Archive for year: 2009

One of the aspects lacking in my (Protestant) seminary training, before my reversion to Catholicism occurred, was a proper exposure to Patristics (the Fathers of the Church). I can only recall one course where the professor would even make mention of any of the early Fathers (it was a history of Christianity course where it really couldn’t be avoided).

When one dives (or even wades) into the writings of the early Fathers, it becomes blatantly obvious how Catholic they really were – clearly explaining many doctrines which the Church still teaches today, but which Protestants often reject. The reason why these doctrines are often rejected by Protestants is a claim that “the early Christians never believed these ‘Catholic’ teachings – they are later accretions to the Gospel which were ‘invented’ by the Church of Rome” – a claim which becomes spurious when faced with actual evidence – evidence that the successors of the Apostles themselves believed these things. They were taught these things by the Apostles, who were in turn taught them by Christ.

One such piece of evidence comes from the writings of Clement of Rome, third in the line of succession as the Bishop of Rome from Peter. And this quote from our third Pope is on just that, Apostolic Succession. This is a doctrine that is denied not only in theory but also in practice by the majority of today’s Protestants – mostly because their practice of Protestantism depends on doing just that.

“Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned, and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry.”

– St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians, 44:1-2, c. AD 80

With yesterday being the feast of Saint Monica, and today being that of Saint Augustine, her son, there’s no better occasion to remember that no one, no matter how grievous a sinner or how far one has strayed from the Church, is beyond redemption. Case in point: Augustine. His younger years were spent in the type of dissolution Saint Paul condemns in today’s first reading:

1 Thes 4:1-8

Brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God–
and as you are conducting yourselves–
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

This is the will of God, your holiness:
that you refrain from immorality,
that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself
in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion
as do the Gentiles who do not know God;
not to take advantage of or exploit a brother or sister in this matter,
for the Lord is an avenger in all these things,
as we told you before and solemnly affirmed.
For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.
Therefore, whoever disregards this,
disregards not a human being but God,
who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

By the time Augustine was in his 20s, he had left the Church, fathered a child out of wedlock, and joined a cult (the Manichees)! His mother, Monica, like so many mothers of wayward children today, despaired of her son’s salvation. But, her pastor, Ambrose (who also became a saint!), gave her some sage advice: “Spend more time talking to God about Augustine than you do talking to Augustine about God”.

Monica’s prayers were answered in time. Not only did Augustine return to the Faith, but her unbelieving husband became a Catholic as well. Augustine had to take classes from Ambrose in order to reenter the Church (the equivalent, of sorts, of an RCIA class today). During this time, he took on another mistress! Augustine famously prayed at this time, “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet!”.

But, eventually, Augustine realized the incredible dangers of sexual sin, as the first reading strikingly reminds us. And he also realized that only God could satisfy his need for love. To this end he wrote a far more famous prayer, perhaps the greatest line ever written outside of Sacred Scripture: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You”.

If Augustine could become a saint, so can I. And, so can you: “This is the will of God, your holiness”.

It’s nice that Martha can enjoy her own feast day today for a change! Seriously, though, Martha is known for busying herself with (necessary) chores surrounding a visit of Jesus to her home for a feast, while her sister Mary didn’t appear to be too helpful, content to simply sit at the Lord’s feet, and soak up his wisdom:

Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me”. But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:39-42).

This account reminds us that the Lord doesn’t so much want “yours” as much as he wants you.

But, having said that, we must strive to fuse the very best of what Martha and Mary show us: service and prayer. If we can unite the work ethic in serving Christ of Martha, with the deep contemplative life of Mary, we have a recipe for a unity of life that will unite us with Christ in whatever we do, wherever we are. Thus, we will make all of life worship, and a sweet-smelling sacrifice for Jesus, just as the perfume Mary lavished on his feet (John 12:3).

(My guest editorial from this month’s Catholic Insight.)

Holy Week offers an annual barrage of media questioning the authenticity of the last week of Jesus’ life: his death, burial, and Resurrection. Bizzare, outlandish theories on what happened to Jesus are front page news – evidence is optional.

Countering that trend is Jesus, the Final Days (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), by noted Evangelical scholar Craig A. Evans, the Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, and N.T. Wright, the Anglican bishop of Durham, England. Titans of scholarship, they debunk the unvarnished schlock that often passes for historical Jesus research.

With sober eyes on actual historical evidence, these men make their case about what really happened to Jesus of Nazareth. Chapter one, “The Shout of Death”, by Evans, presents the evidence for Jesus’ death by crucifixion. This has become necessary in today’s climate, due to the denials of sensationalist controversialists. Case in point: a recent book states that Jesus faked his own death (with Pilate’s help!), subsequently fleeing to Egypt. As Evans notes, “…the utter silliness of this scenario escapes many in today’s reading public” (p.3).

Jesus’ death is well-affirmed by the New Testament, but also by historians of the age: Josephus, Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, and Mara bar Serapion all report it. Evans makes a persuasive case for the historicity of aspects of the Passion Narrative that are often questioned by scholars, including the “Passover Pardon” of Barabbas – Jesus Barabbas, according to some ancient manuscripts of Matthew. The irony is not lost – “bar Abba” means “son of the father”. The crowd selects the wrong Jesus, not the true Son of the Father.

After reviewing the meaning of Jesus’ mockery at the hands of the soldiers (mimicking he Roman “triumph” of the Caesars, who were called “divine” and the “son of god”), Evans makes a theological observation on Jesus’ death: “‘Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last’ (Mark 15:37). The act of shouting is itself the death…His death manifests itself as a shout…Jesus’ very death displays his power; the release of his spirit is awesome.” This is why the centurion attending Jesus exclaims, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Mark 15:39) – something he was only supposed to confess of the Roman Emperor (p. 34-35).

Part two, “The Silence of Burial”, also by Evans, authenticates Jesus’ burial. This is necessary due to theories like former Catholic priest John Dominic Crossan’s, who famously claimed that Jesus’ dead body was likely thrown into a shallow common grave, where it was eaten by dogs. While not denying that at times in late antiquity, the Romans would leave bodies on crosses to be mauled by animals and birds of carrion (as a public deterrent to revolt), there is no chance this happened to Jesus, because it was peacetime. For Pilate to have left Jesus’ body hanging on the cross overnight during Passover would have been a fatal mistake, all but guaranteeing a riot by the myriad Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. The Romans never would have risked offending Jewish sensibilities here, which they respected during times of calm. Leaving Jesus’ body on the cross would have defiled the land (see Deut. 21:22-23), making it impossible for Jews to celebrate the feast in an acceptable manner. No, Jesus did receive a proper burial with the help of Joseph of Arimathea, an undoubtedly historical reference (no early Christian would have invented a story of Jesus receiving a proper burial, not from his followers, but from a member of the very council that condemned him).

The final chapter, “The Surprise of Resurrection” by Wright, is a condensed version of his massive tome, The Resurrection of the Son of God. While verifying the bodily nature of Jesus’ Resurrection, Wright corrects many wrong notions of resurrection in general: it most emphatically is not “disembodied bliss” or even “life after death”. It means, in his fine phrase, “life after life after death”. The surprise was that a bodily resurrection occurred within history, whereas most Jews expected no one to be raised from death until the general resurrection at the end of time (cf. Daniel 12:1-3).

This massively learned, although short and readable book, will probably not become a bestseller, although one wishes it were otherwise. The reason is simple: no crackpot conspiracy theories are hidden within. Just the facts.

My article from the February ’09 isssue of Catholic Insight. Enjoy!

One of the greatest evidences for the veracity of the Catholic Church has been her miracles. Fitting, for her founder offered the same credentials for his own life and work:

“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (John 14:11). The sheer concentration of the miraculous in the life of Christ was a “sign” (in fact, John’s Gospel calls Jesus’ miracles just that, “signs”) that God was powerfully moving in and through him – yes, even as him, to advance his saving plan for the world.

This continued, of course, through his followers, who did even “greater things than these” (John 14:12), because, in the apostolic age, Jesus was now performing his mighty works through ordinary humans. Peter’s mere shadow would heal the sick (Acts 5:15). A handkerchief that had touched Paul would do the same, casting out demons, too (Acts 19:11-12).

But miracles like this, which help authenticate the Gospel, are not limited to the time of Christ and the apostles. Every age in the Church has been marked by the miraculous. In the Catholic Church, miracles literally never cease.

This February, we celebrate the feast day of a saint whose life was touched by myriad miracles, all of which give stunning testimony to Catholic truth. Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), only 14, encountered the Blessed Virgin Mary in the grotto of Lourdes in the South of France on February 11, 1858, though at the time, she did not know who it was.

Bernadette was a poor peasant girl, not afforded formal religious education. When, on March 25, “the Lady” (as Bernadette called her) told her in the local dialect, “Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou” (“I am the Immaculate Conception”), her pastor could hardly believe it. Four years earlier, the doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception had been proclaimed by the Vatican. But Bernadette would have had no way of knowing, less understanding, what this meant.

Another impressive confirmation of God’s action at Lourdes was the miraculous stream unearthed by Bernadette at Mary’s behest. These waters have been the source of innumerable healings over the years, inexplicable by natural means.

Unlike some modern “visionaries” and spirituality gurus, she shunned publicity and refused to profit from her experiences (she would never have appeared on Oprah). Her fame was her cross, and her later consecrated life in the convent of Nevers did not spare her this. She often would taste the bitter jealousy of her fellow Sisters of Charity.

Although Bernadette’s Lourdes has been the source of so much healing, the saint’s own life, as is often the case, was marred by sickness and suffering. She died at only 35, but God saved one of his greatest graces for Bernadette until after her death. Her body was found to be incorrupt, and is today the most beautiful of all the incorrupts in the Church’s history.

I have a friend named Brad, a Protestant. For months I tried to explain to him the truth of Catholicism, but no argument moved him. After my wife and I returned from our honeymoon in Rome, we showed Brad and his wife pictures from our travels. I was hoping our visits to the Vatican and the luminous churches of the Eternal City would attract them to the beauty of the Faith. However, I had forgotten that family photos usually only interest one’s family! Predictably, they were bored to tears.

But as I flipped through our slideshow, I noted, “Oh, and here’s the incorrupt body of Pope John XXIII”. “Whoa! Hold on a minute”, he said. “Go back to that slide. What?” Brad was incredulous. My carefully constructed theological arguments never piqued his curiosity, but the miraculous did.

A question for Brad and others like him is this: Why does the Catholic Church alone boast of the continuous presence of miracles in her midst? Why would God preserve so many Catholic saints incorrupt? One simply does not see this in other Christian traditions. The incorrupt bodies of saints like Bernadette, no longer speaking in audible words, give eloquent testimony to the incorruptibility of the Catholic Church herself.