young boy, surrounded by the natural world, then finally a man. Jesus told many parables using things of the world, unless a seed dies, the fig tree, the seed thrown on fertile ground, the mustard seed, the lost sheep. In his first miracle at his Mother's request, he changed water to wine. All things found in our natural world.

He did not want us to be without this connection to the natural world. He left us his Word, Sacred Scripture, but he also left us something real and tangible within the physical world. What could possibly be "a gift of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully", that would be the most perfect thing in the natural world? What was the most perfect thing that ever existed in the natural world but Christ himself. The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, & divinity of Jesus Christ. What are body & blood if not real tangible physical things within the realm of nature. God so much wants us to return to him, he has gone to extraordinary measures to get us there. What incredible love is this! He is near us! We are so close. The world did not recognize him as John says in his Gospel. The world still doesn't recognize him, but we do.

Homily for the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran by Fr. Tommy Lane

Why do we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran? The Basilica of St. John Lateran, like every church, is a place of the presence of Jesus and so when we honor a church, we honor Jesus. The preface for Mass today states,

Your house is a house of prayer,
And your presence makes it a place of blessing.

Jesus himself was indignant when the temple in Jerusalem was dishonored and he drove out the moneychangers. How much more zeal should we have for every church because it contains the presence of Jesus. Zeal for church buildings will be part of your future ministry as your parish renovates or builds a new church. How much more zeal should we have for the Basilica of St. John Lateran because it is the Pope’s Cathedral containing his Cathedra, the symbol of his teaching office.

“Cathedra” literally means the established seat of the Bishop, placed in the mother church of a diocese which for this reason is known as a "cathedral"; it is the symbol of the Bishop's authority and in particular, of his "magisterium", that is, the evangelical teaching which, as a successor of the Apostles, he is called to safeguard and to transmit to the Christian Community.

When a Bishop takes possession of the particular Church that has been entrusted to him, wearing his miter and holding the pastoral staff, he sits on the cathedra. From this seat, as teacher and pastor, he will guide the journey of the faithful in faith, hope and charity.
Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, February 22, 2006.

Thus as we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of John Lateran today we also honor the teaching office of Our Holy Father. Then continuing in his General Audience Pope Benedict traced the history of the Cathedra of St. Peter.

So what was the "Chair" of St Peter?…[Peter] began his ministry in Jerusalem, after the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost. The Church's first "seat" was the Upper Room, and it is likely that a special place was reserved for Simon Peter in that room where Mary, Mother of Jesus, also prayed with the disciples…Subsequently, the See of Peter was Antioch...Peter was the first Bishop of that city…From there, Providence led Peter to Rome. Therefore, we have the journey from Jerusalem, the newly born Church, to Antioch, the first center of the Church formed from pagans…Then Peter went to Rome, the center of the Empire...So it is that the See of Rome…has the honor that Christ entrusted to Peter of being at the service of all the particular Churches for the edification and unity of the entire People of God. The See of Rome, after St Peter's travels, thus came to be recognized as the See of the Successor of Peter, and its Bishop's "cathedra" represented the mission entrusted to him by Christ to tend his entire flock.
Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, February 22, 2006.

Thus today we celebrate the unity of the People of God around the Cathedra of Our Holy Father as he teaches us.

The site where the Basilica of St. John Lateran stands was the palace of the Laterani, the administrators of the Roman emperors. After Constantine converted and issued the famous Edict of Milan in 313 allowing Christians to practice their faith in public he gave the Lateran palace to the Pope who adapted it to become a Church and it was dedicated on November 9^th 324 AD. It was first called the Basilica of the Savior and an inscription on the façade dedicates it to Christ the Savior but later it was also dedicated to St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist and so it acquired the name Basilica of St John Lateran. The adjacent Lateran Palace was the residence of the Popes for almost the next 1000 years. Although no longer the residence of the Popes the Lateran Basilica continues to be the Cathedral of the Popes since it contains the Pope’s Cathedra.

Every church building reminds us of the Church, the Body of Christ.

Every place set aside for divine worship is a sign of that spiritual temple, which is the Church, made up of living stones: of the faithful united by the one faith, of the participation in the Sacraments and of the bond of charity.
Pope John Paul II, November 9, 2003.

In our second reading today we have a similar idea, “You are God’s building…the foundation…is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 3:9,11) This together with our first reading reminds us to make Jesus the foundation stone and corner stone of our lives because there is a life-giving river flowing from him to fill us with his grace.

Our celebration of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran reminds us that we are all a living building whose foundation stone is Christ and we are united around the Cathedra of Our Holy Father which symbolizes his teaching office to transmit the faith to the whole Church. As the preface states today,

Your house is a house of prayer,
And your presence makes it a place of blessing.

Courtesy of Father Tommy Lane. This homily was delivered in Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

The Grumpy Catholic

"They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area.Then he taught them saying, "Is it not written: 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples'? But you have made it a den of thieves." Mark 11:15-19

There has always been debate over this passage in Mark because some misconstrue Jesus rightful anger as somehow sinful or bad. How can the loving, peaceful, kind, miracle worker lose his temper? People forget that Jesus is God and he demands respect for His Father. Which leads what I am about to say here. I once thought that perhaps I could make a blog separate from this one in which I can rant about the things that I disapprove of, especially with things that has to do with Catholics. So without further ado, here is my top ten rants about Mass & Catholics and priests:

#10 The church is heaven on earth and the Mass is sacred - show some respect. I don't care to hear about what your niece said or where you ate last night before or during Mass. Please show some reverence, try genuflecting as you walk to your pew and say a prayer or two. This is my Father's House. He is God and you are not.
#9 Hello- this is an audience with Jesus Christ - please dress appropriately. This is not a night out at Bubba's barbecue, or a day at the beach, or a trip to Walmart. I don't buy the argument that we should all be grateful that you are there and back off the dress requirement. If this were your daughter, sister, brother, best friend's wedding you would get dressed up for it.
#8 Yes you are a participant at Mass - you are not a spectator - The responses that we give are part of the liturgy. When we profess our faith it is meant for each and everybody present. ( you are excused from singing stupid Catholic hymns)
#7 Stupid Catholic hymns - what can you say but please all musical directors or liturgists - the Mass is sacred and it is not about you. My only hope is that some day somebody will ban the idiotic hymns. Oh in case you didn't get the memo - no songs about YAWEH (forbidden)
#6 Stupid Sermons- I do not wish to be disrespectful here. I love and admire priests and we have many, many good priests, but at times I hear sermons that a six grader could do a better job. Priests are too intelligent and educated for that. Priests are suppose to be preachers and the Mass is the time to do your preaching.
#5 Liturgical Abuses - this can vary but one that I commonly see is inviting a speaker instead of giving the homily. If I am a visitor to your church why would I want to be held captive while someone talks about the bereavement group you have or the Knights of Columbus? That should be discussed after Mass. The rules of the liturgy forbid anyone but an ordained minister to speak and the homily should be about the readings or something appropriate. All other matter is to be dealt with after Mass.
#4 The Holy Eucharist is not a drive through restaurant. You are privileged to be part of the greatest event in all of human history. Please think about what you are doing.
#3 Cell Phones - they should have a large basket outside of church where anyone and everyone who brings there phone should throw it in. They even warn you before Mass but inevitably someone's phone goes off. Leave the the darn thing in your car.
#2 Extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist - lets begin with this statement- you are not needed for Mass, you are a luxury, please don't show up on my Father's sanctuary wearing blue jeans, see through blouses, or anything else that disrespects him. Please always keep in mind you are on sacred ground and that it is an enormous privilege and blessing to do what you do.
#1 Never apologize for the Mass. stay with me here- I have been at different times where there will be for one reason or another non-Catholics present at the Mass. Pastors please don't try to make the Mass accommodate the non-Catholic visitors by trying to act non-Catholic. I have been present when the Penitential Rite was changed not to ask for our forgiveness for our sinfulness, but glossed over to something to the effect of "now we are going to try to be better, blah blah blah." We are sinners - shout that from the mountaintop. That is precisely why before we do anything at the Mass we ask for God's mercy & forgiveness. Let our brethren see the beauty and mystery of the sacrifice of the Mass. You don't have to tell them that this is the part where we the"heathen" Catholics read from the Bible. They know what the Bible is.

Disclaimer to anyone out there who reads this: I am not worthy of anything period. I just love the Mass and want each one and every time to lift me to the place where I have not been before.

Man Exists for God

Man exists for God, not the other way around. To contemplate God is to travel to a height that in many ways is beyond human comprehension. God has revealed truths about Himself. First, we human beings have been created in his image and likeness. God is being, pure spirit, of no substance, He is one, not divisible, nothing can be taken away in that sense and nothing can be added. God is omnipotent, there is nothing he is incapable of doing. God is omnipresent, he is everywhere. God is everlasting, he is not bound by time, he always existed, and will always exist. God is wisdom, in fact all wisdom emanates from him. Any scientific discovery, or new knowledge that man encounters God already knows. Since God is being, all things emanate from him. All things exist by virtue of him, from material objects, to spiritual beings, to even your thoughts. You are thinking about what is read here because of God. Man needs to pay attention to exactly who God is. Modern man (post-enlightenment) has been diminishing God, trying attribute finite human qualities to him. God is infinite, cannot be limited to whatever man desires him to be. Man needs to pay attention. Modern man has tried to cover God up with a large blanket, suggesting that he doses not exist, God cannot be covered up. He won't however, force man to believe, he so loves his creation that he leaves it up to them. Man needs to pay attention to God. God does not exist for man. God is not a drug or a medicine that one takes to alleviate pain, although he will be with you during your most trying times, for he is with you always. He is not an ATM machine that you stick your card in and take out what you need. He is not disposable, he is not there for your exclusive use for a specific situation, only to be shelved for later use, he is not magical. He is mysterious. Our job to some extent is to discover what that mystery is. Man needs to pay attention to who God is. God does not need man. God does not need man's worship. Man needs man's worship. Man's worship of God is not for man's pleasure, entertainment, or any other benefit. The point of man's worship is to return to God, to give back himself to God by whom he was created and by whom all things emanate from. Man needs to pay attention to who God is. God is not about love, like a lovable person, or a romantic love story, or a feel good story. God is love. God's love is like everything about him, boundless, unlimited, unfathomable in its depth. Man needs to pay attention to God. God has asked us,(he never forces us) to do two things that are intertwined: to love Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Through those two actions man perfects himself, in essence man's being becomes like God. God does not exist for man, but God has made a promise to man, a promise that man can enter the divine, that his creation can return to him, far beyond this finite world. That is what he desires, that is the reason man exists for God.

O Most Holy Virgin and Mother

O Most holy Virgin and our Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of your Immaculate Heart surrounded with the thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Moved by the ardent desire of loving you as our Mother and of promoting a true devotion to your Immaculate Heart, we prostrate ourselves at your feet to prove the sorrow we feel for the grievance that men cause you, and to atone, by means of our prayers and sacrifices, for the offenses with which men return your tender love. Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. A word from you will obtain grace and amendment for us all. Hasten, O Lady, the conversion of sinners, that they may love Jesus and cease to offend the Lord, already so much offended, and will not fall into hell. Turn your eyes of mercy toward us, that henceforth we may love God with all our heart while on earth and enjoy Him forever in heaven. Amen.

Pictures at an exhibition Part Three Mussogorsky

Pictures at an exhibition Part Two Mussogorsky

God is Closer Than You Think

In today's reading there is a marvelous saying, in which we can sense all the joy of Israel at its redemption: "What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?" (Deut 4:7).

Saint Thomas Aquinas took up this saying in his reflections for the Feast of Corpus Christi. In doing so, he showed how we Christians in the Church of the New Covenant can pronounce these words with yet more reason and more joy and with thankfulness than Israel could; in doing so, he showed how this saying, in the Church of Jesus Christ, has acquired a depth of meaning hitherto unsuspected: God has truly come to dwell among us in the Eucharist, He became flesh so that he might become bread. He gave himself to enter into the "fruit of the earth and the work of human hands"; thus he puts himself in our hands and into our hearts. God is not the great unknown, whom we can but dimly conceive. We need not fear, as heathen do, that he might be capricious and bloodthirsty or too far away and too great to hear men. He is there, and we always know where we can find him, where he allows himself to be found and is waiting for us. Today this should once more sink into our hearts: God is near. God knows us. God is waiting for us in Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us not leave him waiting in vain! Let us not, through distraction and lethargy, pass by the greatest and most important thing life offers us. We should let ourselves be reminded, by today's reading, of the wonderful mystery kept close within the walls of our churches. Let us not pass it heedlessly by. Let us take time, in the course of the week, in passing, to go in and spend a moment with the Lord who is so near. During the day our churches should not be allowed to be dead houses, standing empty and seemingly useless. Jesus Christ's invitation is always being proffered from them. This sacred proximity to us is always alive in them. It is always calling us and inviting us in. This is what is lovely about Catholic churches, that within them there is, as it were, always worship, because the eucharistic presence of the Lord dwells always within them.

from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger God is Nears Us: The Eucharist the Heart of Life

An Aid To Cultivation & Fertilization

I have always been fascinated by the human mind. I actually read many books on psychology as early as 10 years old. What are the factors that move an individual in one direction to choose a vocation or profession and move another to a different choice? What contributes to the characteristics of altruism, a drive for success, an interest in one endeavor but no interest in others? I thought that would make an interesting career and got as far as a 3 credit hours from a Masters Degree. I took a different path and am happy I did. That however has not quelled by desire to understand people. That is why I think Ignatian Spirituality is fascinating. St. Ignatius was on to something. We are moved by our spirits, things that either excite us, like an athletic team that we root for or in contrast the wave of sadness, despair, or shock that takes over when there is a tragedy, like 9-11 or a smaller scale but more personal when a horrific car crash happens in a small town. This spirit does not always take us where we need to be, we are not moved towards things by just our intellect. This can be illustrated by the many times we all do things that defy logic. Often it is recognized by others but not by ourselves. What St. Ignatius realized is that movement of the"spirit" is not strictly limited to things of the world but rather it is crucial in our spiritual life, especially in our relationship with God. He identified two movements of the spirit - consolation and desolation. In consolation there are varying degrees, but in general they are feelings that are good and are moving one closer to God, desolation is in general the opposite feeling, a drift away from God. An important aspect of one's feelings is that Satan (the evil one) is a master of using your feelings against you, so that although you may believe that you are doing good (in a general sense), you may actually moving away from God. How can figure this out? It takes discernment and spiritual guidance from someone who can recognize by listening what you probably can't. (sounds like psychotherapy) All of this goes into the recognition of your choices. Are you choosing to do God's will? This can be asked of everything you do, for true love of God is desiring to do His will always in all things. The best place to start is with instruction is an Ignation retreat. It will open up an avenue to discernment that can bring you closer to God. A book I would recommend is by Joseph A. Telow, SJ called Making Choices in Christ I would also recommend several books Father Timothy Gallagher, who interestingly is not a Jesuit, but has written several books (click here to see) that are easy to understand and very useful as an adjunct or supplement to a retreat.

In Luke 13:6-9 we find the parable of fig tree:

And he told them this parable: "There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,he said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?'He said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'"

Using what St. Ignatius has left us can help cultivate and fertilize our spiritual lives.

True Peace of Heart

"When a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.

"True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man."

Thomas A' Kempis "The Imitation of Christ"

Speaker Pelosi’s Government-Run Health Plan Will Require a Monthly Abortion Premium

I Guess Nancy didn't listen to Pope Benedict XVI when she met met with him. see here

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Piano)

Modest Petrovich Mussorsky was a Russian composer in the 19th century.

It was probably in 1870 that Mussorgsky met artist and architect Victor Hartmann. Both men were devoted to the cause of an intrinsically Russian art and quickly became friends. Their meeting was likely arranged by the influential critic Vladimir Stasov who followed both of their careers with interest.

Hartmann died from ananeurysm in 1873. The sudden loss of the artist, aged only 39, shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia's art world. Stasov helped organize an exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works in the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersberg in February and March 1874. Mussorgsky lent works from his personal collection to the exhibit and viewed the show in person. Fired by the experience, he composed Pictures at an Exhibition in six weeks. The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art collection. (courtesy of wikipedia)

You will notice a reoccurring piece "the Promenade" - this is Mussorgsky walking from picture to the next. It is one of my favorite compositions and though I have posted it previously done by orchestra. I prefer piano.

On Sola Scriptura & Sola Fides

Two of the foundations of Protestant belief are sola scriptura and sola fides First, as far as matters of faith and morals the Bible is the sole source for deciding the truth - this is sola scriptura Latin for by "by scripture alone" - the doctrine that the Bible is the only infallible or inerrant authority for Christian faith, and that it contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness.

There are several curious things about that doctrine: first off it can't be found in the Bible anywhere, there are no passages that definitively state the doctrine. Protestants like to use 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." That is very interesting to use that passage because of one thing - what scripture did Timothy refer to that he a Jew grew up with and learned - The Old Testament. The New Testament was not formed yet - the canon had not been established for what constituted the books to be contained in the New Testament.

Another question that one must ask is this: If the Bible is the only infallible and inerrant authority where did the Bible come from? Who determine what books were true and authentic faith, inspired by God? Did the Bible just drop down from the sky? How was one writing accepted and another rejected? By what authority is your Bible that your read arranged? Who determined the table of contents? Well the answer is simple, and a fact, and historical. The Catholic Church did. Not only that, the Church had the authority to do so because Jesus Christ gave it the authority.

So it is rather illogical to think that the Bible is infallible & inerrant but it came from a source that was not infallible or inerrant. For 1500+ years no one raised that issue of the authority of the Church. If you read the Early Church Fathers they, who in some cases where around before there was a New Testament affirm the Church's authority, again it was never in question prior to the Reformation.

Sola Fides "faith alone" - does not show up any where in scriptures definitively, unless you take St. Paul's writings of justification out of context. Interesting enough there is a place where faith alone does show up. St. James writes: "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God."See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

In Romans and Galatians, the apostle Paul has this question in mind: How can a guilty sinner be justified by God? Essentially Paul answers that a sinner is justified by faith in Christ, and not by the merit of his works. That is what we mean by 'sola fide'.

In his letter, James deals with a different question altogether. There is a man who claims to have faith and who assents to the cardinal doctrines of the gospel, including the first, namely, the unity of God. Yet this person is devoid of good works and is full of hypocrisy, so much so, that he insults a poor beggar with pious words without giving him anything. So, says James, can this sort of faith save him? 'What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?'

James is not asking whether a person is saved by faith plus the merit of his good works. He is asking about the kind of faith that saves. He mentions two types, the real and the counterfeit. Works distinguish one from the other: 'Show me your faith without your works; and I will show you my faith by my works.' Real faith is living, manifesting itself in good works; counterfeit faith is dead, barren, the mere assent to doctrine.

James asks, 'Can faith save him?' The answer is simply this: If it is real faith, manifest in good works, yes. But if it is a counterfeit 'faith', no, it cannot save him.

No contradiction exists between Paul and James. The apostle Paul insists that the man 'who does not work but believes' is justified by God. But that is not all. Elsewhere Paul describes the character of true faith - 'faith working through love'.

If you can't find that in your Bible it is because Martin Luther decided on his own canon as to which books were inspired and which were not. Since James did not support Luther's new line of theology, his book(letter) was removed along with others.

The way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ present in the sacramental life. It is through God's grace and the gift of His only begotten Son that we have any chance of eternal life. That is the economy of salvation.

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." John 3: 13-15

When then was the Son of Man lifted up? On the Cross, when He arose from the Dead, and when He ascended into Heaven. And at each and every Mass when the priest raises the consecrated host - the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ

The word "liturgy" originally meant a "public work" or a "service in the name of/on behalf of the people." In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God." Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1069

What is then the "work of God"? - It is his Passion, Death & Resurrection & Ascension - the Paschal Mystery.

In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one "leitourgos"; she shares in Christ's priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic (proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):

The liturgy then is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the presentation of man's sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree. CCC 1074

Translation: there is nothing greater than the Mass! Not prayer, not the Rosary, not contemplation, not praise & worship (all good and wonderful actions). In fact there is no action you can do as a human being that surpasses the Mass, not work, not play, not studying, dancing, an LSU game, mowing your lawn, riding a bicycle, going to the library, eating barbecue, walking your dog, NOTHING!

"The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows." It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God. "Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men."

What is the point of catechesis if a child does not go to Mass? Understanding the liturgy and why and what the Mass is and the significance it has in an individual's life is the first priority of catechesis.


Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ (It is "mystagogy.") by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the "sacraments" to the "mysteries." Such catechesis is to be presented by local and regional catechisms. This Catechism, which aims to serve the whole Church in all the diversity of her rites and cultures, will present what is fundamental and common to the whole Church in the liturgy as mystery and as celebration (Section One), and then the seven sacraments and the sacramentals (Section Two). CCC1075

"It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?"Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you?What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?"

"Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me."And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you." Luke 22:19-20

Saint Charles Borromeo

Born to a wealthy, noble family, the third of six children, son of Count Giberto II Borromeo and Margherita de' Medici. Nephew of Pope Pius IV. Suffered with a speech impediment. Studied in Milan, and at the University of Pavia, studying at one point under the future Pope Gregory XIII. Civil and canon lawyer at age 21. Cleric at Milan, taking the habit on 13 October 1547. Abbot commendatario of San Felino e San Graziano abbey in Arona, on 20 November 1547. Abbot commendatario of San Silano di Romagnano abbey on 10 May 1558. Prior commendatario of San Maria di Calvenzano abbey on 8 December 1558. Protonotary apostolic participantium and referendary of the papal court to Pope Pius IV on 13 January 1560. Member of the counsulta for the administration of the Papal States on 22 January 1560. Appointed abbot commendatario of Nonatola, San Gallo di Moggio, Serravalle della Follina, San Stefano del Corno, an abbey in Portugal, and an abbey in Flanders on 27 January 1560. Created cardinal on 31 January 1560 at 22.

Saint Charles spent his life and fortune in the service of the people of his diocese. He directed and fervently enforced the decrees of the Council of Trent, fought tirelessly for peace in the wake of the storm caused by Martin Luther, founded schools for the poor, seminaries for clerics, hospitals for the sick, conducted synods, instituted children's Sunday school, did great public and private penance, and worked among the sick and dying, leading his people by example. (courtesy of Aquinas & More and Patron Saint Index)

Byzantine Hymn

"Do It Again" Chesterton from Orthodoxy

People feel that if the universe was personal it would vary; if the sun were alive it would dance. This is a fallacy even in relation to known fact. For the variation in human affairs is generally brought into them, not by life, but by death; by the dying down or breaking off of their strength or desire. A man varies his movements because of some slight element of failure or fatigue. He gets into an omnibus because he is tired of walking; or he walks because he is tired of sitting still. But if his life and joy were so gigantic that he never tired of going to Islington, he might go to Islington as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness.

The very speed and ecstasy of his life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life.

The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we

Archbishop Dolan Calls It Like It Is

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is a true shepherd. His zeal for Christ and his enthusiasm, wit, intellect and love for people, is an example for all Bishops. The fact that he took on The New York times and the pathetic anti-Catholic Maureen Dowd make my heart leap for joy.

I have commented many times that anybody who would even consider Maureen Dowd as a) a being with an ounce intelligence b) a writer who ever used an argument based on logic and actual facts c) as a person who has any clue of what Catholicism is, is a fool to begin with. Ms Dowd has talked about how her siblings are all happily married Christians with beautiful families, and enjoying life. She is a celebrity elitist who is bitter, and pathetic, sad, and searching for what she will never have, and her life has been reduced to spewing hatred and demeaning people. I have read her columns and I don't get it. She is an intellectual midget, has no philosophical insight, her writings are cute little diatribes either licking the boots of the likes of the Clintons, and Obama or for the past eight years her daily rant about how Bush was either Hitler, Satan, an imbecile, blah, blah, blah... She is perfect for a world that hands out a nobel peace prize for doing nothing; empty, no depth of thought, always complaining about everybody, can't see the lumber that is wedged in her own eyes.

Morning Prayer Video

St. Martin de Porres

St. Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish gentleman. His mother was a freed-slave from Panama, maybe black but also possibly of Indian blood. At fifteen, he became a laybrother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there — as a barber, farm-laborer, almoner, and infirmarian, among other things.

Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as aerial flights and bilocation.

St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats' and dogs' hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three days' time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for Bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962.

Taken in part from Lives of the Saints, Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist., Ph.D., Catholic Book Publishing Company Source : CatholicCulture.Com

Donum Veitas (The Gift of Truth)

The truth which sets us free is a gift of Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 8:32). Man's nature calls him to seek the truth while ignorance keeps him in a condition of servitude. Indeed, man could not be truly free were no light shed upon the central questions of his existence including, in particular, where he comes from and where he is going. When God gives Himself to man as a friend, man becomes free, in accordance with the Lord's word: «No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you» (Jn 15:15). Man's deliverance from the alienation of sin and death comes about when Christ, the Truth, becomes the "way" for him (cf. Jn 14:6).

In the Christian faith, knowledge and life, truth and existence are intrinsically connected. Assuredly, the truth given in God's revelation exceeds the capacity of human knowledge, but it is not opposed to human reason. Revelation in fact penetrates human reason, elevates it, and calls it to give an account of itself (cf. 1 Pet 3:15). For this reason, from the very beginning of the Church, the "standard of teaching" (cf. Rom 6:17) has been linked with baptism to entrance into the mystery of Christ. The service of doctrine, implying as it does the believer's search for an understanding of the faith, i.e., theology, is therefore something indispensable for the Church.

Out of His infinite love, God desired to draw near to man, as he seeks his own proper identity, and walk with him ( cf. Lk 24:15 ) . He also wanted to free him from the snares of the "father of lies" (cf. Jn 8:44) and to open the way to intimacy with Himself so that man could find there, superabundantly, full truth and authentic freedom. This plan of love, conceived by "the Father of lights" (Jas 1:17; cf. I Pet 2:9; 1 Jn 1:5) and realized by the Son victorious over death (cf. Jn 8:36), is continually made present by the Spirit who leads "to all truth" (Jn 16:13) . from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith 1990

What an eloquence! We are all in one way or another to be theologians. It is imperative that we be diligent in our personal journey for Truth. We are to seek Him daily in prayer and contemplation. Louis de Montfort once wrote "all wisdom comes from the Cross"

The Five Basic Inclinations by Thomas Aquinas

What are the five basic inclinations of man according to St. Thomas Aquinas?

1. To seek good, including the highest good, which is eternal happiness with God.

2. To preserve himself in existence.

3. To preserve the species - that is to unite sexually.

4. To live in community with others.

5. To use his intellect and will -- that is, to know truth and to make his own decisions.

These inclinations are put into human nature by God to help man achieve his final end of eternal happiness from these inclinations we apply the natural law by deduction: Good should be done; this action is good; this action therefore should be done.

from 50 Questions on the Natural Law by Dr. Charles Rice, Professor of Law University of Notre Dame

That is why living a virtuous life is the means that one uses to seek the highest good. That is precisely why moral relativism is contrary to the natural law. It is the product of the evil one, who desires that we never find true happiness by deceiving ourselves into thinking it is possible without God. Precisely what Satan told Adam & Eve so many years ago. Notice that the most perfect environment for following those inclinations is the family. What moral relativism is doing is in every sense destroying family. Satan loves to have us all on the sideline taking advice from ourselves not subjecting to familial review. That way sin becomes a real gray area and morality a very subjective thing. Modern thought is anti family, anti Christian , anti Trinity, and very destructive in isolating people and their thoughts, kind of what Satan tried to do with Jesus in the desert. How did Christ answer him, when He was tempted? By using Sacred Scriptures, exactly where we should be.

They Are Living

By Thy resurrection from the dead, O Christ, death no longer hath dominion over those who die in holiness. So, we beseech Thee, give rest to Thy servants in Thy sanctuary and in Abraham's bosom. Grant it to those, who from Adam until now have adored Thee with purity, to our fathers and brothers, to our kinsmen and friends, to all men who have lived by faith and passed on their road to Thee, by a thousand ways, and in all conditions, and make them worthy of the heavenly kingdom.
Amen

" I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Matthew 22:32

All Saints Day

We should as followers of Christ look to the saints who we are in communion with in the Body of Christ. Their lives are a remarkable testimony to the love, determination, and sacrifices as the carried their crosses and walked with Him. The list of saints is exhaustive, I would love to mention just a few of my favorites:

Our Blessed Mother - her yes to God made salvation possible, Mary Mother of God pray for us.
St. Joseph - humble man who gave of himself to his wife and to Jesus - St Joseph pray for us
St. Peter -in him we see our imperfections and the passionate love for Christ - St. Peter pray for us.
St. Paul - my patron saint, tireless missionary who brought Christ to the Gentiles - St. Paul pray for us.
St. John the Evangelist - the one whom Jesus loved, His Gospel is truly the most beautiful words ever written - St. John pray for us.
St. Matthew - who was the first to write all that Jesus had done - St. Matthew pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel - who assists in our battles with the evil one - pray for us
St. Augustine - great theologian and Doctor of the Church - pray for us
St. Albert the Great - great scientific mind and philosopher - pray for us
St. Anthony - great intercessor and Doctor of the Church - pray for us
St. Francis of Assisi - perhaps lived as close to Christ's beatitudes than anyone - pray for us
St. Frances de Sales - great spiritual writer - pray for us
St. Thomas Aquinas - the Church's greatest thinker - pray for us
St. Ignatius of Loyola - the Church's greatest spiritual mind - pray for us
St. Therese of Lisieux - "The Little Flower" - for all to see God in all we do - pray for us
St. Benedict - founder of monasticism - pray for us
St. Bernadette -who brought Mary closer to us - pray for us
St. Dominic - founder of the Order of Preachers - pray for us
St. Catherine of Siena - mystic and Doctor of the Church - pray for us
St. Faustina - to remind us daily of the Divine Mercy of God - pray for us
St. John of the Cross - mystic of the Dark Night - pray for us
St. John Bosco - bringing Christ to the youngest in need - pray for us
St. Jean Vianney -the Cure de Ars patron saint of all priests - pray for us
St. Louis de Montfort - True Devotion - to Christ from Mary - pray for us
St. Mary Magdelene - to remind us of true conversion - pray for us
St. Maximillian Kolbe - no greater love than to give ones life - pray for us
St. Patrick - Christ before us - pray for us
St. Padre Pio -the love of the Eucharist - pray for us
St. Robert Bellarmine - the hammer of heresies - pray for us
St. Stephen - the first martyr - pray for us
St. Thomas More - patron saint of lawyers - pray for us
St. Theresa of Avila - mystic, doctor of the Church - pray for us
St. Thomas - for all of us who doubt Him - pray for us
St. Vincent de Paul - tireless worker for the poor - pray for us

What is Your Guiding Belief?

I am closer to six decades old than five. When I write using my own experiences I am coming from a perspective that has both observed and experienced the cultural and intellectual changes that have occurred. That a society or culture would change is not surprising, that anybody including myself would not change with it is also not surprising. Here is what surprises me: that from this single idea that as a young man, I believed, and we collectively as a country believed, as a people, we could and would make this a better world, not guided by any set of beliefs but rather by a spirit of our own independence, to a nation that now has become narcissistic, vulgar, uncivil, materially obsessed, devaluing human life, and sadly a phony caricature of its former greatness. There is no guiding principle for the nation and sadly there are no leaders. The truth is this: most Americans are not independent thinkers, not freely living according this "mythical philosophy" of independent thought, and "rugged individualism." The greatest lie (think about where the really big lies originate) is that they believe there are two kinds of people; one who are guided by a set of beliefs and thus are trapped in them and have no freedom of thought, and the smart people, who after seeing the progression of the world and humanity, know better, and are free to think wherever it takes them. What they can't and won't acknowledge is that they have a "philosophy or belief" that is guiding them, thus by their own definition they too are trapped. Many people have within their collection of beliefs some that are for the betterment of humanity and yet others that are not. They may find that at times their beliefs contradict one another or are illogical, but they dismiss this in the name of freedom of thought. Now you may say that I am cynical or disillusioned but I believe that what I possess is the knowledge that comes from someone who has experienced the changes (50+ years of watching), who has lived under the same set of relative beliefs (yes I was in their camp), has children who have spanned the years (children enable you to see first hand where the culture is headed), and am now guided by an authentic, set of beliefs or rather yet guided by Truth, Himself. It is very clear to me that the world is ordered, that the teachings of Jesus Christ are true and are the very best means of living to make the world a better place and is that through Him I may gain eternal life. I believe that the Church has faithfully safeguarded his Truth and that through a sacramental life of grace, I, though weak, foolish, a slave to sin, can live righteously, can grow spiritually and through a share in the divine life attain wisdom that is unattainable through any other means. At times I am saddened by those who cannot recognize this because I so desire for them to share in my joy. But Christ came to "seek and save what was lost" and I was certainly in that category. We all are guided by some belief and even if it is disordered and not clear from day to day what it is, it is there. The only truth that will ever set you free is the Christ Himself, the Truth.

The Cave Man - GK Chesterton

"Today all our novels and newspapers will be found swarming with numberless allusions to a popular character called a CaveMan. He seems to be quite familiar to us, not only as a public character but as a private character. His psychology is seriously taken into account in psychological fiction and psychological medicine. So far as I can understand, his chief occupation in life was knocking his wife about, or treating women in general with what is, I believe, known in the world of the film as 'rough stuff.' I have never happened to come upon the evidence for this idea; and I do not know on what primitive diaries or prehistoric divorce-reports it is founded."

" The primitive man may have taken a pleasure in beating women as well as in drawing animals; all we can say is that the drawings record the one but not the other. It may be true that when the cave-man's finished jumping on his mother, or his wife as the case may be, he loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling, and also to watch the deer as they come down to drink at the brook. These things are not impossible, but they are irrelevant. The common sense of the child could confine itself to learning from the facts what the facts have to teach; and the pictures in the cave are very nearly all the facts there are. So far as that evidence goes, the child would be justified in assuming that a man had represented animals with rock and red ochre for the same reason as he himself was in the habit of trying to represent animals with charcoal and red chalk. The man had drawn a stag just as the child had drawn a horse; because it was fun. The man bad drawn a stag with his head turned as the child had drawn a pig with his eyes shut; because it was difficult. The child and the man, being both human, would be united by the brotherhood of men; and the brotherhood of men is even nobler when it bridges the abyss of ages than when it bridges only the chasm of class. But anyhow he would see no evidence of the CaveMan of crude evolutionism; because there is none to be seen. If somebody told him that the pictures had all been drawn by St. Francis of Assisi out of pure and saintly love of animals, there would be nothing in the cave to contradict it. Indeed I once knew a lady who half-humorously suggested that the cave was a creche, in which the babies were put to be specially safe, and that colored animals were drawn on the walls to amuse them; very much as diagrams of elephants and giraffes adorn a modern infant school. And though this was but a jest, it does draw attention to some of the other assumptions that we make only too readily. The pictures do not prove even that the cave-men lived in caves, any more than the discovery of a wine-cellar in Balham (long after that suburb had been destroyed by human or divine wrath) would prove that the Victorian middle classes lived entirely underground"

"That is the sort of simple truth with which a story of the beginnings ought really to begin. The evolutionist stands staring in the painted cavern at the things that are too large to be seen and too simple to be understood. He tries to deduce all sorts of other indirect and doubtful things from the details of the pictures, because he cannot see the primary significance of the whole; thin and theoretical deductions about the absence of religion or the presence of superstition; about tribal government and hunting and human sacrifice and heaven knows what."

"Yet he will think us very narrow-minded, if we say that this is exactly why there really is a difference between being brought up as a Christian and being brought up as a Jew or a Moslem or an atheist. The difference is that every Catholic child has learned from pictures, and even every Protestant child from stones, this incredible combination of contrasted ideas as one of the very first impressions on his mind. It is not merely a theological difference. It is a psychological difference which can outlast any theologies It really is, as that sort of scientist loves to say about anything, incurable. Any agnostic or atheist whose childhood has known a real Christmas has ever afterwards, whether be likes it or not, an association in his mind between two ideas that most of mankind must regard as remote from each other; the idea of a baby and the idea of unknown strength that sustains the stars. His instincts and imagination can still connect them, when his reason can no longer see the need of the connection; for him there will always be some savor of religion about the mere picture of a mother and a baby; some hint of mercy and softening about the mere mention of the dreadful name of God.



"But I have begun this story in the cave, like the cave of the speculations of Plato, because it is a sort of model of the mistake of merely evolutionary introductions and prefaces. It is useless to begin by saying that everything was slow and smooth and a mere matter of development and degree."

The simplest truth about man is that he is a very strange being; almost in the sense of being a stranger on the earth. In all sobriety, he has much more of the external appearance of one bringing alien habits from another land than of a mere growth of this one. He has an unfair advantage and an unfair disadvantage. He cannot sleep in his own skin; he cannot trust his own instincts. He is at once a creator moving miraculous hands and fingers and a kind of cripple. He is wrapped in artificial bandages called clothes; he is propped on artificial crutches called furniture. His mind has the same doubtful liberties and the same wild limitations. Alone among the animals, he is shaken with the beautiful madness called laughter; as if he had caught sight of some secret in the very shape of the universe hidden from the universe itself."

"This sketch of the human story began in a cave; the cave which popular science associates with the cave-man and in which practical discovery has really found archaic drawings of animals. The second half of human history, which was like a new creation of the world, also begins in a cave."

"It was here that a homeless couple had crept underground with the cattle when the doors of the crowded caravanserai had been shut in their faces; and it was here beneath the very feet of the passersby, in a cellar under the very floor of the world, that Jesus Christ was born But in that second creation there was indeed something symbolical in the roots of the primeval rock or the horns of the prehistoric herd. God also was a CaveMan, and, had also traced strange shapes of creatures, curiously colored upon the wall of the world ; but the pictures that he made had come to life.

GK CHESTERTON - EXCERPTS FROM THE EVERLASTING MAN

Pavane

Prayer to Blessed Miguel Pro

Blessed Miguel, before your death, you told your friend to ask you for favors when you were in Heaven. I beg you to intercede for me and in union with Our Lady and all the angels and saints, to ask Our Lord to grant my petition, provided that it be God's Will.

[Here mention your request.]

We honor and adore the triune God. (Gloria)
We ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. (Come Holy Spirit)
We pray as Jesus taught us to pray. (Our Father)
We venerate with love the Virgin Mary. (Hail Mary)
All you angels, bless you the Lord forever.
Saint Joseph, Saint [name of your patron], and all the saints, pray for us.
Blessed Miguel, high spirited youth, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, loving son and brother, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, patient novice, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, exile from your homeland, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, prayerful religious, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, sick and suffering, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, defender of workers, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, courageous priest in hiding, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, prisoner in jail, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, forgiver of persecutors, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Blessed Miguel, holy martyr, pray for us. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

from Ad Majorem De Gloriam

Vivaldi Gloria

Ugly Churches

In April of 2008 I had the fortune to travel to Italy and experience the beauty of the churches there. I have been railing against ugly churches for some time now. Many modern Catholic Churches have been designed not with any attempt to show the splendor of God but rather what we get are these utilitarian structures that have track lighting, video display, and all the features of home theatre. The message of course is that what goes on here is a form of entertainment. The exteriors resemble the message conveyed in most "modern architecture" -bland, bleak, hopelessness, cold, impersonal, pointing to everything, yet pointing to nothing. Why should we care, you ask? The point of worship in my humble opinion is to elevate us to the Divine. As we are expressing our very being, as we relate to God, we are moved by the liturgy and all that is in our environment. Beauty is a mirror of God. It also reflects back our understanding of His perfection. A Church is, as Jesus once put it "my Father's House", not a storage shed, a parking garage, a theatre, or a detention center. In that moment of worship we transcend time, we enter the eternal, timelessness of our Creator. The point is not to diminish Him but to expand ourselves. If you think that the worship is about you, and how you feel, and what you take out of it, then you truly do not understand Catholicism. Michale Rose has just published a new book called Ugly as Sin that goes into detail about the destruction of Catholic worship. Let's return to honoring God our Father with the beauty and splendor only He deserves.

From The First Apology - Justin Martyr

Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honor and love only what is true, declining to follow traditional opinions, if these be worthless. For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who did or taught anything wrong, but it is incumbent on the lover of truth, by all means, and if death be threatened, even before his own life, to choose to do and say what is right. Do you, then, since you are called pious and philosophers, guardians of justice and lovers of learning, give good heed, and hearken to my address; and if you are indeed such, it will be manifested. For we have come, not to flatter you by this writing, nor please you by our address, but to beg that you pass judgment,

And when you hear that we look for a kingdom, you suppose, without making any inquiry, that we speak of a human kingdom; whereas we speak of that which is with God, as appears also from the confession of their faith made by those who are charged with being Christians, though they know that death is the punishment awarded to him who so confesses. For if we looked for a human kingdom, we should also deny our Christ, that we might not be slain; and we should strive to escape detection, that we might obtain what we expect. But since our thoughts are not fixed on the present, we are not concerned when men cut us off; since also death is a debt which must at all events be paid.
Justin Martyr, First Apology 150AD

WAYS OF COMING TO KNOW GOD

Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments", which allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These "ways" of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world, and the human person.

The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.

And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?

The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material",[9] can have its origin only in God.

The world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a reality "that everyone calls God".

Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith.(so) The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason. Catechism of the Catholic Church 31-35