I'm back

I'm back after spending part of the week at home celebrating the 4th of July with the family. My sister and I celebrated our birthday on Thursday, her 21st and my 25th (yes we have the same birthday). Internet access was very frustrating over the week. My parents only have dial-up and it kept dropping the connection every 4 or 5 minutes.

There has been some good news on Baby Luukas this week. More to come on that tomorrow. For now, keep praying for him.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July. I'm off to the land of dial-up in the morning. I will not have very good internet access until I get back on Sunday.

Grace, Faith, or Works?

Since I've had this discussion on whether we are saved by grace, faith, or works many times during my journey into the Catholic Faith, I thought I'd address the question here. Actually, the idea of this post started during today's Gospel reading.

In today's Gospel we heard the story of Jesus' healing of Jairu's daughter and the woman with a hemorrhage. Mark obviously presents this story the way he does in order to focus on the healing power of faith in Christ. However, from my personal experience it seems that we tend to focus on the raising of the girl from the dead and skim over the woman with the hemorrhage.

Mark 5: 25-34

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

This passage gives the perfect opportunity to take a single line of scripture, "Daughter, your faith has saved you", out of context and make the "saved by faith" arguement. But something very important happens in this story. The woman commits a "work". She reaches out to Christ. She could have had all the faith in the world that if she touched Jesus' clothes that she would be healed. But the healing didn't take place until she put her faith in action. James tells us that faith without works is dead.

James 2: 17-26

So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God." See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Growing up Southern Baptist I was taught, but never really believed, that once you were "saved" nothing else need be done. When I was told that we were saved by grace, I had no problem. When I was told that we found faith through God's grace, I had no problem. But when it came down to faith alone without the need for works, I had a problem. Christ warns us in Revelation about being lukewarm and having a false sense of security.

Revelation 3: 15-17

"I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,' and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

We shouldn't fall into a false sense of being "rich" with salvation after walking down an aisle and making a profession of faith and saying a prayer with a preacher (in other words and "alter call" or "invitation" in many Protestant churches). Christ tells us that he KNOWS our works and will spit us out.

All throughout the Bible (read the stories of Noah, Abraham, Lot, the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc) we see stories of people to whom God extended his grace. They had faith in Him and did works to show their faith. Their faith and works were enabled by the grace of God. God pours out his grace on mankind, it is up to us by our God-given free will to respond to his grace with faith AND works.

"God's Invisible Hand"

If you are a regular reader of this blog you have already seen me talk about Gerald O'Connell's book, God's Invisible Hand: The Life and Work of Francis Cardinal Arinze. Other posts about this book can be found HERE and HERE.

I have finished reading the book and I highly recommend it. It is no wonder that many considered the possibility of Cardinal Arinze as the next pope during the last Papal Conclave. Be sure to pay attention to the footnotes. They contain interesting details and the reference information for other books and documents mentioned in the text. Many of these sound interesting as possibilities for future reading material. I found the following quote to be highly applicable to all of us on the journey of faith.

"We learn, and we strive and pray to understand more and more of God's plan; and more than understanding it, to love it and to live it, especially when we don't understand it. And to realize that even when we think we understand, what we understand is only the surface of the deeper mystery. But to sense that God loves us, and never to doubt this, that is important." - Francis Cardinal Arinze

My Rating:

Arkansas OK's gay foster parents

Not the greatest day in the history of my home state.

From NewsMax.com

Arkansas cannot ban homosexuals from becoming foster parents because there is no link between their sexual orientation and a child's well-being, the state's high court ruled Thursday.

The court agreed with a lower court judge that the state's child welfare board had improperly tried to regulate public morality. The ban also violated the separation of powers doctrine, the justices said. Read Entire Article

A good news update on Baby Luukas

From Luukas' mom:

Dear Friends, we have more good news We are still officially at the hospital, but we took Luukas home for several days and nights unless we need to go back there. Hopefully there will not be such a need and we can stay at home for good.

We see he is improving. He eats from the bottle (seldom the whole meal, but anyway), moves more, breathes better, and the doctor says his heart sounds better than a week ago. Perhaps we have even seen a few miracles? Like the fact that the doctors expected him to die twice and he survived. And the doctors expected him to have breathing problems due to his not being able to cough well and move strongly - and he has less breathing problems, coughs and is stronger than before. Slavo, I think he coughed for the first time after you came to the intensive care unit to give him the holy oil. Thank you, you are a great godfather.

Well, having said all this I still ask and beg you to pray for Luukas. He still doesn't breathe normally, there are some sounds at his heart, and most importantly, no doctor changed their opinion about his brain damage and the decision not to treat his potential major infections is still valid. I hope he will have brain activity, but since the doctors say what they say, it still seems it would have to be a miracle, and perhaps the biggest of all that we have already seen.

So please continue to pray and thank you very much for your prayers!

Search of "Luukas" in the search box in the sidebar for more about this amazing child.

Bishop Sartain

Moneybags a A Catholic Life has pictures from Bishop Sartain's installation mass in Jolliet, Ill.

See them here

Bishop Sartain installed in Joliet, IL.

Peter J. Sartain, former Bishop of Little Rock was installed as Bishop of Joliet yesterday. Bishop Sartain will definately be missed in the Diocese of Little Rock.

Gerald has an interview with Bishop Sartian over at the Cafeteria is Closed.

Your letter has been received and filed appropriately.......trash

From RCFM by way of LifeSiteNews.com

Open Letter to Cardinal O’Malley and the Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts

As ministers, rabbis and religious leaders of many faith traditions, we urge you to stop your political campaign to take away civil marriage rights from gay and lesbian citizens. At a time when the Roman Catholic Church says it is trying to promote tolerance and diversity it is lobbying the legislature and campaigning publicly to ban same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth.

The Roman Catholic magisterium teaches that homosexuality and gay unions are gravely immoral (not exactly correct, read CCC 2357-2359). We disagree with that doctrine (the esscence of protestantism and cafeteria catholicism . . . wait protestantism is sufficient), and we rejoice and celebrate marriage equality in Massachusetts. However, we honor your right to believe as you wish. We respect your right to practice your faith according to your laws.

We ask that you respect our faith traditions in return. Taking away civil marriage rights from committed, loving gay and lesbian couples would deny us the right to practice our beliefs. (so you want the Church to back off of promoting its position to society so that you can force yours on society through activist judges and radical politicians?) We would no longer be able to marry same-sex couples legally. The state would be in the position of granting full rights and protections to everyone married according to your beliefs, while denying those rights and protections to couples married according to ours.

You are promoting prejudice through your political campaign, intentionally or not.
By proclaiming homosexuality and same-sex unions to be universally immoral and worthy of second-class status under state law, you are sending a message that our faith communities are immoral. You are harming us and our families and your own faithful as well. Thousands of Roman Catholics have signed our Roman Catholic Statement in support of marriage equality. They have signed out of their pain and their love and concern for the Church. (You know you can't say that with a straight face!)

We all have a right to speak our minds and to vote according to our beliefs, but in the political realm, we also have a constitutional responsibility to protect minorities, including the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual individuals and our minority religious communities. Our founding fathers understood the importance of protecting minorities and of preventing sectarian beliefs from becoming civil laws.

Worldwide, we can witness the unfortunate consequences when religious groups try to use government power to impose their will on multi-cultural societies.(and what are you doing? Homosexual marriage is not the norm, you are trying to force it on society.) Respecting and protecting the dignity of every soul, regardless of sexual orientation or religious beliefs, is the American way -- and the only way to protect the religious freedom and the democratic society we all cherish.

We urge you to stop trying to make your religious definition of marriage and family the law of our Commonwealth. Please stop trying to put personal faith up for a popular vote in 2008. Let’s return our focus to our common mission of promoting a socially just and tolerant society.

Faithfully,
The Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry Board:

The Rev’d. Anne C. Fowler, President
Rabbi Howard Berman
Rabbi Devon A. Lerner, Executive Director
Rev. Quinn Caldwell
The Rev’d. George C. Welles, Jr.
Rev. Tiffany Steinwert
Rev. David Pettee
Rabbi Daniel Judson
Charles Martel, Roman Catholic Liaison
Rev. Irving Cummings
Constance Cervone, Roman Catholic Liaison
Rev. Maureen Reddington-Wilde

First of all. The right to marry comes from God, who established it for one man and one woman. As far as taking away any civil rights....in the overwhelming majority of states (all but Massachusetts) this civil right doesn't exist and therfore can't be "taken away".

But, I really want to address the fact that these "religious leaders" including thier "Roman Catholic" liaisons don't know diddly about the Catholic Church. This letter continually talks of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic magesterium. There is no "Roman Catholic Church". There is the one Catholic Church made up of several rites one of which (and the largest) happens to be the Roman or more appropriately Latin rite. There are over twenty rites, in 4 major groupings, in communion with the Bishop of Rome.

Read about the rites in communion with Rome at EWTN

Pope on music at Mass

In relation to my earlier post about Liturgical Music:

VATICAN: POPE AGAINST POP MUSIC DURING MASS

VATICAN: POPE AGAINST POP MUSIC DURING MASS Vatican City, 26 June (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI has called for traditional sacred music to be played during mass, condemning the ongoing custom of contemporary music at religious celebrations. "Updating sacred music is possible, but this cannot happen unless it follows the tradition of Gregorian chants or sacred polyphony," the pontiff said on Sunday on the sidelines of a concert in the Sistine Chapel. A skilled pianist with a predilection for Bach and Mozart, Benedict XVI spoke against a custom reportedly appreciated by his more informal predecessor John Paul II, who worked very hard throughout his papacy to make the Church more appealing to the younger generations.

In an interview published in Turin-daily La Stampa on Monday, the former Archbishop of Ravenna, veteran Cardinal Ersilio Tonini also condemned the practice saying that "Benedict XVI is right, mass is a meeting with God and to meet God sacred music is better than the turmoil of electric guitars, hand clapping and the husstle and bustle of disorderly sounds."

Tonini said that 40 years ago after the Second Vatican Council "making mass more popular and inviting could be understood." However, the cardinal added, "we exaggerated and now I believe it is legitimate to consider as over this season of breaks with tradition."

Hat tip: Gerald at The Cafeteria is Closed

Liturgical Music or "Let's Pat Ourselves on the Back in Song"

I can't help but notice how much of the music is focused on, "I'm so good, look at what I've done" or "Look at what Jesus did for us because we are such wonderful people"

It's amazing how often the words I, my, me, we, us, our, and you pop up in the "hymns" we sing at Mass. What is more disturbing is the hymns that don't make any reference to God or Christ at all. We are there to worship Him, not to pat ourselves on the back. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should be self-loathing or anything. But when we are at Mass, before the Alter of God, our focus should be on worshiping him not telling each other how wonderful we are.

Articulation of the Faith

I have this standing debate with a friend about Apostolic succession and the Church's guardianship of the Truth and how that Truth has been passed down. I think some of what Cardinal Arinze says in God's Invisible Hand sheds some light onto this subject. Please bear with me as I quote at length with emphasis added.

O'Connell: We say we have the fullness of revelations, and yet at the end of time we know that there will be a full revelation in a way that we had never imagined.

Cardinal Arinze: When we say we have the fullness of revelation, we must go carefully. The fullness of revelation has been given to manking in Jesus Christ, and he has entrusted this to his Church. But that does not mean that every one of us in the Church knows God fully. We would not be so proud. We only know a little. We can grow.
It does not even mean that the Church as a whole does not grow. The Church grows in that knowledge of God, and in the knowledge of revelation, and as the ages role by, the Church -- by prayer, by reflection, by reading the lives of the saints and the early teachers or Fathers of the Church, and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit--comes to a better understanding of some parts of our Faith. So the whole Church grows; much more do individuals grow.

O'Connell: Thos who will read this will say your words speak to thier own experience, more so than documents that seem to affirm with great certainty adn clarity but, at times, do not reach the hearts of people.

Cardinal Arinze: To say that one individual can be nearer to God than another does not mean that the Church should abandon her duty to articulate the faith. We notice that from the early years of the Church, from the second, third, and fourth centuries, the bishops, coming together with the Pope or his delegate, felt it their duty to say, "This is what we believe, we believe, we believe." That is the origin of the Credo.
It is the duty of the teaching authority of the Church to articulate that faith, that is, to state it in human language, also using philosopical terms or concepts, because the faith has to be handed down. If we handed down the fiath only by silent witness, but not by a simple word, you would soon find that the child growing up does not know in what faith he is being initiated. That's why the credos were often tied to baptism. The person is being baptized into the faith of that community as articulated. The articulation of the faith retains its imporantce, otherwise we will soon become a type of spiritiual group in which nobody knows what he believes, nobody can articulate it, nobody knows what to hand down, and nobody can say to anyone, "You are not believing what our ancestors in the faith handed down to us."
Because in the days of the aposles, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, we are told that Saint Peter said, "There are several things Paul wrote that are difficult to understand and that some abuse to their own destruction." Saint Paul was very strict on what people were to believe. He told the Galatians, "If anyone preaces a Gospel to you different from the one we have preached to you, let him be anathema. So you are to believe what has been handed down to you, and not to believe anythign else." This means that they were also very careful about the articulation of the faith even in the days of Saint Paul.
How much more so, later one, when the Church had met Greek and Roman philosophy, and the faith had to be expressed in those terms. How much more so also when some began to say there are two persons in Christ, so the Church was compelled to express herself on this quesion; or again when people said Christ was not God, the the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople had to say no: "He is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in substance with the Father, and through him all things were made." All that articulation came with time.

So to address a point raised recently, the Church is the guardian of the Truth revealed to us through Jesus Christ. But as humans, none of us posses the capability of completely understanding the Truth. We grow in our understanding through time. Likewise the Church, as a human institution, could not be expected to fully understand the Truth immediately. Trough time the Church gains a deeper understanding and knowledge of the Truth, with it then articulates as part of its duty. The Church doesn't make the Truth, it holds and articulates the Truth.

Without this central authority in the Church to hold and articulate the Truth we get exactly what Cardinal Arinze is speaking about when he says, "The articulation of the faith retains its imporantce, otherwise we will soon become a type of spiritiual group in which nobody knows what he believes, nobody can articulate it, nobody knows what to hand down, and nobody can say to anyone, 'You are not believing what our ancestors in the faith handed down to us.' " The Protestant churches today, and thier many disagreements in belief and doctrine, provide a perfect example of what happens when the teaching authority of the Church, established by Christ and given to the apostles, is rejected.

US amendments to new Mass translation

Gerald has them over at The Cafeteria is Closed

Douay-Rheims Bible Online

I found this great resource lately. Searchable Douay-Rheims Bible and if you are into Latin Latin Vulgate. I'm adding it to the sidebar.

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Luke 1:5-20, 36-44, 57-80

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary, of the courese of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth.

6 And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. 7 And they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. 8 And it came to pass, when he executed the priestly function in the order of his course before God, 9 According to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord. 10 And all the multitude of the people was praying without, at the hour of incense.

11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the alter of incense. 12 And Zachary seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John: 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity. 15 For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

16 And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people. 18 And Zachary said to the angel: Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. 19 And the angel answering, said to him: I am Gabriel, who stand before God: and am sent to speak to thee, and to bring thee these good tidings. 20 And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass, because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.

36 And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: 37 Because no word shall be impossible with God. 38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40 And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth.

41 And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.


57 Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbours and kinsfolks heard that the Lord had shewed his great mercy towards her, and they congratulated with her. 59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by his father's name Zachary. 60 And his mother answering, said: Not so; but he shall be called John.

61 And they said to her: There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63 And demanding a writing table, he wrote, saying: John is his name. And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came upon all their neighbours; and all these things were noised abroad over all the hill country of Judea.

66 And all they that had heard them laid them up in their heart, saying: What an one, think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. 67 And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost; and he prophesied, saying: 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant: 70 As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:

71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: 72 To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament, 73 The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us, 74 That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and justice before him, all our days.

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways: 77 To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins: 78 Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us: 79 To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace. 80 And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit; and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel.