Letter Of Invitation To The Wedding Of Sister Therese Of The Child Jesus And The Holy Face

God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, and the Most Glorious Virgin Mary, Queen of the Heavenly Court, announce to you the Spiritual Espousals of Their August Son, Jesus, King of kings, and Lord of lords, with little Therese Martin, now Princess and Lady of His Kingdoms of the Holy Childhood and the Passion, assigned to her in dowry by her Divine Spouse, from which Kingdoms she holds her titles of nobility -of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Monsieur Louis Martin, Proprietor and Master of the Domains of Suffering and Humiliation and Madame Martin, Princess and Lady of Honor of the Heavenly Court, wish to have you take part in the Marriage of their Daughter, Therese, with Jesus, the Word of God, the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity, Who through the operation of the Holy Spirit was made Man and Son of Mary, Queen of Heaven.

Being unable to invite you to the Nuptial Blessing which was given on Mount Carmel, September 8, 1890, (the heavenly court alone was admitted), you are nevertheless asked to be present at the Return from the Wedding which will take place Tomorrow, the Day of Eternity, on which day Jesus, Son of God, will come on the Clouds of Heaven in the splendor of His Majesty, to judge the Living and the Dead.

The hour being as yet uncertain, you are invited to hold yourselves in readiness and to watch.

-Composed by St. Therese the Little Flower.

St. Peter, Sacred Scripture, And The Church

I re-read the Second Letter of St. Peter this weekend and I noticed a couple of things.

First, St. Peter begins and ends his letter with a warning about the misinterpretation of Scripture.
2 Pet 1:20-21:
"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

2 Pet 3:15-17:
"So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability."

Second, St. Peter warns against the idea of "Faith Alone."
2 Pet 1:5-11:
"For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

2 Pet 3:17:
"So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability."

Peter knew that Paul's words were easily twisted to teach false doctrines, not unlike what happens today. Anyone who interprets St. Paul to say that "Faith Alone" is all we need for salvation ignores Christ's demand that we obey his commandments and do the will of the Father. If faith is not supplemented by the other things St. Peter lists at the beginning of his letter, the a person is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Peter is saying that Scripture must be read with the Church, not apart from it. Those who choose to read Scripture without the Church will be carried away with error and lose their stability. We have seen the truthfulness of St. Peter's teaching with our Protestant brethren. They have countless divisions amongst them and all claim to be using the Bible alone. Mainline Protestant denominations are quickly becoming blatantly liberal and approving of same-sex "marriages" and supporting abortion. Case in point is the Episcopal Church who is headed by a woman who has publicly said that she supports both same-sex "marriage" and abortion. She is also a disciple of the retired Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, Jack Spong, who denies the Resurrection. And that is just one denomination.

It is a fact that God exists. It is a fact that He created us and all of existence from nothing. As creatures we naturally long for our Creator. St. Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. It is a fact that God came down to earth and became man to offer Himself up as a sacrifice to atone for Israel's breaking of the Dueteronomic Covenant and the sins of the whole world. We deserved to die for breaking the covenant. But God loves us so much that He would rather take the curses of the covenant upon Himself instead of giving us our just rewards. And because Christ is the perfect priest offering up Himself as the perfect sacrifice, not only are the curses of the covenant removed, but the blessings of the covenant are sent out to all. And before Christ offered Himself on the Cross He established the New Davidic Kingdom, the Kingdom of God; a heavenly Kingdom. This Kingdom established by Christ the King is the Supreme Kingdom. It Has ministers established by the King (the bishops) and a Prime Minister (the Pope) who has authority given to him by the King. The Prime Minister is second in authority, only behind the King. He has been given power to bind and loose, to shut and open. The Kingdom of God also has a Gebirah, a Great Lady, a Queen Mother (Mary). The Queen Mother is the chief counselor of the King and Advocate for the people. This honor is given to the Queen Mother by the King not out of obligation, but out of honor and filial love.

This Kingdom has a Liturgy. It has sacred writings which are for the Liturgy and are meant to be read in the Liturgy. This Kingdom has the authority to guide the interpretation of these sacred writings. To separate the interpretation of these writings from the Church is to desacrilize them.

This Kingdom is present here on earth and in Heaven. This Kingdom is the Catholic Church.

Seriously, How Can You Not Love A Pope Who Drinks Bier?

See, Frank. This makes my profile photo legit!

Natural Law

"Awareness of natural law is inscribed in our very being. The law inscribed in our nature is the true guarantee offered to everyone to be able to live freely and in dignity....No law made by man can overturn that of the Creator without dramatically affecting society in its very foundation."

-Pope Benedict XVI

Abortion and homosexuality are against the natural law. But if the natural law is inscribed in our very being, how have we come to the point where people not only go against their very being, but vehemently deny it?

St. Paul tells us the answer in Romans 1:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them."

Fact Or Fiction?

"That the Gospels are the work of eye-witnesses (or are based on eye-witness sources) is indicated not only by the things which they record, but by the things which they do not record. The Gospels are full of homely details which an eye-witness would have recorded, and are full of gaps which a fiction writer would have filled in. Read the most perfect short story in literature, the story of the woman taken in adultery. The great masters of the short story might have invented the sublime touch, 'Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground', but they would not have been content to leave us ignorant of what Christ wrote. It is contrary to the canons of fiction to arouse the reader's expectations without easing his curiosity. Had Tolstoy invented this touch, Christ would have written something very telling in the dust, something very telling indeed, but nothing half so telling as the silence of St. John. Reticence is the keynote of the Gospels. The Evangelists record unadorned fact. They never point a moral or adorn the tale."

-Arnold Lunn, from the article "The Objectivity of the Gospels."

Take A Lesson From The Fathers

"They [the Fathers of the Church] wrote so richly of the spiritual life because they first lived what they studied and pondered. They wrote of what they knew, not merely what they concluded. Exegesis is, therefore, to happen within ecclesial life, for the New Testament itself emerged wholly from the womb of the first-century Church and was judged from the outset as expressing authentically her mind and spirit and worship."

-Thomas Dubay in Faith and Certitude

The Supermarket Approach Doesn't Cut It

"It is clear that the person who is selective in his acceptance and rejection of diverse items in the deposit of revelation is not accepting what he does accept on authority of God's revealing it but on the basis of his own private judgement. This supermarket approach of selecting some doctrines and rejecting others makes it obvious that God's word is not the reason for this person's religious commitment."

-Thomas Dubay in Faith and Certitude.

Let us also remember the words of St. Peter:

"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." -2 Peter 1:20-21

Business Retreat

I was on a business retreat this weekend. It was spent talking to my Boss. That is praying to God. You see, as a Theology major, I take my orders from the Supreme Boss, God. We got down to some serious business about strategies for my work...or rather His Work, as it was an Opus Dei retreat. This was my first retreat and it truly was a blessing. I learned so much from it and I can definitely say that my spiritual life has been deepend greatly! If you have never gone on a retreat before, find the next one that it coming up and and sign up now! You won't regret it. You will thank yourself for it and more importantly thank God for it.

Here are some things I learned or deepend my understanding of through prayer and meditation:

First of all, I learned that my daily meditations should be more focused, instead of trying to meditate on every mystery of Christianity. St. Josemaria suggests praying along with the Church with these specific subjects during the week:
Monday-> Holy Souls of Purgatory
Tuesday-> Guardian Angels
Wednesday -> St. Joseph
Thursday -> Eucharist
Friday -> Passion of the Lord
Saturday -> The Blessed Virgin Mary
Sunday -> The Holy Trinity

One of the things I pondered on which I wrote down was the Eucharist. It says in the Gospels that Christ desires to celebrate the Passover with the Apostles. Why? Was it just to pass on some symbolic action that they must do over and over? No. It was because He earnestly desired to institute this Sacrament of His Body and Blood, whereby He gives Himself totally and completely to us. He desires to fill us with His grace. To actually live within us! And it's not just Christ we receive and who lives in us, but the entire Trinity! For wherever Christ is, the Father and the Holy Spirit are there as well. What a glorious gift the Eucharist truly is!

I also thought more about this post I did last week on the speculation of Mary's baptism. I have changed my mind on the matter, but for a totally different reason than the poster I mentioned. Mary probably would have chosen to be baptized. Not because she needed it, but out of her humility. St. Josemaria in his meditation on the Presentation says that Mary offered the two doves for purification, not that she was defiled in the birth of Christ, but out of obedience to the law and out of the utmost humility of her heart! She would have done likewise with baptism.

I also read St. Therese of Lisieux's autobiography. What an amazing person she was! She has such a wonderful knowledge of Scripture and is able to explain the truths of Christianity in the simplest way. It's no wonder she is a Doctor of the Church. I learned so much more about redemptive suffering and loving Jesus than I had ever thought possible in 312 pages. And her devotion to the Blessed Mother is something to be sought after and greatly admired! I think the Little Flower is now my favorite saint....besides St. Patrick of course.

My goal is to combine St. Therese with St. Josemaria. I want to have the interior life of St. Therese in the world, so that I may win souls for Christ through prayer, suffering, and love as well as by the example I set. I want Christ's light to shine through me, so that all may see His glory. I want to be a theologian that does the kind of theology that Hans Urs von Balthasar described as "kneeling theology."

Don't Blame Jesus

“'Who can tell the mighty deeds of the Lord, or proclaim all his praises?' (Ps 106:2) Which shepherd ever nourished his sheep with his own body? But what am I saying – a shepherd? Often, mothers entrust their children to a wet nurse as soon as they are born. But Jesus Christ cannot accept that for his sheep; he himself nourishes us with his own blood, and thus he causes us to become one single body with him.

My brothers, consider that Christ was born of our own human substance. But, you will say, so what? That doesn’t concern all human beings. Excuse me, my brother; it is a great advantage for all of them. If he became man, if he came to take on our nature, that concerns the salvation of all human beings. And if he came for all, he also came for each one in particular. Perhaps you will say: So why have not all accepted the fruit that they were supposed to receive through that coming? Don’t blame Jesus, who chose this means for the salvation of everyone; the fault lies with those who reject this kindness. For in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ unites himself to each of his faithful; he causes them to be reborn, he nourishes them with himself, he does not abandon them to another, and thus he convinces them once again that he really took on our flesh."

-Saint John Chrysostom

In Touching Christ's Humanity, We May Perceive His Divinity

"Divine strength, which the human being cannot touch, came down; it covered itself with a palpable body, so that the poor might touch it, and in touching Christ’s humanity, they might perceive his divinity. Through the fingers of flesh, the deaf-mute felt that his ears and his tongue were being touched. Through the palpable fingers, he perceived the divinity that cannot be touched when his tongue’s bond was broken and when the closed doors of his ears were opened. For the body’s architect and artisan came to him, and with a gentle word, without pain, he created openings in deaf ears. Then the mouth as well, that had been closed and until then incapable of giving light to the word, put into the world praise of him who thus caused its sterility to bear fruit.

In the same way, the Lord made mud with his saliva and spread it over the eyes of the man born blind so as to make us understand that, like the deaf-mute, he was lacking something. An inborn imperfection in our human batter was removed thanks to the leaven that comes from his perfect body… To fill in what was missing in these human bodies, he gave something of himself, just as he gives himself to be eaten [in the Eucharist]. By this means he causes the faults to disappear and raises the dead, so that we might recognize that the faults of our humanity are filled, thanks to his body in which “the fullness of deity resides”, and that true life is given to mortals by means of this body, in which true life resides. "

-Saint Ephrem