Today is the 750th anniversary of the finding of theincorrupt tongue of St. Anthony of Padua! Throughout the life of the Churchthere have been many incorruptibles (I.e.- those saints whose bodies or partsof their bodies did not decay after death). Most of the incorrupt saints arecompletely incorrupt where their whole body has not decayed. In a few othersaints, only certain parts of the bodies have not decayed. Such as St. CharlesBorromeo has an incorrupt heart. St. Anthony has, of all things, an incorrupttongue.

Why just the tongue? Most know St. Anthony as being thepatron of lost things. However, St. Anthony was one of the greatest saintsever. Some of St. Anthony titles are: Wonder Worker, Hammer of Heretics, and Doctorof the Gospel. One of his titles is merely, St. Anthony the Preacher. Hispreaching was known to be so eloquent, yet so simple, that many converted afterhearing him preach. One time, when no one would listen to St. Anthony, he wentto a river bank. All of the sudden the fish of the river raised their heads outof the water until St. Anthony was done preaching. After he finished the fishre-submerged, the people saw this and converted. Thirty some years of after St.Anthony died his tomb was opened. His whole body had decayed, except histongue! St. Bonaventure took his tongue, kissed it, and proclaimed-"OBlessed tongue that always praised the Lord, and made others bless Him, now itis evident what great merit thou hast before God."

St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us!

  St. Anthony's incorrupt tongue (close up)

Was it necessary for Christ to undergo the Passion?

The simple answer is yes it was necessary. Not from necessity which is involuntary (as in necessity in nature or in some sort of compulsion). But, it was necessary in so far as God wanted us to be reconciled to Him, and there was no better way to do that than by His passion, death, and resurrection.

We also have the words of Holy Scripture while Christ was on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:26 He told His disciples- “Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer, thus to enter into His glory?”

We need to remember what it means when Christ “needed” to suffer. He suffered as a lover needs to suffer for the beloved. By His crucifixion He set us free by His justice and His mercy. His justice in so far as God became man,and as a man paid the debt of Adam. But, He acted in an even greater way in His mercy because man could not fully satisfy the sin of Adam as a mere man since in original sin man injured God. It was in a perfect act of love that the Father sent the Son so mankind could fully be restored to friendship with Him and satisfaction for our sins could be made.

But was the way of the cross the only way? Stay tuned!

Happy Easter, and God bless!

Christ is risen, Alleluia! We have celebrated the GREATEST feast of the Church, and recalled the most wonderful three days of history. I am sad Lent is over because it is such a spiritually beneficial season (there is nothing better for the soul than prayer, fasting, and almsgiving!).

But, in this time of Easter we can continue our spiritual progress! The best way to celebrate Easter is NOT by eating a ton of candy, or indulging in all of those things that we gave up for Lent! (Even though it is good to celebrate). The best way to celebrate Easter is by living as a resurrected person! We have been cleansed of our sins by the blood of the cross, and we are participants in Christ's victory over sin and death! So let us not submit ourselves to the yoke of slavery! Let us continue to persevere in prayer, and keep fighting the good fight!

In order to help do that, I thought it would be helpful to go through a number of questions regarding the passion/death/resurrection. The more we know about God, the more we can love Him. So, in the next few weeks (I am glad Easter is a 50 day season), I will look at what St. Thomas Aquinas says on the passion, death, and resurrection. I will go article by article and add my own commentary/notes.

So, first up will be: Whether it was necessary for Christ to suffer for the deliverance of the human race?

Hope you enjoy the series! Happy Easter, and God bless!

The news of the day is the Affordable Healthcare Ruling in the supreme court. I am not Constitutional scholar, so I will most likely bow out of any commentary in that regard. However, I do consider myself a student of religious liberty. Thus, I will be spending these last few evenings in the Fortnight for Freedom giving some general reflections on religious liberty in America. I at times will bring up current events and apply the principles of religious liberty to them. I also will not be looking at religious liberty per se, nor will I be looking at religious liberty's issues around the world. I will attempt to keep my remarks focused on religious libery in America. (I would also like to note that this is not a scholary or exhaustive piece, but merely an opportunity to step back and look at some key elements of religious liberty in America.)

With that said, I would like to take a brief look at the history of England to more fully understand the state of religious freedom in America (until 1826).

The seeds of the Catholic faith were planted in England as early as the 1st or 2nd Century.  In 597, St.Augustine of Cantebury was sent to evangelize England by St. Gregory the Great. It was then the seeds of the Catholic faith began to take root. Many religious orders were established, and care of the poor, sick, widowed, orphans and the like was in their hands.

There was a dynamic shift that occured in 1534. King Henry VIII broke off of the Holy Roman Church, and declared himself supreme head of the Church in England. In 1536 the See of Rome Act was passed by parliament which mandated that all looking to receive Holy Orders needed to renounce the jurisdiction of Rome. If you refused to take the oath it was considered high treason, and was punishable by death.

For a brief time from 1553-1558 the Catholic Queen Mary was on the throne, and she reestablished relations with Rome. However, Elizabeth I reversed that and turned up the persecutions on Catholics. For example, priests caught celebrating Mass were hung, drawn, and quartered. Elizabeth never had an heir, and thus her families reign came to an end.

In 1607, England became to colonize America. In 1629, King Charles I permitted George Calvert to establish the colony of Maryland. George Calvert was named the first Lord of Baltimore. In 1649, the 2nd Lord Baltimore established the first ever law regarding religious liberty. This law was called the Maryland Toleration Act. This act established that "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof."  This Act was upheld until the Protestant Revolt of 1689 when the Puritans (many from Virgiina) over threw the Catholic leaders, and William Claiborne rescinded the Maryland Toleration Act. This was replaced by an Act of 1704 which outlawed Catholicism, and made impossible for Catholics to hold any kind of elected office. 

Freedom of relgion would not be free again until 1776.

My God, my Saviour, I adore Thy Sacred Heart, for that heart is the seat and source of all Thy tenderest human affections for us sinners. It is the instrument and organ of Thy love. It did beat for us. It yearned over us. It ached for us, and for our salvation. It was on fire through zeal, that the glory of God might be manifested in and by us. It is the channel through which has come to us all Thy overflowing human affection, all Thy Divine Charity towards us. All Thy incomprehensible compassion for us, as God and Man, as our Creator and our Redeemer and Judge, has come to us, and comes, in one inseparably mingled stream, through that Sacred Heart. O most Sacred symbol and Sacrament of Love, divine and human, in its fulness, Thou didst save me by Thy divine strength, and Thy human affection, and then at length by that wonder-working blood, wherewith Thou didst overflow.

O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and Thou beatest for us still. Now as then Thou savest, Desiderio desideravi—"With desire I have desired." I worship Thee then with all my best love and awe, with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, most resolved will. O my God, when Thou dost condescend to suffer me to receive Thee, to eat and drink Thee, and Thou for a while takest up Thy abode within me, O make my heart beat with Thy Heart. Purify it of all that is earthly, all that is proud and sensual, all that is hard and cruel, of all perversity, of all disorder, of all deadness. So fill it with Thee, that neither the events of the day nor the circumstances of the time may have power to ruffle it, but that in Thy love and Thy fear it may have peace.

The question we are dealing with today, is how do we makeour desires “good”. Many times we think we want things, like I said, that wethink will make us happy but really leave us empty. Why is this? It is becausewhat we want really isn’t good. It may be something or something that we thinkif we have it will finally make us happy. But it doesn’t? Why is that? It isbecause happiness is something worldly. If happiness were something of theworld, it would make sense that material things would satisfy those desires. Buthappiness is something eternal, something divine.

So why will pursuing goodness lead to happiness here onearth, and for eternity? How can we know what goodness is in our crazy world? Iwill answer the second question first. How can we know what good is? Let’sexplain what good means by using an example. Let’s compare a good toaster witha bad toaster. So, what are the qualities of a good toaster? (Yes, the thingyou put bread in, nothing too theological here.) A good toaster will: make toast,pop down/up when it is supposed to, not start fires, etc… A bad toaster on thecontrary will: burn toast, not toast the bread enough so it is too light, itmay start fires, etc... One can see from this example that being good meansfulfilling ones purpose. So the difficulty will be figuring out what purpose isreal and what ones are false.

God is so awesome he teaches us this principle even from thebeginning of the Bible. The word good is used only three verses into the firstchapter of Genesis. God just created light, and what does he tell us about hiscreation immediately- that it is good. “God said, “Let there be light”; andthere was light. And God saw that the light was good.” Gen 1:3 Why was thelight good? Because it was doing what it should do. That is what he says aboutall his creation, that it is good. (This is totally random, but I will write afuture post about the creation account and how there was light before there wasthe sun!)

What then is the purpose of man? Thanks to the good oldBaltimore Catechism, we have a readily accessible answer. The purpose of man is“to know, love, and serve God in this life and be happy with him forever in thenext.” Why is our purpose to know, love, and serve God? It is because man has arational soul, and because of that he is the only creature that can know andlove. Knowing comes from the intellectual part of the soul, and loving comesfrom the willing part of the soul. No other animal can know or love. Because wecan know and we can love, we are also the only material creature that can serveout of the pure goodness of our hearts. There is no material necessity ofserving, but rather because of our knowledge and love of God, it leads us toserve.

Getting back to thefirst question, why would pursing goodness lead to happiness here on earth? Rememberingthat fulfilling purpose leads to happiness, it would follow that doing actionscontrary to this purpose then will lead to a lack of happiness. If we don’t knowour purpose, and say we replace knowing, loving, and serving God to makingmoney, having sex, and doing drugs it is evident why we would be unhappy. We mustdo everything for the glory of God. When we are able to refocus our actions sothat they are now a means of glorifying God, we will experience true freedomand happiness because we are living out our purpose.

So, remember! Our purpose is to know, love, and serve God!It is not what the world thinks! It is not seeking pleasure, material goods, knowledge,power, glory, honor, or fame. GOD ALONE SUFFICES! Trust in Him, and you willtruly be happy.

There is a word that I have come to abhor. It is a hideous word from the mouth of modernity. It used to be a word that was never uttered, and now we find it everywhere. I am talking about the F word: Fun.

I cannot tell you the number of things that people try to justify as good on the grounds of fun. This, many times, is the main goal of people, especially the youth.

We will start by defining our terms. We will look at two definitions of theword fun. One is actual roots of the word in terms of where the word came from.But just as importantly we will look at how the word is actually used today.

So first, the word fun originated around 1680 AD. The word literally meant diversion, amusement, cheat, or hoax. It actually came into common use for aterm regarding counterfeit money, or "funny" money. So from the beginning, the word did not have a savory purpose. Amusement is a word that literally means distract or divert.

So how is the word actually used today? Fun today isn't so much about counterfeit money, but rather it really is about diversion. Another word that comes to mindis pleasure. People like doing things because it makes them feel good. That actually becomes the whole basis of action, whether something "feels good" or is fun. This mentality is so destructive. If we only do things when they are full of pleasure, our life will be very miserable. We can see this in our youth today. Many times they choose to do something or not do something according to whether the action will bring them any sort of pleasure.

So how do we shift mentalities, and what do we change to?

First, we need to shift our motivation from seeking fun/pleasure for its own sake to seeking what is good. Now don't get me wrong, when we do something good pleasure many times will accompany that action. But many times, good things are not necessarily an experience of bodily pleasure. Now too, I am not going to make a list of "good things" but I am going to look at  what it mean to be "good" and why seeking what is good will truly make us happy. 

Stay tuned for the next post about what it means to be "good".

Honestly, I never quite understood the Ascension. Christ died, and rose. Why did he need to leave again? Why was this a Holy Day of Obligation? That is where I left it. I never thought to think that there was a reason for the Ascension!

So I thought i would look into it. What I found was amazing. I found that the Ascension was actually His promise to us of our future glory.

I will now share with you the original texts which I have come across regarding the Ascension. The holy saints that have preceded me can say it much better than I ever could.

We will start with an excerpt from St. Augustine's Sermon on the Ascension-

"Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.

Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food.

Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him? While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body.

Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head."

Next I looked to St. Thomas Aquinas. His view of the Ascension was also very interesting. I am just going to look at the Summa, Tertia Pars, Q. 57 Art. 6.

Aquinas says that Christ's Ascension is the cause for our ascension. "Christ’s Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united." He tells us that, "by the Ascension our souls are uplifted to Him" and "His Ascension fosters, first, faith; secondly, hope; thirdly, charity."He also says that " First, He prepared the way for our ascent into heaven, according to His own saying (John 14:2): “I go to prepare a place for you,” and the words of Micheas (2:13), “He shall go up that shall open the way before them.” For since He is our Head the members must follow whither the Head has gone: hence He said (John 14:3): “That where I am, you also may be.” In sign whereof He took to heaven the souls of the saints delivered from hell, according to Psalm 67:19 (Cf. Ephesians 4:8): “Ascending on high, He led captivity captive,” because He took with Him to heaven those who had been held captives by the devil — to heaven, as to a place strange to human nature. captives in deed of a happy taking, since they were acquired by His victory." By doing all of this He  now intercedes for us in Heaven!

Lastly, I turned to Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. In his book the Life of Christ :

"Had Christ remained on earth, sight would have taken the place of faith. In heaven, there will be no faith because His followers will see; there will be no hope, because they will possess; but there will be love for love endureth forever! His leave-taking of the earth combined the Cross and the Crown that governed the smallest detail of His life. The Ascension took place on Mount Olivet at the base of which is Bethany. He led His Apostles out through Bethany, which meant passing through Gethsemane and the very spot where He wept over Jerusalem! Not as from a throne, but from a mountain elevated above the garden with the twisted olive trees crimsoned with His Blood, did He give the final manifestation of His Divine power. His heart was not embittered by His Cross, for the Ascension was the fruit of His Crucifixion. As He said, it was fitting that He suffer in order to enter into His glory.

In the Ascension, the Savior did not lay aside the garment of flesh with which He had been clothed; for His human nature would be the pattern of the future glory of other human natures, which would become incorporated to Him through a sharing of His life. Intrinsic and deep was the relation between His Incarnation and His Ascension. The Incarnation or the assuming of a human nature made it possible for Him to suffer and redeem. The Ascension exulted into glory that same human nature that was humbled to the death.

A Coronation upon the earth, instead of an Ascension into heaven, would have confined men’s thoughts of Him to the earth. But the Ascension would cause men’s minds and hearts to ascend above the earth."

Lastly, what are some customs for the Ascension. The place I looked to for this was Fish Eaters. Here is one of the things they mentioned!

"As to customs, it is traditional to eat some sort of bird on this day, in honor of Christ Who "flew" to Heaven. If you live in a hilly or mountainous area, climbing the hills in commemoration of Jesus and the Apostles' climbing the Mt. of Olives, whence Jesus ascended to Heaven, is customary. Putting the two together, a picnic that includes some sort of bird and eaten on a hill or mountain would be a perfect way to spend the day."

May Our Ascended Lord truly keep our hearts in Heaven with Him!

PS- I promise to post more often, and try to keep them on the shorter side!!!

Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night,* he came toward them, walking on the sea.When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.At once [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I;* do not be afraid.”Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how [strong] the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith,* why did you doubt?” ~ Matthew 14:24-31

So, the question is are we going to sink or swim walk on water? I guess swimming wasn't one of the options for Peter. Either we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, or we sink into sin. There is no middle ground. We can't tread water in our faith. We can't mingle sin/grace. They exclude each other. Either we love God, or we deny him. Have faith in Him! He will provide for your every need!

St. Peter, Pray for us! 

So, I teach religious education on Wednesday nights for ninth graders. This last Wednesday we were talking about what Easter was about. A girl asked, "Why is it called Easter? Why not just call it Resurrection day?" I sort of answered her question, but I thought I would do a little more research into the roots of the term Easter.

I was surprised to find out that the explanation I gave to the girl in religious education was pretty insufficient.

I found out that Easter was actually named after a German goddess! So, who was this goddess and why did the Christianity adopt this for its greatest feast?

I would like to answer the second question first. (If you aren't interested in the theology behind choices like this, and just want to know where the name Easter comes from, use your scroll button and head down the page a bit!) Many people think that because Christianity has adopted certain pagan traditions, Christianity is therefore not an inspired religion but rather made up. This gets to the core of what it means to CATHOLICIZE!

I would like to make the case that any religion, if it be true religion, needs to have the ability to change in a way that does not alter the fundamental principles of the faith. In Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine, he outlines what is necessary for a development to be a true development as opposed to a corruption.

He compares assimilation in religion to assimilation in the physical universe. "Whatever has life is characterized by growth, so that in no respect to grow is to cease to live. It grows by taking into its own substance external materials." Only living beings can take something external and internalize. This power is called the unitive power. Just as the body takes food and assimilates into the body, so true religion takes on elements external to it and assimilates them into the religion.

He continues to say that, "The stronger and more living is an idea, the more able is it to dispense with safeguards, and trust to itself against the danger of corruption." In other words, Christianity is so sure of it's truth that adopting certain elements, even if they are pagan, do not in any way disturb the confidence in the faith.

So, to say that because Easter was named after a German goddess, or that wedding rings and Christmas trees were pagan, somehow that voids the truths and principles of the Catholic faith is simply not true. Some think that since the liturgical calendar has some relations with pagan holidays that is also a sign that the religion Jesus started was corrupted.

The contrary is actually so. Because Catholicism was not a local religion, but universal, She was able to go to all corners of the world and live among cultures (and not destroy them). The Church did not abolish cultures, but was able to be with them, and even more incorporate some of the customs into the faith. This is what it means to CATHOLICIZE!!!

*If you dispute anything I said, feel you have something to add, or want to improve upon this idea- comment away!

So on to the German goddess! So, the name Easter is potentially related to Estre the German goddess of the rising light and spring time. It is also  the Old German word for spring: ôstra. Both words are nearly the same, so it could be either. Easter is merely the common name given to the feast of Christ's resurrection. The name the Church uses is the Pascha, or Passover. Christ is the new Lamb of the Passover. We celebrate the pascha crucififxionis and the pascha resurrectionis, or the passover of the crucifixion and the passover of the resurrection. So is Easter named after a German goddess? Maybe. Maybe not. In the Church we celebrate Christ as the new Passover! In a figurative way I have also heard that Easter has to do with the "rising sun" or the Rising Son! Christ will come again from the East, just as the Sun rises in the East! I think it is a cool little explanation, even if it isn't etymologically correct! haha.

Happy 8th day of Easter! Sorry if this post was confusing! I promise my next post will be lighter! Until next time, God bless!