Tuesday, June 11, 2013

What is the Mass?

Catholics worship God in a variety of ways, but the main communal worship is the Liturgy of the Eucharist or the Mass. As far back as the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's epistles, we find the Christian community gathering to celebrate the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist.

The Church teaches that the Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary, which is misunderstood by some. The Catholic Church does not teach that the Mass is a re-crucifixion of Christ, who does not suffer and die again in the Mass. The Church believes that Christ's death is once for all. Through his intercessary ministry in heaven and through the Mass, Jesus continues to offer himself to his Father as a LIVING sacrifice.

In the catacombs in Rome, the tombs of martyrs were used as alters for the earliest forms of the Mass. Very early on, the Church saw the Mass as a mystical reality in which the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is renewed. In response to Protestant sects who denied that the Eucharist is anything more than a memorial, the Council of Trent (1545-63) said that "The same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner" in the Mass.

The Old Testament predicted that Christ would offer a true sacrifice to God using bread and wine. In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest, offered sacrifice under the form of bread and wine. Psalm 110 predicted that Christ would be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek," that is offering a sacrifice in bread and wine. The Mass meets this need.

The Church Council Vatican 2 explains the Mass in these words:  "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the eucharist sacrifice of his body and blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us". (Sacrosanctum Concilium  47).

The Mass is a memorial and a sacrifice. The Mass is the Church's way of fulfilling Christ's command at the Last Supper, to "Do this in remembrance of me." As a memorial of the Last Supper, the Mass is also a sacred banquet, in which we participate in our presence and our role in the liturgy and through the reception of Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ.









Sunday, June 2, 2013

Call no man Father?

Why do Catholics call their priests "Father"?. Does it not say in scripture to call no man father? Many non-Catholics believe that when Catholics do this, they are participating in a practice that Jesus condemned.

To understand what Jesus meant, we have to read 5 consecutive verses of Matthew which are 23:8-12: "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father, the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The great among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be exalted."

When reading the above verses, we see that Jesus condemned the use of the word "father, "rabbi", and "instructor." Why? It is because the Jewish leaders "loved to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the market places, and to have people call them rabbi." (Matthew 23:6-7). Jesus was condemning the Pharisees who were so full of pride. Their proud hearts were completely corrupt. The Pharisees had elevated themselves above God as the ultimate authorities, as father image and teachers. They failed to look up to God as the source of all authority, fatherhood, and teaching. Jesus was telling them to humble themselves and to stop seeking those titles for themselves.

It appears that the objection of some to calling a living man a spiritual father is because it equals a priest with God the Father. When Catholics call priests "father" we are saying that he is our spiritual father and he gives us our spiritual leadership. We are not elevating the priest to the level of God the Father. Catholics, of course, recognize the sovereign Fatherhood of God alone!!!!

There are many, many verses in Scripture in which the inspired writers call spiritual leaders "father". In Acts 7:2-4, Stephen refers to the ancestors of Abraham, the word "father" being used. In Philippians 2:22, Paul said, "But Timothy's worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel." St. Paul refers to himself as the father of believers in 1 Corinthians 4:14-15, "I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel.". The last example I will give you is 1 John 2:13: "I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one."

In Matthew 23 Jesus invokes us not to call anyone "teacher" or "master". Yet many non-Catholics have no problem calling someone "teacher" and use the word "doctor", which is Latin for "teacher".



Saturday, June 1, 2013

Faith and Works

The Protestant Reformation in 1517 began the discussion of "faith alone" vs. "faith and works" for salvation. Roman Catholicism teaches that we are not saved by faith alone. The Church has taught this since 30 AD. This truth can be seen from Sacred Scripture.

All who say they are "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). 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? When you look at the Scriptures, we see faith also involves consent 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 ideas appeared to be missing by the reformers, yet they are just as important as believing and trusting.

Do our works mean anything? According to Jesus they do (Matthew 25:31-46). The people rewarded and punished are done so by their actions. And our thoughts (Matthew 15:18-20) and words (James 3:6-12) are accountable as well. In Matthew 19:17-19, Jesus said: "If you would enter life, keep the commandments... You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  That is works!!

What does St. Paul mean in Romans 3:28: "For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law." In this, he was condemning the Old Covenant sacrifices and rituals which couldn't justify and he was pointing to better things now in Christ Jesus in the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:7-10). Always keep in mind the two definitions of the word "work" as used in the Bible-- one meaning refers to a work of the Jewish law and the other definition refers to a good deed which can make your faith come alive.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther himself changed the understanding of the Bible to fit his theology. In Romans 3:28, he inserted the word "alone" when he translated it. This was not the way it was taught for over 1100 years. The only time you do see the words faith and alone together in a sentence is in James 2:24, where James says "See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone."

St. Paul made clear in Romans 2:6-8 that good works are necessary for attaining eternal life, "For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factions and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury."

Paul speaks of faith as a life-long process, never as a one-time experience. He says in Philippians 2:12, "So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling." He never assumes he has nothing to worry about concerning his salvation.

The Catholic Church has never taught we "earn" our salvation. It is an inheritance (Gal 5:21), freely given to anyone who becomes a child of God (1 John 3:1), so long as they remain that way (John 15:1-11). You can't earn it but you can lose the free gift given from the Father (James 1:17).




Monday, May 27, 2013

The Pieta

For our 25th wedding anniversary, Gary and I went on a pilgrimage to Italy. At first Gary was not real excited about the trip, but after he got there I think he enjoyed it as much or more than me!! Seeing the beautiful old cathedrals and basilicas was amazing to his engineering eyes. He was amazed at how difficult it must have been building these structures.

When we visited St. Peter's Basilica we both just loved looking at the Pieta made by Michelangelo. This is a statue of Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus after the crucifixion. It is just an amazing site!.

At Gary's funeral, the family picked the picture of the Pieta to be on his funeral card.

A few weeks after Gary's death I was just beside myself. So I took a walk around the neighborhood. I found myself crying and starting to say the Hail Mary prayer over and over again and it gave me some comfort. After a few minutes of this, I had a thought in my mind that overcame me. I saw Mary holding Gary in her arms just like she was holding Jesus, except that Gary was in her left arm unlike her holding Jesus in her right as in the Pieta. Gary was dressed in his hospital gown and still had tubes coming out of his body. At that moment I knew Mary was taking care of Gary just like a mother who had taken care of her son, Jesus!!  It was amazing. It has taken me a long time to realize the blessing of that day!

Another mystery involving the Pieta was when I went to a gift shop in the Westerville Catholic Church. I was just looking around when I spotted some prayer cards. One card was a prayer for widows and widowers. I read the prayer and bought the card. After I had purchased the card, I looked on the back and there was the Pieta!! 

God does work in His mysterious ways and we must always be alert to signs in our life that He gives to us. He sends us His graces at our times of need. To know that Gary is being taken care of in heaven left me with such peace. Although I would love to have him back so desperately, I know for sure that he is in such a holy place that how could I ask him to leave that!! I thank God for giving me these special happenings and I also thank Mary the Mother of us all that she is involved in my life here on earth and that she is helping with the care of Gary in heaven. I believe that if we give Mary a chance, she can become a wonderful help in our spiritual life. She helps lead us to Jesus, her son. Wouldn't that be something that any mother would do especially a mother who knew her son was the Savior of the world.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

The mystery of the rosary

The purpose of the rosary is to help keep in memory certain events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them. The rosary is a scripture based prayer. It begins with the Apostle's Creed, which summarizes the great mysteries of the Catholic faith. The Our Father, which introduces each mystery is from the Gospels. The Hail Mary is said ten times at each mystery after the Our Father. The mysteries of the rosary center on the events of Christ's life. There are four sets of mysteries.

The Joyful Mysteries are : the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the Visitation (Luke 1:40-55), the Nativity (Luke 2:6-20), the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:21-39), and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-51).

The Sorrowful Mysteries are : the Agony in the Garden (Mt. 26:36-46), the Scourging (Mt 27:26), the Crowing with Thorns (Mt 27:29), the Carrying of the Cross (Luke 23:26-32), and the Crucifixion (Luke 23:33-46).

The Glorious Mysteries are :  The Resurrection (Luke 24:1-12), the Ascension (Luke 24:50-51), the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), the Assumption of Mary into heaven and her Coronation.

The Luminous Mysteries which have to do with the earthly ministry of Jesus are : The Baptism of Jesus (Matt 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22 ), the Wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11), the Proclaiming of the Kingdom (Matt 10:7-8), the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-10, Luke 9:28-36), and the Institution of the Eucharist (Matt 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20).

With the exception of the last two glorious mysteries, each mystery is explicitly scriptural.

As we say each 10 Hail Mary's we must meditate on the mystery associated with it and keep Jesus's life close to our heart. Christ forbid meaningless repetition (Matt 6:7) but the Bible itself has some prayers that involve repetition. You can see this in Psalm 136. Also in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:39-44), Jesus prayed the same prayer three times in a row. We must always pray these prayers with sincerity and not mindlessly.






Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Real Presence

The Catholic Church teaching that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus, not bread and wine, is clearly taught in the Bible and throughout the 2,000 year tradition of the Church. The teaching of Jesus in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel is very clear: "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 up 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 (John 6:53-56 ).

The Jews disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Even though many disciples would not accept this teaching, Jesus made no attempt to soften what he said. Jesus made no attempt to correct "misunderstandings". This is the only record we have of any of Christ's followers leaving him for purely doctrinal reasons. Maybe both the Jews and some of his disciples would have remained with him had he said he was speaking on symbolically.

The early Church took this teaching seriously. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul says, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord...for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement on himself." (1 Corinthians 11: 27, 29). Paul's words make sense only if the bread and wine have become the real body and blood of Christ.

The early Church Fathers also understood the Real Presence. St.Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of John, who was eaten by the beasts in Rome around 107 AD, wrote: "The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ.". St. Justin the martyr wrote: "We have been taught that the food is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." He wrote this around 145 AD. The Council of Trent in 1551 defined that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity.

"As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me" (John 6:57). The Greek word used for "eats" (trogon) is very blunt and is like "chewing" or "gnawing." This does not sound like the language of metaphor.

In a fifth-century homily, Bishop Theodore of Mopsuestia seemed to be speaking to today's Evangelicals and Fundamentalists: "When (Christ) gave the bread he did not say, 'This is the symbol of my body,' but, 'This is my body.' In the same way, when he gave the cup of his blood he did not say, 'This is the symbol of my blood,' but 'This is my blood,' for he wanted us to look upon the (eucharistic elements), after their reception of grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit, not according to their nature, but to receive them as they are, the body and blood of our Lord" (Catechetical Homilies 5:1).

Receiving the Eucharist to me is such a holy gift that I am unworthy to receive it unless I am first healed.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

To make a comment

If you want to make a comment, click on the "no comment" at the bottom of the page on the post that you want to comment on. Then write your comment in the box.

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God bless,
Barb