And so this is Christmas...

John Lennon may have thought he had summed up the mystery of Christmas in his hit single going by the same title as this blog post but I would suggest the soon to be canonized Mother Teresa had a deeper insight into it all.

Love came to us that we might come to love. To love others. To love God. To love with the strength of God's own Heart pounding within us.  Love goes out and then it brings in. It seeks the unloved and makes them loved. It welcomes the unloved by loving them. The Son of God (Love in the Flesh) seeks us, finds us, then invites us to become love.

Living love... How will you change this Christmas? The Lord is offering you His Heart. Will you take it? Or will you keep yours, unwilling to give it away in love?

Give yourself away to Love this Christmas and you will find yourself this Christmas.

"For it is only in the sincere gift of self that man truly finds himself." - Second Vatican Council

Let love win this Christmas. Let God (Who is Love) win your heart and you will begin to win hearts for Love. Live Christmas today... and ever day.

Merry Christmas!

Final Moments - Love Mercy

What would you have done better this Advent? Take that and bring it into the Christmas season.

"Ok, Lord.. please bring a greater good out of my negligence and weakness."

His mercy is glorified when it is called upon and that is why Divine Mercy took flesh; to be called upon.

"Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" as the Scripture says.

As we are beginning the journey of this Year of Mercy we ought to call upon Mercy.  Ask Mercy Himself to do everything for you which you yourself cannot do.  Realize, too, that what we cannot do is... everything.

"Apart from Me you can do nothing" Jesus says in John's Gospel.

Are you trying to do something apart from the Lord? Know that, if this is the case, it won't bear fruit. At least, not any kind of healthy, spiritually nutritious fruit for you or anyone else. However, if you bring all you do to the Lord then Mercy will make you a true disciple who bears much fruit.

The Tree of Life is beginning to blossom the fruit of the Savior; the Savior Himself.  The Tree of Life  is the source of Mercy for us.  Bloom where you are planted. Root yourself in Mercy this Christmas.

"For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Love Him.  Love Mercy. All will be well because all will be His when we give all to Him.  Become a gift of self to Mercy this Christmas.  Give yourself over.  Love Mercy.

"Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Merry Christmas!

Stop and Check Yourself

With only a few days left until Christmas it is good to stop and check yourself.  Where is your heart at? Where does Christ want your heart to be?  It can be as simple as that.  

We can check ourselves anytime.  Where am I at?  Where does the Lord want me to be? What is He trying to say/communicate to me? Does He have a grace which I am resisting? Why am I resisting?

So in these final days before Christmas let's make the final preparations in our hearts.  

Where are you at? Where do you need to be to receive what He is offering?

How's the Final Prep Going?

There is still time this Advent to surprise the Lord with a gift.

You can still make some special preparation for Christmas in your life.  You can still make room for Christ in your heart.  You can increase the space within your spirit.  There is still time.

There is, too, still time for the Lord to surprise you.  Are you open to His gift?  What will He give you? What does He desire to give you?  

The Lord desires always to give us His grace.  What grace is He laboring to offer to you in these final days of Advent?

In anticipating the gift of Christmas itself we must first pave the way by receiving His Advent gift.  If you have been slow of heart to receive His Advent gift then take heart! There is still time to receive.  

Come before the Lord in these final moments of preparation and ask Him what He desires you to receive from His loving, merciful heart.

What grace has He prepared for you at the outset of this Year of Mercy?  Will you say yes?

He certainly desires you to. Do say yes.  He has exactly what you want.  It is what you need.

Is Catholicism Biblical? Second Wind

In my previous post I began to answer the question "Is Catholicism Biblical?"  I suggested that this may be the wrong question to start with and presupposes that the Bible is trustworthy in the first place.  After all, the books of the New Testament were declared so simply because they witnessed to the authentic Christian way of life and were those which were most generally read at the celebration of the New Testament/Covenant itself: the Eucharistic Sacrifice. So, asking if Catholicism is biblical is asking the second question first.  The first question ought to be is the BIBLE Catholic? 

To put this into a better perspective for my non Catholic readers - read the word "catholic" as the ancient Christians would:

Follow your bishop, every one of you, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Obey your clergy too as you would the apostles; give your deacons the same reverence that you would to a command of God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken by anyone without the bishop’s sanction. The sole Eucharist you should consider valid is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself, or by some person authorized by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as, wherever Jesus Christ is present, there is the Catholic Church (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).

When finally he concluded his prayer, after remembering all who had at any time come his way – small folk and great folk, distinguished and undistinguished, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world – the time for departure came. So they placed him on an ass, and brought him into the city on a great Sabbath (The Martyrdom of Polycarp 8 [A.D. 110]).

The Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said (Against Heresies 1:10 [A.D. 189]).

Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built, teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not hear or obey may depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if anyone be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another (Letters 66 [A.D. 253]).

In these selections the Church is called "Catholic" to refer to it's universality all over the world and it's authenticity as that which contains the fullness of Christian doctrine as handed down from the time of the Apostles. Therefore, the Eastern Orthodox or the Lutherans or any other particular group may suppose their brand of Christianity is indeed the most "catholic" even though they do not fully belong to the Roman Catholic Church.  I hope that makes sense.

Today and in the early Church people can identity the true Church (or that which contains the fullness of Christian doctrine and practice) by the "4 marks of the Church."  These are that the TRUE Church is One, Holy, Catholic (properly understood,) and Apostolic. Let us focus on that last mark: Catholicity.



In defending the (Roman) Catholic Church from novel sects that were springing up St. Vincent of Lerins (a Father of the Church and a major contributor to the conversion of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman from Anglicanism) points to those characteristics as necessary prerequisites for the Church. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm

Notably, St. Vincent says the following under chapter 2 (paragraph 6) "Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all... We shall follow universality [Catholicity] if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses..."

In other words, if you want to find the fullness of the Christian faith find the expression of it which is spread throughout time and throughout the world.

I know of no other expression of Christianity which accomplishes such universality than the Roman Catholic Church (in conjunction with the eastern rite Catholic churches such as the Byzantines, Syro-Malabar etc.)

Again, to emphasize a point from the previous post, how do WE know that the Bible have any authority at all (particularly the New Testament?) Simply because the Catholic Church has told us so. It wasn't until the late 300's that we would see a historical development of a New Testament canon (list) of inspired writings.  Yet, THOSE books were "canonized" by an extra-biblical authority.  This is a part we don't often think about.

The books of the New Testament were chosen (along with an affirmation of the Septuagint canon of the Old Testament) as canonical because they were Catholic.  Those books affirmed what had been believed "everywhere, always, by all."  

So is Catholicism biblical?  Remember, first things first: who told you that the Bible was even a trustworthy authority in the first place? And if you accept that particular judgement which the Catholic Church made in the late 300's.. then why wouldn't you accept the other beliefs which the Catholic Church held at the time? Here is a final thought to ponder from St. Cyprian (another Father of the Church and therefore a witness of authentic Christianity in the early years of Christianity.)

The Lord says to Peter: "I say to you," he says, "that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church" . . . On him he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? [the fullness of the faith] If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church? (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4 [A.D. 251]).

Is Catholicism Biblical? First Things First.

I had a reader ask about the Bible and acting according to it.  I hope I understood their request correctly so, if I am not and that was you, feel free to comment and offer an adjustment!

___________

First things first. Never second or third things first. 

Which came first the Church or the Bible? Certainly we all can agree the Old Testament predates the Church but, for Christians, the entire Bible is not only those books related to the Old Covenant (that compilation of books we call the "Old Testament" where "Testament" is synonymous with the word "Covenant.") Christians acknowledge a new, definitive covenant that God made with humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ. The establishment of that covenant came in the upper room at the last supper when the Christ (the Messiah, God made man) took bread and wine and declared the bread to be His body which we must eat and the wine to be His blood which we must drink.  He commanded us to "do this in memory of Me." 

Do WHAT in memory of Him?

Celebrate the Eucharist He was offering.  He offered up His body and blood at the Last Supper and fulfilled that covenantal act during His passion.  There was one offering that Christ made of Himself. His entire life was held in His hands at the Last Supper and His entire life was given in His passion.  

He said, "This cup is New Covenant (Testament) in My Blood..." (Luke 22:20) There - that offering of Himself - of His body and blood - there is the New Covenant.  HE, the Word of God Made Flesh, being offered to the Father on behalf of mankind, is the New Covenant; the New Testament.

These words (from the written Word of God) testify about a Testament centered in a Person.  The whole of Scripture - most especially those books centered around the New Covenant/New Testament - is all about the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ.  In the Old Testament/Covenant books that reality is hidden and foreshadowed.  The books of the New Testament/Covenant speak of the Word of God made flesh with unveiled clarity.  Nonetheless, all of the Bible (the written Word) refers to the enfleshed Word (Jesus Christ.)

The Biblical books were all selected because these were the books read in public liturgy/worship.  The 27 books of the New Covenant/Testament (which eventually became known simply as "the New Testament") were identified definitively as God's written Word and Divinely inspired because those 27 books were those which were in accord with the New Covenant itself and were proclaimed in the public celebration/offering of the New Covenant memorial sacrifice (Jesus said, "Do THIS in memory of me" and so the Church does so.)

I offer all of this to reframe the original question I posed. I asked in the title of this post "Is Catholicism Biblical?" However, HOW did the early Church determine what was to be in the Bible in the first place? If we want to know what is biblical we first must recognize that we are assuming that these 27 books of the New Testament (and the 73 books of the Old Testament) are indeed the written Word of God!  How do we know that the Bible is truly the Word of God? In other words, "Who said so?"

It was the community of Christians who gathered around and found their strength in the New Covenant offering of the Eucharist.  The Body of Christ (the Church) was centered in the Body of Christ (the Eucharist) and determined that certain books/letters were appropriately labeled as "Scripture" and "Divinely Inspired" and "Word of God" and therefore were authoritative.  These books were authoritative as the Word of God because of their connection and proximity with the celebration of the Word of God made flesh (Jesus in the Eucharist) as the Church fulfilled Jesus' words "Do this in memory of Me." The Church offered the Body and Blood of the New Covenant while hearing certain words in certain letters/books.   

So, first things first.  So it is clear that the Church obviously existed before those books of the New Covenant/Testament were even written. The earliest Christians would not have asked "Is this or that biblical" in the way some Christians would ask today simply because the entire Bible wasn't even written yet much less declared/recognized as God's written Word.  The Church was able to discern "These and not those" books are God's Word. 

Why did the early Church have any authority to determine what should be declared as the written Word of God, the books of the New Covenant/Testament? Does this mean that the Bible is not the only authority in matters of doctrine, faith, morals etc.? I would argue yes because unless we accept the authority of the early Church in determining what we hold as authoritative (the Bible) then we have no reason to accept the Bible as authoritative in the first place.

To summarize: The Church declared "THIS is the written Word of God." Ought we not listen to the other things the Church has declared? 

More on that in the next post...

Prayers for Paris

"Where you do not find love, put love, and there you will find love." - St. John of the Cross

During such a tragic time we need to remember the wisdom behind such words by recognizing that darkness cannot defeat the light so long as the light does not refuse to shine. So let your light shine.

May we always lament the reality of evil in our world and not only when it comes in heavy doses such as a terrorist attack.  May we react with horror to injustice wherever it occurs whether it comes in the form of a single child dying of hunger or brutality or the hundreds who have been killed in Paris.

May we pray not only for the victims but also for the perpetrators. If we don't pray for their conversion then from where will it come from? Love wins when love refuses to quit. Don't give up praying, don't give up.

Don't give up.

My hope is that this bold manifestation of evil in our world will not leave us indifferent but would rather draw out a holy desire in people of good will to live the truth of love.  Hopefully, it will be inspiration instead of horror which will wake our sleeping and indifferent world.

For the sun will always rise to scatter the darkness. But what difference will it make if no one looks towards the light to see the coming of dawn?

Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. - 2 Peter 1:19