Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Where is God? Part 2
I recently stumbled across a video of Richard Dawkins going toe-to-toe answering questions on God, evolution and the purpose of life with Cardinal George Pell of Sidney, Australia. The show was quite entertaining, yet at the same time very troubling. And I have included the video in the end of this post for you to view if you wish. It is clear that Richard Dawkins is truly a very lost individual when it comes to any discussion on God. And it is clear that his atheistic and scientific understandings of this world have blinded him to any spiritual realities.
What also surprised me was that all the questions he answered in a very one dimensional kind of way. Basically it would appear that his understanding goes as far as to believe that if scientifically it couldn't happen… Then its impossible. To which I would have posed the questions I did in my last post on "Where is God?" on how would he go about explaining miracles? And I'm not talking about miracles in which we pray for a loved one to recover from an illness and they miraculously recover faster than normal. I'm talking about miracles that are shocking, and that science can't explain. Miracles like people who have been blind, suddenly being able to see… Yet they don't have pupils. Or bodies of individuals that don't decay? Or even people who have lost body parts, miraculously have them returned to them out of the blue, and in perfect working condition, like the man that St. Padre Pio healed who was with an eye, and got it back! How would Richard Dawkins explain that? How would any atheist explain that?
Another troubling topic for me when watching this video was when the Cardinal was asked if we all came from apes. He hesitated for a while and tried to answer the question in a round about way to include the fact that God ultimately created the first humans. But eventually agreed that it was possible that we could have evolved from apes. I find trouble with this personally, because from my understanding, there really is no connection between us an apes besides the fact that their make-up is very similar to ours. Yet the make-up of a Lion and a Tiger is the same as well, and they can have baby Ligers. Same with a horse and a donkey who can have mules, or a wolf and a dog who can have pups. But there is something that truly separates us from apes and physically does not make us, "cousins". I wish the Cardinal would have been a little more clear about that.
Finally another issue that Richard Dawkins tried to pin the Cardinal to the wall on, was the issue of the resurrection of the body and the Eucharist. And this is the way I would have responded.
Dawkins: ...The brain is what we do our thinking with, the brain is going to rot. That's all there is to it. I'm intrigued how the Christians say that we are going to be resurrected... in the body? I mean, that's… an astonishing idea and I don't think you really mean that. Just as I believe that you don't really mean that the wafer turns into the Body of Christ. You must mean body in some special kind of sense.
Myself: Mr. Dawkins of course these terms "Resurrection of the Body" and "the Body of Christ" are puzzling to you because you look at this from a very scientific and worldly kind of view. And from that understanding, you're right… Its impossible for a dead and decayed body to come back to life, just as much as it is impossible for a piece of bread or a glass of wine to turn into flesh and blood. It just can't happen by the means of earthly science. But it can, by the power of God, just as much as the universe can come into existence from nothing. We know that the resurrection is possible and is going to happen because Jesus Himself told us it would happen and showed us in His own resurrection. If that Jesus wouldn't have rose from the dead… There would not be one Christian here today. The Romans would have never tolerated such a lie to be going around… And in fact they didn't! Many of the first early Christians were killed and slaughtered for this truth that Jesus rose from the dead. But the movement didn't stop, because it was the truth, and there were Christians willing to die for this truth! Would you be willing to die over the belief that there isn't a God? Or would you rather not take that chance?
Dawkins: But other Christian denominations are willing to take that (the belief in the real presence in the Eucharist) as more symbolic and metaphorical meaning and Catholics take it as a literal meaning. And I'm trying to be charitable, I'm trying to suggest that its that same sense in that you say that the body is resurrected, because the body is certainly not resurrected in terms of the cell, the protoplasm, the proteins, the DNA… That doesn't happen any more than the wafer turns into that… So you do not mean the wafer turns into the body in any sense in which normal English language usage would understand. You mean it in some other sense. And I take it, its that same sense that the body is resurrected.
Myself: You are correct in some degree that the sense in which this occurs is not from the means of this world. But it does happen.
Dawkins: But I am also a rationalist. I mean, english is my native language! The wafer does NOT become the body of anybody in the english language!
Myself: Well then let me explain it to you better in english that you might understand. Everything has a substance, it is what makes it what it is, correct? At Mass when the Priest utters the words of consecration, repeating the words and actions that Christ did, what happens to the bread and the wine is called "Transubstantiation". It is where the substance of what makes the bread, bread and the wine, wine is suddenly changed into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. It may still look and taste like bread and wine, but it's substance is that of Jesus Christ Himself. Now to you, this may not be a good enough scientific explanation… But again it is because you are seeing this from the perspective of the world. And to believe this you must have the understanding of the world from the sense that God can make anything happen. And if the Man who is the Son of God told us that this is His Body and is His Blood, than I would rather trust what He says over what you say.
God love you all, Pray the Rosary daily!
What also surprised me was that all the questions he answered in a very one dimensional kind of way. Basically it would appear that his understanding goes as far as to believe that if scientifically it couldn't happen… Then its impossible. To which I would have posed the questions I did in my last post on "Where is God?" on how would he go about explaining miracles? And I'm not talking about miracles in which we pray for a loved one to recover from an illness and they miraculously recover faster than normal. I'm talking about miracles that are shocking, and that science can't explain. Miracles like people who have been blind, suddenly being able to see… Yet they don't have pupils. Or bodies of individuals that don't decay? Or even people who have lost body parts, miraculously have them returned to them out of the blue, and in perfect working condition, like the man that St. Padre Pio healed who was with an eye, and got it back! How would Richard Dawkins explain that? How would any atheist explain that?Another troubling topic for me when watching this video was when the Cardinal was asked if we all came from apes. He hesitated for a while and tried to answer the question in a round about way to include the fact that God ultimately created the first humans. But eventually agreed that it was possible that we could have evolved from apes. I find trouble with this personally, because from my understanding, there really is no connection between us an apes besides the fact that their make-up is very similar to ours. Yet the make-up of a Lion and a Tiger is the same as well, and they can have baby Ligers. Same with a horse and a donkey who can have mules, or a wolf and a dog who can have pups. But there is something that truly separates us from apes and physically does not make us, "cousins". I wish the Cardinal would have been a little more clear about that.
Finally another issue that Richard Dawkins tried to pin the Cardinal to the wall on, was the issue of the resurrection of the body and the Eucharist. And this is the way I would have responded.
Dawkins: ...The brain is what we do our thinking with, the brain is going to rot. That's all there is to it. I'm intrigued how the Christians say that we are going to be resurrected... in the body? I mean, that's… an astonishing idea and I don't think you really mean that. Just as I believe that you don't really mean that the wafer turns into the Body of Christ. You must mean body in some special kind of sense.
Myself: Mr. Dawkins of course these terms "Resurrection of the Body" and "the Body of Christ" are puzzling to you because you look at this from a very scientific and worldly kind of view. And from that understanding, you're right… Its impossible for a dead and decayed body to come back to life, just as much as it is impossible for a piece of bread or a glass of wine to turn into flesh and blood. It just can't happen by the means of earthly science. But it can, by the power of God, just as much as the universe can come into existence from nothing. We know that the resurrection is possible and is going to happen because Jesus Himself told us it would happen and showed us in His own resurrection. If that Jesus wouldn't have rose from the dead… There would not be one Christian here today. The Romans would have never tolerated such a lie to be going around… And in fact they didn't! Many of the first early Christians were killed and slaughtered for this truth that Jesus rose from the dead. But the movement didn't stop, because it was the truth, and there were Christians willing to die for this truth! Would you be willing to die over the belief that there isn't a God? Or would you rather not take that chance?
Dawkins: But other Christian denominations are willing to take that (the belief in the real presence in the Eucharist) as more symbolic and metaphorical meaning and Catholics take it as a literal meaning. And I'm trying to be charitable, I'm trying to suggest that its that same sense in that you say that the body is resurrected, because the body is certainly not resurrected in terms of the cell, the protoplasm, the proteins, the DNA… That doesn't happen any more than the wafer turns into that… So you do not mean the wafer turns into the body in any sense in which normal English language usage would understand. You mean it in some other sense. And I take it, its that same sense that the body is resurrected.
Myself: You are correct in some degree that the sense in which this occurs is not from the means of this world. But it does happen.
Dawkins: But I am also a rationalist. I mean, english is my native language! The wafer does NOT become the body of anybody in the english language!
Myself: Well then let me explain it to you better in english that you might understand. Everything has a substance, it is what makes it what it is, correct? At Mass when the Priest utters the words of consecration, repeating the words and actions that Christ did, what happens to the bread and the wine is called "Transubstantiation". It is where the substance of what makes the bread, bread and the wine, wine is suddenly changed into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. It may still look and taste like bread and wine, but it's substance is that of Jesus Christ Himself. Now to you, this may not be a good enough scientific explanation… But again it is because you are seeing this from the perspective of the world. And to believe this you must have the understanding of the world from the sense that God can make anything happen. And if the Man who is the Son of God told us that this is His Body and is His Blood, than I would rather trust what He says over what you say.
God love you all, Pray the Rosary daily!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Why I Love the Latin Mass
St. Padre Pio once said, "It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass." It's sad that many people don't realize this. Especially those who are often referred to as "Easter Bunnies" or "Flower People", those who come to Mass only on special occasions. They are missing out on so much!
All my life I have considered myself a very faithful person. My parents raised me with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and with the Mass as a very important part of my upbringing. In grade school I was often teased and called "Jesus Boy" for always wanting to do the right thing. And in high school I joined my church's youth group so that I could strengthen my relationship with Christ through the fellowship of other Catholics. Yet I always wanted more! When ever I would go to Mass I wanted more opportunities to fall in love with Jesus... but each time I left feeling more enriched by the Eucharist than anything else. For me it appeared that after the 1960's, Mass had kinda lost its strength as it once did. It even seemed as though even the priests weren't taking their calling seriously anymore. The Church herself was suffering and I could see it!
It was in high school that I got a real eye-opener when my teacher in my "Christian Ethics" class had each of us attend Mass at different churches around the Minneapolis area. The first Mass I had to attend was at a church called St. Agnes where they celebrated the Mass in Latin. I was instantly in love! The reverence, the music, the whole atmosphere was everything that I had been looking for! This was the Mass that the Saints back in the day would die for!! This was the Mass that was persecuted for its undeniable reverence for Our Lord being truly present in the Eucharist! This was the Mass that the Apostles had received from Jesus Himself!!
The next Mass I had to go to was at another church called St. Joan of Arc's and oh my... I will also never forget that experience either! Their Mass was held in their gymnasium, and there was no sign of the priest anywhere until a man who wasn't wearing a collar or vestments suddenly stood up with his cup of coffee and said, "Well let's begin!" It wasn't until later that I realized that was the priest, when he finally put on his vestments for consecration. I was horrified! The readings were taken out of a magazine, and a woman came up and gave a homily on a paganistic idea about how "mother earth birthed us from her womb!" It was so extremely appalling!! Many of the other Masses we had to go to after that were quite typical of what I was used to for Mass around town, but after that Latin Mass at St. Agnes, something clued me in to the fact that there is still something very great about the Mass that was being hidden.
By the time I got to college, my interest in the Holy Mass had peeked, and my search had begun to find what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had called the "hidden treasure of the Church" in the world! Sunday after Sunday I would attend Mass at the local parish on campus that was run by the Jesuit order. The order that St. Ignacius himself started so as to help bring Protestants back into the Church after the Reformation. Yet from one Mass to the next, I was experiencing the same thing... nothing! And soon once the war on terror started, all I ever heard at Mass was a political sermon! I finally got to the point where my sister and I begged my Grandparents to take me to the church that they always went to! And it was there that I found the Latin Mass being offered again! Finally Sunday after Sunday I was beginning to feel my spiritual life getting stronger and stronger! My love for Jesus and His Church becoming more and more!! And even my knowledge of the faith even becoming more and more complete! Ah yes, this was it! This was the Mass of the Saints in Heaven!! This was the Mass that made sinners into Saints!
It was at the Latin Mass that I began to see young boys wanting to serve! And no longer would I hear them say, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up" I was hearing them say instead, "I want to be a priest! I want to be a monk!" I was told so often that the Church was struggling with a shortage of priests, but here they were in the Latin Mass springing forth like a wildfire! Many I had heard say, "If they want to add more priests to the priesthood, they should allow priests to marry or even allow women to be priests!" But from this I could see, that was not the answer at all! What these young boys needed was a good example of a priest! A priest who believed what he preached and preached what he believed! A priest who would be a true father-figure to his church and guide them on the right path. I priest who wouldn't be afraid of stepping on toes or refusing communion to someone who came in with a bunch of facial piercings and expected it to be okay! No! This was the Mass! This was Mass of Jesus Christ! The Mass of the same God who told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the same God who wipped out the sinful people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and cast out the thieves and money changers in the temples in Jerusalem! The same God, Jesus Christ who died for us on a cross and shed His blood for many so that sins may be forgiven! It was clear this was the Mass!
However now-a-days, people who attend the Latin Mass are viewed as those who are against Vatican II. As I have posted before, Vatican II had a lot of errors in it, and many of the documents of Vatican II were left open to interpretation, which has caused so much confusion in the Church. I would not say that the Latin Mass folk are against the Church and the teachings of Vatican II, but rather we are more cautious with it because of what many have done with it. The English Mass is still valid Mass, do doubt! But unfortunately its true splendor is being hidden by corrupt practices that are being followed. Practices that are personalizing the Mass into the Mass of the priest who says it! And this is not right! The Mass should be about Jesus and bringing us back to His sacrifice for us on the cross! Mass is not another Sunday chore that we must do because we are Catholic... but because we want nothing more than to be with Jesus at Calvary!
As I have also posted before on the story of Pope St. Leo XIII, it is probably a good thing to be cautious with Vatican II since from the time it began it did fall into the "75-100 years" that the Devil requested in order to destroy the Church. And look at it now… Many of the faithful are leaving the Church, abandoning reverence in the Church, and giving into sinful practices that earlier in the Church's history, would never have been allowed. Even a buddy of mine recently alerted me to the fact that the real "Emily Rose" (Anneliese Michel) from the famous exorcism movie, had even been told by her demons that they were "very pleased with the recent Church council." This to me, makes me want to be very cautious, and stay even closer to the Latin Mass.
If you have never been to a Latin Mass before, I would encourage you to go. For some it takes some time to get used to, but for others, it can be love at first sight! I love the Latin Mass!
God love you all, Pray the Rosary Daily!
All my life I have considered myself a very faithful person. My parents raised me with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and with the Mass as a very important part of my upbringing. In grade school I was often teased and called "Jesus Boy" for always wanting to do the right thing. And in high school I joined my church's youth group so that I could strengthen my relationship with Christ through the fellowship of other Catholics. Yet I always wanted more! When ever I would go to Mass I wanted more opportunities to fall in love with Jesus... but each time I left feeling more enriched by the Eucharist than anything else. For me it appeared that after the 1960's, Mass had kinda lost its strength as it once did. It even seemed as though even the priests weren't taking their calling seriously anymore. The Church herself was suffering and I could see it!
It was in high school that I got a real eye-opener when my teacher in my "Christian Ethics" class had each of us attend Mass at different churches around the Minneapolis area. The first Mass I had to attend was at a church called St. Agnes where they celebrated the Mass in Latin. I was instantly in love! The reverence, the music, the whole atmosphere was everything that I had been looking for! This was the Mass that the Saints back in the day would die for!! This was the Mass that was persecuted for its undeniable reverence for Our Lord being truly present in the Eucharist! This was the Mass that the Apostles had received from Jesus Himself!!
The next Mass I had to go to was at another church called St. Joan of Arc's and oh my... I will also never forget that experience either! Their Mass was held in their gymnasium, and there was no sign of the priest anywhere until a man who wasn't wearing a collar or vestments suddenly stood up with his cup of coffee and said, "Well let's begin!" It wasn't until later that I realized that was the priest, when he finally put on his vestments for consecration. I was horrified! The readings were taken out of a magazine, and a woman came up and gave a homily on a paganistic idea about how "mother earth birthed us from her womb!" It was so extremely appalling!! Many of the other Masses we had to go to after that were quite typical of what I was used to for Mass around town, but after that Latin Mass at St. Agnes, something clued me in to the fact that there is still something very great about the Mass that was being hidden. By the time I got to college, my interest in the Holy Mass had peeked, and my search had begun to find what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had called the "hidden treasure of the Church" in the world! Sunday after Sunday I would attend Mass at the local parish on campus that was run by the Jesuit order. The order that St. Ignacius himself started so as to help bring Protestants back into the Church after the Reformation. Yet from one Mass to the next, I was experiencing the same thing... nothing! And soon once the war on terror started, all I ever heard at Mass was a political sermon! I finally got to the point where my sister and I begged my Grandparents to take me to the church that they always went to! And it was there that I found the Latin Mass being offered again! Finally Sunday after Sunday I was beginning to feel my spiritual life getting stronger and stronger! My love for Jesus and His Church becoming more and more!! And even my knowledge of the faith even becoming more and more complete! Ah yes, this was it! This was the Mass of the Saints in Heaven!! This was the Mass that made sinners into Saints!
It was at the Latin Mass that I began to see young boys wanting to serve! And no longer would I hear them say, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up" I was hearing them say instead, "I want to be a priest! I want to be a monk!" I was told so often that the Church was struggling with a shortage of priests, but here they were in the Latin Mass springing forth like a wildfire! Many I had heard say, "If they want to add more priests to the priesthood, they should allow priests to marry or even allow women to be priests!" But from this I could see, that was not the answer at all! What these young boys needed was a good example of a priest! A priest who believed what he preached and preached what he believed! A priest who would be a true father-figure to his church and guide them on the right path. I priest who wouldn't be afraid of stepping on toes or refusing communion to someone who came in with a bunch of facial piercings and expected it to be okay! No! This was the Mass! This was Mass of Jesus Christ! The Mass of the same God who told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the same God who wipped out the sinful people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and cast out the thieves and money changers in the temples in Jerusalem! The same God, Jesus Christ who died for us on a cross and shed His blood for many so that sins may be forgiven! It was clear this was the Mass!
However now-a-days, people who attend the Latin Mass are viewed as those who are against Vatican II. As I have posted before, Vatican II had a lot of errors in it, and many of the documents of Vatican II were left open to interpretation, which has caused so much confusion in the Church. I would not say that the Latin Mass folk are against the Church and the teachings of Vatican II, but rather we are more cautious with it because of what many have done with it. The English Mass is still valid Mass, do doubt! But unfortunately its true splendor is being hidden by corrupt practices that are being followed. Practices that are personalizing the Mass into the Mass of the priest who says it! And this is not right! The Mass should be about Jesus and bringing us back to His sacrifice for us on the cross! Mass is not another Sunday chore that we must do because we are Catholic... but because we want nothing more than to be with Jesus at Calvary!As I have also posted before on the story of Pope St. Leo XIII, it is probably a good thing to be cautious with Vatican II since from the time it began it did fall into the "75-100 years" that the Devil requested in order to destroy the Church. And look at it now… Many of the faithful are leaving the Church, abandoning reverence in the Church, and giving into sinful practices that earlier in the Church's history, would never have been allowed. Even a buddy of mine recently alerted me to the fact that the real "Emily Rose" (Anneliese Michel) from the famous exorcism movie, had even been told by her demons that they were "very pleased with the recent Church council." This to me, makes me want to be very cautious, and stay even closer to the Latin Mass.
If you have never been to a Latin Mass before, I would encourage you to go. For some it takes some time to get used to, but for others, it can be love at first sight! I love the Latin Mass!
God love you all, Pray the Rosary Daily!
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