Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Miracle

All of the posts under the "Miracle" category.

Another Priest Denies The Miracle of the Multiplication of Fish and Loaves

I assume that you have all heard the story of Jesus multiplying the Fish and the Loaves of bread. It is recounted in all four Gospels. As you know, Jesus was teaching 4000-5000 men in the hillside and they were hungry. The disciples said that they did not have enough food to feed them all. Jesus told the disciples to grab what food they had, He said the prayer, blessing the food and had the disciples distribute the food that they had. When they were finished, the several loaves and few fish, had fed not only all the men present, but they had enough left overs to fill a few baskets full.

Taken from www.latinmassmadison.org

Jesus Multiplies the Fish and the Loaves Taken from www.latinmassmadison.org

It’s a pretty easy thing to believe, if you believe that Jesus Christ is truly God. If you do not believe that Jesus is truly God, then you will find this to be difficult to believe. It makes sense really. If Jesus is God, then He can do whatever He so pleases, as the limits of humanity do not apply to Him. If Jesus isn’t God, then He can not do this, as a mere mortal human can not perform this.

Unfortunately, its far too common that there are many priests that would like to commit heresy in this regard. They believe that 2000 years of Catholic Teaching is too beneath them. They have to come up with their own interpretation.

“Clearly, Jesus didn’t actually multiply the food, but He inspired the people that were there to actually share what they have brought.” they say. “I mean, people knew that they were going to be gone for awhile so they brought their own food. The miracle is that they shared.” they continue.

What a load of crap.

I’m certain that you have all heard somebody say things like this. They throw around a lot of sap to make it sound convincing, but we know, Jesus is God, and He did multiply the fish and loaves. We would all agree that these priests are full of bologna, right?

Well, guess who denied this miracle this time? He’s kind of a big deal.

Pope Francis…

And herein is where many people are going to disagree. “But, if Pope Francis says it, he must be right! He’s the Pope!”. Unfortunately, this is not a dogmatic statement, so thus, Pope Francis is wrong,  and again wrong. He denies Jesus’ God-hood without even realizing it (this is the charitable assumption).

The Pope is only infallible when he issues a dogmatic statement. As this is just a homily, it is not dogmatic. I would even say that this view is a heresy.

Here is what Pope Francis said on June 2, 2013 at his Sunday Angelus:

This is the miracle: rather than a multiplication it is a sharing, inspired by faith and prayer. Everyone eats and some is left over: it is the sign of Jesus, the Bread of God for humanity.

Pope Francis has stated it quite clearly. Ignoring the true definition of miracle (taken by the Concise Catholic Dictionary 1943 (CCD)) “An act or event which is above the natural order. A work or thing of wonder done by God, a fact produced by God alone which is above, beside, or beyond the accustomed order of action of all of created nature.” he re-defines it as “sharing inspired by faith and prayer” and flat out denies the multiplication!

Here’s what he said most recently:

The parable of the multiplication of the loaves and fish teaches us exactly this: that if there is the will, what we have never ends. On the contrary, it abounds and does not get wasted.

No, its not even a miracle anymore, its only a parable, you know a parable that is used by Jesus to help the apostles understand by comparison? A parable as defined by the CCD is “An illustrative story pointing to some moral or religious truth; a manner of speaking used by our Lord as related in the Gospel.” According to Pope Francis, this isn’t even a miracle at all, but simply an illustrative story. Good grief!

This is a heresy and probably some blasphemy, sad to say, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. It’s not an “issue with the English translation”. It’s not “the media having a field day with him”. It’s simply put, Pope Francis is not teaching proper Catholicism. Plain and simple. The Pope is not above error unless he is speaking ex cathedra.

Pray for Pope Francis!

Jeff January 10, 2014 7 Comments Permalink

CDF Comes Out With Statement on Medjugorje

Yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) came out with a short statement in regards to the seers at Medjugorje. In short, the faithful are not to host, or attend any events in which the seers are at. Here is the full letter:

CDF to USCCB on Medjugorje

I for one think that this is a good thing. From what I have read and from what I’ve seen I do not feel that there is any credibility to these apparitions.

I would like to point out though that there have been many alleged miracles that have apparently been taking place here and I would like to point out that even if these miracles are real, the apparitions can still be fake, but the miracles may be true because God does work in mysterious ways.

We have to be open to what basically the CDF has said. These apparitions are not approved as of yet. Though, I do believe that some of these miracles that have allegedly occurred are true because I believe in miracles. I’m a perfect example as well as every other convert is a perfect example of being a miracle. I’m not trying to be prideful, but I’m just trying to show that I was, and still am a poor sinner, who was basically walking a path to destruction unknowingly, thinking I was doing good and yet here I am now following the One True God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and following His Church.

As Catholics we recognize that miracles occur, and we recognize that God works in interesting circumstances. Good life examples of miracles happening with bad circumstances would be the complete curing of some terrible disease, or that of cancer or organ failure or really any other disease that causes chronic wasting of the body. I would highly suggest, instead of spending so much time with Medjugorje, that we spend more time looking at approved apparitions, such as that of Lourdes, Fatima (which led to my conversion), Guadalupe or any other approved apparition.

Again, I’m not saying that the miracles that have occurred at Medjugorje are false, my belief (and it appears that of the Church as well) is that the “apparitions” are false. God is Almighty and Powerful. Even through a lie, if the faithful gather, believing that God can cure them, God can work with that.

Jeff November 7, 2013 3 Comments Permalink

The Wedding of Cana, Partying and Drinking

I was speaking with a close friend on the passage regarding the Wedding of Canaa. But, for those who are unfamiliar with it, I will give the account.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. After this, he and his mother, (his) brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.

What’s interesting to me is how this passage is more or less proof that Jesus does not condemn drinking. I have heard the argument many times that alcohol is a sin and will send you to Hell if you consume of it. I have to disagree with this statement whole heartily. On the other hand, I would say that drinking to the point of being drunk or smashed or blacking out, would be a mortal sin. Yes, a mortal sin.

Why would it be a mortal sin? Well, first off, when we drink, we are impairing our judgment as well as our senses. The more we have drunk, the worse off we are. Our reaction times increase (it takes longer to react) and we also allow ourselves to do things that we normally wouldn’t do (more mortal sins). What’s even more important to point out, is that if we drink too much, we can kill ourselves.

Now, let’s say you are only having one drink or you are pacing yourself out throughout the course of the day. You can if you are able to control yourself, have multiple drinks over the course of the day and be completely fine. This is perfectly acceptable, as long as you are not getting to the point where you are drunk. Now, what your tolerance and when you cross the threshold of being drunk differ from others, it is up to you to determine when too many is too much.

Going back to the original point, a lot of people have argued with me that Jesus didn’t turn the water into wine because then Jesus would be allowing people to commit sin. I would have to completely disagree with this statement. If Jesus hadn’t turned the water into wine, then Jesus is a liar, because He duped the people. Our Lord is not a manipulator in the fact that He would mislead us. That is dishonest, and our God is an honest God. Dishonesty is a fault and failure of those with sin and God does not have sin.

The other argument is that if Jesus had done this, He would be allowing others to sin. Now, when was the last time that Jesus, the Father or the Holy Spirit stepped in front of you and said “STOP DON’T DO THAT!”? Now, He does speak to us that way in our conscience, but we have the free will to continue on with either fulfilling the act or not. Had Jesus stepped in this way, He would have been violating the free will that all humans have. It is also important to note, that at Jewish weddings, they were multiple day long feasts. Weddings of today are just one night smashes where a lot of people do get drunk, sadly. However, if you are drinking over the course of few days, or even a week, it would make sense that you would run out of wine eventually.

What is even more interesting about Jesus’ first public miracle is that He turned water into wine. Wine that He would later turn into His Most Sacred Blood at the Last Supper. This is such a cool mystery that everything about Jesus’ ministries points to the Holy Eucharist. Contemplate that.

Jeff April 17, 2012 Leave A Comment Permalink

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