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Faith "Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . ." —Hebrews 11:6 Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Confirmation Table of Contents     “If there was ever a time when the Sacrament of Confirmation needed to be explained carefully, that time is now. All too many members of the Church neglect it altogether; and those who have received it or who plan to receive it, see it as something minor in their lives. There is need, then, for instruction on the nature, power, and dignity of this sacrament. Far from being neglected or received in a mere perfunctory way, Confirmation must be restored to the reverence and devotion it deserves.” These words introduced The...

A resolution pending in the United Nations in one form or another since 1999 is being pushed again by the Islamic nations that originally proposed the plan they called "Defamation of Islam," which would ban criticism of the beliefs of Muhammad worldwide...

Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. It's easy to forget sometimes that being a child of God, having the privilege of calling God our Father is itself a gift -- that you and I have no personal claims, no right to be called a "child of God" apart from the grace that comes to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.  The fact that you and I have been made sons and daughters of our heavenly Father is pure gift.  As it says in...

<p>All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.</p>

Line up Your Heart Today's Scripture "…The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (I Samuel 16:7, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When the Lord looks at your heart, what does He see? Every one has an outer life and an inner life. The outer life is our public life that people around us see. The inner life is made up of our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Only you and God know what's going on inside of you. Too many people...

Substitution "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" —2 Corinthians 5:21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was "made. . . to be sin. . . ." Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Baptism Table of Contents     Baptism was already prefigured in the Old Testament. Some of the ancient rites or events that anticipated Christian Baptism were circumcision (Colossians 2:11), the march of the Israelites through the Red Sea (I Corinthians 10:2), and across the Jordan (Joshua 3:14). What the church considers a formal prophecy of baptism was the oracle of Ezekiel regarding the New Israel. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed. I shall cleanse you of all defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put...

On Theology in the 12th Century "Knowledge Grows Only if It Loves Truth" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today I pause to reflect on an interesting page of history, regarding the flowering of Latin theology in the 12th century, which came about by a providential series of coincidences. In the countries of Western Europe there reigned then a relative peace, which assured society of economic development and the consolidation of political structures, and fostered a...

Two weeks ago I mentioned in my sermon that God grows Christians by feeding them his Word. One way he does this is by providing the church with teachers and preachers. This means that if we are going to grow we need to be sitting at the feet of reliable carriers of God's truth. This, however, begs the question: how can we identify a reliable carrier of God's truth? The Bible makes it clear that there are many unreliable carriers of so-called truth. Satan masquerades as an angel of light seeking to deceive. So we need a lot of biblical...

A Sabbath Resurrectionand Wednesday Crucifixionof Yeshua the MessiahDaniel Gregg     This article begins with concessions to the traditional Friday afternoon crucifixion and Sunday morning resurrection point of view.   Why concede points to the Sunday resurrection?  Because whatever you heard or studied about this before, you've most likely studied an incomplete version of the Wednesday crucifixion and Sabbath resurrection that neglects these points.   These neglected points may serve as reason to reject the Sabbath resurrection.   On the other hand, the Wednesday scenario was always viable in spite of these difficulties, because the Friday arguments has problems of its own.   What is needed...

Featured Term (selected at random): INEFFABLE That which is inexpressible. Only God is ultimately ineffable because only he cannot be fully comprehended by the finite mind. Since knowledge determines expression, the divine ineffability is a result of the divine incomprehensibility. In the words of St. Augustine, "More true than our speech about God is our thinking of Him, and more true than our thinking is His Being" (De Trinitate, VII, 4, 7). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The following message (though not this picture) was posted yesterday on the Mormon Church's public affairs blog. It explains the group's unhappiness with recent news reports that refer to "splinter groups" which hive off from the Salt Lake City-based "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (AKA "the Mormon Church") as "Mormons." These splinter groups (AKA "Mormon Fundamentalists") assiduously devote themselves to the practice of the doctrine of polygamy (which was renounced by THE Mormon Church in 1890) and around whichever Viagra-addled alpha male has set himself up as the prophet, seer, and revelator for that particular harem.

The devil, so the saying goes, is the ape of God. And so one of his standard methods for deceiving is to create parodies of good things and send them into the world in pairs.Why parodies? Because he cannot make, he can only mock. So instead of love, he offers lust. Instead of justice he offers merciless vengeance. Instead of dignity, he offers pride. Instead of contentment with the world’s goods he offers greed.Why does he send errors into the world in pairs? So that, in fleeing one lie, you will embrace the opposite lie. And so, for instance, he...

A Vital Necessity Today's Scripture "Set your mind and heart to seek (inquire of and require as your vital necessity) the Lord your God." (I Chronicles 22:19 AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What things do you consider a vital necessity in your life? In other words, what can't you live without? Most people would immediately think of food, water, and shelter; but in reality, we can't really live unless our minds and hearts are set on seeking the Lord. Sure, you can exist without seeking Him, but you are called to more than just existence. You are...

Justification by Faith "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" —Romans 5:10 I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It...

ChristiaNet.com, the world's largest Christian portal with nine million monthly page loads, recently asked, "Can salvation be lost?" Bill Cooper, president of ChristiaNet, states, "I believe our focus should be on spreading the Gospel and gaining new salvations." Out of 1,200 Christians surveyed, 54% believed that Christians can not lose their salvation. Some surveyed in this group felt that, "Once you have accepted Jesus, no one can pluck you out of His hand." One poller responded, "I am kept by the power of Christ not my own works." "It is a free gift from God. There is nothing we did...

Saints Simon and Jude                      SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES From a commentary on the gospel of John by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishopAs the Father sent me, so I am sending you    Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands.   That man...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace The Sacraments Table of Contents     The closing article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in life everlasting,” is also the opening door to the seven sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ. As we have seen, the eternal life that awaits those who believe in Christ is the supernatural life which He came into the world to restore to a fallen human race. That is why the Savior was so blunt in His explanation to Nicodemus about the need for being “born again”. I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the...

Featured Term (selected at random):INHERENCE Dependence on another being for its existence. Accidents naturally inhere in the substances they modify. By divine power, in the Holy Eucharist the accidents of bread and wine exist without inhering in their substance, which has been changed through transubstantiation into the substance of Christ's body and blood. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Who Will See God? Today's Scripture "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…" (Psalm 24:3-4, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you want to see more of God in your life? As believers in Jesus, the Bible says that He makes His home in us, but we have to do our part to develop our relationship with Him. We have to choose to submit our hearts to Him and allow Him to purify us on the inside. We...

The Method of Missions "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . ." —Matthew 28:19 Jesus Christ did not say, "Go and save souls" (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, "Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . ." Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, "Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret...

Hello and welcome to another edition of the White Horse Inn as we are thinking through what is means to be Christians in a post-Christian culture. You know, every time a debate comes up on homosexual marriage or on war, a whole host of topics; on one hand conservatives sometimes invoke the theocratic promises, commands, and threats of the old covenant as if they could just be lifted from the context of Israel's covenant with God and apply to any modern country. While liberals and secularists simply dismiss these Old Testament passages as morally offensive "texts of terror." But there...

What Is the Gospel that Jesus Christ Taught? If we are to understand the point of Jesus' teachings, message and mission, we need to be sure we understand the gospel—the good news—that He taught. by Scott Ashley What is the message Jesus Christ brought and taught? It seems like a simple enough question, but most people don't give it much thought. They know Jesus preached a "gospel"— which comes from the Old English godspel, meaning "good news" or "good message"—but what is that message? This is where things can get a little murky. Many think that the gospel of Christ...

There is no doubt that the 16th century witnessed the greatest ever split in Church history. Some view the Reformation as a sad or even an evil episode. Others see it as a time when God restored the one true biblical Gospel back into the hands of the masses. But what exactly were the issues back then? And what are the issues in our own day? Was this a mere tempest in a tea cup? I suggest that the issues then and now are exactly the same - who or what speaks for God, and what exactly is the Gospel?...

First-century believers could have offered tangible evidence that there was little chance for the gospel to have an impact on the status quo of religious and civil oppression in their day. How could a small band of men—led by a fisherman (Peter) and a tentmaker (Paul)—living under Roman occupation ever conceive that their circumstances would change enough so that the gospel message would lead to the transformation of the world? To add to the improbability of a world-wide impact, soon after the victorious ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His disciples, one of their own...

Featured Term (selected at random):CANONICAL PENANCE The specified penance, corresponding to the nature and gravity of the sin, prescribed by confessors in the sacrament of penance. These penances were listed in penitential books. Celtic in origin, the earliest canonical lists are ascribed to St. Patrick and date from the fifth century. In time the practice spread throughout Europe. The best known penitential book is that ascribed to Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury (602-90). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Columnist Maureen Dowd, in Sunday’s New York Times, has weighed in on the Vatican investigation now taking place into the state of American nuns. The investigation, officially called an apostolic visitation, has been met with a fair bit of skepticism because there is a strong sense, among many sisters, that this is an attempt to put American nuns back where they belong: behind convent walls and dressed in the traditional habit. Since Vatican II, many nuns have opted for less structured lives, taking on a range of secular jobs and living on their own instead of in a community. All...

Bible StudyFolks, more and more many of my correspondents and friends share with me their frustrations with the state of the nation, the world, and the Church. We do live in an age trying to the souls of men; the quest for power is the order of the day, a crass form of Paganism disguised as “spirituality” runs rampant. In the Church, ordained clergymen and religious men and women who should know better are either too shy to confront the spirit of the age or, have completely capitulated to it. Too many from among the laity behave with willful indifference...

In Due Season Today's Scripture "I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit" (Leviticus 26:4, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God has set up seasons in our lives. It's easy to get frustrated when our dreams aren't coming to pass on our timetable, but every season is not harvest season. There are plowing seasons. There are planting seasons. There are watering seasons. Sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase left and right, good breaks here...

What is a Missionary? "Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ " —John 20:21 A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of...

The Experience of ‘The Call’ October 26th, 2009 by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Known for the way he developed the interplay between light and darkness in his paintings, the Italian master Caravaggio has had a lasting impact in the world of art since his troubled life ended nearly 400 years ago.  His distinctive paintings, especially his religious scenes, continue to have an impact even on today’s viewers.For me, his ‘Calling of St. Matthew’ resonates.  Commissioned by Cardinal Matteu Contreil to hang in the French National Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, the scene draws you in as a nearly...

Crusader friar of Habsburg Austria London barrister and historian James Bogle discusses here the life and times of a great Catholic: Blessed Mark of Aviano (Marco d’Aviano in the original Italian), who deserves to be much better known in the English-speaking world.    On 27 April 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Rev Fr Mark of Aviano OFMCap (1631-99). The ceremony occurred without any world-wide protest from Muslims, and certainly nothing of the sort that accompanied the considerably more innocuous recent commentary of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg.Mark of Aviano was a Capuchin friar, born Carlo Domenico, in Aviano in...

The Jewel of Celibacy by Dr. Jeff Mirus, October 23, 2009 Phil Lawler is undoubtedly correct that the rule of celibacy will not be relaxed for Catholics of the Roman Rite when married Anglican priests begin to appear under a new Catholic ordinariate. He may also be correct that Eastern Rite churches will gradually permit more of their married clergy to serve in the West as we become accustomed to married clergy through a growing familiarity with our Anglo-Catholic brethren. (See The Anglicans and the Eastern Churches.) But the official policies of the Roman Rite and the Eastern Rite churches...

 Does the Church teach two Gospels?  Daniel Gregg Also posted at Torahtimes.org          When the preacher says Christ died for our sin, what does it make you think?  Does it make you think that he paid the penalty for sin so that the repentant might be forgiven?   Or does it make you think one only needs to believe to be perfectly righteous in God's sight, and then one is saved on the basis of God's vision of righteousness?     Believe it or not, the Church teaches two gospels.  One is a gospel of repentance and pardon, by which a man may be...

Economics for Catholics… Exposing the Dangerous Premises of Economic Liberals Brian McCall REMNANT COLUMNIST, Oklahoma (Posted 10/19/09 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The central assumption underlying all of Liberal Economic Thought (in contrast to Catholic Economic Thought) is greed. Now Economic Liberals (“E Libs”) do not always use that word; they may call it “profit motive” or “self-interest” or “wealth maximization,” but all of these terms boil down to the same thing.  More clever E Libs will mask this principle by saying that it is only valid within the economic “framework.” Once wealth is generated morality may have something to say about what...

  Unam Sanctam is the sort of document that gives our Protestant brothers and sisters a real jolt, primarily because it looks at first blush as though it teaches that Catholics cannot have Protestant brothers and sisters. Written by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, this papal bull concludes with a shocking dogmatic definition:   We declare, say, define and pronounce, that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.   The average modern reader concludes that these words mean: "We know exactly where the Church both is and is...

Submitting to God’s Purpose "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" —1 Corinthians 9:22 A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, "If only I were somewhere else!" All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 12.   “ Life Everlasting” Table of Contents     The closing article of the Apostles’ Creed is also the opening door to our spiritual life. In fact, in one sense everlasting life is the spiritual life. As understood in the Sacred Scriptures, eternal life begins at baptism (Romans 6:4). It is a new life, initiated by union with the death of Christ, which is symbolized and effected by baptism (Romans 6:4). It is death according to the flesh (Romans 8:12), but it is a resurrection from the life of sin (Romans 6:13). It is therefore a life...

"Why do we have to go to Mass?" is one of the most frequently asked questions that students address to their religion teachers, and recently I received an email from a former student asking for an article that he could share with his friends that answers that very question. There is obviously a scriptural basis for going to Mass, but there is also a basis in human reason. The human person is the subject of a host of duties. It is the virtue of justice that dictates how he ought to respond to those duties. Firstly, he has a duty...

Reality tells us there are only two religions in the world. There is the religion of human achievement, the religion of works, the religion of the flesh, the religion that says you can be good enough, holy enough, religious enough, spiritual enough. And there is the one other option, the religion of divine accomplishment, the religion of faith, grace, mercy and not of the flesh but of the Spirit and they do not mix. The scribes and the Pharisees were the architects of and the purveyors of and the exemplars of a religion of human achievement. Their salvation and acceptance...

Priesthood Sunday - October 25, 2009 Priesthood Sunday, is a special day to honor Priesthood in the United States. It is a call for parishioners to honor Christ as Priest and the men who were called to be his priests on earth. It is also a day to honor all religious and to focus on the importance of vocations. Catholic Scout Packs, Troops and Venture Crews are encouraged to make a special effort to involve the youth in programs of making appreciation cards to be presented after Mass on the last Sunday in October or at an event planned in...

[T]radition and [t]radition By Dr. Jeff Mirus | October 23, 2009 11:18 AM Yes, I know you’re tired of hearing about it, but one of our most faithful supporters, and a man whose opinion I deeply respect, has posted two highly critical comments in Sound Off in response to my In Depth Analysis from September 23rd, On Waffling, Tradition, and the Magisterium. Both posts challenge not just this particular article but more generally the manner in which I have always portrayed the conflict between Traditionalists and the Church.The posted criticisms assert three points: First, that my use of the term...

"Why would we ever align ourselves with the constant drone of demeaning rhetoric coming from talk radio and television? We are not called to castigate sinners, we are called to be Jesus in their midst. The world around us hears our murmuring concerning the economy and liberal politicians and Hollywood activists, but do they hear that we stand by grace alone and that before Christ entered our lives we were every bit a sinner as were they? We sit high and aloof in the official press box and observe and critique the lost culture, basking in our situation as if...

Featured Term (selected at random):NEPOTISM Preferment in ecclesiastical practice based on blood or family relationship rather than merit. Applied especially to the conferral of Church offices. Historically nepotism plagued the Church for centuries, was practiced by some of the popes, many bishops, and was one of the factors that led to the legislation of celibacy in the Western Church and to the Protestant Reformation. The most important legislation against nepotism was the bull Romanum decet Pontificem in 1692, of Pope Innocent XII. (Etym. Latin nepos, nephew.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, ©...

PAPHOS, Cyprus, OCT. 23, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has progressed in its reflection on the role of the bishop of Rome. The commission issued a joint communiqué reporting on its progress at the end of its 11th plenary session, ended today in Paphos. The document in question is titled "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium." The document is based on a draft prepared by an Orthodox-Catholic committee, which met in Crete last year. At present, the...

The Proper Perspective "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . ." —2 Corinthians 2:14 The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching...

It was three years ago when Uma Krishnan says she first dreamed of the Virgin Mary. It was January 2006 and she was living in Singapore with her husband, Kumar, and her son, Karthi. In her dream she saw a “very humble lady” surrounded by candles. She and Kumar were devout Hindus and they knew the lady in Uma’s dreams was not a Hindu god. They knew little of Christianity, but they thought this lady might be the Blessed Mother. Still, because they came from a long tradition of Hinduism in India, they didn’t give the dream much thought. Later...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 11.   “ The Resurrection of the Body” Table of Contents     We not only believe that the human soul is immortal, but that the human body is destined to rise immortal from the grave. Unlike our souls, which as spiritual substances are naturally immortal, our bodies are mortal by nature. They were not created subject to death, according to God’s original plan for mankind. But the sin of our first parents deprived them and their descendants of the gift of bodily immortality. All of us must die because we are all sinners.One of the great benefits...

The generations following the sin of Adam and Eve proceeded upon a path of moral degeneration. Cain, in a jealous rage, impulsively killed his brother Abel. In the next generation, Tuvel-Kain perfected the crime of Cain through manufacturing weapons. Then, Lemach boasted to his wives of committing pre-meditative murder. Idolatry flourished during the time of Enosh. Organized crime was established by a group of hoodlums called "The sons of El-ohim." Sexual perversion was rampant in Noah's generation. Torah (Biblical) tradition teaches that there are three cardinal sins that a person should choose death rather than be forced to commit. They...