November 2007 Archives

To continue to savor the feast of Christ the King we celebrated last Sunday and to help us anticipate His birth during Advent, I wanted to post a short reflection on Jesus our Lord and savior based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 410-411):

If God is good, then sin is evil. More accurately, if God is infinitely good then every sin, no matter how small, is infinitely evil. Thus, the emergence of sin in man's reality created an infinite gap between humanity and God. As finite beings there was nothing we could or can do within our own power to bridge this chasm. So only God Himself could repair the damaged relationship and restore things to how He meant them to be in the first place. In a nutshell, this is why God had to take on human nature to save humanity.

I’m so thankful to have a God that loves us so much. This Advent let’s focus on growing in that love and living in a way that is pleasing to God. The more we do this, the better Advent we will have. The better the Advent, the better and more meaningful Christmas we will have also.

In Christ,
Daniel

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith often creates much controversy as it keeps the faith pure with definitions of doctrine, and with its past association with the Inquisition. Before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger headed this office with tremendous responsibility, and kept an intense prayer life in order to not fall into the danger of becoming a bureaucrat who mechanically signed decrees without thinking of the humanity of the persons involved.

There are many misunderstandings surrounding the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Originally called the "Holy Office", it was in charge of the Universal Inquisition, which tried to protect the faith from heresy spreading from Germany and Switzerland in the sixteenth century. Contrary to popular thought, the Holy Office was more just, more moderate, and more prudent than myth would have it. According to the book The Ratzinger Report, it is precisely secular historical research that proves this. There must also be a distinction between the "Spanish Inquisition" and the "Roman and Universal Inquisition". Though the Spanish Inquisition sometimes protected the faith against heresy, it was also often used as a political tool of the Spanish monarchy against Rome's wishes. By contrast, the Roman and Universal Inquisition was never influenced by secular powers.

Unfortunately, the clarification of doctrine is not very appreciated in the Church today. Many don't understand that truth is the fundamental life-element for man which must be protected from all distortions. Many fall into the trap of thinking 'all that really matters is how I treat my neighbor'. However, they don't realize that correct behavior presupposes correct thinking, thus necessitating a search for orthodoxy. Consequently, the Church sees this search and defense of orthodoxy as a social work for the benefit of all believers, no matter how scandalous some may think it is to define truth.

Let us keep the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith, Cardinal William Levada in our prayers as he continues the wonderful job done by Cardinal Ratzinger.

God bless,
Daniel

Thank you for stopping by and reading this blog from time to time. We really appreciate it.

And we want to thank God for everything in our lives: our families, our freedoms, and the friends we make. We consider all of you our friends and hope you do the same.

God bless,
Jay

I just watched an interesting show that is being shown on the National Religious Broadcast (NRB) network – for me that’s channel 378 on DirecTV. The show was actually created by a protestant pastor who felt his congregation was too anti-Catholic, so he filmed a conversation about Catholicism with a Catholic priest.

Pastor Andrews of Kensington Community Church basically explores the common misconceptions of Catholicism by asking questions of Father Riccardo who explains the Catholic position. They go through most of the big, obvious issues between Catholicism and protestantism and Father Riccardo does an excellent job of explaining what Catholics believe and why.

I really enjoyed it. It was great to see this honest dialogue where no one was angry or offended; it was a simple explanation of the differences and similarities (“Common Ground”) between the two Christians. And I was thrilled to see an honest, clear explanation of the Catholic position – I almost expected errors and misconceptions, but I didn’t notice a single one.

They also get into other subjects. For example, one of the more fascinating points that Father Riccardo makes is about reverence and fear of God. He tells the story of a nuclear physicist who became a priest. The main explained that nuclear reactor has a powerful core, which contains the nuclear reaction. This core is surrounded by clear blue water, which is then contained by thick glass. The priest pointed out that while looking at reactor, you realize that if the glass breaks you would be dead in less than an instant. And then he explained that we should remember this every time we walk by the tabernacle (which contains the Eucharist – Jesus Christ body, blood, soul, and divinity).

And at the end, they go into the Holy Spirit's power and it is a fascinating discussion. Father Riccardo points out that this is one thing Catholics could learn from protestants: how to understand the actual power and reality of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

If you get a chance, be sure to catch this – it’s also been on Trinity Broadcast Network and FaithTV. I believe they will probably run it again, because it seems to get good reviews on both sides of the issue. You can also purchase it at ProtestantCatholic.com. From the press it’s getting, I’d bet that it will show up again.

God bless,
Jay

Is the Catholic Church the Church founded by Christ in Matthew 16:18? This former protestant explains why it must be so - and why he converted to the Catholic Church. It's worth viewing:

God bless,
Jay

In an interesting move, Russell Crowe plans to be baptized along with his second son. The article isn't clear on Crowe's faith, but it does quote Crowe as saying, "If I believe it is important to baptize my kids, why not me?"

Pretty interesting. As you know, baptism actually has power and can change your life. So we're praying that Russell Crowe becomes a Saint.

God bless,
Jay

Go see another great Catholic Carnival here. The Carnival is a collection of interesting posts from Catholic blogs all over. It's worth checking out.

God bless,
Jay

Pat Robertson has made a shocking choice in my mind: he has given his support to pro-abortion candidate Rudy Guiliani. This amazes me because I can't figure out how a preacher like Robertson chooses politics over his faith in such a dramatic fashion. There are several candidates that fit a Christian message much more than Rudy Guiliani who also has issues with divorce, etc.

What is Pat thinking? Any ideas? I can't believe he would mislead people to believe it's okay to support a candidate that doesn't fit in with their faith. And this is a good example of him choosing his politics over the social choices of a candidate. Pathetic - and it should be a good reason to stop supporting Pat Robertson and his ministry.

VOTE PRO-LIFE.

God bless,
Jay