AUGUST 15 -- FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 Today we celebrate one of the oldest Christian feasts, the very fact that the the Blessed Virgin's body was taken into heaven to be united with her soul and to reign in heaven with her king, Jesus Christ.

In 1950 this was declared to be a DOGMA, a belief that is required of everyone.  If you do not believe it you are outside of Christ's Body, the Catholic Church.

Your can read it here:  Pius XII (1950 MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS)

or your can hear it by watching this video:

Why love God?

Why love God?  Because He loved us first and even became one of us to give all and die as a mortal.

Image from http://uploads0.wikipaintings.org/images/jacopo-bellini/the-crucifixion.jpg


I must say, the longer I am a Catholic the more I am "blown away" (as said 'back in the day'...) by what our Lord has done for us, especially through the Church He established.

Not only did he create the entire universe and time itself, he chose to become one of us for our salvation.  God has never been an angel.  He has never been any of the other heavenly hosts.  But he became a human being, and after his death his human body was glorified and ascended into heaven.  The Word of God has a human body in heaven.

Can you imagine that?  God himself thinks so highly of us, who he created in his image, that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity sits on his throne with his crucified then glorified human body!

God condescended to become a humble man, born of a virgin, and mixed with us sinners.

Although sinless, he took our sins upon him and suffered and died for us. He died for us sinners.  Wow.

In 1996, at the age of 38, I came home to the Catholic Church.  I grew up as an Anglican and in university I had a lot of contact with evangelical Christians.  What I began to realize was that Jesus did not leave us a bible.  He established a Church.  He left the deposit of faith with his Church.  
This Church is a Church that teaches with Divine Authority.  There is no 'wiggle room' in the Church established by God!
His Church wrote the books of the New Testament and eventually, through the Holy Spirit, compiled the Canon of Scripture.

The early Christians had the Jewish scriptures and the oral teachings of the Apostles.   The written teachings and the oral teachings/traditions are what the Holy Spirit uses to communicate Truth to the Body of Christ.  Never scripture alone.  That idea is a somewhat 'modern' invention, largely thanks to a former disobedient priest named Martin Luther.

Since we have both the Scriptures and Tradition the Holy Spirit has taught us more.
We now know that God crowned a mere human as the Queen of heaven.  
Oh how God loves us!!! 

Image from:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmM7-6ffKfgmG7h-DF_wi_F0S7q-uko_D1iSfHN-phPQbRKabw0Yeoh6jBaix7nhk5wPDFbriVz0k0Gz48eb4ff4UJOCCrMFVUGopkiwcrkN-4xr8Cuv2y1bVk-DLYzsNzEFTmOPi0Ls/s1600/CoronationMary.jpg

Through Apostolic succession, this Church, the Body of Christ, has as its earthly head the successor of Peter, the Pope.  Jesus did not leave us alone.  Through the succession of his Apostles the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is still offered every day on all Catholic and Orthodox altars.  Jesus is still present in his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity here on earth.

God gave the power to his Apostles and their successors to forgive sins.

When I assist at Mass I witness a genuine miracle.  A time where God intervenes with nature.  Mere bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the actions and words of the successors of the Apostles, become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Saviour.  We are "re-present" and the one sacrifice that Jesus made for us at Calvary.

Image from my computer; originally from somewhere on the Internet ...

We have so much to be thankful for.  So many reasons to love God with all our hearts, souls, and with all our actions.
The saints learned to hate sin ... to prefer death to committing even one mortal sin.

Let us remember daily to direct all our thoughts, words and actions heavenward.

To start your day you can use the 'morning offering' that I've been using for years:

Most Holy and adorable Trinity, One God in three Persons, I adore You with the most profound humility.  I praise you and give you thanks for the favours you have bestowed on me.
Your goodness has brought me safely to the beginning of this day.

Behold, O Lord, I offer you my whole being, together with such crosses and contradictions as I may meet with in the course of this day.
Give them, O Lord, Your blessing.  May Your Divine Love animate them, and may they tend to the greater honour and glory of your Holy Name.   

   [One of the things I love about this prayer is the line "May Your Divine Love animate them".]

God be with you!

Dominus vobiscum, Reg. 

Pope Francis: "The Word of God Precedes the Bible and Surpasses It"

That title comes from Scott P. Richert's blog and is the truth as proclaimed by our new holy father.

More is expressed at MARY, OUR MOTHER .  

 

From  the Pope's address:

 “Sacred Scripture,” he reaffirmed,“ is the written testimony of the divine Word, the canonical memory that attests to the event of Revelation. However, the Word of God precedes the Bible and surpasses it. That is why the centre of our faith isn't just a book, but a salvation history and above all a person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh. It is precisely because the Word of God embraces and extends beyond Scripture that, in order to properly understand it, the Holy Spirit's constant presence, who guides us “to all truth”, is necessary. It is necessary to place ourselves within the great Tradition that has, with the Holy Spirit's assistance and the Magisterium's guidance, recognized the canonical writings as the Word that God addresses to his people, who have never ceased meditating upon it and discovering inexhaustible riches from it.”

As Catholics we do not believe in Jesus because we believe in the bible.  We believe in the bible because we believe in Jesus, the Word of God incarnate.
Oral Tradition predates the bible by hundreds of years.  The Catholic Church did not decide what writings were canonical until almost 400AD. From TRUE CHURCH and BIBLE:

In 397 AD, the Catholic Church gave a definitive decision as to which writings and books should be admitted into the Bible and which should be rejected, and every book which is in the Protestant New Testament today, was put there by Pope Siricus and the Catholic Bishops in the year 397 AD

We cannot even begin to think that we can understand the true meaning of Scripture if it is divorced from Tradition.  Jesus established a Church to record His words that one day would become the Gospels.  If you really want to know the meaning of Scripture go to its source: the Catholic Church.  The Holy Spirit continually guides the Church. 
 For Truth we need BOTH Scripture AND Tradition.

*************************************************************

Why protestants should pray the 'Hail Mary'

From James 5:16  --  "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

Who could be more righteous that the very person that God knew from the beginning of time that He would use to become a human being?  For such an honour God would not simply choose any old 'good person'.  Remember, God did not simply appear in Mary's womb.  The Holy Spirit fertilized one of Mary's eggs before it arrived in her womb.  That is the only way that God could truly sacrifice His own divine life for mankind.  From the early Church fathers  we know that the early Christians learned that Mary was in heaven with her Lord and son, in body and soul, not merely rotting in the earth. 

Now look at this simple prayer:

"Hail Mary, full of grace.  The Lord is with Thee."  (Luke 1:28)--  Those are the biblical words of the archangel Gabriel as he greeted Mary

"Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (Jesus)(Luke 1:42).   Again, right out of the bible, these are the very words of St. Anne, the mother of St. John the Baptist.

So far in this prayer we have reminded ourselves just why it is that Mary's prayer for us can be 'powerful and effective'.

And who is Mary?  She is the mother of Jesus.  Who is Jesus?  Jesus is the Second person of the Holy Trinity.  Jesus is God, and Mary is His earthly mother.  To call Mary the 'mother of God' is important because in doing so we affirm that Jesus is God.

So next we simply ask Mary to pray for us, just as we would ask any good Christian to pray for us:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death"

Amen.

If you ignore any anti-Catholic thoughts, what is there to object to in this prayer.

Remember, the first recorded miracle of Jesus occurred after Mary asked his help after being approached by others at the wedding party in Cana.  Why should Jesus stop listening to her now?