On Sola Scriptura

I've posted a short analysis on the Protestant Doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Check the document links to the right.

For those who are not aware, sola scriptura refers to the belief that scripture alone is the sole source of truth and that no institution has been established by Christ with the authority to interpret scripture and thereby teach on matters of faith and morals based on that intepretation. In short, sola scriptura says that the only authoritiative place to learn about God is from the Bible.

The paper examines the veracity of sola sciptura by examining three key questions;

1. Is sola scriptura scriptural?
2. Does sola scriptura make sense logically?
3. Is the doctine consistent with the nature of God to the extent he has revealed his nature to us?

I hope Catholics, Protestants and those with no faith find this paper to be educational and throught provoking. I pray to our Blessed Mother that Catholics find this paper useful in refuting heresies which are designed to pull them out of the one, holy, universal and apostolic Catholic Church.

-Tim-

bringyou.to: "Evangelical Catholic Apologetics"

I just stumbled upon bringyou.to, entitled "Evangelical Catholic Apologetics" by Phil Porvaznik

This site is a jewel with tons of apologitic material and a very well organized collection of links to .mp3 files, mostly from EWTN and Catholic.com.


-Tim-

The Way Number 94

"He has become so small - you see: an infant! - so that you can come close to him with confidence."

- St. Josemaria Escriva

Is Jesus' Cross Too Hard to Bear?

Do you think you have it hard? Is Jesus' cross too hard to bear?

"...Arian ordered all her hair pulled from her head. Her fingers were chopped off. Authorities placed her into a boiling water cauldron. She suffered no harm from this boiling liquid. Authorities nailed us both to a wall, where we torturously endured nine days. Arian finally had us crucified, she facing me, I facing her. We consoled one another. It took nine days for us to die, 286 A.D., at Antinoe, 23 Nov."

Written in the first person, this recounting of the story of St. Timothy and his wife Maura bears witness to the incredible price early Christians paid - a downpayment really, for our ability to be part of Christ's Church today.

Read more about St. Timoth and St. Maura at catholic.org and at icon.lt.

In light of their sacrifice, I'm ashamed at how I resist Jesus' call due to my own selfishness. And I'm amazed at how blessed I am because of their faith.

Examples of holiness. This is why Catholics have saints.

-Tim-

Review: In the School of the Holy Spirit

In the School of the Holy Spirit is only 90 pages, small pages at that, but don't let its size fool you. This is a powerful work on a subject that (for me at least) is easily overlooked.

The author asserts that holiness in our lives is the work of the Holy Spirit and "The task is boyond our power". This might seem obvious to a good Catholic, any Christian infact, but Jacques Philippe goes further, asking two questions of vital importance; how can we foster inspirations (of the Holy Spirit) and how we can know for sure that the inspiration comes from God (and not from our own mind or from the devil)?

Several methods are given for fostering divine inspirations, including obedience to small movements of the Spirit as a means to greater and more numerous inspirations.

"'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy." (Mt 21:25 NAB)

Knowing that an inspiration comes from God is something that I struggle with and the author's wisdom in this regard makes the book well worth the $9.95 cover price.

"We should not... take it as a systematic rule for discerning God's will the principal that in any given situation, what he asks of us will always be what is most difficult."

The author addresses these questions while recognizing our own individuality and hence, God's way of working with us on a very personal level. The book does not present a formula, but rather a set of guidelines we can use in our daily lives to help us help the Holy Spirit affect our call to holiness.

Summary: The Holy Spirit is our means to holiness. Fostering the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and the ability to discern God's call is the subject of In the School of the Holy Spirit by Jacques Philippe. Short, cheap, to the point and well written.

Recommendation: Highly recommended!

-Tim-

Pennance Services...

This past Wednesday, December 9, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Kennesaw Georgia hosted a pennance service.

This service is not to be confused with the sometimes controversial communal pennance service where atendees recieve absolution all at once. On this evening, twenty Priests from all around the Archdioses heard confession the old fashioned way, one-on-one, and over 1000 people took advantage of their presence for forgiveness and healing.

One woman gave her confession after fifty five years away from the Church. That is powerful testimony to how the Holy Spirit is working in our parish.

And the Spirit is alive in the rest of the Archdioces of Atlanta as well. There have been pennance services all around Atlanta this past week with similar numbers in attendance. More are scheduled this week and a few are listed below. Your best bet to find a service near you is to search Google.

Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Wednesday, Dec 16 at 7:00 PM
4465 Northside Drive NW
Atlanta, GA 30327
(404) 252-4513

St. Theresa Catholic Church
Wednesday, Dec 16 at 7:00 PM
4401 Prestley Mill Road
Douglasville, GA 30135
(770) 489-7115

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
Saturday, Dec 19 at 3:00 PM
25 Boulevard NE, Atlanta, GA 30312
(404) 522-6776


-Tim-

Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec 8

Luke 1:26-33 recounts the story of the annunciation and at first glance, it seems like good news for Mary. Seriously, who wouldn't want to be told that they are favored by God and that their son would be a king?

"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there will be no end."

But then, in verse 35, Mary get's the punchline...

"The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."

It is the classic, "I have good news and I have bad news" scenario. The good news is that your son will be king, ordained by God himself, and you will be queen-mother. The bad news is that everyone will think that you cheated on your future husband and for a young woman in ancient Isreal, this was about as bad as it gets.

Although Mary answered God's call, I really don't think she could have fully understood the call at that time. Let's face it, Gabriel left out a few details like the fact that her although her son would be king, it would not be in the military sense and that he would die on a cross like a common criminal.

Yet she did answer God's call...

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

A little later in the chapter, Mary makes the following prediction...

"Behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed."

At Mass on Monday night, Fr. John Matejek of St. Catherine of Siena Church pointed out that her prediction has come true. The faithful of the Catholic Church have venerated Mary for just shy of two millenia. Father then provokes us, asking if we can make the same prediction for ourselves.

Our call may not come to us by way of an angel like Mary, or a blinding flash of light like Saul, or the threat of death like the early Christians. Our call will come nonetheless - and it will come repeatedly. At some point in our life, Jesus will say, "Follow me."

The call may be a driver with her flashers on, broken down and stuck in the middle of rush hour traffic. The call may be eye contact with an elderly lady with a frustrated look on her face, lost in the airport. The call may be someone who is treating someone else like garbage. The call may be a subtle as the alarm clock's ring and the struggle just to get out of bed to go to work.... or to Church.

It's hard to resist the urge to just keep driving instead of pulling over to help push some stranger's minivan off the road. It's hard, at the end of a long business trip, to offer your arm to an elderly lady, to walk slowly with her through the airport, to listen to her complain and to walk away - too late to get home to see your kids before they go to bed - without so much as a thank you for your trouble. It's hard to resist calling someone a jerk, no matter how much they deserve it, and to calmly rebuke them in a loving way. Sometimes for me, just getting out of bed is hard, let alone driving the kids to school before sunrise, going to work and calling the customer.

And it is hard to say to a good friend, "No... I'm sorry... You are wrong... There is only one true Church, which has faithfully guarded the teachings of Jesus Christ and held to His sacraments for twenty centuries."

This is what Catholics call "Suffering for Christ". And it is hard to do. What Mary did must have been hard to do. And this is why we celebrate her.

Father John tells us that just like Mary, countless generations of faithful who answered their own quiet call are blessed, even though they did not fully understand the meaning of the call at the time or what their answer might acomplish for future generations,.

Then, as he is fond of doing, Father points his finger right at us, and challenges, "Will future generations call you blessed?"

-Tim-

"Let us call to mind our sins..."

I have been participating in a men's ministry at a local Baptist church here in Georgia for a while.

I still occasionally go but please don't hate me for it. My attendance is mostly for the camraderie - some of the guys have become good friends, sharing intimate secrets and just generally suppporting each other in ways that only men can support one another. Given some of my previous posts, I don't think I will be going much longer.

Last night I did go but skipped "Large group" teaching (obviously Protestant in belief and Baptist in practical application) and found a quiet place to read and pray for an hour instead. The men in "Small group" had been studying a particular book and this week's chapter was on the subject of confession.

It was interesting to see the protestant men struggle with the concept. Their discussion touched on subjects such as the difficulty of finding a suitable confessor (although they didn't use that term), how to make sure you were being honest and what practical effect confession had on the person making the confession - things like "Getting it off your chest", "Building trust with your wife" and "Being honest with God."

When it came time to speak, I shared some of the things which good Catholics do habitually, quite naturally in fact, as well as some of the recommendations of the Church - examination of concience, frequency of confession, a simple statement of our sins and not assigning blame or justifying our behavior (like Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3:8).

The reaction was quite interesting when I shared my own habits. That I spend time in quiet prayer, examining my concience and asking God to reveal my sins to me, and especially that I go to confession a minimum of every two weeks seemed to quiet the group.

I couldn't speak to the practical effect of a non-catholic's confession but I did state the practical effect of my confession - Christ, working vicariously through the priest, forgives my sins - and noted that confession is not under the heading of "Forgiveness" but under the heading of "Healing" in the documents (Catechism) of my church. Again, I felt sorry for the protestants as they struggled with the idea and I sensed a bit of envy. The book they were studying must have resonated with my friends and I think my testimony struck a nerve with at least one man.

Catholic Mass is participatory - we don't just sit there and listen - we have a role to play. The deacon or priest extends the invitiation to participate at the beginning of every Mass. "...let us call to mind our sins..." And the very first thing every Catholic says at the beginning of every mass is,

"I confess..."

Leaving my friends with "Examination of concience" as a new phrase in their vocabulary and encouraging them to confess regularly, I could not help but feel a mixture of joy and sorrow. Last night God showed me one of the ways which Christ has provided for all of our needs within his Kingdom here on earth, the Catholic Church. I am so grateful that God has placed me there. I felt sory for my friends though, who never hear Jesus' sweet words of healing spoken through the Priest...

"I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Amen.

-Tim-