A RESPONSE TO A COMMON PROTESTANT ARGUMENT

 A response to a common protestant argument.

A response to a common protestant argument.

My response to a “discussion” on social media:

Many protestants make a terribly mistaken assumption when they claim that "Prayer is worship. It is a supplication made to a perceived higher spiritual authority. The act of prayer itself is an implicit confession of divinity since it presumes (i) Omnipresence; (ii) Omniscience; (iii) sufficient divine power to grant the requested plea."

Prayer is in no way "worship". I can see that, somehow, to some protestants that is the assumption, as they do not want to even APPEAR to be worshipping anyone but God alone.

How can the Blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven hear our prayers? Only by the grace and power of God almighty!

Mary and the saints are closest to God. He hears their prayers for us, as they are so close to Him, even as we live here on earth. Mary, though a mere creature, is still the very Mother of God, the Mother of her Creator. How can that be? Because God gave Mary alone the power to produce a human body for the Second Person of the Holy Trinity ... thus she is "the Mother of God". (That title has been very important to me even before my conversion to the Catholic Church three decades ago, as it affirms Jesus' divinity.) We get hints of how Mary's will was perfectly conformed to God's Will when we read the Gospel according to St. Luke. God assumed Mary's body into heaven so that, as Queen Mother to her Son the King, she could be as close to Him as she was when He was a newborn infant.

To paraphrase St. Louis de Montfort’s work "True Devotion to Mary": Mary, being a mere creature is less than an atom, in fact she is, compared to God Almighty, basically nothing at all, because only God is the holy “I am."

The great saint also explains that: "God the Father gave Mary the power to produce a human body, through the power of the Holy Ghost, for the the Father’s only begotten Son. In Mary’s womb He would “work in secret the marvels of His grace”. We give greater glory to God and please Him when we follow Jesus’ example of submitting ourselves to her. (I wish I had the copyright approval to quote St. Louis, as he is so eloquent here. I encourage everyone to get a copy of True Devotion to Mary.)

If you peak outside of Sacred Scripture into all that God has revealed through His Church and His saints you begin to find answers. The person I was corresponding with insisted that “saints” are only those Christians still alive on earth, and that the dead cannot hear our prayers. Once again on the Internet I had to explain that there are two "kinds" of saints, so to speak: the saints here on earth (the Church Militant) and the Saints who have gone before us and are now so very close to God Almighty and are only waiting for the resurrection of their bodies.

I gravitate to Catholic sites, but so do many protestants. Some go there for a good reason: they are convinced that Catholics are in danger of losing their souls and go to push anything learned from Sola Scriptura. Others seem to be there only to argue and insult Christ and His Spotless Bride, The Catholic Church.

HUMILITY, MEEKNESS, and CHARITY -- A New Understanding and Two Definitions

1) HUMILITY

To begin with, there was a time when I was troubled by a phrase from my morning offering:  "O most holy and adorable Trinity, One God in Three Persons.  I firmly believe that Thou art here present, and I adore Thee with the most profound humility."

Do I really feel truly humble, or am I just repeating the words I learned?

It has nothing to do with how humble "I feel".  What is really meant here is to acknowledge firstly, God's presence and secondly, how insignificant and unworthy I am compared to God Almighty.

I now use this phrase at the beginning of much of my prayer time.

Next are two definitions.  I believe these may have come (to me) from listening to Father Chad Ripperger:  

2)  MEEKNESS

Meekness is power under control.

Think of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  He truly showed almost infinite meekness.  At any time during His passion and death on the cross He could have shown His glory and put a stop to everything.  Instead He was very meek, accepting the insults and blows, being crowned with thorns rather than gold, allowing Himself to suffer and die on the cross out of infinite love for us!

3)CHARITY

I often hear people (priests even) claim that love and charity mean the same thing.  

Here's the key difference:

LOVE:  Anyone can love another person.  Merely human love can be between two criminals.  It can be between husband and wife.  It can even come out of a desire to help those less fortunate.  But those are all examples of love that can be had without God

CHARITY:  Charity, however, consists the love of one's neighbor OUT OF ONE'S LOVE FOR GOD.

  From Topics on Tradition by Father Chad Ripperger: 

Always pray for and train yourself to practice charity, not just love for its own sake.  Do all things out of love for God.

Whether you are going to, say, volunteer at a food bank or pray for the holy souls in purgatory, learn to do so because you love God first.  A great sinner could perform selfless acts of love without loving God.  As Christians our first duty is always to love God above all created things.  Out of our love for God we perform acts of charity ... but we only love others BECAUSE we love God first.

A GREAT ANALOGY IN TIMES OF STRIFE IN SOCIETY AND IN THE CHURCH

 

Today I heard a seven-year-old sermon that is still very relevant today.

The Church has been in crisis for a number of decades now.  But we still have to place our trust in God, who always has everything under control.

My main takeaway from this sermon is the analogy of The Church being like a boat caught in a terrible storm.

While the sailors (IE, the laypeople) are hanging on for dear life, the men in the wheelhouse are having a drunken brawl.  One could jump out of the boat and into the storm, but that would be rather stupid, especially since, in this analogy, the boat is The Church established by Jesus Christ.  The only hope is to remain inside the boat. In other words, NEVER LEAVE THE CHURCH!

What we are experiencing in The Church since "the spirit of Vatican II" took over is overshadowed by some of the events in the past.  The video highlights the "Cadaver Synod" of 897, where Pope Stephen VII staged one of the strangest trials in history.

I never knew about this terrible piece of Church history:

Worried about the Papacy? Christ is the Point | A Dead Pope on Trial? Lessons From The Cadaver Synod

Never allow yourself to fall into scandal or be scandalized.  It is good to know what is happening in The Church, but we must be scandalized.

Dominus vobiscum, Reg

CORRECTION TO POST "Happy Birthday Catholic Church!" of June 9th, 2019!

 

ORIGINAL POST:

I have often heard that Pentecost marks the birth of the Catholic Church, but I also see the "Great Commission" given by Our Lord just before His Ascension as being a beginning.

To celebrate this great feast I'd to share a video from Gloria.TV:

Veni Sancte Spiritus
https://gloria.tv/video/qeTax1ZWescf3Ajz8x3JSyqpH

UPDATE:

That Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles, was the "birth" of the church is a thought I've held since my days as an Anglican involved in an evangelical group at university, a long, long time ago.

Now, in 2025, I've come across people saying that this is an error.  So I did my usual.  I asked Father Internet what he thinks.  (I didn't "Google" anything.  I "Duck Duck Goed" it.)

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

When Was The Church Born?

The Catechism No. 766 says: “ ‘The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.’ ‘For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the “wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.”’ As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.”

HABEMUS PAPAM!

 Pope Leo XIV was announced when I was alone praying the Rosary. I therefore read a few short articles about him before retiring for the night ... eventually.

I said a decade of the Rosary for him followed by the prayer to Holy Michael, Archangel. That's when it hit me. The prayer to St. Michael was composed by Pope Leo XIII ! That gives me some hope. I hope this indicates that Pope Leo XIV is strongly aware that we are in spiritual warfare, that we are joining in spiritual warfare with the hosts of heaven in all that we think, do, say, and pray.

May God bless him with supernatural faith and an enormous love for God. A love so great that it results in true charity. That all his actions, teachings, and prayers flow from a deep love for Our Lord.

Dominus tecum Pope Leo XIV

A Beautiful Christmas Carol - What Child is This

QUOTES ABOUT RECEIVING COMMUNION ON THE TONGUE

 

RECEIVING OUR LORD ON THE TONGUE.

I truly believe that one important way to change our thinking, and thus our whole approach to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is to make sure we do not receive Holy Communion as if it were just another meal.

I am always concerned about the need for more reverence and an increase of the sense of sacredness whenever I assist at my local parish, celebrating the Novus Ordo.  

Slowly, since we were assigned a new priest a few years ago, I have noticed an increased reception of Our Lord on the tongue.  In addition, there have been enough people kneeling to receive that Father has finally provided kneelers so we can truly humble ourselves (without feeling others may be falsely interpreting the reason for our posture.)

I found this list on (Please click on the Corpus Christi link below to see their whole post):

 Corpus Christi Watershed

The Council of Saragossa (380AD) declared “anathema” anyone who dared continue receiving Communion in the hand.

The Synod of Toledo (589AD) declared likewise.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (680AD) forbade the faithful from placing the Host in their hands, threatening transgressors with excommunication.

The Synod of Rouen (650AD) condemned Communion in the hand to halt widespread abuses that occurred through this practice, and as a safeguard against sacrilege. Furthermore, this same synod decreed: “Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman or laywoman, but only in their mouths.”

Pope Saint Sixtus I (d. 125AD) said about the practice: “It is prohibited for the faithful to even touch the sacred vessels, or receive in the hand.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) said: “Out of reverence towards this Sacrament [the Holy Eucharist], nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands, for touching this Sacrament.” (Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 82)

Pope Saint John Paul II said: “To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained.” (Dominicae Cenae, February 1980)

Pope Saint Paul VI (1963-1978) said: “This method of distributing holy communion [on the tongue] must be retained, taking the present situation of the Church in the entire world into account, not merely because it has many centuries of-tradition behind it, but especially because it expresses the faithful’s reverence for the Eucharist” (Memoriale Domini, 29 May 1969)