Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Catholic Church

All of the posts under the "Catholic Church" category.

A Small Catechism For Catholics a Must Have

I recently received a copy of “A Small Catechism For Catholics” originally written by St. Peter Canisius and translated from the original Latin by Ryan Grant. This is published by Mediatrix Press.

Small Catechism for Catholics

This is an absolutely fascinating translation of a fascinating Catechism. This Catechism is written with precision and clarity. In a question and answer format, it allows for simple questions to be answered quickly and concisely, and encourages memorization of its passages. It is a must have for every single Catholic. At 65 pages in length, it is a very quick read of no longer than an hour. It has not been tainted with modernism, thus we know it holds true to the teachings of the Church. St. Peter Canisius is also a Doctor of the Church.

I would suggest you purchase it. You can do so through Amazon. It appears the new version of the book includes a special Foreword by Fr. Chad Ripperger.

To demonstrate how this book is aligned with the traditions and teachings of the Church, I would like to include this excerpt which discusses who are outside of the Church and  who are heretics. (pgs 13-15)

Who are altogether foreign to the Church?

In the first place, Jews and all unbelievers and also apostates from the faith; thereafter heretics, those who, of course, were baptized, but pertinaciously uphold error against the Catholic faith. Besides these, schismatics, those who separate themselves from the peace and Catholic unity itself; and last of all, those who are legitimately excluded from the communion of Saints, from the participation of the Sacraments and the aid of the Church and from divine offices, throughout Ecclesiastical power, wherefore they are called “the excommunicated”.
All those who are separated and foreign to the body of Christ, which is the Church, and hence remain outside of the spiritual life and salvation, unless they should recover their senses, are guilty and merit eternal death, that is Satan. Moreover, while all these are to be avoided by Catholics, more particularly, heretics and schismatic should be detested and avoided no less than some deadly plague.

At length, what might be a simple, short and upright rule of faith, by which Catholics are distinguished from heretics?

It is this, they confess the faith of Christ and the full authority of the Church; and it behooves them to hold that as certain and fixed, which the Shepherds and Teachers of the Catholic Church have defined must be believed. The others, who do not listen to the Church, should be to you, as Christ himself said “As a heathen and a tax-collector.” (Matthew 18:17) Indeed he who refuses to have the Church as a mother, will not have God as Father.

Yes, this is 100% accurate and Catholic. If you’re Catechism doesn’t include this, it does not cut it.

Jeff December 10, 2014 Leave A Comment Permalink

You Can’t Always Be Joyful

This is a follow-up to the Fallacy of Always Being Joyful. If you haven’t read it yet, I invite you to do so.

After spending much time in prayer and contemplation, I realized that there is, unfortunately, far more things to point out in regards to this fallacy of a Catholic always needing “joy” in order to be Catholic. Hopefully, this will be the last post, but, if the hierarchy continues to expound upon this fallacy, I will have to write more.

The idea that sorrow is somehow unholy, non-Catholic, and even bad is unheard of when you look at all of Christendom. There is no guarantee that once you become Catholic and are practicing the faith (though, if you aren’t practicing the faith then you aren’t Catholic) that you will become so full of joy as the world understands it.

Really, we are all dying, we are all sinners and are all deserving of eternal damnation. That isn’t a very joyous outlook on life is it? But, alas, it is true. It isn’t grim, it isn’t negative, but it is truth. Jesus warns us numerous times throughout the Gospel that the path to Heaven is narrow and few will enter, yet, the attitude of the day is that, if you are a Catholic, you will get an automatic pass, and this is from Church officials (though, if you aren’t Catholic that’s fine too!)

The sense of joy that we Catholics do receive, is that we recognize that we are at least on the right path and are following God as best as we are discerning. This isn’t a guarantee of salvation, but we at least recognize that in following God and His Church, we are at least on the right path, even if we are failing along the way. Ultimately though, when we have properly discerned what God is asking of us, we will experience the true sense of joy, that we as creations of God, are following what the Creator has Willed for us.

What interests me, is that the church (small c) has bought into the lie that the culture has been peddling that we have to be happy, in fact, we can’t be sad at all. If we are sad, then there is something wrong. We must be depressed, and there is a pill to cure that. No longer are we required to do penance, because its painful, inconvenient, and annoying. After all, if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it, right?

There used to be for the first 1900 years of Catholicism, a sense that sorrow was good, especially when that sorrow was for atonement for our past sins. We should be sorrowful for the times that we have spat in the face of God, turned our back on Him, and gone about seeking our own pleasures. We do it quite often, more than we even consciously realize.

After all, the Church used to be so praiseworthy of sorrow, that even Our Mother Mary has a title of Our Lady of Sorrows!

Don't Cry Mary, You Should Be Joyful!

Don’t Cry Mary, You Should Be Joyful!

Every single Saint was sorrowful at some point in his or her life. To assume otherwise is naive. Look at St. Augustine in his Confessions. Many times he mentions that the thought of some of the sins of his life bring tears to his eyes. It would be wrong to assume that these are tears of joy, as to be joyful for ones sins would warrant unholiness as the sinner would be proud of his sin. This doesn’t work as we must be repentant of our sin from the time we have committed it, until the time that we are no longer on this Earth. This is why the argument “even though I’m sad that I did x, I’m glad I did it because otherwise I wouldn’t be where I’m at today” is a argument rooted in error. Be sorrowful for the action, and be sorrowful that you didn’t follow the Will of God to get to the point you are at today. God never Wills sin, but allows it in his permissive will.

Even Jesus Christ Himself was sorrowful. Let us not forget the 2nd set of mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the Sorrowful mysteries. This includes the mysteries of Jesus Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His flogging at the Pillar, the crowning of thorns, the carrying of the cross and alas, the moment of His Crucifixion and Death. If you forgot what this looked like, let alone what it might have felt like, here is a helpful reminder.

Jesus Crucified

This is not a joyful moment. This is a sorrowful moment. There is a time for joy, and a time for sorrow. Accept that joy and sorrow go hand in hand. After all, how can you appreciate the joyful moments if you have no sorrowful ones? How can you appreciate happiness, if you’ve never once gone through sadness?

 

Jeff March 26, 2014 2 Comments Permalink

True Charity

You are having an intense discussion with your friend. It is a great day outside and after having been stuck inside because of the brutal winter, you are enjoying the scenery. Suddenly, your friend catches you off guard and says “isn’t it amazing how the Sun revolves around the Earth?” You nod your head in agreement.

Except, you wouldn’t as you know that the Earth revolves around the Sun. You know this, because this has been proven, and this is truth. It would be uncharitable to let your friend continue on thinking that the Sun revolves around the Earth. It would be border-line cruel as you are withholding information from them. On top of that, they are your friend, and friends do not let each other err, at least good friends don’t.

earth revolves

Similarly, if your friend was pushing hard that you are incorrect in your math, and is arguing that 2+3 = 23 because you combine the numbers together, again, you would say “aha! That is your opinion and you are entitled to it!”. Except, you wouldn’t, unless you were a terrible and awful friend (maybe you are, I don’t know).

Yet, here are two perfect examples in which you would tell me that it would be wrong and uncharitable not to tell your friend the truth and inform them of their short-comings in math and science. Of course, you would then explain why they are incorrect in their assessments and help them to see the error of their ways.

Why is it then, that when it comes to our Catholic faith, we (read: some, not all) have no qualms or reservations in encouraging our friends to remain where they are in their non-Catholic faiths, and just agree that their opinion is equal to ours?

If Jesus Christ is the Truth as He so rightfully states, than whatever He has said or whatever His Church has said, holds True. Sadly, today, many Catholics are cowardly when it comes to defending the faith when the time arises. Excuses are made such as “Well, they are following Jesus, so we have common ground”.

Jesus The Truth

No! Following Christ is more than just “following” Him loosely and focusing our lives on Him and Him alone! Following Christ is also obeying the Commandments that He has given us, one of those Commandments is to follow His Church. A true Christian would join the true Church that Christ established here on Earth.

Some would argue with me that that is only a Catholic teaching and that there are multiple claimants. Unfortunately, the Encyclopedia Brittanica disagrees with them and they are not a Catholic source, but a secular one.

I am grateful to my friend Stephen for introducing me to the Catholic faith. He had the courage to tell me that Jesus Christ started the Roman Catholic Church and that it was my duty to become Catholic. He didn’t start by saying it exactly like that, but he started slow and worked on me on a regular basis, eventually leading to my conversion.

True charity lies within the truth, whatever that truth may be and especially when the Truth is that of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior and His Beloved Bride the Catholic Church. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his Encyclical Caritas In Veritate:

To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

It is inexcusable for us to be so adamant about defending (lower-case t) truths and yet when it comes to the Truth (capital T) we just forego it as if it is just an opinion. This can not stand, nor will it stand as it will be held against us when we stand before Christ as our Judge when we have perished from this world. His final command to us was to go and make disciples of all nations.

True love and true charity require us to share our faith with those around us, through the way we live our lives, through our teachings and through our traditions. This includes the way we worship in the Liturgy of the Mass.

Our worship at Mass should be solemn, sincere and serious. It is not a time for entertainment, but a time for enrichment. It is our spiritual buffet in which we gather the nourishment required for the salvation of our soul. If good food helps our bodies stay healthy and bad food slowly kills us, the same can be said about the Liturgy. If good Liturgy helps our souls stay healthy and strong through God’s abundant grace, than bad Liturgy can rob our souls of the grace needed to ward off the evil one.

Jeff February 25, 2014 1 Comment Permalink

Who Started Your Church?

It’s an important question to ask, because it is a matter of who you are going to follow. It’s a matter of teaching and tradition. It’s a matter of following Jesus Christ the way that He intended you to.

More than likely, if you are a non-Catholic, you will be able to tell who started your Church. For example, Martin Luther is the head and founder of Lutheranism. Its generally a big part of your faith and your history. This is because its relatively new. But, I ask you, what Church did Jesus Christ Himself found?

Before I answer the question, I want to discuss the importance of following Jesus Christ. I say this because Jesus is the Son of God, Our Lord and Savior. He says many times in the scriptures that we must follow Him. I’ll let Him speak for Himself.

I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes through the Father except through me. John 14:6

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. Matthew 28-19-20

These are all big events and sayings of Jesus. Jesus is the only way to God the Father. We must go through Him. He founded His Church on St. Peter. Jesus founded a Church, thus we should become members of that Church. Jesus commands us to follow what He has given us and to make everyone a disciple (which implies also joining that Church that he started). It is fairly obvious, that Jesus wants us to join the Church that He created and follow Him, making disciples of everyone. This is why we can’t have 300,000 different denominations claiming to be the “one”. There is only One Bride of Christ.

The Catholic Church is the only Church that can point back to Jesus Christ. The Papacy can be traced back from Pope Francis through St. Peter, the first Pope. This isn’t only a Catholic point of view, but a historical one as well.

It is a critical question to ask yourself, why you are a part of the Church you are part of. It should be because Jesus Christ founded it, and as a disciple of His, you are following Him and His Church. If its because you prefer the preaching or the worship or some other personal reason, then you are being selfish and are not following God. We are to conform ourselves to God, not be satisfied with our state of sin.

Now, you must ask yourself the question: Are you going to follow the Church that Jesus Christ started, or are you going to follow the Church that some guy branched off into?

Buy this as a poster or t-shirt at www.catholictothemax.com

Buy this as a poster or t-shirt at www.catholictothemax.com

This isn’t judgmental. This is about salvation. It would be selfish of me not to share this with you.

Questions? Feel free to comment or email me.

Jeff February 18, 2014 Leave A Comment Permalink

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