Wednesday, April 30, 2008

"The Blessed Virgin Compared To The Air We Breathe"


Wild air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
This needful, never spent,
and nursing element;
My more than meat and drink;
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life's law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God's infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race-
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers His providence
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air,
If I have understood,
She holds high motherhood
Towards all our ghostly good
And plays in grace her part
About man's beating heart,
Laying, like air's fine flood,
The deathdance in his blood:
Yet no part but what will
Be Christ our Savior still.
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvelous!
New Nazareths in us,
Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlehems, and be born
There, evening, noon, and morn-
Bethlehem or Nazareth,
Men may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Protestant Proof Text: John 5:24

Protestants love to have Catholics explain the meaning of John 5:24 because they think it is an iron-clad proof text to support the Protestant doctrine of "Faith Alone." However, the Bible does not teach "Faith Alone" and "proof-texts" do not prove anything. They are usually ripped out of the context and twisted to fit whatever the person believes. This is not the way Scripture is to be read. When reading the Bible, we must pay close attention to content and unity. This means context is the key! No one verse is going to explain everything. So when we read Jn 5:24, we see that it says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

So we have an affirmation that those who hear Christ's word and believe in God will have eternal life. Amen! We as Catholics believe that 100%. Yet what this verse does not say (and what Protestants think it says) is that the "only" thing we have to do is to hear Christ and believe. That surely is part of it, but not the sole thing. If we continue reading, Christ adds more requirements to salvation:

"Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:28-29).

Christ explicitly says here that we will be judge based on whether we have done good or evil. So Christ is clearly not teaching salvation by "Faith Alone" in verse 24, because four verses later he adds that our actions are also determinate of our salvation. We must not only believe in God and Jesus Christ, but we must live good and holy lives as well in order to be saved. Good works cannot earn us our salvation, but a lack thereof can surely cost us our salvation!

Ancient Ecumenism


In 692, an illegitimate council was called at Constantinople in order to issue disciplinary decrees for II and III Constantinople. This council was known as the Quinisext Council. Some of the canons decreed there were in direct contradiction to the practices of the West. For example, it was decreed that Christ was forbidden to be represented in the form of a lamb. In response to this, Pope Sergius refused to recognize the council and ordered the singing of the Agnus Dei in the Mass!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Art Imitating Life

My wife thinks this is true.

....She may be partially right....

The Forgotten Attribute Of God

"Holiness is the attribute of God in his infinite grandeur, in his impenetrable light; God is called the Holy One because of his transcendence: 'I am God, not man; I am the Holy One in your midst' (cf. Hos 11:9; Ps 71:22; Is 5:24; Hab 3:3)."

-F.X. Durrwell in The Holy Spirit of God: An Essay in Biblical Theology.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Just When You Thought He Couldn't Get Any Worse!

Obama has really shown how anti-Christian and how anti-Biblical he really is! In the video below, not only does he call having a child "punishment", but he equates having a child with getting an STD. Nevermind, that the Bible constantly speaks of having children as a blessing. In fact, not to have a child is seen as a curse.




We really need to pray that this man does not become our President. God help our country if he does. If it so happens that he does get elected as President, the only explanation can be that God is giving us the punishment we are calling upon ourselves. In this country that kills millions of babies each year, God would be simply giving us what we asked for. We in America really need to repent and do much prayer and fasting to avoid such an evil. If we continue on the path we are going, we can no longer honestly refer to our country as one that protects the innocent. We could no longer affirm the declaration of the Founding Fathers that we hold the right to life to be an unalienable and self-evident truth.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The Importance Of Garrigou-Lagrange


"Garrigou-Lagrange led a life completely consecrated to research and the teaching of truth, and his work, despite some defects, will certainly be hallowed by history. It will be useful for the defense of the faith in the twenty-first century."

-Jean-Herve Nicolas