Coworker in Truth

Respect For Christ In The Eucharist

2010-04-30T10:52:00.003-04:00

– One Priest’s Perspective -
by Rev. Robert Lange

Americans have the option of receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue or in the hand. The Vatican granted us the option of receiving on the hand in 1977. This was accomplished by an indult, a lifting of the law, so we may receive either way, on the tongue or in the hand. The indult was granted because the American Bishops told the Vatican that their parishioners were clamoring for it. “We can feed ourselves” was one of the specious arguments put forward.

After Apostolic times, the Church gradually adopted Communion on the tongue as the universal practice. In the early fourth century the Arians, who denied the divinity of Christ, revived the practice of receiving Communion in the hand specifically to show a lesser respect for Christ, believing that He is not “equal to the Father.”

The universal Church law, which requires Holy Eucharist to be distributed to the faithful on their tongues, remains in force; it remains the law. However the indult has the effect of making the law inapplicable where in force.

Foreseeing the demand for the indult coming, the Sacred Office for Divine Worship sent a letter to the presidents of the bishops’ conferences to advise them how they may implement this option if granted. The letter spoke about reverence for the Holy Eucharist being the number one priority. With this in mind, the letter went into great detail trying to explain this crucial concern. The letter contained the following specifics.

Communion on the hand is an option; it is not the primary way of receiving. Catholics must be catechized to understand this important point. No one is to be forced to receive on the hand.

When receiving the Body of Christ on the hand, the faithful must be aware of the fact that each and every particle, no matter how small, is truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore no particle should ever be discarded or treated with less than total respect due to the Body of Christ.

The faithful must also be reminded that their hands must be clean to receive our Lord, Jesus Christ.

When ordained in 1986, I was a proponent of receiving Communion in the hand, but time has changed my thinking on this issue. Seeing so many abuses and forming a deeper respect for Jesus’ true Presence in the Holy Eucharist were the factors which forced me to rethink my position.

On March 28, 1965, when the catholic college I was attending opened their newly renovated chapel, we students were told how to receive the Holy Eucharist: standing and in the hand. There was no option given. May I add that this was fully twelve years before any American diocese received the indult, which allowed for that option.

Why did those priests, abbots and bishops disobey the authority of Rome? Communion in the hand became the norm for American Catholics in the 1960’s. In many cases the practice was not presented to us as optional, but as the way to receive.

In my twenty-four years as a priest, I have served in many parishes and witnessed many Eucharistic abuses caused by receiving in the hand. I have picked Jesus off the floor from under pews and picked Him out of hymnals. I have followed people back to their seats and asked if they would give me the host back (they bring it out of a clinched hand or out of their pockets) and have witnessed many other sacrilegious desecrations of the most Blessed Sacrament, far too many and varied to mention, some so shocking most people would simply not believe my words.

As I began to see these desecrations of the Holy Eucharist, I began to understand how very sickening, disheartening and avoidable all of this actually has been. Many religious education programs teach the children how to receive on the hand, with at most a cursory mention of the traditional way of receiving on the tongue. Why? The Church documents do not support such teaching. It was the same with many American dioceses in the 1960’s when the faithful were being coerced into receiving on the hand a decade before being granted the indult.

Father Benedict Groeschel, a familiar face to EWTN viewers and an accomplished author, announced on his “Sunday Night Live With Fr. Groeschel” program that he considered Communion in the hand to be an abomination. That is strong language!

Blessed Theresa of Calcutta was asked what was the worst thing that has happened to the Church in her lifetime. She replied without hesitation, “Communion in the hand.” Again powerful language!

Why would these two great figures of our time be so fervent in their opinions regarding this issue if it did not affect their whole being? Somehow I think they would agree that Communion in the hand is a true American tragedy.

Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI leads by example. Since becoming Pope, anyone receiving Holy Eucharist from him must receive on the tongue and kneeling. He is not requiring a change throughout the world, but is giving us a profound message by example.

Proper respect shown to the Holy Eucharist is primary. Please consider these thoughts before receiving Holy Communion this Sunday. Thank you.

2010-04-15T04:41:00.000-04:00

"Love is not content with a routine fulfillment of duty. Love is incompatible with boredom or apathy. To love means to renew our dedication every day, with loving deeds of service.” –St. Josemaria Escriva Friends of God 44

Chesterton weighs in on Health Care

2009-11-07T03:01:00.004-05:00

And what a formidable weight he is!

"In this matter, then, as in all the other matters treated in this book, our main conclusion is that it is a fundamental point of view, a philosophy or religion which is needed, and not any change in habit or social routine. The things we need most for immediate practical purposes are all abstractions. We need a right view of the human lot, a right view of the human society; and if we were living eagerly and angrily in the enthusiasm of those things, we should, ipso facto, be living simply in the genuine and spiritual sense. Desire and danger make every one simple. And to those who talk to us with interfering eloquence about Jaeger and the pores of the skin, and about Plasmon and the coats of the stomach, at them shall only be hurled the words that are hurled at fops and gluttons, "Take no thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Those amazing words are not only extraordinarily good, practical politics; they are also superlatively good hygiene. The one supreme way of making all those processes go right, the processes of health, and strength, and grace, and beauty, the one and only way of making certain of their accuracy, is to think about something else. If a man is bent on climbing into the seventh heaven, he may be quite easy about the pores of his skin. If he harnesses his waggon to a star, the process will have a most satisfactory effect upon the coats of his stomach. For the thing called "taking thought," the thing for which the best modern word is "rationalizing," is in its nature, inapplicable to all plain and urgent things. Men take thought and ponder rationalistically, touching remote things — things that only theoretically matter, such as the transit of Venus. But only at their peril can men rationalize about so practical a matter as health." ( Heretics chap. 10)

It seems in this day that most Christians have reasoned that they may as well "swallow the punch", for the "herd" of course.

What do you know?

2009-10-13T05:52:00.001-04:00

"It is one of the million wild jests of truth that we know nothing until we know nothing."

G.K. Chesterton Heretics

What motivates you?

2009-10-08T03:35:00.001-04:00

"A young man may keep himself from vice by continually thinking of disease. He may keep himself from it also by continually thinking of the Virgin Mary. There may be question about which method is the more reasonable, or even about which is the more efficient. But surely there can be no question about which is the more wholesome." GKChesterton from Heretics

Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: St. John Vianney Part 2

2009-08-27T06:08:00.002-04:00

Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: Part 2

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Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: St. John Vianney Part One

2009-08-20T23:20:00.001-04:00

Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: Padre Junipero Serra

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What it means to be Catholic

2009-07-30T01:28:00.004-04:00

This is from Catholic News Service LES COMBES, Italy (CNS) --

Pope Benedict XVI said the Vatican and Italian police who watched over him while he was on vacation in the Italian Alps were like "guardian angels, discreet and efficient."

But he was not quite so sure what his own guardian angel was up to. "Unfortunately, my guardian angel -- certainly following orders from above -- did not prevent my accident," he said, referring to the fact that he tripped in the dark July 17 and broke his wrist.

"Perhaps the Lord wanted to teach me greater patience and humility, and give me more time for prayer and meditation."The pope said he had spent the past 16 days immersed in a "heavenly peace," with the silence interrupted only by the songs of birds, rain falling on the grass and the wind blowing through the trees.

He told the dozens of security officers, "Angels are invisible, but efficient at the same time. And you were the same -- invisible, but efficient.""I enjoyed a heavenly peace here. No disturbance could enter. But many good things -- both material and immaterial -- got in. Many cakes, cheeses, wines," he said.

What an amazing connection everything visible and invisible has for our good! God is good.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord‏

2009-03-25T06:31:00.005-04:00

It is impossible for me to express the importance of this Feast Day. It should be celebrated throughout all of Christianity, and has indeed been celebrated throughout all the world throughout the ages of the Church. Though, sadly, it is a day that will come and go for many like any other day, just as the day our LORD was crucified passed for many in the world as any other. It will pass as He passed down the "way of suffering" unrecognized by those going about their lives. May we all stop and ponder anew the infinitely knowable mystery of the incarnation and the magnificent obedience of the Mother of our LORD.

Here are just a few quotes to help.

Jean Charlier de Gerson, 13th century theologian, cries out on this mystery:

"What ought every heart to say or think! every religious, every loving and faithful heart? It ought to rejoice exceedingly in this singular comfort, and to salute you with Gabriel, On this day is the Saviour of mankind, true God and man, conceived in the womb of Mary. This day our Lady received a name more sublime than can be understood, and the most noble of all names possible after that of her Son, by which she is called the Mother of God. On this day the greatest of miracles is wrought. Hear the wonders of love and mercy on this festival: God is made man; and man, in the divine person, God: he that is immortal is become mortal, and the Eternal is born in time. A virgin is a mother a woman the mother of God; a creature has conceived her Creator!"

Michael Card, 20th Century singer and poetic song writer:

When the Father wanted to show the love He wanted us to know,

He sent His only Son, and so became a holy embryo.

Oh, that is the mystery -- more than you can see.

Give up on your pondering, and fall down on your knees.

As fiction as fantastic and wild -- a mother made by her own child!

A hope the babe who cried was God incarnate and man deified.

That is the mystery -- more than you can see.

Give up on your pondering, and fall down on your knees.

Because the Fall did devastate, the Creator now must re-create.

And so, to take our sin, was made like us so we could be like Him.

That is the mystery -- more than you can see.

Give up on your pondering, and fall down on your knees.

St. Leo the Great was born in Tuscany and served as Pope from 440 A.D. until his death in 461. Next to St. Gregory the Great, St. Leo’s pontificate is considered the most significant in early Church history. In 445 he persuaded Emporer Valentinian to issue an edict recognizing the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. He also established the doctrine of the Incarnation first by a letter to Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople, during a battle in the East over monophysitism. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 this same letter was confirmed as true declaration of Catholic Faith concerning the Person of Christ. Secular historians recorded Pope St. Leo’s influence during the barbarian invasions. He met Attila the Hun at the gates of Rome and persuaded him to turn back. He left a great legacy both in his leadership and his writings when he died in 461.

"Lowliness is assured by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that could suffer. Thus, in keeping with the healing that we needed, one and the same mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, was able to die in one nature, and unable to die in the other.
He who is true God was therefore born in the complete and perfect nature of a true man, whole in his own nature, whole in ours. By our nature we mean what the creator had fashioned in us from the beginning, and took to himself in order to restore it.
For in the Saviour there was no trace of what the deceiver introduced and man, being misled, allowed to enter. It does not follow that because he submitted to sharing in our human weakness he therefore shared in our sins.
He took the nature of a servant without stain of sin, enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity. He emptied himself; though invisible he made himself visible, though Creator and Lord of all things he chose to be one of us mortal men. Yet this was the condescension of compassion, not the loss of omnipotence. So he who in the nature of God had created man, became in the nature of a servant, man himself.
Thus the Son of God enters this lowly world. He comes down from the throne of heaven, yet does not separate himself from the Father’s glory. He is born in a new condition, by a new birth.
He was born in a new condition, for, invisible in his own nature, he became visible in ours. Beyond our grasp, he chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, he began to exist at a moment in time. Lord of the universe, he hid his infinite glory and took the nature of a servant. Incapable of suffering as God, he did not refuse to be a man, capable of suffering. Immortal, he chose to be subject to the laws of death.
He who is true God is also true man. There is no falsehood in this unity as long as the lowliness of man and the pre-eminence of God coexist in mutual relationship.
As God does not change by his condescension, so man is not swallowed up by being exalted. Each nature exercises its own activity, in communion with the other. The Word does what is proper to the Word, the flesh fulfils what is proper to the flesh.
One nature is resplendent with miracles, the other falls victim to injuries. As the Word does not lose equality with the Father’s glory, so the flesh does not leave behind the nature of our race.
One and the same person – this must be said over and over again – is truly the Son of God and truly the son of man. He is God in virtue of the fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is man in virtue of the fact that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Humanae Vitae 40 Years

2008-07-25T11:54:00.000-04:00

Many of you have heard me say that Humanae Vitae (Human Life) was the most significant document of the 20th Century. I still believe this to be true and even more since the first time I read it in Feb. 2004. The battle between the forces of good and evil, life and death, have never been so clearly delineated on the human stage. Yet God, right from the midst of the epitome of evil against humanity, called forth a young actor living within distance of the stench and falling ashes of Auschwitz. Of course that young Polish man, named Karol, became John Paul II, perhaps the greatest Successor of Peter in the 2000 years of Church history.

It is well known to readers of holy scripture that the truth leads us to Salvation, but it also divides. The great truth clearly articulated in Humanae Vitae, not only clearly divided right from wrong in regard to contraception, but divided those in the family of God. This article gives just a little insight into the division of that time and why the image of the Catholic Church has suffered such degradation for the last 40 years.

25-Jul-2008 -- N

Humanae Vitae: Vatican Cardinal Says Priests Still Suffering from Effects of Dissenters

Rome, Jul 25, 2008 (CNA).- Today marks the 40th anniversary of the often debated papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Church’s teaching against contraception. Looking back at the events as he experienced them, Cardinal James Francis Stafford writes that the reaction by dissenters to the papal document involved a level of infidelity which divided the ranks of the clergy to such an extent that they have still not recovered.

The recounting of the events of 1968 by Cardinal Stafford-who was the Archbishop of Baltimore at the time of the encyclical’s release-is eloquent, laced with scriptural allusions and the insights of a scholar. He set out to peer into the summer of 1968, “a record of God’s hottest hour,” as he dubs it, at the request of L’Osservatore Romano and has made his submission available to CNA.

This “is not an easy or welcome task. But since it may help some followers of Jesus to live what Pope Paul VI called a more ‘disciplined’ life (HV 21), I will explore that event,” the cardinal writes.

Before launching into the retelling of the trial surrounding the dissent of priests to Humanae Vitae, Cardinal Stafford offers his readers some of his scholarly wisdom.

“Lead us not into temptation” is the sixth petition of the Our Father. Πειρασμός (Peirasmòs), the Greek word used in this passage for ‘temptation’, means a trial or test. Disciples petition God to be protected against the supreme test of ungodly powers. The trial is related to Jesus’s cup in Gethsemane, the same cup which his disciples would also taste (Mk 10: 35-45). The dark side of the interior of the cup is an abyss. It reveals the awful consequences of God’s judgment upon sinful humanity. In August, 1968, the weight of the evangelical Πειρασμός fell on many priests, including myself,” the cardinal began.

“The summer of 1968 is a record of God’s hottest hour. The memories are not forgotten; they are painful. They remain vivid like a tornado in the plains of Colorado. They inhabit the whirlwind where God’s wrath dwells. In 1968 something terrible happened in the Church. Within the ministerial priesthood ruptures developed everywhere among friends which never healed. And the wounds continue to affect the whole Church. The dissent, together with the leaders’ manipulation of the anger they fomented, became a supreme test. It changed fundamental relationships within the Church. It was a Πειρασμός for many.”

An insider’s view of Paul VI’s Commission

The American cardinal then delved into some of the inner-workings of the Vatican that he was privy to in the years leading up to the issuing of Humanae Vitae. In particular, he recalled that, Cardinal Lawrence J. Shehan, the sixth Archbishop of Baltimore, who was his ecclesiastical superior at the time, was a member of the Papal Commission for the Study of Problems of the Family, Population, and Birth Rates, first established by Blessed Pope John XXIII in 1963 during the Second Vatican Council.

As Pope Paul’s commission prepared to deliberate about the Church’s teaching on contraception, Cardinal Shehan “sent confidential letters to various persons of the Church of Baltimore seeking their advice. I received such a letter,” Stafford writes.

“My response drew upon experience, both personal and pastoral. Family and education had given me a Christian understanding of sex. Yet, in many ways, Cardinal Stafford explains that, “Not one of my professional acquaintances anticipated the crisis of trust which was just around the corner in the relations between men and women.” It wasn’t until a 1961 encounter with a 16 year-old parishioner who was a drug user that he came to the realization of what he had to tell Cardinal Shehan about contraception.

“A sixteen-year old had been jailed in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. At the time of my late afternoon visit to him, he was experiencing drug withdrawal unattended and alone in a tiny cell. His screams filled the corridors and adjoining cells. Through the iron bars dividing us, I was horror-stricken watching him in his torment. The abyss he was looking into was unimaginably terrifying. In this drugged youth writhing in agony on the floor next to an open toilet I saw the bitter fruits of the estrangement of men and women. His mother, separated from her husband, lived with her younger children in a sweltering third floor flat on Light St. in old South Baltimore. The father was non-existent for them. The failure of men in their paternal and spousal roles was unfolding before my eyes and ears. Since then more and more American men have refused to accept responsibility for their sexuality.”

This experience, Stafford explained in a confidential letter to Cardinal Shehan resulted in an insight “which was elliptical: the gift of love should be allowed to be fruitful. These two fixed points are constant. This simple idea lit up everything like lightning in a storm. I wrote about it more formally to the Cardinal: the unitive and procreative meanings of marriage cannot be separated. Consequently, to deprive a conjugal act deliberately of its fertility is intrinsically wrong. To encourage or approve such an abuse would lead to the eclipse of fatherhood and to disrespect for women.”

For reasons unknown, this idea failed to sway Cardinal Shehan who sided with the majority of the papal commission, which advised that the Church’s teaching on contraception be changed in light of new circumstances.

“This sets the scene for the tragic drama following the actual date of the publication of the encyclical letter on July 29, 1968,” Cardinal Stafford writes.

Following the publication of Humanae Vitae, Stafford recalls the way the rejection of the Pope’s encyclical unfolded.

“Rev. Charles E. Curran, instructor of moral theology of The Catholic University of America … and nine other professors of theology of the Catholic University met, by evident prearrangement, in Caldwell Hall to receive, again by prearrangement with the Washington Post, the encyclical, part by part, as it came from the press. The story further indicated that by nine o’clock that night, they had received the whole encyclical, had read it, had analyzed it, criticized it, and had composed their six-hundred word ‘Statement of Dissent.’ Then they began that long series of telephone calls to ‘theologians’ throughout the East, which went on, according to the Post, until 3:30 A.M., seeking authorization, to attach their names as endorsers (signers was the term used) of the statement, although those to whom they had telephoned could not have had an opportunity to see either the encyclical or their statement. Meanwhile, they had arranged through one of the local television stations to have the statement broadcast that night.”

Cardinal Shehan was “scornful” of the reaction. “In 1982 he wrote, ‘The first thing that we have to note about the whole performance is this: so far as I have been able to discern, never in the recorded history of the Church has a solemn proclamation of a Pope been received by any group of Catholic people with so much disrespect and contempt’.”

The test in Baltimore

“The personal Πειρασμός, the test, began,” writes Stafford, who was a priest of the Diocese of Baltimore at the time.

He remembers that the trial began with a phone call inviting him to St. William of York parish in southwest Baltimore to discuss the encyclical. “The meeting was set for Sunday evening, August 4. I agreed to come. Eventually a large number of priests were gathered in the rectory’s basement. I knew them all,” Stafford relates. Although he expected a chance to read the papal document and discuss it, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, one pastor/ leader, assisted by some priests from the local seminary read the Washington statement aloud. Then the leader asked each of us to agree to have our names attached to it. No time was allowed for discussion, reflection, or prayer. Each priest was required individually to give a verbal ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

“I could not sign it,” states Cardinal Stafford. ‘My earlier letter to Cardinal Shehan came to mind. I remained convinced of the truth of my judgement and conclusions.” … However, Stafford says that no one else there held his convictions; “Everyone agreed to sign. There were no abstentions. As the last called upon, I felt isolated. The basement became suffocating.”

What happened next involved was unprecedented in the history of the Baltimore presbyterate, according to Stafford. “They had planned carefully how to exert what amounted to emotional and intellectual coercion. … The priest/leader, drawing upon some scatological language from his Marine Corp past in the II World War responded contemptuously to my decision. He tried to force me to change. He became visibly angry and verbally abusive. The underlying, ‘fraternal’ violence became more evident. He questioned and then derided my integrity. He taunted me to risk my ecclesiastical ‘future,’ although his reference was more anatomically specific. The abuse went on.”

“We all had been subjected to a new thing in the Church, something unexpected. A pastor and several seminary professors had abused rhetoric to undermine the truth within the evangelical community. When opposed, they assumed the role of Job’s friends. Their contempt became a nightmare,” Stafford observes.

The aftermath of dissent

This type of abuse was paralleled in the secular history of the time as well, says the cardinal, citing an encounter from April 1968 with the same priest who would a few months later lead the dissent meeting at St. William of York.

As the riots in Baltimore raged following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Father Stafford called the pastor to see if he might need food, medical assistance, or other help from the city. When the pastor answered the phone, Stafford could hear “disillusionment and fear” in the priest’s voice as he described how, “Everything has been set ablaze.”

The memory of this incident prompted Stafford to realize that, “Ecclesial dissent can become a kind of spiritual violence in its form and content. …Violence and truth don’t mix. … The violence of the priests’ August gathering gave rise to its own ferocious acrimony. Conversations among the clergy, where they existed, became contaminated with fear. Suspicions among priests were chronic. …The Archdiocesan priesthood lost something of the fraternal whole which Baltimore priests had known for generations.”

“Something else happened among priests on that violent August night,” explains Cardinal Stafford, “Friendship in the Church sustained a direct hit.”

A lesson learned

In spite of all the damage done by the dissent, Stafford stresses that, “that night was not a total loss.” “Paradoxically, in the hot, August night a new sign shown unexpectedly on the path to future life. It read, ‘Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered’.”

“I did not become ‘ashamed of the Gospel’ that night and found ‘sweet delight in what is right.’ It was not a bad lesson. Ecclesial obedience ran the distance,” the American cardinal writes.

The lesson to be learned from this is that, “Contemporary obedience of disciples to the Successor of Peter cannot be separated from the poverty of spirit and purity of heart modeled and won by the Word on the Cross,” writes Stafford.

Cardinal Stafford closes his reflections by giving his honest assessment of where the Church stands after the decades of dissent.

“Diocesan presbyterates have not recovered from the July/August nights in 1968. Many in consecrated life also failed the evangelical test. Since January 2002, the abyss has opened up elsewhere. The whole people of God, including children and adolescents, now must look into the abyss and see what dread beasts are at its bottom. Each of us shudders before the wrath of God, each weeps in sorrow for our sins and each begs for the Father’s merciful remembrance of Christ’s obedience.”

Ten Rules of Life of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan

2008-06-20T04:58:00.002-04:00

I will live the present moment to the fullest.
I will discern between God and God’s works.
I will hold firmly to one secret: prayer.
I will see in the Holy Eucharist my only power.
I will have only one wisdom: the science of the Cross.
I will remain faithful to my mission in the Church and for the Church as a witness of Jesus Christ.
I will seek the peace the world cannot give.
I will carry out a revolution by renewal in the Holy Spirit.
I will speak one language and wear one uniform: Charity.
I will have one very special love: The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Amazing things are happening in Church in Vietnam. Like in Poland in recent history and many other places throughout time, the life of one holy person can make a huge difference.

Carry Me in your heart

2008-05-11T12:05:00.003-04:00

Too often I am drawn by curiosity and pride to know and understand. I want to know every argument and convince everyone of the truth. Yet, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw men's hearts to Him. Hearts cannot be driven as cattle to the Ark of protection, the Church. God must call, which He is but the called must listen and respond. This is not in my power, but God help me to be ready to give a reason for the Faith. In humility and gratitude let me serve and not drive.

Help me head the words of Thomas a'Kempis:

Book 3 Chapter 4

Some men walk before Me without sincerity. Led on by a certain curiosity and arrogance, they wish to know My secrets and to understand the high things of God, to the neglect of themselves and their own salvation. Through their own pride and curiosity, and because I am against them, such men often fall into great temptations and sins.

Fear the judgments of God! Dread the wrath of the Almighty! Do not discuss the works of the Most High, but examine your sins -- in what serious things you have offended and how many good things you have neglected.

Some carry their devotion only in books, some in pictures, some in outward signs and figures. Some have Me on their lips when there is little of Me in their hearts.

(from Imitation of Christ, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1999 by Biblesoft)

My Wife on NFP -- good stuff!

2008-04-27T23:06:00.005-04:00

Here is my wife's response to a couple of questions from some young people about NFP.
1. What are the implications/consequences to NFP?
2. How does this exactly provide a more fulfilling marriage?

You had very good questions. The consequences of practicing NFP are many!

I think the most important is that you build a stronger marriage.

One of the most important skills in marriage (and eventually being a parent) is learning to make sacrifices for the sake of others. This is done out of love, of course, and helps us to live out our call to be Images of God. It helps us to love as God loves. The life of Jesus was all about making sacrifices out of his love for us (his passion and Crucifixion of course being the most powerful examples).

Practicing NFP helps married people to make sacrifices for the good of their spouse (i.e. abstaining from sexual intercourse during the fertile times if my spouse is not ready to have a child). It helps couples to learn to express their love in non-sexual ways. This helps the woman, particularly, to not feel like she is being used simply for her ability to provide physical pleasure to her husband. It helps the man to learn to communicate his love in different ways and assure his wife that she is not a sexual object to him, but a person to be loved.

Another aspect of building a strong marriage is in the area of communication. Those who use contraception usually do not talk often about the right time to have children. With NFP, the couple must decide each cycle/month together "Are we ready to have a child?", "Does God want us to have a baby?". The couple is more motivated to pray for God's guidance, to see how their spouse is doing and to work together to live out their vocation of marriage.

Because of the season of Lent you are familiar with the benefits of fasting; making a sacrifice in order to grow in holiness and increasing the power of our prayers. Whether we give up some food, habit or activity, the benefits are the same: we must rely more on God's grace and help and so we learn how well God helps us! We also realize that it is not the food or activity that brings us fulfillment in our lives, but our relationship with the Lord. It is the same with abstinence from marital relations. When the time of abstinence is used to pray, then the couple grows in their dependence on God. Prayer is a very good marriage-building habit to get into!

There is a good reason the Church calls using contraception [a grave matter]. It is an offense to His own image and character. The marriage is meant to be a picture to the world of the unity of the Godhead. The sexual relationship is a symbol of the oneness of God. It is truly sacred!! The Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son" and is the "Giver of Life " (Nicene Creed). So also, the spirit and reality of life comes from the physical union between spouses. When husband and wife come together, life (spiritual and/or physical) is meant to proceed from them just as the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Their oneness brings life (sometimes a human life!).

Also, contraception damages a life-giving healthy part of the person (fertility) and does not allow for life to flow out of the marital union. Pope John Paul II, in his Theology of the Body, taught that love has 5 characteristics: freely chosen, based on knowledge, a self-gift, permanent and life-giving. Take one of those elements of love out and we are really just using a person, not loving them. There is a lot I could say about this but that is another conversation! I do have a book called Theology of the Body for Beginners that you would be welcome to borrow if you want to learn more about this great teaching of JPII.

This is getting too long! If you would like to talk more about NFP, maybe we could get together this summer sometime (after our new baby is born) and David and I could share more of our personal experience. Or, if you would like to sign up for the next class series (starts July 27), we could share it then! The class is a great investment for any marriage. There is a $135 fee for materials and services (student guide, digital thermometer, supplemental literature, charts, personal consultation and a one-year CCL membership - including a subscription to the Family Foundations Magazine). There is financial assistance available to couples who qualify.

Thanks again for getting in touch. Always feel free to ask more questions. We are very excited about how many young people are learning NFP and growing in harmony with God's plan for sex and marriage. We are always eager to share what we know to help others if we can!

God bless you!
Linda

Clear boundaries

2008-03-22T01:06:00.005-04:00

All sexual intimacy outside the protective boundaries of holy matrimony is sin.

I must have repeated this statement 4-6 times to my Confirmation class of about 30 students 14 years old. I don't think many of them liked it. When they ask what is going too far, I say you shouldn't do anything with another person that you wouldn't want your wife or husband to do with another person. Some didn't like that either.

I was thinking last night that all sexual intimacy outside the protective boundaries of holy matrimony is:

physically - unhealthy
intellectually - unwise
emotionally - devastating
socially - destructive
spiritually - immoral.

I don't think they would have known what I was talking about.

Linda (my wife) on Liturgy

2008-02-10T11:36:00.000-05:00

I heard all my life how the repetitive, empty traditions (of man!) were meaningless and dead and that liturgy (and Latin liturgy could only be worse) could only mean stone cold religion with no possibilities for connecting meaningfully with God. Three years in the Church has helped me understand through truth and experience that this is a very sad misconception that pollutes the minds of so many Protestants/Evangelicals and even more sadly, so many poorly taught former Catholics. I suppose I never tried to understand the Liturgy before becoming Catholic so I'm quite certain I had the same impression of liturgy myself. In fact, the thought of being in heaven and worshiping God night and day for the rest of eternity seemed a little boring to me.

John writes about the saints in heaven... Revelation 7:15-17 "For this reason they stand before God's throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

And there lies the difference between what we lived in the Baptist church (which was good!) and what we live in the Catholic Church (which is better!) The center of worship in the Baptist church was the Word of God, that is the Bible and the truth that God was speaking through it. Certainly the thought of knowing God better through Biblical truth was the path to a deep and meaningful relationship with God, right?! Yes! The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says..."He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the church." God is present in the Scriptures in a very powerful way (Jesus said "I am the Truth...") and that is why we could get to know Christ so well in the Baptist Church. But there is more!

The center of worship in the Catholic Church is Jesus HIMSELF, in the Eucharist. Jesus is present in the actual church building (yes, it is sacred!) in the form of bread and wine (of course a good reading of John 6 is always helpful in refreshing us on how biblical transubstantiation really is). His body and blood bring the salvation of the cross to us personally and physically. This is so powerful. The Salvation we receive from Jesus is present, present tense, "Now is the day of salvation" (that was in today's liturgy for Ash Wednesday!) kind of present in the Mass. The liturgy is only how Christ communicates this presence to us.

This liturgy also brings Jesus to us in another familiar way. The CCC writes, "Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised 'where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them'." Our prayers and songs, those of his bride, are integral to the participation, the self-offering, we make to God. It is not just me and Jesus (yes, it is the two of us but it is more), it is all the Church, with one voice, reciting the Our Father, The Nicene Creed, the Kyries (Have Mercy), the Glorias, the Alleluias. The Latin only ties linguistically, the whole church together from country to country, transcending the racial, cultural, social, showing the universality of Christ's body. We all speak the same worship and speak it as one. (By the way I have yet to attend a Latin Mass but it is something that I have been longing to do!)

I was listening to The Donut Man's testimony this week [On Journey Home] and he said of his conversion to the Catholic Church, "We had the Groom (Jesus) but we were missing the Bride!" The CCC says "...In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ."

Another thing about the liturgy is that it is entering into the activity (worship, of course) of Heaven! It is not just about understanding words, it is about BEING PRESENT with JESUS! This is where the 'boring' departs (repeating words, true as they may be - of course, for David NOTHING could be boring about truth :*)) and the joy and fulfillment comes. We are one with Christ our Savior. Michael Card has a song, "Present Reality" in which he nearly groans out to God, "Lord, I long to see, your presence in reality. But I don't know how. Let me know you in the now!" This is the liturgy, the Mass, the Eucharist. It is for seeing, touching and being with our Lord. Now, certainly, Jesus' presence is veiled under the appearance of bread and wine but His presence is real and a beautiful taste (Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!) of our face-to-face communion that is yet to come.

"To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation - "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations." CCC.

This is what God did for his people. The ones who could not read, even if they could get a copy of the Bible, had Jesus. Before the Canon was even put together, the Church was the "pillar and foundation of the truth" (I Timothy 3:15). She preserved the Scriptures, read the Scriptures in her daily liturgy and taught the Scriptures. Yet she always offered Jesus, 'The Word' himself, as her primary gift.

Sometimes David and I have a good chuckle about how we have an "altar call" (there really is an altar - as in a place to offer a sacrifice) at every Mass and all who are in communion with the Church come forward to 'receive Jesus'. We receive Jesus himself. WOW! Our salvation is not just that moment of conversion in the past (were saved), it is now (being saved) and we always look forward to how we 'will be saved' by Jesus' life, help and love in our lives in the future. He is giving us all these things in a new and sacramental way through the Catholic Church.

B16 vs Luther

2008-01-30T03:12:00.000-05:00

B16 mentions Luther in his latest Encyclical "Spe Salvi" while discussing Heb. 11 and the definition of faith in relation to hope. I think that I will side with the authoritative interpretation rather than one man's personal interpretation, especially since Scripture tells us "there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation" (2 Pet. 1:20). Read the section below.

7. We must return once more to the New Testament. In the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews (v. 1) we find a kind of definition of faith which closely links this virtue with hope. Ever since the Reformation there has been a dispute among exegetes over the central word of this phrase, but today a way towards a common interpretation seems to be opening up once more. For the time being I shall leave this central word untranslated. The sentence therefore reads as follows: “Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen”. For the Fathers and for the theologians of the Middle Ages, it was clear that the Greek word hypostasis was to be rendered in Latin with the term substantia. The Latin translation of the text produced at the time of the early Church therefore reads: Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium—faith is the “substance” of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen. Saint Thomas Aquinas[4], using the terminology of the philosophical tradition to which he belonged, explains it as follows: faith is a habitus, that is, a stable disposition of the spirit, through which eternal life takes root in us and reason is led to consent to what it does not see. The concept of “substance” is therefore modified in the sense that through faith, in a tentative way, or as we might say “in embryo”—and thus according to the “substance”—there are already present in us the things that are hoped for: the whole, true life. And precisely because the thing itself is already present, this presence of what is to come also creates certainty: this “thing” which must come is not yet visible in the external world (it does not “appear”), but because of the fact that, as an initial and dynamic reality, we carry it within us, a certain perception of it has even now come into existence. To Luther, who was not particularly fond of the Letter to the Hebrews, the concept of “substance”, in the context of his view of faith, meant nothing. For this reason he understood the term hypostasis/substance not in the objective sense (of a reality present within us), but in the subjective sense, as an expression of an interior attitude, and so, naturally, he also had to understand the term argumentum as a disposition of the subject. In the twentieth century this interpretation became prevalent—at least in Germany—in Catholic exegesis too, so that the ecumenical translation into German of the New Testament, approved by the Bishops, reads as follows: Glaube aber ist: Feststehen in dem, was man erhofft, Überzeugtsein von dem, was man nicht sieht (faith is: standing firm in what one hopes, being convinced of what one does not see). This in itself is not incorrect, but it is not the meaning of the text, because the Greek term used (elenchos) does not have the subjective sense of “conviction” but the objective sense of “proof”. Rightly, therefore, recent Protestant exegesis has arrived at a different interpretation: “Yet there can be no question but that this classical Protestant understanding is untenable”[5]. Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a “proof” of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”. The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.

Linda and I's "Witness Talk" for our NFP class

2008-01-14T14:47:00.000-05:00

David:
As a young couple, Linda and I were committed to following and obeying God’s plan for sex and marriage as best we understood it. This was our starting point. We wanted to do what was right. So, we sought direction from our Pastors, married couples, and Christian books on the subject of specific issues like contraception in marriage. We desired with all our hearts to worship and honor God in our sexual union. From many books and leaders of Evangelical Christianity, we got the same message that the Bible did not speak specifically about this issue. Therefore, it was considered to be a “personal” decision to be made with our doctor’s advice.

Linda:
Through a friend I met a woman, who was willing to discuss these issues with me. She had made a tragic decision to abort an unwanted pregnancy while young. In the process of her healing and forgiveness she became strongly pro-life. Now she had even come to see contraception as part of the evil, anti-life agenda along with abortion. I had never heard anything like this before and shared it with David. It struck us as the extreme though admirable view of someone hurt by abortion, like perhaps someone hurt by alcoholism becoming adamant about never drinking alcohol. We were still working through our own reasoning.

David:
I was a Biology/Pre-Med major, so I had classes like Embryology. It became clear to me on a purely biological basis that I never wanted my wife to place any harmful substance like a hormonal contraceptive into her body. We knew that God had an awesome design and purpose in this amazing reproductive system and we would more likely mess it up than be able to accurately manipulate it. Anyway, I wanted to remain open to God blessing us with children.

Linda:
We had planned to remain completely open to life in our anticipated marital union, but Connecticut law inadvertently required us to take a renewed look at the different types of contraception. Very near our wedding date, I discovered I needed an MMR vaccination in order for us to get a marriage license in CT. The doctor recommended that I avoid pregnancy for a period of time after the shot which included the first 3 months of our marriage. We now reread and studied more intently those sections in the marriage prep books on contraception.

David:
For me, the condom just held too many negative connotations to want to consider using it unless no other alternative remained. We had already eliminated all hormonal methods due to the risk of side effects, so we determined that the “sponge” method with the addition of a spermicide was our least worst choice. Needless to say we were eager to be rid of this barrier, and we were then graciously blessed with the conception of a new, unrepeatable life during the fourth month of our marriage. Dining at the Olive Garden, we celebrated our first anniversary with our 8 day old daughter at our side.

Linda:
It wasn’t until the birth of our third child that our attitude of openness to life was challenged. We had our third daughter only 15 months after the second, which we now know was likely due to early weaning from breast feeding. We still believed children were a blessing from the LORD, but we felt a bit too quickly blessed at that time. I was terrified of another sudden pregnancy. I was exhausted with 3 little ones now, especially with contemplating home schooling the oldest. We needed a way not only to give me time to willingly accept any more children but also not risk health or not have them so close together.

Our unity was tested. I was not ready for more children at that time and David was not eager to use birth control. At that time, I was doing some volunteer work at the local Crisis Pregnancy Center. By the grace of God, I discovered a pamphlet about Natural Family Planning when looking for alternatives. It claimed to be safe, healthy, and effective. Even though David was not eager to attend the classes he was willing. We at least hoped it would give us a better understanding if not a better way to regulate births.

David:
I’m sad to admit that I didn’t attend all the classes and slept through some of what I did attend. Mostly due to Linda’s attentiveness and diligence we learned NFP. Now we knew how to observe the fertile and infertile times of a woman’s cycle by temperature, mucus, and cervical changes. It was amazing. By understanding better God’s incredible design we knew exactly when having marital relations might bring about a pregnancy or not.

The method seemed practically flawless when followed properly. However, we did not use it properly. Instead we used the information that we learned and added the use of a barrier, the condom, during fertile times. Now some people might wonder, “what’s wrong with that”?. I guess this is where the “rubber meets the road” spiritually. We were not Catholic and as far as we were concerned it was between God and us. The teachers did say that using contraception was a sin and encouraged abstaining during fertile times if a couple had serious reasons to postpone or space a pregnancy. However, we simply didn’t understand the spiritual harm this allowed in our union. Thankfully, we were open to growing and learning and rarely used contraception.

Linda:
Considering the idea that contraception could harm our marriage did remind us of that Godly woman’s advice during college. We remained open to life and open to God making us more open where we feared and lacked faith. God continued to work in our hearts and we were exposed through pro-life literature like Family Foundations about the culture of death. We learned of the pill’s potential to cause an abortion and began to oppose some forms of contraception on Biblical, moral principles. We began to read about the connection between the use of contraception and the rise of divorce, teenage pregnancy, victimization of women, proliferation of pornography and many other social problems .

David:
With fertility awareness we knew exactly when our next 2 children were conceived, neatly spaced about 2 years apart. Now, my openness to life was being tested. Was God too abundant in His blessing? Our world designs vans for only 7, so 5 children is all that fit. Could we really afford further expansion? Besides, we were now fully immersed in their education since we home schooled. Could God really want to give us more when we weren’t sure we were doing so well with what we had?

Something was different for me now when it came to marital relations. I wanted the sexual relation and the unitive intimacy but I was rejecting its procreative design in my heart. So was I really loving Linda? Was I still willing to give ALL of myself to her in the marital act, even that which may cause another pregnancy? Was I willing to accept ALL of her, even her fertility? No, I was willing to take the God-given pleasure but not accept the potential God-given results. If I was no longer willing to give of my entire self, I was trading love, which is giving, for purposefully sterile, sexual gratification, which is using (a person). It was as if I was uninviting the Holy Spirit, excluding the Author of Life and Love from our sexual union. It ceased to be worship.
The thought of quenching the Holy Spirit in the most intimate aspect of marriage horrified me. The thought of using a condom or any contraceptive now sickened me. We agreed to follow the Biblical principle in 1 Cor 7:5 where it says, “Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.”

Linda:
Now, until God changed David’s heart toward another blessing, we would abstain during the fertile times and pray. This made me feel more cherished by my Husband, knowing that our intimacy was not just about sex. We would pray when abstaining, offering our time to God as a fast. We would ask God to make us one in Him and open our hearts to Christ, our Life, in every way no matter what the cost. We took that time to embrace spiritual unity and pray for our children and for others. We gained even greater spiritual blessings than we ever imagined.

David:
I immediately grew in self-mastery over sexual temptations and gained a better understanding of God’s design for love. We now fully accepted the principle that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life, honoring the unitive and procreative aspects designed by God for sex and marriage.

Now, after 7 years, we had fully accepted all the principles taught by the Couple to Couple League for using Natural Family Planning. When a letter arrived soon after inviting us to consider becoming teachers we knew we could say yes. We prayed and responded to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and did say yes to become teachers of NFP. After our long journey of searching we were eager to share this knowledge and blessing with other couples.

Linda:
Using NFP has changed our marriage. It has changed the way I see our physical union. It allows me to see myself as a gift to David and that our times of intimacy are not merely for satisfying our physical desires but a way to lovingly give myself to him. Instead of focusing on how we perform physically, we think of how we can give our whole selves to one another and that includes in a very powerful way, the spiritual. In this God-created, God-ordained way we are a reflection of the unity of the Trinity. When, miraculously, the life of a child flows from our union, it is a picture of how the life of the Spirit flows out of the love between the Father and the Son. Also, When we come together, we are renewing the vows we made on our wedding day and strengthening the covenant of our marriage.

David:
Using NFP has changed every aspect of our marriage for the better. It has given us the tools to combat the lies about sex and marriage we constantly hear in our culture today. We know how to communicate better with each other about our sexuality. Learning the Theology of the Body helps us to explain to our children and others what it means to be masculine and feminine. I am able to take part in NFP by interpreting charts, recording information, and leading in prayer. It helps me to fulfill my role as husband and be a more responsible man toward my wife and children.

Most important to me is the fact that by using NFP we know we are following and obeying God’s plan for sex and marriage. This is how we started our story and how we will continue by God’s grace. Thankfully, God promises to give us the grace if we only ask.

St. Hilary of Poitier

2008-01-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

I've watched a bit more football this year than the last 10 or 12 years or so. It has been fun. I've seen some of todays "heros", if we can even call them that. I guess people dress up in their number and colors, pay loads of money to watch them, and seem to live for their next performance. Perhaps in 1500 years we will have Favre Mountain instead of St. Helens, Barry Bonds Bay instead of St. Lawrence Bay, or major cities like Michael Jorden instead of St. Louis, St. Paul (Paulo), St Francisco (Francis), St. Antonio (Anthony) etc, etc, etc.

Obviously, you all get my point, but I simply say that to explain why I am not ashamed to mention some of my heros from time to time to those I love. I am nearly everyday awakening to more and more amazing heros of the Faith as I learn and study about the designated saints.

Today we celebrate the Baptism of our LORD on the liturgical calender, but it is also the feast day of St. Hilary of Poitier. He has been designated as a Saint and Doctor of the Church by Catholics, but every Christian owes him as so many others a tremendous debt of gratitude.

The Arian heresy was so wide spread that it surpassed in numbers orthodoxy in the 3rd and 4th Centurys. Godly men like St. Hilary did more by God's grace in their obedience and service to God to preserve the truths of our Faith than we can ever fully appreciate. Today, most Christians take for granted that everyone believed in the Trinity as we all do and it simply isn't so.

Some of his writings have been preserved. Here is a link to his writings on the Trinity . Below I included a little bit of his life if you are interested. I think about him when I hear the word Hilary and not that forgettable other person popular today.

St. Hilary of Poitiers

"They didn't know who they were." This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian heretics of the fourth century.

Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God. He hadn't been raised as a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasn't a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers agreed with him. Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life.

If he didn't lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry out that wasn't enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver. He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many Gods, that God didn't exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed but didn't really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with God's creation -- otherwise why create it?

At that point, Hilary tells us, he "chanced upon" the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read the verse where God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, "I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence." In the Psalms and the Prophets he found descriptions of God's power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, "Where shall I go from your spirit?", he found confirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent.

But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that God's purpose in creation should be "that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would cease to exist." Then he found the Gospels and read John's words including "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..." (John 1:1-2). From John he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. "No longer did it look upon the life of this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children... namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity." He had found who he was in discovering God and God's Son Jesus Christ.

After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra.

Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians couldn't have had a worse plan -- for themselves.

Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps he supported Athanasius simply because he didn't like their methods. But being exiled from his home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write. "Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be bound, shall move about in freedom." The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the Trinity, "For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding."

After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, "a sower of discord an a disturber of the Orient." But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went.

In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda. These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith. His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer.

Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary wasn't not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation.

The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians. Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851. The Church of Puy claims supposed possession of his relics, but according to one tradition his body was borne to the church of St-Denys near Paris, while according to another it was taken from the church of St-Hilaire at Poitiers and burned by the Protestants in 1572

St. Basil the Great

2008-01-04T02:40:00.000-05:00

If you missed it, his feast day was January 2nd.

St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in 330. He was one of ten children of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. Several of his brothers and sisters are honored among the saints. He attended school in Caesarea, as well as Constantinople and Athens, where he became acquainted with St. Gregory Nazianzen in 352. A little later, he opened a school of oratory in Caesarea and practiced law. Eventually he decided to become a monk and found a monastery in Pontus which he directed for five years. He wrote a famous monastic rule which has proved the most lasting of those in the East. After founding several other monasteries, he was ordained and, in 370, made Bishop of Caesaria. In this post until his death in 379, he continued to be a man of vast learning and constant activity, genuine eloquence and immense charity. This earned for him the title of "Great" during his life and Doctor of the Church after his death. Basil was one of the giants of the early Church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism in the Byzantine East, and the denunciation of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts. Basil fought simony, aided the victims of drought and famine, strove for a better clergy, insisted on a rigid clerical discipline, fearlessly denounced evil wherever he detected it, and excommunicated those involved in the widespread prostitution traffic in Cappadocia. He was learned, accomplished in statesmanship, a man of great personal holiness, and one of the great orators of Christianity.

Copied from "Saints" section of catholic.org

Belief

2008-01-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

Thus belief embraces, as essential parts of itself, the profession of faith, the word and the unity which it effects; it embraces entry into the community's worship of God and so finally the fellowship which we call Church. Christian belief is not an idea but life; it is not mind existing for itself, but incarnation, mind in the body of history and its "We". It is not the mysticism of the self-identification of the mind with God, but obedience and service; the outstripping of oneself, liberation of the self precisely through its being taken into service by something not made or thought out by myself, the liberation of being taken into service of the whole.

This is by Professor Joseph Ratzinger [ now Pope Benedict XVI] in Introduction to Christianity 1968.

The Challange

2007-10-22T01:53:00.000-04:00

I left this comment on a very nice man's blog, it will be fun to see if he responds. Regardless, I offer it to you LORD.

I just want to commend you for allowing the discussion to take place on your blog and most of all for your comments. You demonstrated a genuine desire to listen and learn.

Since I want to make this brief, I hope to say at least one thing to catch your interest. I had the luxury of passionately pursuing, in the quiet of my study, the answers to many of the questions posted without the many various personal opinions of others getting me off track. I just started working my way back through church history asking questions that would lead me into truth.

I don't have a concise biography to send you but I am willing to share transparently with you my journey from devout, pro-life, committed Christian of a Baptist heritage to a devout, pro-life, committed Christian of the Catholic heritage. I'm 40 years old.

My challenge to you is to ask the right questions. Distill the 1000 questions down to a few of the most essential that make or break the vast majority of the other questions. If anyone is genuinely willing to seek the truth, it will be found. I went to the source documents myself, scripture, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Encyclicals by Popes, and the earliest writings of arguments against the Catholic Church. I was able to weigh the evidence in meditation, reading, and discussion with my wife and oldest children.

I would have never considered or read anything Catholic simply because it never crossed my path until I became convinced by the Holy Spirit that contraception was part of the culture of death. Every branch of Christianity opposed all form of contraception until the Church of England broke in the 1930s. My own heritage of Fundamentalism mostly opposed it until the 1960s on a purely scriptural basis. The contraceptive pill was the step that landed in abortion. This is fact I will back up with all the logic, statistics, and reasons you require. It is true. One Church stood alone in opposition to this intrinsic evil and recognized it for what it was and is. Amazingly, its leadership (nearly one man, Pope Paul VI) stood in opposition to internal acceptance. He clearly stated what was wrong with contraception and what would happen with accepting its use in the encyclical Humanae Vitae. When I read it , integrity and a genuine desire to walk in the truth would not let me rest until I had confronted every obstacle in my path to Catholicism. It was either the greatest fluke of all time or the real deposit of faith.

My brother in Christ, I am not trying to convert you. I am merely proclaiming what I believe to be the truth and I am willing to back every claim. My 15 year old could answer each and every claim herself. Put her to the test. The sad reality is so many people refuse to test what they say they believe. You can attack every claim by the Catholic Church with my 15 year old and she will answer every one them because she is grounded in the truth.

I guess in some way I am throwing down the gauntlet. If you are curious link to the "young apologist" from my blog or engage me. She is much more generous and gentle than me, but I don't waste any time in asking the real tough questions.

May the peace of Christ be with you.
David Ulmer

Expecting number 8

2007-10-10T23:35:00.000-04:00

Psalms 127

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (KJV)

I'm amazed that after so many years of reading these truths they sound so fresh and alive. When I am tired, I am often laboring in vain. It must be the LORD that builds the house. I must focus on the Fear of the LORD. Everything I desire comes to those who fear the LORD. Just read the next chapter.

Blessed is every one that fears the LORD; that walks in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labor of your hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the LORD.

I guess these verses convinced me that I needed to learn the Fear of the LORD and apply it. Now more than ever I need to live Proverbs 2:1-5 and may I see my children's children walking with Christ.

Autobasileia is Salvation

2007-09-13T08:05:00.000-04:00

Autobasileia is as Origen describes, the "Kingdom in person". It is Jesus.

Pope Benedict says in his book Jesus of Nazareth (p. 49),

Jesus himself is the Kingdom; the Kingdom is not a thing, it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he. On this interpretation, the term "Kingdom of God" is itself a veiled Christology. By the way in which he speaks of the Kingdom of God, Jesus leads men to realize the overwhelming fact that in him God himself is present among them, that he is God's presence.

This sense of Christ as the embodiment of infinite realities is crucial in truly understanding reality itself, for Christ is the reality (Col. 2:17). When one attempts to define the Kingdom of God as something less than Christ himself, it will always fall short.

This is true in regards to salvation. Salvation is a mystery and a reality that begs definition. Real spiritual mysteries are infinitely knowable, so we have the study of salvation in Christ known as soteriology. Yet, so many gifted, godly, and great theologians fail to recognize the simplest, yet most profound truth, that salvation is a person. That person is Jesus Christ.

In language as in our thoughts, a noun must be either a person, place, or thing. But the truth of Salvation goes beyond man's attempts to narrow and define. Salvation is a person, place, and thing. That person is Jesus, the place is Jesus, and the event is Jesus. He is the Gospel. Jesus is the Good News.

When my sadly mistaken, Protestant brothers in Christ say the Roman Catholic Church preaches a different Gospel, they are actually revealing the fact that they either don't know what the Catholic Church professes or they have narrowly defined their Gospel to fit their doctrine rather than reality. Many have tried to narrow the definition of Salvation to an event, yet even their understanding of the "event" of Salvation has fallen short. They even go so far as to narrow their definition of salvation to a moment in time.

Even then they sadly make the focus of their truncated view of salvation to be some event in their life not the moment Christ said "it is finished", the moment he shed his blood, the moment he died, the moment he arose, the moment he ascended into heaven, or the moment he returns. The great irony is they accuse the Catholic of salvation by works and then define salvation as some moment THEY do something.

The true Evangelical, Pope Benedict XVI, demonstrates a clear understanding of this in discussing the disciple's mission on p. 173 of his book Jesus of Nazareth:

The first task is preaching: to give people the light of the word, the message of Jesus. The Apostles are first and foremost Evangelists - like Jesus, they preach the Kingdom of God and thereby gather people into God's new family. But the preaching of God's Kingdom is never just words, never just instruction. It is an event, just as Jesus himself is an event. God's Word in person. By announcing him, the Apostles lead their listeners to encounter him.

The emphasis added was mine, because protestant Evangelicals preach a Gospel that says you must get saved, and that moment is the main event. The true Gospel preserved in the Roman Catholic Church says that you must get the Savior. They say that the moment you get saved you get Jesus. We say that every moment is an opportunity to get Jesus, to be more like Him or to draw nearer to Him. He must increase and we must decrease. Salvation can only be understood as a process. As a person, Salvation is a growing relationship with Jesus. As a place, Salvation is drawing closer to Jesus. As an event, Salvation transcends all of time from its beginning to infinity, AND BEYOND!.

When someone describes something it can easily be true even if it falls short of complete. However, if that person then claims to have a complete description or narrow it by saying what it is not then they have raised the bar on whether their claim is true or not. This is my point of contention with those who claim things like "faith alone", "salvation is not a process", or the Catholic Church teaches a "different Gospel" than found in the scripture. Claiming that salvation is a process does not exclude moments, but the "moment only" message excludes the process. I can see moments of salvation described and experienced in scripture but scripture absolutely teaches nowhere "moment only" or "faith alone". It clearly states just the opposite in Paul's command to work out your salvation and in Jame's statement that we are not justified by faith alone.

This pattern of error, which is to truncate the truth, can be clearly seen in regard to the canon of scripture and in regard to Ecclesiastic authority as well. Their Bible is not complete and the concept of "sola scriptura" is incomplete. They fail to recognize the full canon. They also refuse to admit that perfect truth in the scripture must have an interpretation without error to be true. The interpretation can be true even though it may be incomplete, but it must be infallible to be true. The Scripture does little good without accurate preservation, translation, and interpretation.

Open letter to engaged couples

2007-08-23T02:10:00.000-04:00

Dear young couple,

When we were engaged we sought direction from married couples and the current popular Christian books on the subject of contraception in marriage. We desired with all our hearts to worship and honor God in our sexual union. From many books and leaders of Evangelical Christianity, we got the same message that the Bible did not speak specifically about this issue. Therefore, it was a “personal” decision to be made with your doctor’s advice.

We muddled along but kept searching for the truth. How could the most significant physical/spiritual act in creation, “procreation” be something in which only my physician could give me direction? It is obvious to us now how the secular world with its “culture of death” is winning the battle against Life, when Christians only see the sexual union as something physical to be under the direction of a physician. Sadly, to many Christians, fertility is just something to be manipulated like a runny nose. But in reality, it is a precious gift and privilege from God.

Primarily, Natural Family Planning is about inviting the Holy Spirit into the marriage bed. Practically, NFP is about “fertility awareness” and responsible parenthood. Practicing NFP, especially in our overly sexualized culture, gives couples a powerful tool in unselfishly honoring one another in physical intimacy. Statistically, even for purely health conscious reasons, couples that practice this method have less than a 5% chance of divorce. It is even less when couples have a genuine desire to be in harmony with the way God designed us to live out the marriage covenant in self-giving love.

Our prayer is that you, as a couple, will be generous in the service of life and be a witness to the world of what a godly marriage should be!

Choose Life!
Love,
David & Linda

The Mass "Il est là!" He is there!

2007-08-05T16:57:00.000-04:00

The Mass is the best place in the world for me. Yet, I struggle with resentment and anger toward those that profane the mass, especially with a lack of respect for Christ's presence. May God humble me and help me to teach others what this dear saint knew and expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Saint Jean–Marie Vianney, "All good works put together are not equivalent to the Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men and the Holy Mass is the work of God." It is in the Mass that the sacrifice of Calvary is made present for the Redemption of the world. Clearly, the priest must unite the daily gift of himself to the offering of the Mass: "How well a priest does, therefore, to offer himself to God in sacrifice every morning!"

Read this article here. "The Holy Mass is the Work of God"

Humanae Vitae 31

2007-07-31T20:27:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

Final Appeal

31. Venerable brothers, most beloved sons, and all men of good will, great indeed is the work of education, of progress and of love to which we call you, upon the foundation of the Church's teaching, of which the successor of Peter is, together with his brothers in the episcopate, the depositary and interpreter. Truly a great work, as we are deeply convinced, both for the world and for the Church, since man cannot find true happiness -- towards which he aspires with all his being -- other than in respect of the laws written by God in his very nature, laws which he must observe with intelligence and love. Upon this work, and upon all of you, and especially upon married couples, we invoke the abundant graces of the God of holiness and mercy, and in pledge thereof we impart to you all our apostolic blessing.
Given at Rome, from St. Peter's, this 25th day of July, feast of St. James the Apostle, in the year 1968, the sixth of our pontificate.

PAULUS PP.VI.

Humanae Vitae 30

2007-07-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Bishops

30. Beloved and venerable brothers in the episcopate, with whom we most intimately share the solicitude of the spiritual good of the People of God, at the conclusion of this encyclical our reverent and affectionate thoughts turn to you. To all of you we extend an urgent invitation. At the head of the priests, your collaborators, and of your faithful, work ardently and incessantly for the safeguarding and the holiness of marriage, so that it may always be lived in its entire human and Christian fullness. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time. As you know, it implies concerted pastoral action in all the fields of human activity, economic, cultural and social; for, in fact, only a simultaneous improvement in these various sectors will make it possible to render the life of parents and of children within their families not only tolerable, but easier and more joyous, to render the living together in human society more fraternal and peaceful, in faithfulness to God's design for the world.

____________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 29

2007-07-29T20:26:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Priests cont.

29. To diminish in no way the saving teaching of Christ constitutes an eminent form of charity for souls. But this must ever be accompanied by patience and goodness, such as the Lord himself gave example of in dealing with men. Having come not to condemn but to save,[41] he was indeed intransigent with evil, but merciful towards individuals.
In their difficulties, may married couples always find, in the words and in the heart of a priest, the echo of the voice and the love of the Redeemer.

And then speak with confidence, beloved sons, fully convinced that the spirit of God, while He assists the magisterium in proposing doctrine, illumines internally the hearts of the faithful inviting them to give their assent. Teach married couples the indispensable way of prayer; prepare them to have recourse often and with faith to the sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance, without ever allowing themselves to be discouraged by their own weakness.

______________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 28

2007-07-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Priests

28. Beloved priest sons, by vocation you are the counselors and spiritual guides of individual persons and of families. We now turn to you with confidence. Your first task -- especially in the case of those who teach moral theology -- is to expound the Church's teaching on marriage without ambiguity. Be the first to give, in the exercise of your ministry, the example of loyal internal and external obedience to the teaching authority of the Church. That obedience, as you know well, obliges not only because of the reasons adduced, but rather because of the light of the Holy Spirit, which is given in a particular way to the pastors of the Church in order that they may illustrate the truth.[39] You know, too, that it is of the utmost importance, for peace of consciences and for the unity of the Christian people, that in the field of morals as well as in that of dogma, all should attend to the magisterium of the Church, and all should speak the same language. Hence, with all our heart we renew to you the heartfelt plea of the great Apostle Paul: "I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment."[40]

___________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 27

2007-07-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Doctors and Medical Personnel

27. We hold those physicians and medical personnel in the highest esteem who, in the exercise of their profession, value above every human interest the superior demands of their Christian vocation. Let them persevere, therefore, in promoting on every occasion the discovery of solutions inspired by faith and right reason, let them strive to arouse this conviction and this respect in their associates. Let them also consider as their proper professional duty the task of acquiring all the knowledge needed in this delicate sector, so as to be able to give to those married persons who consult them wise counsel and healthy direction, such as they have a right to expect.

___________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 26

2007-07-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

Apostolate in Homes

26. Among the fruits which ripen forth from a generous effort of fidelity to the divine law, one of the most precious is that married couples themselves not infrequently feel the desire to communicate their experience to others. Thus there comes to be included in the vast pattern of the vocation of the laity a new and most noteworthy form of the apostolate of like to like; it is married couples themselves who become apostles and guides to other married couples. This is assuredly, among so many forms of apostolate, one of those which seem most opportune today.[38]

__________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 25

2007-07-24T17:27:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Christian Husbands and Wives

25. And now our words more directly address our own children, particularly those whom God calls to serve Him in marriage. The Church, while teaching imprescriptible demands of the divine law, announces the tidings of salvation, and by means of the sacraments opens up the paths of grace, which makes man a new creature, capable of corresponding with love and true freedom to the design of his Creator and Savior, and of finding the yoke of Christ to be sweet.[31]

Christian married couples, then, docile to her voice, must remember that their Christian vocation, which began at baptism, is further specified and reinforced by the sacrament of matrimony. By it husband and wife are strengthened and as it were consecrated for the faithful accomplishment of their proper duties, for the carrying out of their proper vocation even to perfection, and the Christian witness which is proper to them before the whole world.[32] To them the Lord entrusts the task of making visible to men the holiness and sweetness of the law which unites the mutual love of husband and wife with their cooperation with the love of God the author of human life.

We do not at all intend to hide the sometimes serious difficulties inherent in the life of Christian married persons; for them as for everyone else, "the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life."[33] But the hope of that life must illuminate their way, as with courage they strive to live with wisdom, justice and piety in this present time,[34] knowing that the figure of this world passes away.[35]

Let married couples, then, face up to the efforts needed, supported by the faith and hope which "do not disappoint . . . because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to Us"[36]; let them implore divine assistance by persevering prayer; above all, let them draw from the source of grace and charity in the Eucharist. And if sin should still keep its hold over them, let them not be discouraged, but rather have recourse with humble perseverance to the mercy of God, which is poured forth in the sacrament of Penance. In this way they will be enabled to achieve the fullness of conjugal life described by the Apostle: "husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church . . . husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church . . . this is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."[37]

___________________________________________________

This is so encouraging to me. I struggle all the time to be the leader and man I should be. I often grow inpatient (getting angry), critical (becoming demanding), and even cynical (irritably discouraged). When we men start to truly accept the weight of our responsibility while not yet having learned to trust and rest fully in Christ, it can cause anxiety. I love the prayer of the Church after the "Our Father".

Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In Your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.

To be able to draw grace from the Sacraments is so refreshing. Understanding more fully the Sacramental nature of marriage strengthens faith, hope, and love.

Humanae Vitae 24

2007-07-24T17:22:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

To Men of Science

24. We wish now to express our encouragement to men of science, who "can considerably advance the welfare of marriage and the family, along with peace of conscience, if by pooling their efforts they labor to explain more thoroughly the various conditions favoring a proper regulation of births."[28] It is particularly desirable that, according to the wish already expressed by Pope Pius XII, medical science succeed in providing a sufficiently secure basis for a regulation of birth, founded on the observance of natural rhythms.[29] In this way, scientists and especially Catholic scientists will contribute to demonstrate in actual fact that, as the Church teaches, "a true contradiction cannot exist between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life and those pertaining to the fostering of authentic conjugal love."[30]

__________________________________________________

The science of embryology has grown tremendously. Various forms of Natural Family Planning have grown out of this specific challange to make advances in science.

Humanae Vitae 23

2007-07-22T12:18:00.000-04:00

HUMANAE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
JULY 25, 1968

Appeal to Public Authorities
23. To Rulers, who are those principally responsible for the common good, and who can do so much to safeguard moral customs, we say: Do not allow the morality of your peoples to be degraded; do not permit that by legal means practices contrary to the natural and divine law be introduced into that fundamental cell, the family. Quite other is the way in which public authorities can and must contribute to the solution of the demographic problem: namely, the way of a provident policy for the family, of a wise education of peoples in respect of moral law and the liberty of citizens.

We are well aware of the serious difficulties experienced by public authorities in this regard, especially in the developing countries. To their legitimate preoccupations we devoted our encyclical letter Populorum Progressio. But with our predecessor Pope John XXIII, we repeat: no solution to these difficulties is acceptable "which does violence to man's essential dignity" and is based only on an utterly materialistic conception of man himself and of his life. The only possible solution to this question is one which envisages the social and economic progress both of individuals and of the whole of human society, and which respects and promotes true human values.[26] Neither can one, without grave injustice, consider divine providence to be responsible for what depends, instead, on a lack of wisdom in government, on an insufficient sense of social justice, on selfish monopolization, or again on blameworthy indolence in confronting the efforts and the sacrifices necessary to ensure the raising of living standards of a people and of all its sons.[27]

May all responsible public authorities -- as some are already doing so laudably -- generously revive their efforts. And may mutual aid between all the members of the great human family never cease to grow: This is an almost limitless field which thus opens up to the activity of the great international organizations.

____________________________________________________

Humanae Vitae 22

2007-07-22T12:02:00.000-04:00

Coworker in Truth

Respect For Christ In The Eucharist

Chesterton weighs in on Health Care

What do you know?

What motivates you?

Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: St. John Vianney Part 2

Bishop Olmsted: Year for Priests: St. John Vianney Part One

What it means to be Catholic

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord‏

Humanae Vitae 40 Years

Humanae Vitae: Vatican Cardinal Says Priests Still Suffering from Effects of Dissenters

Ten Rules of Life of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan

Carry Me in your heart

My Wife on NFP -- good stuff!

Clear boundaries

Linda (my wife) on Liturgy

B16 vs Luther

Linda and I's "Witness Talk" for our NFP class

St. Hilary of Poitier

St. Basil the Great

Belief

The Challange

Expecting number 8

Autobasileia is Salvation

Open letter to engaged couples

The Mass "Il est là!" He is there!

Humanae Vitae 31

Humanae Vitae 30

Humanae Vitae 29

Humanae Vitae 28

Humanae Vitae 27

Humanae Vitae 26

Humanae Vitae 25

Humanae Vitae 24

Humanae Vitae 23

Humanae Vitae 22

Humanae Vitae 20

Humanae Vitae 19

Humanae Vitae 18

Humanae Vitae 17

Humanae Vitae 16

Feeling of RAGE!

Humanae Vitae 15

Humanae Vitae 14

Humanae Vitae 13

Contracepting ourselves to death

Humanae Vitae 12

Humanae Vitae 11

Humanae Vitae 10

Humanae Vitae 9

Humanae Vitae 8

Humanae Vitae 7

Humanae Vitae 6

Humanae Vitae 5

Humanae Vitae 4

Humanae Vitae 3

Humanae Vitae 2

Humae Vitae 1

Saint Thomas More

The Splendor of Truth

My Journey in Natural Family Planning

Life verse

Coworker in Truth