Category: Catholicism

Feasting On Fridays

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AssumptionToday is Friday, but there’ll be no fasting today because today is the Feast Day! Today we celebrate the Assumption/Dormition of the Blessed Virgin. In case you were wondering, yes, it’s a Holy Day of Obligation/Opportunity.

To prepare for Mass today, I’d invite you read yesterday’s post from Joe Heschmeyer over at Shameless Popery. Joe includes the text of a homily by St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker from the mid-200s..

“When I remember the disobedience of Eve, I weep. But when I view the fruit of Mary, I am again renewed”

“… For from Mary, the divine fountain of the ineffable Godhead, gushes forth grace and free gift of the Holy Spirit. From a single Holy Virgin the Pearl of much price proceeded, in order to make alive once more the first-created man that was dead through sin…”

“Holy and wise in all things was the all-blessed Virgin; in all ways peerless among all nations, and unrivaled among women”

If you’d like to read more, thanks to Joe the entire homily is available here…

When the odds aren’t in your favour…

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MaxToday is Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of my all-time favourite Saints, as well as one of the requested members of my welcoming party.

If you’ve never heard of St. Maximilian, he was a priest and martyr during World War II. I’d invite you to click on my link and read the short summary I wrote of his life several years ago.

St. Max was one of the first Saints I really investigated. I was kinda blown-away. I think you’ll find the story of his martyrdom, in particular, incredibly moving and Christ-like.

If that post piques your interest, I’d suggest you check out Fr. Robert Barron’s more extensive article which he recently posted over at his website, Word On Fire…

Quick Apology: Is Mary “Mother of God”?

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Objection

In today’s post I’d like to offer a quick apology to the following objection:

“Mary is the mother of Jesus, she’s not the ‘Mother of God'”

The idea being expressed here was championed by Nestorius in the 5th Century and condemned at the Council of Ephesus (AD 431). Unfortunately, this is a sentiment often expressed by many Protestants when they hear Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians refer to Mary as “Mother of God”.

Response

In responding to this objection, I simply put forward a few logical statements:

1. Jesus is God

2. Mary gave birth to Jesus

3. Therefore, Mary is the mother of God

I then ask the person with whom I am speaking to identify the perceived error. Does he deny that Jesus is God? Does he deny that Mary gave birth to Jesus? If Jesus is God and Mary gave birth to Him, doesn’t “Mother of God” seems to be an appropriately descriptive title?

To put it in terms of Scripture, in Luke’s Gospel, St. Elizabeth says to Mary “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43). Is Elizabeth’s “Lord” God? Yes or No? If her “Lord” is God then Mary is “the mother of [her] Lord[/God]”.

One might also consider the Deuteronomic command to “Honour your father and mother” (Deuteronomy 5:16). As we all know, Jesus fulfilled the Law perfectly. So, in fulfilling this command, whom did He honour?

Contrary to what is often proposed, Mary being “Mother of God” does not make her greater than Jesus. It simply establishes her relationship with her Son and Saviour and, like the pronouncements of the Council of Ephesus, safeguards the Church’s teaching concerning the divinity of Christ.

Mother of God

Quick Apologies

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I’ve recently had a couple of people tell me that they like my blog because my posts are…short. Well, I guess there are worse compliments you could get! Seriously though, one of the reasons that people seem to come back to my blog is that my articles are rarely very long and therefore easily readable during a short coffee break.

In light of this, I’m going to start doing something new. I’m now going to try and post a “Quick Apology” most weeks. These will be articles on apologetics, but they will be short and snappy. The goal is to help readers better defend their faith by consuming bite-sized posts.

I’ve often found that when I’ve been called to give an account for my faith (1 Peter 3:15), I am rarely granted much time to give a response. There isn’t time to offer a thorough explanation or refutation. Instead, I have to give an “elevator pitch”, a short 30 second response. That is how these posts will be structured. I will present an objection to the Catholic Faith and then give an extremely short response designed to answer the objection and open up the conversation to further dialogue.

In my next post I’ll respond to the objection given by some to calling Mary “Mother of God”…

“But that’s not in the Bible!”

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As a Catholic, I often hear  from Protestants the exclamation of “But that’s not in the Bible!” during our discussion of Catholic doctrine and practice. Now, while I think that Catholicism can be more than adequately defended from the Bible, during these conversations I always feel that it’s necessary to point out some general issues with this objection. In today’s post I would like to outline the three main problems that can be highlighted…

Bible

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