We, the Church, we are the Body of Christ. We say that all the time, but do we really believe that? If we do, then we need to know two things: (1) that Mary is our Mother, and (2) that our sorrows have meaning, they have a purpose.
Jesus didn’t say, “take up your Cross and throw it away,” but “take up your cross and follow me.” He doesn’t suffer and die so that we don’t have to suffer. He suffered and died so our sufferings have meaning.
It was through wood that we fell, and it is through wood that we have been redeemed. It goes back to Adam and Eve. The Fall of Man happens after the serpent tempts them into eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree. But from the very moment of the Fall, we’re promised that sin and rebellion aren’t the end of the story.
God promises that a Redeemer will come who will crush the serpent, Satan, underfoot. And the passage in Genesis ends with a tantalizing clue: an angel with a fiery sword is sent to guard the Tree of Life, lest man eat of it and live forever. Salvation, eternal life, will come through the tree, but we can’t reach it on our own.
One of the side projects that I work on is a bi-weekly “talk show” on YouTube called The Catholic Five, so named because there are four other people involved: David L. Gray (of DavidLGray.info), Katrina Fernandez (The Crescat at Patheos), Brantly Callaway Millegan (Founder and Editor of Church POP), and Kevin M. Tierney (Associate Editor of Catholic Lane).… Continue reading The Promise and Peril of Online Catholic Dating
“Are you going to Heaven?” “I think so. After all, I’m basically a good person.” Like me, you’ve probably heard versions of this conversation countless times. It relies on a simple but attractive theological premise: since you’re basically a good person, it would be unjust to send you to Hell; therefore, you’ll be in Heaven… Continue reading Will “Basically Good People” Be Saved?
John Calvin taught that concupiscence, our post-Fall inclination towards sin, was itself sinful. He went so far as to say that man was only concupiscence. These views don’t square well with the Incarnation, the idea that Jesus Christ became fully man, but without sinning. Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that Calvin’s views led him to functionally deny Christ’s sinlessness, particularly at the moment when He was at prayer in the Garden. The broader question: was Calvin’s heresy in spite of his Reformed theology, or because of it?
The scroll and seven seals of the Book of Revelation couldn’t be opened without the Lamb standing as though slain, the Eucharistic Christ. Here are seven other mysteries of the faith that we need the Eucharist to unlock: (1) the New Covenant; (2) the Old Covenant; (3) the Mass; (4) Early Christianity; (5) the Church; (6) the lives of the Saints; and (7) your own spiritual life.
“This entire dynamic of goodness, approval, and reception of praise lies at the heart of our relationship with God. For in heaven, […] God showers us with praise. “Well done, my good and faithful servants” (Mt 25:23). “Come, O blessed of my Father” (Mt 25:34). In this heavenly experience, the blessed responds with gratitude. The saved creature graciously receives the divine accolade, expressing thanks. The humility of creature permits thanksgiving, and in giving thanks the creature reaffirms its humility. ” – Guest post by Matthew Rensch.
In Exodus 14:13-14, Moses says to the Israelites, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still.”
It’s a famous rallying cry, popularized on everything from t-shirts to non-denominational blogs as a way of living out “faith alone.” But there’s a problem: Moses’ plan is a bad plan, and God corrects him for it.
This Sunday, you’ll hear the wander Jews in the desert announce their preference for the security of slavery in Egypt over the uncertainty of following Moses (and God) in the Exodus, and you’ll hear the followers of Jesus in John 6 prefer free bread over saving truths. It’s easy to condemn these people, but are we really so different?
One of the biggest news stories this summer has been the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision last month in Obergefell v. Hodges which both declared gay marriage legal, and a constitutional right. Given this, both fans and opponents of the ruling have spoken of it as “legalizing” gay marriage nationwide. But it hasn’t. And it hasn’t, because it can’t, because the Supreme Court doesn’t have the power to do what it claims to have done.
