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Five Images of the Holy Spirit from Scripture Msgr. Charles Pope • May 16, 2016 • One of the quirks of the post-conciliar liturgy is that the octave of Pentecost was dropped. Generally, the post-conciliar age has tried to emphasize the gifts and works of the Holy Spirit, so eliminating the octave of Pentecost is quite paradoxical. The Feast of Pentecost ranks right up there with Easter and the Nativity, both of which have an octave, yet the octave of Pentecost fell away. And thus on the Monday after Pentecost we are back to ordinary time and green vestments.However,...

The Catholic church and the various Protestant churches attempt to lure each other into a strange circular argument regarding the doctrinal debate over "Tradition Vs Sola Scriptura" (the bible alone). The Catholic faction gets Protestants arguing against all traditions rather than just the inventions of men; and more specifically, the inventions of the Catholic Church. The argument is really against traditions of men that are not supported by the written word of God.  The Catholics will not regard scripture because they are pushing so hard on the point of traditions that they attempt to prove traditions by traditions, or extrabiblical writings,...

Question: "What is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture? What does it mean that the Bible is sufficient?"Answer: The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith. To say the Scriptures are sufficient means that the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service. It provides a clear demonstration of God’s intention to restore the broken relationship between Himself and humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior through the gift of faith. No other writings are necessary for this good news to be understood, nor...

Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins. - That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. -He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. - Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, ... that...

What the opening of the marble slab of the Edicule revealed On October 20th, 2016, one of the most exciting events in centuries took place: the opening of the marble slab guarding the place tradition claims was the tomb of Jesus, inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.Underneath that slab there was a second slab, also of gray marble, containing a slit along its side and bearing a Lorraine Cross. Most likely, this is from the time of the Crusades, from the beginning of the 12th century.Once the second slab was removed, the surprises began, according to testimonies gathered from different sources....

The instructions laid out two months ago by the general of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal, on “what Jesus really said” regarding marriage and divorce have not fallen on deaf ears.On the contrary, some among the Jesuits have been the first to apply them in full. To conclude that “once a marriage is dead” Jesus too would allow divorce today.The Jesuit who has drawn this conclusion from the premises set up by his superior general is not a nobody. He is Fr. Thomas Reese, former editor of the magazine of the New York Jesuits, “America,” and a...

"THE DEVIL can cite Scripture for his purpose," says the wealthy Antonio to his young friend Bassanio in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."So can the politician, he might have added. And the party activist.Full disclosure: I've never actually read "The Merchant of Venice." Though I'm familiar with the story, I have yet to actually study the text or even view a performance of the play. But that line about the devil citing Scripture suits the point I want to make, so I plucked it out of context to use in this column.When the Trump administration released an outline recently of...

One archeologist was quoted as saying that ISIS's act of “destruction has actually led us to a fantastic find.” A find that shows the Bible to be correct once again. ...snip So here's how it happened. In 2014, ISIS destroyed a site believed by many to be the burial site of Jonah in Mosul because...that's what ISIS does. They destroy. For some reason they went to town on the place, even using dynamite to destroy it. But a few weeks ago, the area was liberated by Iraqi forces from ISIS. But because the site was blown to smithereens, what was...

Who would have thought that just a month into the Trump presidency and the progressive left would be demanding our society ask itself what Jesus would do about foreign refugees? Apparently on some issues, that wall between church and state they’re always harping about is almost as porous as our southern border. But before we get caught up in appropriating Jesus to our side of a political issue, I think it is important to be wary of those who prefer selective application of Biblical principle when it comes to the great moral issues of our day. If God’s word should...

Bible Reading Plans for 2017 from Nathan W. Bingham Dec 28, 2016 Category: Articles Many Christians take the beginning of a new year to evaluate their Bible reading habits, and then change or begin a Bible reading plan.Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105) For your convenience, we’ve compiled a list of Bible reading plans for you to choose from. Maybe in 2017 you will read more of the Bible each day. Perhaps you’ll slow down your reading and instead spend more time considering what you read. Whatever it is you’re looking for...

August 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Italian Bishop Nunzio Galantino, a personal appointee of the pope and a prelate who has been extolled as the “prototypical ‘Pope Francis bishop,’” is coming under criticism after delivering a homily to young people at World Youth Day in which he rewrote the story of God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. While the clear meaning of the text is to emphasize God’s hatred of sin, in the bishop’s telling the message of the story is about Abraham’s willingness to emphasize “positive possibilities” and "signs of hope" despite the “misdeeds” of the people of Sodom. It’s...

Ezekiel had his fantastic vision of fire, wind, and four living creatures. John ate a sweet-and-sour scroll out of the hand of a giant angle. Isaiah had his lips scorched by a burning coal from the heavenly altar. Paul was in a catatonic state for three days. Then there’s the agonized lament of Jeremiah:You seduced me, Lord, and I let myself be seduced; you were too strong for me, and you prevailed. All day long I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage I proclaim; The word of...

With remarkable insouciance, NYT writers Jeremy W. Peters and Lizette Alvarez blithely make reference to “a Bible verse from Romans that calls for the execution of gays,” meaning Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans 1:18-32.As anyone who has ever read the New Testament knows, Saint Paul never permits that Christians should commit any violence whatsoever against homosexuals, but the Times editors apparently thought that fact-checking with the original text was superfluous or that readers were too ignorant to check for themselves.The Times report, titled “After Orlando, a Political Divide on Gay Rights Still Stands,” follows on the fatal shooting of...

This is the last in a series of essays on the duty of Christians in civic affairs, adapted from Kevin Kookogey’s weekly radio address and podcasts at www.advancingchurch.com 8. Which responsibilities of providing help to our citizens are the government's and which belong to the Church? The duty of government is plainly described in our founding documents. The Declaration of Independence establishes the philosophical and moral basis for our system of government, famously asserting that governments are instituted among men to secure their rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. The Constitution then enumerates those powers,...

Is It Ever Right to Bend the Law? Msgr. Charles Pope • May 4, 2016 • Our relationship with God’s law is complex and we don’t often get it right. When it comes to God’s law we cannot forget that it is personal. That is, it is given to us by a loving God who wants to save us. Therefore, it is important to know both the law and the lawgiver, who is God.In the Deuteronomic code, each law is often followed by the phrase “I am the Lord.” It is as if the Lord is saying, “This is...

The president of the evangelical Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Dr. Everett Piper, was adamant about sending children to the right university and academic institution, in his recent interview with The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas. When Thomas asked him what could be done about sending children to liberal institutions, Piper said, "Stop sending your kids to these institutions that teach this pablum." Then, he gives advice on how to distinguish what universities are teaching their students. "Obviously, it can be found out easily by checking the news," he said. But, he added, if you have reservations about the institution, "do two simple...

The Muratorian fragment / The Muratorian canon (click for larger image) I sometimes hear this odd objection that the books that were to be included in the Bible were not decided until the 4th century. I think it comes from some Hollywood movie, or maybe a TV show. Anyway, this post should help fix that myth.I’m going to quote from New Testament expert Dr. Michael J. Kruger from his blog.He writes: One of the key data points in any discussion of canon is something called the Muratorian fragment (also known as the Muratorian canon). This fragment, named after its discoverer...

There is a class that most college students will take at one point in their academic career. It is the course on Western Civilization—“Western Civ” for short. It is a feeble attempt to supplement the modern college curriculum (typically in two freshman-level courses) with what used to be the very backbone of a liberal education. The course revolves around classics of the Western Tradition: Plato’s Republic, Virgil’s Aeneid, Augustine’s Confessions, Descartes’ Meditations, and Locke’s Second Treatise on Government. But one text in particular, I think, has been subject to mistreatment and misuse—the Holy Bible.The problem is simple. One of...

What Is Meant by the "Sacrifice of Praise" in Scripture?" Msgr. Charles Pope January 4, 2016 Please consider the following reflection more of a pastoral meditation than a formal exegesis. I do not seek here to compare every use of the phrase in the Scriptures but rather to ponder how we seem to have lost the connection of personal sacrifice to liturgy and worship. Scripture clearly connects them. Let's look at a few examples from Scripture and then examine how we have strayed from the concept.So Jesus . . . suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people...

People who go to church expect to hear readings from Holy Scripture -- which frequently then become the basis for the sermon. Actually, all of the so-called "proper" elements of an Episcopal or Catholic mass -- the collect, the Old Testament reading, the psalm, the epistle, and the gospel passage are theoretically arranged to show forth or illustrate a unifying theme, which then grounds the homily or sermon that follows. These selections are called the "propers" of the mass because they are chosen for just that particular day of the liturgical year. (The "ordinary" parts of the mass are those...