Author: Joe Heschmeyer

The Hidden Eucharistic Meaning of “Not by Bread Alone”

In Matthew 4:4, Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” What does this have to do with the Eucharist?

You may be inclined to say “NOTHING, He’s talking about reading the Bible,” or even “IT DISPROVES THE EUCHARIST, because it shows He uses eating imagery when He just means belief or Bible reading.” But those answers are Biblically ignorant, since they’re ignoring the context of Jesus’ Old Testament quotation. It turns out, there’s a Eucharistic dimension to His Scriptural quotations here that almost everyone misses.

A Simple Case for the Visibility of Christ’s Church

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with a gazillion Bible verses on particular topics, and the sheer volume can make it hard to remember any of them in the moment. To (hopefully) remedy that, here’s a “basic case for the visiblity of the Church,” meaning that it intentionally relies upon only a handful of (easy-to-remember) Biblical passages.

Preparing for Battle: 7 Tips From St. Paul on Evangelization

In the face of seemingly endless scandals in the Catholic Church, a lot of non-Catholics are asking some variation of “why are you still Catholic?” to their Catholic friends and loved ones. Behind this question is often pain, anger, or sheer incredulity, but the silver lining is that they are asking about why we’re still Catholic, which creates an opening for evangelization. But now what?

As Catholics, we know we’re called to evangelize the world, but anyone’s who ever attempted evangelization (or apologetics) knows that it’s hard to do it well. As with any craft, one of the best ways to learn is to pay attention to the people who do it well, so it makes sense that we should look to the life and example of St. Paul. He is arguably the greatest Christian evangelist who ever lived, apart from Christ Himself. So how do we ensure that we’re properly “armed” for any sort of question, discussion, or argument about the faith?

What are the “7 Sorrows of Mary”?

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows, one of the strangest titles for the Virgin Mary. Why do we call her that? Because of her “Seven Sorrows.” And what are those? Seven moments in which she was invited to share in her Son’s suffering. Even Protestants who don’t normally have any sort of devotion to Mary should be able to appreciate the Scriptural foundation of this devotion. The Seven Sorrows are…

Why You Can’t Have St. Augustine Without Relics

Joan Gascó, Discovery of the Body of St. Stephen (16th c.).

Catholics and Protestants alike revere St. Augustine of Hippo, whose feast day is today. But did you know that Augustine (like his mentor, St. Ambrose) claims to have been an eyewitness to several miracles wrought by the relics of the martyrs? Here’s why you can’t have Augustine without believing in relics.

It’s Time for the Laity to Step Up

Jan Brueghel the Younger, The Bad Shepherd (1616)

The French writer Léon Bloy (1846-1917) seems to be a particular favorite of Pope Francis: he quoted Bloy in both his first homily as pope and his recent apostolic exhortation, for example. As a writer, Bloy had few rivals, and he wasn’t afraid to set his sights on what he saw as the bad bishops… Continue reading It’s Time for the Laity to Step Up

Don’t Half-@$$ Christianity

Enguerrand de Monstrelet, The Battle of Agincourt (1495)

Modern moralism preaches that, if you want to go to Heaven, it’s important to try to be basically a good person. Jesus Christ preaches something altogether different. Here’s why halfhearted Christianity is worse than paganism, and what you can do about it.