HALT!

After his baptism, before his public ministry began, Jesus went out into the desert for forty days to pray and fast. At the end of that time, he found himself tired, hungry, and weak. It was then the devil came to tempt him. Why did the devil tempt our Lord?

God had a plan for the salvation and redemption of man. It was through sacrificial love. Suffering is the currency of love. Love can never be forced. For God to save us through love there had to be a choice. Jesus knew that the path to salvation was to take on the punishment for all sin and the punishment for sin is suffering and death. For Love to take on this punishment for us he had to have an alternative. The temptations of the devil gave him that alternative. Jesus could have accepted the devil’s invitation to worship him and have reign over all of the earth under the devil’s authority. Jesus chose suffering and death out of love for us instead.

Jesus allowed the devil to tempt him so as to teach us how to respond to temptation when we are also tried by the devil. How Jesus responded is very important to understand.

In the first temptation the devil temps Jesus to turn rocks into bread and to satisfy his immense hunger. Jesus responded by telling the devil that man does not live on bread alone but through every word that comes from God. The Gospel of John starts by telling us that the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word came down from heaven and dwelt among us. Jesus answers the first temptation by reminding the devil that he is God.

In the second temptation the devil took Jesus to the top of the temple and dared him to jump off, for if he is truly the Son of God the angels would catch him and allow no harm to come to him. Jesus counted by reminding him that it is written in scripture that you shall not put your God to the test. In the first temptation Jesus reminded the devil that he was God and in this answer he is telling the devil that he cannot tempt him.

In the last temptation the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain and offers Jesus all of the kingdoms of this world if only he would kneel and worship the devil. Jesus counters by quoting the scripture passage that says you shall worship and serve God alone. Being God, it was the devil who was to worship Jesus, who is the rightful king over all in heaven and earth. With that, the devil left him.

Ask any soldier when the best time to attack an enemy is and they will tell you it is when they are at their weakest. The devil is the most cunning of enemies. We are at our most vulnerable to temptation when we are weak. We are at our weakest when we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.

H.A.L.T. This should be a warning to us that the enemy is prowling, hoping to capitalize on an opportunity to get us to stray from God. It should be a warning to us that it is time to call for reinforcements. When we find ourselves hungry, angry, lonely, or tired we need to Stop what we are doing, Drop to our knees (even if only in our hearts), and Pray. We pray to God for his grace to make it through the trial. We can pray to our Blessed Mother for intercession to her son on our behalf. We can pray to St. Michael and our guardian angels for protection and assistance in fighting our temptations. We can pray to the Communion of Saints for their intercessions and strength. The important thing to realize that we are weak and seek the help that is available to us through our faith.

When we are weak we are made strong through the grace of God.

Life does not begin at conception.

“Life begins at conception.”

This has been the stance of the Church and prolife groups since the beginning. Yet, this sentence isn’t entirely true. Something not entirely true is 100% false.

"Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1: 4-5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. That is because each and every one of us has existed in the mind of God since the beginning of existence itself. We are not just a thought or a dream to God. We are as real in his mind as we are on earth and as real as we will be in heaven.

Life does not begin at conception. Life manifests itself at conception. Conception is that point in time where a supernatural life in the mind of God is made manifest when it is joined with its physical form on earth. That life undergoes nine months of development and then it is born. The baby grows to adulthood and then dies. The body and soul are separated for a time and after the final judgement are reunited and proceed to their eternal home, heaven or hell. This is the typical order of progression.

For the last two-thousand years people have wondered when Jesus will return to usher in the new heaven and the new earth. Many have tried to predict the date. Many more look to the current times and believe the end is right around the corner. I believe the end will come once every person alive in the mind of God has been made manifest, that is, has been conceived here on earth.

The devil has done everything in his power to get us to walk away from this awesome gift of co-creating immortal life with God. Once all of the lives in the mind of God have been conceived God can then perfect all of creation and usher in the new heaven and the new earth. The devil is the ruler of this earth. When the new age comes to be he will be cast back into hell for all eternity. The devil has everything to lose when we cooperate with God’s plan for life.

The Pope has taken a lot of heat lately for saying Catholic parents need to return to having children. He was especially beat up for saying that pets should not be considered as children. He said that parents who have few or no children are acting selfishly because they are choosing their lifestyle over creating new life with God. The world sees it differently. The devil has convinced the world that it selfish to have many children, that having many children is a drain on natural resources. Sadly, far too many Catholics have bought this lie from the father of lies.

The family is the nucleus of society. When the family is small, society is weak. A weak society is easily manipulated by those who hunger to dominate others. Those dominated become slaves, losing their individual freedoms, liberties, and choices, eventually losing even their own identities as children of God.

A life that has existed since the beginning of time manifests itself at conception. Conception is that moment in time where God shares with us someone he has intimately known since creation began. Our greatest duty, therefore, is to care for this life God has shared with us. Justice without mercy will be shown to those who willfully destroy this life so precious to him.

A Picture and a Thousand Words

When my wife and I were dating, and things started to get serious, I took her home to meet my family. They wasted no time in breaking out the family photo albums and began to dissect my life picture by picture. There were the cute baby pictures, pictures of the major accomplishments, and more embarrassing photos than I knew existed. One by one my wife got little glimpses into the life of the man she was growing deeper in love with.

Each picture had a story behind it, containing details one could never learn from the picture itself. My family spent hours reminiscing, sharing their memories of good times and bad. By the end of the day my wife had gotten a good look at the person I was and how I grew into the person I currently am. The photos, however good, were not enough to do this. It was only with my family’s memories of the events that a proper understanding could be obtained.

The bible is the photo album of salvation history. The words on the page create the images in the mind that the stories are meant to convey. The album begins with creation itself and follows the journey of mankind through the fall to its salvation and redemption. As with my family, God’s family has reminisced about these stories throughout time. The Jewish oral tradition has meticulously passed down the stories of the Old Testament from one generation to the next. Likewise, the Catholic Church has done the same with both the Old and New Testaments through her Sacred Oral Tradition. Holy Scripture and Sacred Oral Tradition make up the deposit of faith that defines what Catholics believe and why. It is only through the written word and the Sacred Oral Tradition that a complete and accurate understanding of salvation history can be obtained. The story is incomplete and misunderstood if either is missing.

Catholic oral tradition was successfully used to combat the Luther heresies. When Luther decided to cast aside 1500 years of Church teaching to begin his own ecclesial community based upon his personal opinion he did away with Sacred Tradition. He kept only the photo album which he could explain in any way he saw fit to support his opinions. He made the claim that anyone, inspired by the Holy Spirit, could come to the correct understanding of Holy Scripture. That, after all, is what the Jews believed about the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament.

Two things would have happened if what Luther claimed were true. The first is that everyone, divinely inspired, would come to the same understanding as what was taught by the Church for 1500 years. Holy Scripture itself says this in 1 Timothy 3:15 –

“…the church (through her magisterium) is the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

Second, if everyone can come to the correct understanding of Holy Scripture for themselves, we would not have, at last count, over 70,000 different versions of the truth proclaimed by the various denominational and nondenominational Christian churches throughout the world. We all would share the same truth and have the same understanding of what the photos in the photo album mean.

Luther was dubbed the father of the reformation. Revolution would be a more accurate word. If we were to call Luther for what he is truly the father of it would be Christian moral relativism. When he taught that every person could define what the bible means for themselves, he opened the doors for everyone to define what is right and wrong for themselves. The Church ceased to be the pillar and bulwark of the truth, as the bible says, and truth became a matter of person opinion. Now the tens of thousands of churches that exist throughout the world cannot even agree on something as simple and straightforward as the Ten Commandments.

The Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth, as scripture says it is. It is not just any church or every church but the Church that Jesus himself began. As the creed says that Church is, “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” It is not just anyone or everyone in that Church, but it is those to whom the authority has been given to lead the Church. That is the Magisterium. The Magisterium is the Pope in union with the bishops and they have been given the duty and responsibility to pass on to us the unchanged teachings of Jesus. When someone disagrees with the Church, they don’t disagree with just the Church, but they disagree with Christ himself.

The bible is a photo album and as such it does not contain everything that has come to pass. Scripture itself tells us this in John 21:25 –

“But there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Scripture contains everything we need to know about salvation but scripture alone it not enough to properly understand it. We need both Holy Scripture and Sacred Oral Tradition to get a complete understanding of who Jesus is and the relationship he has with his Church.

God's Great Puzzle

Leaving Mass this weekend I found a white envelope sitting under the windshield wiper on my car. I knew without looking what it was. It was a letter from someone concerned for the salvation of my soul.

The letter begins –

“My Catholic friend; I’m writing you today concerning Roman Catholicism. I have studied the Holy Bible for over 34 years now. I feel compelled to share my findings here with you in a letter.”

What follows is no less than eight pages of scripture passages, single spaced in 8 font, telling me how the Catholic Church got it all wrong. Of course, the letter is anonymous. There is no return address and no means offered if I wanted to learn more. The person claimed to have a wealth of information gleaned from decades of study but didn’t want to talk to me directly about it

. I am reminded of a scene from the Rodney Dangerfield movie, “Back to School.” Thornton Melon had an assignment to do a book report on Kurt Vonnegut. Thornton didn’t understand the book so he hired Kurt Vonnegut himself to write the report on what the book was about. He received a failing grade on the paper because, as the teacher put it, “Whoever wrote the paper didn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut.”

The New Testament of the bible was written by those in the Catholic Church. The Catholic bible, from which all non-Catholic bibles have their source, was compiled by the Catholic Church. The Church has read, preached, and taught on the scriptures for the last two-thousand years. To say that it is the authority on what it wrote, compiled, and taught on for two millennia should go unquestioned. But, if we need to quote scripture about who has the authority we need to look no further than 1 Timothy 3:15 –

“…but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one should act in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The Church is the pillar and support of the truth, not scripture. I will always take two-thousand years of authority stemming from the very beginning over a thirty-four-year independent study any day.

The bible is God’s great puzzle. Each verse of scripture is a piece in that puzzle. The pieces fit together only one way. One must look at all of the pieces in relation to the whole to see the complete picture portrayed. Looking at pieces individually or in small groups can easily lead one astray as to what the pieces truly mean.

The devil is one of the greatest scripture scholars. He was there when most of it took place. He is very cunning in getting people to look at an individual piece of the puzzle or a group of pieces and see in them something other than their true intended meaning. You can find a scripture verse to support just about any ideology. Scripture has been used and continues to be used to justify great evils.

A common non-Catholic Christian believe is that a person can read the bible and be inspired and guided to it’s true meaning by the spirit. If this were true, we would not have over forty-thousand different understandings of the bible. The statement is partially true, however. A person can read the bible and be guided by a spirit. That does not mean it is the Holy Spirit doing the guiding. The person who wrote me the letter most certainly has been led astray by a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.

Despite popular belief, Catholics are encouraged to read their bibles. They are encouraged to meditate on what they read. We even have a special way of doing this called Lexio Divina. Catholics are encouraged to study the bible alone and in groups. They are read the bible and have the Gospel proclaimed to them at every Mass, along with practical instruction from the clergy on how what was read applies to our lives today.

What a Catholic should not do is to try and interpret the bible for themselves, as the letter writer did. We have the Magisterium whose duty it is to give us the authoritative interpretation of what scripture means. Authority given to the Church by Jesus himself. It is ok to be inspired by scripture as long as the inspiration does not contradict official Church teaching. Where a contradiction occurs, we are to always accept what the Church teaches over personal opinion.

The bible is God’s great puzzle. It’s true beauty can only be seen by looking at it as a whole and not microfocus on any individual piece.

I Hold the Whole World in my Hands

There is one God.

With three distinct and individual persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Father begot the Son and the Holy Spirit precedes from the Father and the Son.

All existence resides within God. Heaven, hell, purgatory, and the entire timeline of existence exists fully within God. For God, every moment of existence is now. Every place in existence is here.

All creation was created for Jesus. All was created through Jesus. He is before all else that is.

The Eucharist is Jesus. It is his body, blood, soul, and divinity. The Eucharist is true presence of Christ. Jesus, being God, has the fullness of all existence within him. Everything that has ever been created, exists now, or will come into creation, every person who has lived, lives now, or will live in the future, and every moment of time from the beginning until the end all exists within Jesus Christ.

When I hold the Eucharist, I literally hold all of existence in my hands. I hold every moment of time, every person, and everything that has or will be created, including myself. When I consume the Eucharist I am taking into my finite body the infinite.

Too great a mystery for my feeble mind to fully comprehend, yet all things are possible for God.

And my sorrow deeps for those who snatch the Eucharist from my hands as if it were nothing more than a Ritz cracker.

Novus Ordo or TLM

On July 16, 2021, Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes, a motu proprio on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform of 1970. Motu proprio is Latin for “on his own impulse”. Traditionis Custodes reversed the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum issued by Pope Benedict XVI on July 7, 2007.

In short, Summorum Pontificum gave priests the permission to say the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) privately and pastors the permission to say it publicly if the need were present and for pastoral reasons. Traditionis Custodes gave the local ordinary (bishop) the sole ability to grant permission for the TLM to be offered, by whom, where, and when.

What Traditionis Custodes did not do is say that the TLM can no longer be offered. It can still be offered as a valid Mass as long as the local ordinary approves it. This has caused quite a stir among all Catholic circles. Some agree with the Pope, some do not. Some think it was the right move at the wrong time and others feel it wasn’t necessary at all.

Supporters of the TLM think that it is a more reverent Mass. It is mysterious, largely due to it being in a dead language few understand and even fewer speak correctly. The Novus Ordo feels common place, said in a common language. There is no doubt that it has caused many to lose the wonder of Mass. It is just my opinion, but I think if people actually understood and believed who they are standing before at Mass we would see some vastly different choices in things like clothing options and demeaner.

Both Masses are beautiful when done correctly amid reverent people whose hearts are full of love for God. Both Masses do the exact same thing; make present the supernatural reality of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. Because of this one is not better nor more valid than the other. They are different methods of transporting us to the exact same moment and location in time. In the end, that is the only thing that truly matters; that we are standing at the foot of the cross worshiping God with all creation.

So, what are we to do amid all the hubbub? Allow me to string some scriptural thoughts together and see where it leads us.

First let us look at the story of Naaman, commander of the army of King Aram from 2 Kings 5. Naaman had leprosy. He went to the prophet Elisha to be cured. Elisha instructed Naaman to go wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be cured. Naaman was furious because he expected that he would have to go off and do some great thing. Instead, he was told to go bath in a specific place.

God does not want us to always do great things. Sometimes it is the little things he wants us to do. We want to do great things so that we may think ourselves great. God prefers those who are humble over those who think themselves great.

On to 1 Samuel 15. Here we find the disobedience of King Saul. Samuel tells Saul that God prefers obedience over sacrifice. In fact, if we could be truly obedient to God there would be no need for sacrifice. Sacrifice is only needed due to our disobedience.

Lastly, let us look at Matthew 16: 18 and 19. You are Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church. It is the passage where Jesus makes Peter the first Pope and gives him the authority to lead his Church. Pope Francis, as the successor to Peter, has the authority of Christ to lead the Church.

The ordinary form of worship of the Latin rite Catholic Church (Roman Catholic) is the Novus Ordo Mass. The TLM is retained as the extraordinary form of worship. Those who defiantly choose to participate in a TLM without the permission of their bishop put their desires above the instruction of the Church. To take that which God does not freely offer is the definition of sin. People who put their desires before that of the Church stand with people like Luther, Knox, and Calvin, who thought their opinion out-weighed that of the Church and her leadership to whom Christ has given all authority. The devil loves to use holy things to separate people from God by making them think their disobedience is actually a holy thing.

We live in rebellious times where everyone makes themselves their own President, Congress, judge, jury, and yes, even their own pope. Rightful authority is dismissed the instant it does not align with one’s opinion on a matter. God desires obedience over sacrifice. Jesus tells his disciples that if they love him they will follow his commands. He gave his authority to lead the Church to them and promised to be with us until the end of time. Those who oppose the rightful authority of the Church do not just oppose the Pope but oppose Christ himself. There is no reverence in disobeying Jesus no matter how reverently one does it.

Over All Lines

The Navy has a particular way that it ties its ships to the pier. This is done so the ship will be secure no matter what the sea state is. They use six lines (ropes) to do this.

Lines one and six go straight to the pier from the front and back of the ship respectively. These lines are of the largest diameter rope as they have the most important job. Lines two and four angle backwards to keep the ship from moving forwards and lines three and five angle forward to keep the ship from moving backwards. The six lines hold the ship fast to the pier and there is never any fear of the ship coming loose and floating away.

Now think of your soul as a ship and Christ the pier. The more lines you have tethering you to Jesus the more secure and stronger your faith will be. This biggest lines, line one and six, is the Mass and your participation in it. These are two separate things as one can attend Mass but never really participate in it. The greater your participation the bigger and stronger these lines become.

Lines two through five are the assisting lines. These lines assist and augment lines one and six. Lines two and four is our private prayer life. Line two is our formal prayer life – saying formal prayers like the ‘Our Father’, the Angelus, private devotions like the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Our formal prayers are always combined with others saying the same prayers and presented as one universal prayer to the Father. These prayers, when heard in the supernatural, are powerful. Line four is our informal prayer life. This is the time we spend speaking to Jesus from our hearts. This is where we thank him for our blessing and share with him what is on our minds. This is where we spend time in silent reflection giving Jesus an opportunity to speak to us. God speaks to us through a still, small voice so it is important to carve out some time, no matter how short, to spend some quiet time each day listening for God’s voice in our lives. Eucharistic Adoration gives us that opportunity to sit with our Lord in silence and have a dialog with him.

But coming to Mass and saying your prayers are not enough. One does not make music simply by knowing how to play an instrument. The instrument must be played to make music. Saint James tells us that faith, without works, is truly dead. Our works, then, are also lines that tie us to Christ. Jesus gave us a new command to follow; to love one another as he has loved us. The way we begin to love one another is to first recognize the dignity inherent to every person. Dignity is God’s thumbprint on the human soul. It is not enough just to throw material things at people’s material needs. The primary need of every person, regardless of how rich or poor they may be, is love. To truly love someone is to will their good. We begin to love another when we see them as a person with dignity, who deserves our respect, and then by treating them in the way we want Jesus to treat us. Lines three and five are our works and deeds. These lines secure us to Christ and allow Christ to work through us in all we say and do. The stronger these lines and the more we allow Jesus to work through us, the greater our faith becomes.

Ships that are not secured to the pier drift aimlessly at sea. Many wash up on the rocks and are lost. How securely are you tied to the pier of Christ?

A Need for Leadership

The word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacramentum. A sacramentum was an oath sworn to the gods in an act of consecration. It was also the oath to the death a Roman soldier took to the emperor.

The Church defines a Sacrament as, “Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ and conferred by the Church for our sanctification."

One facet of the Sacraments is the oath to the death. We simply do not receive a Sacrament. Before we receive a Sacrament, we offer the Lord an oath to the death. The collateral we offer for these oaths are our very lives. If we violate our oath, we forfeit our life and we enter a state of mortal sin. If we do not repent of this sin and receive forgiveness for it before we die we will spend eternity in hell.

This is why a civilly divorced and remarried Catholic cannot receive the Holy Eucharist. In the marriage vows Catholics take an oath until death do us part. The collateral on that oath is their lives. When they divorce and remarried they forfeit this collateral, meaning they no longer have it to offer as collateral on any other Sacrament, such as receiving the Holy Eucharist.

When we present ourselves at communion, we are taking an oath to live for Christ and die for him if necessary. The minister of communion holds up the Eucharist and says the words, “The Body of Christ.” Our response is, “Amen.” We say this before receiving our Lord. This is where we take our oath to the death.

As a deacon, I am an ordinary minister of Holy Communion. I get to see a lot of interesting situations of people receiving. There are two that are common and that I would like to comment on.

We have many husbands and wives who present themselves together to receive communion. This is a beautiful statement of love when they do this. I will always give communion to the husband first and then to his wife. I have had a few times where the husband refuses to receive before his wife. He loves his wife so much that he wants her to receive Jesus before he does. This is well intentioned, but misguided.

Likewise, we have many families who come up to receive together. In almost every case the father of the family allows the children and his wife to receive before he does. Again, this is also well intentioned, but misguided.

When we come up to receive our Lord in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist we begin by pledging an oath to the death that we will live for Christ and die for him if necessary. This is a place where husbands and fathers need to lead their family, not follow. They need to show their families that this oath is something they should do.

It is commonly said that a husband’s or a father’s job is to get his wife and family to heaven. He does this by leading them, not pushing them. If terrorists were to take over a Mass and begin executing anyone who would not deny our Lord, a husband or father would be expected to lead the way and be an example to his wife and children how to die a good Christian death. What kind of husband or father would he be if he pushed his wife or children out to be executed before he is? It is not chauvinistic or womanizing in any way for a husband to lead his family. In reality it is just the opposite. It is the most loving thing he can do for them.

Authentic male leadership has been lost in our culture in this age. The evil one has convinced us that we must be equal in function in order to be equal in worth. This simply is not the case. Our worth in the eyes of God is not tied to our function. If we wish to honor him we need to learn to honor the function that he made us for.

If our culture is going to survive we need to restore males to the proper place of leadership within the family. The father is the head of the family. The evil one has destroyed the family by removing its head, the father. Every body that has been beheaded has no life within it. It is time for men to step up and lead in the way that Jesus did. Men need to lead through love and self-sacrifice for the other.

Husbands and fathers, lead your family to the Eucharist. Communion is not a buffet line where you allow your family to get fed first. You are taking an oath that you are presenting your life to cover. Show your family what that means and how to honor that oath.