"And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."   Numbers 21:8

"'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.'

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:14-16

We look upon the crucifix, and when we see Him with our believing eyes we too shall live.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin by El Greco

The many written accounts of the Assumption date back initially to the 4th century, and it is a long held belief of both the Roman and Eastern Rites.  Because of the long-standing belief of this event did Pope Pius XII declare this definitive dogma of the Roman Catholic Church in 1950.

This is a wonderful example of how the Pope and Magisterium do not create new dogma, but rather continually deepen our understanding.  Through the Holy Spirit they study and contemplate the Word to understand and teach the will of the Father, just as Christ had designed when He created His Church.

"And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." St. Luke 1:28

Mary is the Immaculate Conception since she was born and is forever without sin (full of grace.) Who else could be the Mother of Our Lord? Sinless, she did not experience death; rather, she was assumed into Heaven.

"Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." St. Luke 1:48

Assumption of the Virgin by Carracci

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne." Revelation 12:1-6

The woman is the Church, though allusion to the physical birth by Our Lady is evident. Hail, Holy Queen.

     After a heated online discussion about Catholicism and literature in one of the many Yahoo groups to which I subscribe, a woman contacted me off-list.  She agreed with my arguments about why I didn’t like certain “classics.”  She also told me about her life as a sedevacantist.  According to Wikipedia, Sedevacanists believe that the popes from Pope Paul VI in 1963 (or since Vatican II) until today are false popes, and are in fact heretics, because they espouse Modernism.

     We exchanged a couple of emails.  I didn’t really agree with her, since I have seen a shift back to genuine Roman Catholic teaching and living under Pope John Paul the Great and now under Pope Benedict XVI.  She also was living without the Sacraments, worshipping at home, because she could not find a sedevacantist priest.  Despite my disagreement, I had a lot of respect for her because she was trying to live out what she felt was a true Catholic faith.

     A few weeks later, I attended the regular Tuesday evening Mass at our parish on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.  The homily was about having the courage to do what you think is right even when it is difficult.  The example he used was the recent women’s “ordination” in Boston.  He said that regardless of how you feel about it, you had to admire their courage to stand up to the Catholic Church.  He said he was thrilled to see it.  I walked out, too upset to even receive Holy Communion.

     I called and discussed the homily with him the next day.  After a long conversation where he brought up things like Liberation Theology in a positive light, he told me he was going to have an adult catechesis class based on a book and videos by Thomas Groome.  A little Internet research revealed Thomas Groome to be liberal Boston College professor advocating inclusive language and the ordination of women.  Read this article from CatholicCulture.org to learn more.  He has also created a lot of religious educational material, including the Coming to Faith series our parish uses for CCD.  Here’s an article from CatholicParents.org about the flaws in this series.  At home we use the highly recommended Faith and Life series from Ignatius Press; I suggest you check your parish’s program at CatholicParents.org; many others programs, like the popular Faith First, are also very problematic.  The author of Faith First, Louis J. Cameli, co-authored a book with Groome and others.

     After our discussion about the homily, I realized I was making the same mistake about the sedevacanist that he was making about Groome.  I saw how misplaced my admiration and respect were for her when I saw those same sentiments in our priest towards the women’s “ordination.”  One important difference, though; I was not planning to propagating the ideas of the sedevacantist while he is planning a parish program based on the works of Groome.  That’s beyond admiring their courage—that’s embracing their ideals.  In fact, the very next Sunday he posted the flyer for the program.  I resigned from the parish that day.

     Groome’s central question in this program is, “What makes us Catholic?”  According to him, everything about Catholic Church must be questioned (funny, though, how we should not view him with skepticism.)  The Catholic Church is the same one that Christ founded on St. Peter and that has led to our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI through an unbroken apostolic succession.  As Christ intended, and through the Holy Spirit, the Pope and Magistarium continue to discern and teach our biblically-based Catholic Sacred Traditions, doctrines, and dogmas.  People think they are just as wise and filled with the same kind of grace when it comes to the teachings of Catholicism as the Holy Father and the Magistarium.  Worse than that, they vilify the Church in order to propagate their own ideas, and yet they still continue to call themselves Catholic.

     We Catholics are called to be filled with Reason and not to follow blindly.  We must keep our eyes open and speak up when called to do so, even regarding Church teachings.  However, we are also called to be obedient to that same Church. 

“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’

Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock…”

St. Matthew 7:21-24

     The sedevacantist may do many mighty works in His name, like keeping her family untainted by Modernism, and the liberal theologian may do mighty works in His name, like writing widely-used religious educational material and “ordaining” woman, but they do not do the will of our Father who art in Heaven.  We should not build our house upon them, but upon the teachings of the apostolic Holy Roman Catholic Church.  That means a catechesis for our children based on rock-solid programs from St. Ignatius Press (Faith and Life or Image of God.)  It means voicing our outrage at the use of these substandard materials.  It means joining a parish that holds our authentic Catholic faith dear.

This year is dedicated to Saint Paul.  CatholicCulture.org has created The Year of Saint Paul website with lots of great information.  From the overview:

"Pope Benedict XVI declared a year dedicated to St. Paul, beginning on June 28, 2008, the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and continuing through June 29, 2009. The Holy Father said that the year, marking the 2000th anniversary of the saint's birth, should be used to heighten appreciation for the Apostle to the Gentiles and to his project of promoting the Christian faith and the unity of believers."

Saint Paul, pray for us.

Only three birthdays are celebrated in the Catholic Church.  We celebrate the birth of Christ around the time of the winter solstice, after which the days increase in length in the regions of early Christendom.  John the Baptist was born around the time of the summer solstice, after which the days decrease.  This reminds us of the words of the last of Christ's prophets:

"He must increase, but I must decrease."  John 3:30

John the Baptist is usually depicted as pointing, because he points towards Christ, as in this Titian masterpiece:

Titian. St. John the Baptist. c.1540. Oil on canvas. Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice, Italy

Let this be true of us all.

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:  "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."  John 6:51 -58

Jesus Christ in the eucharist--body, blood, soul, and divinity--is unique to the Catholic faith; it is, in fact, central to it.  During the Last Supper Christ shows us how to fulfill what He says in the above passage.  The priests of the Catholic Church have repeated it continuously ever since.

The Truth of the eucharist is what brought me fully into the Catholic faith.  The Church, the Body of Christ on earth, will stumble, but it will never be abandoned by the Holy Spirit; people will sin, but we will never be separated from God.  I, too, forgive and am forgiven, endure and am renewed because of the eucharist.Here is art depicting the eucharist:

 The Institution of the Eucharist by Joos van Wassenhove,
c.1474 (50 Kb); Oil on panel; Gallery of the Marches, Ducal Palace, Urbino, Italy

Disputa (Disputation over the Sacrament) by Raphael, 1510-1511. Fresco. Vaticano, Stanza della Segnatura, Rome.

Day five of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts

Blessings!

Day four of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts

Blessings!

Today is the first day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts.

“All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”  Acts 1:14

After nine days of prayer, the Holy Spirit came, as Jesus promised.

This is the origin of the novena, nine consecutive time periods (days, hours, or weeks) of prayer.