Thursday, August 31, 2017

Before Time Began


Most of us who believe in God believe that He is the Creator of all things and that he is the one thing that has existed forever, that there is no “Day 1” for God, that no one created God.  This begs the question “What was it like before He created all things?”  Was it just God and nothing else? 

One answer to this question is to say that time was created right along with the heavens and the earth.  If that is true, then words like “forever” and “before” are nonsensical words when trying to contemplate what was here before the beginning.  There is no answer in Scripture, as far as I know.  Chapter 1 of Genesis only says “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss, while wind swept over the waters.”  And it goes on from there, with God creating light on the first “day,” the sky on the second day, vegetation on the third day, the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day, etc., etc.  Obviously God existed before the beginning, but otherwise, no word about what it was like “before the beginning.”  No word about the creation of time.  It seems to me that it is one of those inexplicable mysteries that only God can answer, like the Blessed Trinity or Transubstantiation (the changing of bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood while retaining the appearances of bread and wine). 

But that doesn’t stop philosophers and scientists, both atheists and believers, from speculating.   And we also have the so-called “Big Bang” theory, in which everything we see, everything that exists, began with the massive explosion.   But what was here before the explosion?  Much of modern speculation seems to be about that, as well as about parallel universes and other seemingly nonsensical things.

Well, allow me to add my two-cents worth of speculation.  The Big Bang was not the beginning of everything, but only the beginning of the observable universe.  With this comes the idea that there is much more out there.  Perhaps the cosmos is infinite.  But I’m not the first to propose that.  Perhaps the cosmos has been here all along, right along with God.  But that contradicts Genesis, does it not?  Light and “the heavens” were created on the first day and the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day.  Okay, back the drawing board.  But Genesis does say that the earth was “a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss …").  What exactly is/was the “abyss” anyway?

I love to contemplate these things.  I’m not smart enough to be a philosopher in this modern day and age, but I do have an imagination, just like you, and I love to read about all the speculation.  And it is great fun, this imagining and speculating.  You know what?  We’ll all have the answers when time ends.  All we can do between now and then is believe in God and live our lives accordingly.  Amen


Thursday, August 24, 2017

Fire and Brimstone vs Kindness and Mercy


A “fire and brimstone” sermon used to be deemed necessary to get a person out of a sinful funk.  In other words, in order to convince a person to stop his/her sinful behavior, a clergyman would confront the person with the reality of Judgement Day and the likelihood that they would have to spend their eternity in that god-awful place we call “hell,” where the fire never extinguishes and the falling brimstone is like hot coals perpetually raining down.  And such a sermon can be effective, certainly, considering that particularly cruel condition that is eternal damnation on the horizon for this person’s soul.  As Jesus said:  “It is would be better for that man if he had never been born” or “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea ...”  (Matt 26:24 and Luke 17:2).

But you never hear of “fire and brimstone” being used today.  Today, it is “kindness and mercy.”  Most clergymen today seem to want to be more “pastoral,” meaning that they act and speak out of kindness, with smiles and welcoming committees and the promise of mercy on Judgement Day.  Or, perhaps the concept of final judgement isn’t even mentioned.  They think that the sinful person is more likely to react negatively to fire and brimstone and eternal damnation and would then never be seen in church again.  And this would be a correct in many cases.  Sinful people don’t want to think about their eternal destiny.  And those persons would instead react positively to thoughts of mercy, kindness and eternal happiness.  But to me, it is still important to mention forgiveness in the same breath.  People must be made conscious of their mortal sins, of the Catholic track to forgiveness, and of the consequences of rejecting God’s mercy.  It is very important.  Eternal damnation and its opposite, eternal happiness, are not figments of someone’s imagination.  Jesus talked about them all the time.

What got me thinking about this is last Sunday’s gospel at Mass – the story of a Canaanite woman whose daughter was tormented by a demon.  Jesus seemed to respond cruelly to her, using the metaphor of food given to dogs to mean his assistance given to a Canaanite woman and her daughter.  The implication was that it would be of no use.  But she did not give up.  She said she picks us scraps of food from the table of her masters, which I took to mean bits and pieces of faith that are Jesus’ words.  Jesus was thereby convinced that she had “great faith” and he then cured her daughter (Matt 15:21-28).

I believe, then, that what it takes is “great faith” in order for us to avoid the fire and brimstone of damnation and to be kindly and mercifully welcomed into heaven.  I don’t care what your lot in life is, that is, what your sin is.  You can fill in the blank.  Everyone, please, take Jesus’ advice and go and sin no more (John 8:11).  A place of such happiness that we cannot even imagine awaits us.  Amen.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Where We Got the Bible


I’m currently reading the book Where We Got the Bible by Bishop Henry G. Graham.  Graham is a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism.  The book was first published in 1911 and reprinted many times since then.  The point of the book is that the Bible is a product of the Catholic Church.  So here is a summary of the what and when of the Bible as we currently have it through the eyes of someone who is eminently unqualified … me … but derived from someone who is eminently qualified … Bishop Graham. 

Of course, the books of the Bible were written long before the printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg in about 1450 AD.  The original texts were hand-written on papyrus parchment in Greek and Hebrew languages.  This is true of the New Testament documents written by the sacred authors, St. Paul, St. John, and the others.  I understand that papyrus parchment is extremely perishable, brittle, and delicate and does not last long.  The original documents were also plundered and destroyed by persecutors of the Church in those early years.  No documents written in the original authors’ handwriting survive.  However, thousands of copies were made.  For Catholics, the fact that we don’t have the original documents to fall back on is not an issue, because our authority is not the “Scripture alone,” but the Church founded by Jesus Christ himself.  Church officials made copies of the originals down through the centuries and the originals were allowed to perish.

Catholic monks living in monasteries were subsequently charged with making the copies in their own handwriting and translating them into Latin.  This was a painstaking task and, it is thought, not without the possibility of error or the introduction of heretical words.  However, as time passes, we are assured that the Catholic Church, which was promised to be guided by the Holy Spirit, got it right.  Of course, all Bibles in existence today, both Catholic and Protestant, came through this period in history, the so-called “dark ages.”  Any changes that were made during the Reformation and later by non-Catholic individuals and groups, cannot have the assurance of accuracy since they are not from the Church that is guided by the Holy Spirit.  Examples of errors are the addition of the words “alone” or “only” that were added to the word “faith” and the removal of six books of the Bible by Protestant leaders – books that had been approved to be the inspired word of God by the Catholic leaders centuries earlier.

Today we have many different translations and versions.  The Catholic Church has its approved versions and, of course, uses these approved versions, especially the New American Bible as it is called, in the Bible readings used at Holy Mass. 

I am so happy to be Catholic and to be able to confidently read the version of Sacred Scripture that is the product of the Church that preserved the meaning and intent of the words of Jesus Christ, St. Paul, and others through history.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Our Unworthiness Before God

Today I’m thinking about this passage from Isaiah:  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”  (Isah 55:8-9).  The ways of God … the thoughts of God ... How high the heavens are above the earth … this is all very difficult to fathom.  It certainly brings to mind our unworthiness before God.  He is our Creator.  He is the Supreme Being who made all things.  He is in his heavenly home.  We are here on the earth where sin is rampant.  Yes, we are not worthy of him. 

St. John the Baptist said it this way about Jesus, who is God:  “I am not worthy to unloosen the thongs of his sandals.”  (Luke 3: 16).  The Blessed Mother even got into the act:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.  For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness.”  (Luke 1:46-48).  All of this makes me wonder how it is that we can even approach God, or how we can even dare to ask him for things, or how we can possibly dare to approach his altar to receive his body and blood.  He has the supreme power to reduce us to nothingness.  But he doesn’t.  In fact, out of love he has saved us from our sins if we only have true faith in him.

It brings to mind the story of the healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew, Chapter 8:  “When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.’  He said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’  The centurion said in reply, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.’”  (Matt 8: 5-8).  Jesus then said to him:  “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”  (Matt 8:10).  And at that very hour, his servant was healed without Jesus even being present in the centurion’s home.

Catholics recognize the passage from Matthew 8:5-8 above because a version of it is used at Mass just prior to our coming forward to receiving the body and blood of Christ.  Talk about our unworthiness!  Consuming the body and blood of Christ at Mass is the ultimate in our unworthiness!  Here is the exact wording:  “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”  Even though we are so unworthy of this great sacrament, the Lord expects us to come forward, because it is an act of our faith and Christ rewards us for our faith just as he did the centurion.


I’ve heard it said that the Church uses this expression of our unworthiness at Mass so that in case we have any venial sins on our soul, we can get them temporarily forgiven prior to receiving the sacrament.  What great gifts we have in our faith and in our Church!

Thursday, August 3, 2017

The Basilica of St. Mary Major


This Saturday, August 5, the Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.  I was privileged to see this basilica with my own eyes last fall during my pilgrimage to Italy.  It is the largest church in Rome and the only “papal” basilica dedicated to the Blessed Mother.  It is one of seven papal basilicas and one of the four “major papal” basilicas located in Rome.  Hence the name St. Mary Major.









Like all the famous papal basilicas, it is an absolutely beautiful church.  I’m not a connoisseur of art, but one can’t help but be overwhelmed by the art in this church (see photos).  The thing that I found most amazing is that this church claims to have pieces of the wooden manger in which Jesus was laid after being born in Bethlehem.  These are located in a reliquary beneath the high altar (see photo), a site that is called the Crypt of the Nativity.  This high altar has a canopy over it (see photo) that makes the whole scene simply breathtaking.  There is also a sculpture of Pope Sixtus III.  He is seen seated in a chair and facing the manger reliquary.  Sixtus was pope back in the fifth century when the original structure was built.

The original structure is said to have been inspired by an appearance of the Blessed Mother to a Roman patriarch and his wife in which she asked that the structure be built.  The exact site of the building was inspired by a mysterious snowfall in the middle of summer (August 5 in the year 352 AD).  The snow only fell on the exact area where the church was to be built.  The church was later named Our Lady of the Snows at its dedication.