Jesus, like all Jewish firstborn sons, was consecrated to the Lord. Mary and Joseph took the child to the temple in Jerusalem at the time he was to be circumcised and offered the sacrifice of two pigeons, the offering of a poor couple who could not afford a more expensive animal sacrifice. Only Mary and Joseph, and possibly Simeon and Anna would have known that the ultimate and final sacrifice, the true Lamb of God, was being presented in the temple. And only they would have known that here was the true temple – the Body of Christ (cf. John 2:19-22 ).

The Ark of the Covenant, which used to be housed in the Jerusalem Temple, had been missing since Jeremiah hid it from invading marauders in 586 BC. Yet, the true Ark, the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary, was now entering the temple with her divine Son. She brought the Light of the World into the world. Saint Alphonsus of Liguori, in The Glories of Mary, says, “Saint Simeon received a promise from God that he should not die until he had seen the Messiah born…but he did not receive this grace except by means of Mary, for he did not see the Savior until he saw him in the arms of Mary. Hence, whoever wishes to find Jesus, will not find him except through Mary.”

One, as those who study demonology know, those possessed by malevolent spirits often exhibit enormous physical strength, disproportionate to their natural capacities. In this case, check.
Also, the fact that Jesus sent the demons into the pigs, who rushed headlong over the cliffs into the sea (what a hogwash!), is an objective physical manifestation that cannot be explained away by an interior, subjective mental state.

The freed man is so grateful to the Lord that he desires with all his heart to join the Apostolic band – the hierarchy of the nascent Church, if you will. But Jesus says no. That’s not his vocation, as it were. Jesus wants him to engage in a personal apostolate, telling everyone he meets about what Christ has done for him.

We are all called to the same mission. Our baptism demands that we seek two things: holiness and apostolate. If we don’t have that fiery passion to tell others about Christ, we may be in danger of falling into lukewarmness and eventually spiritual death.

Break those fetters, your own chains of fear that prevent you from speaking to your friends about the Lord. As Saint Paul says in another place, “the word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9).

Pope Benedict recently appointed, among others, Archbishops Thomas Collins of Toronto and Timothy Dolan of New York City as cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. They will be officially made cardinals in February. Tell me, what exactly is a cardinal?

A cardinal is a very important cleric in the Church, and is usually an ordained bishop, although at times priests can be included among their ranks. There have even been occasions in the past when non-ordained men have been cardinals, although this was relatively rare. In fact, that hasn’t happened since the end of the 19th century, and won’t going forward. Current Church law limits membership in the College of Cardinals to those who have received orders. In some cases, cardinals who had been serving as bishops or archbishops are assigned to be heads of important Church departments (called “offices” or “congregations”). One example of this was Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI. Before he was elected pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was in charge of The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). This is the office of the Church that is tasked with making sure the Catholic faith is taught correctly, in all its purity, throughout the world.

Speaking of electing popes, by far the most important task of the College of Cardinals is to do just that. After the death or resignation of a pope, the cardinals are tasked with electing a new Supreme Pontiff from among their ranks. All cardinals 80 years of age and under are eligible to vote in a private meeting known as a “conclave” to select a new Holy Father.

I have heard that there can be “secret cardinals” named by the pope. Is that true?

Yes, that is a real practice. They are known as cardinals in pectore (Latin for “in the heart”). The pope may appoint a bishop as a cardinal, but not make this information public. His identity is kept secret in order to protect him and/or his flock from harm that would occur if word got out. If the situation changes and it is deemed safe to do so, the identity of the cardinal may be subsequently revealed. Pope John Paul II named four secret cardinals, one of whom is still unknown.

Why do cardinals wear scarlet?

The members of the College of Cardinals wear scarlet, a shade of red, to signify their willingness to shed their blood – to die, if necessary, to preserve the Catholic faith. Interestingly, the famous red bird known as the cardinal got its name from the red clothing of the cardinals of the Church – not the other way around.

How should I address someone like Archbishop Dolan or Archbishop Collins after he is made a cardinal?

One should address him as Your Eminence. When speaking about him in the third person, one may refer to him as His Eminence. You will also notice that when cardinals are referred to in written form, it often takes the form of “(first name) Cardinal (surname)”. For example, in the case of Archbishop Collins, he will sign his name on official documents as “Thomas Cardinal Collins”.

Archbishop Collins, who hails from Guelph, Ontario, was ordained a priest in 1973, and previously served as the Bishop of St. Paul, Alberta, and also as Archbishop of Edmonton. He was named the 10th Archbishop of Toronto in 2006.

On a personal note, I’m absolutely overjoyed for His Grace. He’s a dynamic preacher and teacher, well-known for his Lectio Divina scripture lessons here in Toronto at St. Michael’s Cathedral. For a taste of that teaching, check out the clip below. It’s uncanny how his charism of spiritual fatherhood comes across – one feels as if he is in the presence of the head of a household, imparting precious life lessons to his children. Archbishop Collins also gave invaluable support to me in giving his endorsement to The New Mass app, which I created for the new English translation of the Mass. I’ll be forever grateful for his blessing on the project.

Check out our inaugural podcast for The Faith Explained below. Andy Walker and I discuss the new Mass translation and The New Mass app for iOS and Android, explaining the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and the phenomenon that is Tim Tebow!

John’s gospel portrays Jesus as King of the Universe, and his throne is a cross. From the cross, King Jesus reigns, and he teaches. In fact, looking upon a crucifix can be a catechism unto itself. Catholics are often asked by other Christians, “Why do you always insist on placing the crucified Christ before our eyes? Don’t you know that he is risen?” Well, of course we do. The reason we place crucifixes in churches is very simple: when we behold the Lord upon the cross, we are contemplating the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. The lessons Jesus would teach from the wood of the cross were prefigured in many ways by those he proclaimed from the wood of the manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus “began to do and to teach”, even before he uttered intelligible words. He began teaching from the very moment of his conception in the womb of his Immaculate mother. When Mary, carrying our Lord in utero, approached her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptizer, John leapt in the womb. The lesson was clear: being near Jesus always brings joy. And in Bethlehem, on the night of his birth, he taught us even more.

Jesus teaches us humility: the God-Man chose not to be born in a palace, but in abject poverty. No place for them in the inn, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a type of cave, where animals were kept. Ironically, the name Bethlehem literally means, “the house of bread”. The bread of life, Jesus, who would later give us his flesh and blood to consume in the Eucharist, had for his first crib a manger, a wooden feeding trough.

He teaches us detachment. It is not worldly goods that will bring us lasting happiness; it is being with Christ, even in the poverty of that first Christmas. He also teaches us not to seek the praise of men, but only the applause of heaven. The shepherds, not the elite of Jerusalem society, found Christ in the manger, even though they were considered little more than scum in the eyes of their fellow Israelites.

The infant Jesus also teaches us not to attempt to impose our opinion on others. In his second coming, no one will be able to deny the reality of Jesus as God. But at Christmas, as a helpless infant, Jesus chose to be vulnerable, able to be rejected – and he was. The reason Mary had to give birth in that cave-stable was that door after door had been shut in Joseph’s face as he sought a place for the Holy Family to stay. Those people had no room in their lives for Jesus, or the lessons he teaches. May that never be said of us.

When the archangel Gabriel greets Mary, it marks the only recorded incident in scripture that an angel greets someone by their title, not their name. “Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). This, of course, is the first line of the “Hail Mary”, with the second line, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”, from Luke 1:42. So much for the ridiculous argument that the prayer is “unbiblical”.

But what of those dogmas? Speaking of the phrase, “Full of Grace”, in the original Greek of Luke’s Gospel, it is an interesting term: “kecharitomene”. It means, literally, “one who has been made full of God’s grace” (biblical translations that render this term “highly favored one”, or something to that effect, don’t cut it) . It’s a past perfect, meaning that, at some point in the past, Mary was made perfectly full of God’s grace. This condition extends out into the future, into eternity. This is exactly what the Immaculate Conception is all about  - that, from the first moment of her existence, Mary was preserved free from all stain of original sin. If one is perfectly full of the grace of God, there is no room for sin.

With respect to the perpetual virginity, Gabriel explains to Mary that she will bear the Messiah, and at this point he has said nothing about Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit. Yet, Mary says, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34). A very strange question for a young woman to ask, who, as we have already been told, was engaged to be married. Unless, that is, she had already intended to remain a virgin, consecrating herself wholly to God.