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FMI 24th Annual Congress Presentation: Salvation History 2/3

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Noah and the Great Flood
We’re all familiar with this story: God calls Noah to build the Ark because God’s not happy, basically, and He wants to establish a new covenant with man.

God washes the world from its sinfulness with a flood, with water, and Noah, his family, and pairs of animals - male and female - of every kind (Genesis 6:12-19). So in essence, sin was washed away with water, and those who were cradled in the Ark, floating upon the water were saved. Now doesn’t that sound familiar?

St. Peter comments on Noah and the Ark this way and makes a very interesting analogy:

“For Christ also suffered or sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water.

This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.” - 1 Peter 3:18-22

Some churches will tell you that baptism isn’t necessary for salvation. How unbiblical. St. Peter there makes it pretty clear in his letter, “This prefigured baptism, WHICH SAVES YOU NOW”. Furthermore, as Noah and his family are on the Ark for forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:17) - which I might add is the same amount of time Christ spent in the wilderness fasting, praying, being tested, and preparing for his public ministry - before they attempt to find new land, and what do they send out? First it’s a poor, old raven that flies back and forth until the waters dried off (Genesis 8:7). Selfish raven! Noah then sends out the dove - that represents the Holy Spirit - is then sent out but at first does not find any dry land for the Ark to alight. The dove is then sent out after seven more days, it returns with an olive leaf.

Noah waits seven more days before sending off the dove again but this time it does not return; it was finally time for Noah and his family, and the manner of animals they had brought with them to alight from the Ark. Now again, I know you’re familiar with this story but the significance of this story in terms of our salvation is this: Our covenant with God begins with baptism; as the Holy Spirit moved over the waters during creation and breathed life into the world, so too did the dove, the Holy Spirit, move over the waters of the flood to establish new life for all on the Ark.

We are filled with the Holy Spirit - the Spirit dwells within us - Original Sin, the sin of Adam and Eve, is put into remission and we are filled with sanctifying grace. We must allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit - the dove - so that the covenant promise made by God can be fulfilled in the name of Jesus Christ. In other words, our free will must work in cooperation with grace so that we may draw nearer to God and one day be fully united with him in paradise, just as Noah on the Ark allowed the dove - the Holy Spirit - to lead them to a place where they could begin their covenant relationship with God, so too we must submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Church does and has from the beginning.

Moses and the Exodus
Okay, on Moses and the liberation of the Hebrews from Pharaoh… We have Moses, a prefigurement of Christ, born a Hebrew, raised in Pharaoh’s palace, exiled to the wilderness, encounters God and is led by God to lead his people out of bondage. As we know, Pharaoh was stubborn, and as a result the tenth plague, the death of every first born, was imminent. For the people of God to be protected from the tenth plague, God gave Moses these instructions:

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.

The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.

‘This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first - born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt-I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.’” - Exodus 12:1-13

Now tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar: the people of God were to eat from a sacrificed unblemished lamb, everything had to be consumed, and the blood of the lamb was used to mark the door posts and lintel (the horizontal beam), so that when death passed over the lands of Egypt, those covered by the blood of the lamb would be spared from death. Not seeing the connection yet? Let’s explore it…

It’s no coincidence that today’s Gospel reading [Sunday, January 19 2014] is taken from the Gospel of John. All I’m going to do is read the first verse from today’s reading:

“The next day he [St. John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’” - John 1:29

Jesus Christ is the prefigured unblemished first born lamb on the Book of Exodus, and he came, as we continue to read on the Gospel of John, to save the world from its sins:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” - John 3:16-17

That is the covenant promise of the New Testament; the old law has not been abolished but fulfilled in Jesus Christ and it is through Him that we come to God:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6

Let’s put a bow on Moses and the Exodus: Moses eventually leads he people to freedom, and as we know they pass through the Red Sea. Well, gee, this is sounding familiar again: God’s people passing through water. It’s another prefigurement to Baptism! And as we know, the people of God pass through the Red Sea - it is miraculously parted by the power of God through Moses - the people of God are in a sense baptised, escape death and they then begin their journey to the promised land.

* * * * *
To be concluded in part three.

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FMI 24th Annual Congress Presentation: Salvation History 1/3

Posted by Unknown |

Hi folks.

As promised, here are the notes I wrote for my Salvation History talk I gave at the Flame Ministries International 24th Annual Congress on Sunday, January 19. It went very well; thank you very much for your prayers. :)

I'll be uploading these notes in three parts. Here's part one:

* * * * *

Introduction
If I was to ask any of you “How are we saved?” I hope the answer you’d give me would be something along the lines of, “Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ” and hopefully you’d say that it’s the Catholic Church that brings man (sic.) first into intimacy with Jesus Christ and into union with God, and it was the Catholic Church that was established by Christ, built on the rock - St. Peter (Matthew 16:18-19) - authority given to man (sic.) to help fuse man to God.

So what I want to do today is to map out Salvation History, from the Book of Genesis to the Gospels, to the Acts of the Apostles to the mission of the Catholic Church today. In reality I need about a week to talk to you about this, but we’ve only got one hour to go through it. You have my assurance though that I will not be skimping on quality.

Folks, I don’t want any of my loved ones, friends, colleagues or absolutely anyone going to Hell. My hope is that Hell is empty, that everyone has repented and died in a state of grace. But, folks, for us it’s different; we cannot afford to be complacent. Yes, we are Catholic and we have been gifted with the FULLNESS of truth and the FULLNESS of faith, but as it says in scripture:

“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” - Matthew 7:21

Our Catholicity does not guarantee our salvation; nor does anyone’s Christianity assure anyone of salvation. Now that opens up another can of worms and at the end of this talk I’ll put up a link to an article I wrote about the lie of the “Once saved, always saved” (or “Eternal Security”) for you to read in your own time. You’ll discover just how unbiblical that teaching is. But now, onto Salvation History…

Garden of Eden; Adam & Eve
- God makes man (and woman) last because man is the climax of God’s creation; who He chooses to relate with intimately
- God gives man free will because without free will there is no love
- love is a choice
- if you take away free will then we’re soulless robots

--explain in cliff notes the story of the fall--

Why did Adam and Eve take from the tree and disobey God? They were DECEIVED by Lucifer, the Devil! They were manipulated to believe that God was holding them back.

Pride came before the fall… let’s read the passage together and after we read it I just want to point a few things out:

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, ‘Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’ The woman answered the serpent: ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.' But the serpent said to the woman: ‘You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.’ The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” - Genesis 3:1-6

So as a result both Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden - Paradise, which is analogous to Heaven - and you’ll noticed that before the fall, both Adam and Even walked through the Garden of Eden with God and lived in perfect harmony with Him and the rest of creation.

Lucifer cast doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve and they began to rationalise their sinful behaviour. They had ONE RULE, ONE RULE to follow. It’s when we begin to question our faith, when we begin to question why the Catholic Church teaches the way it does, we - like and Adam and Eve - begin to think, “Well why can’t I?”

“Why can’t I have sex outside of marriage?”

“Why can’t I use contraception?”

“Why can’t I smoke weed and get high?”

“Why can’t I get blind drunk?”

“Why can’t I have a one night stand?”

“Why can’t I look at pornographic material?”

“Why? Why? Why?”

And that’s when we begin to put our desires before God’s plan, before His will. Essentially we’re making ourselves greater than God as Lucifer says to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Folks, we make idols of ourselves when we fail to humble ourselves before the will of the Lord.

So as a result, Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden; they had deliberately and directly sinned against God and what’s even worse is that they were aware of the consequences:

“The LORD God gave man this order: ‘You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.’" - Genesis 2:16-17

What’s this “death” God was speaking of? Surely a physical death would have been enough to frighten Adam and Eve out of sinning against God, I mean my son who’s turning six in a few months’ time, he tells me, “Daddy, you shouldn’t play with fire because you can die” and I tell him, “Son, because I love you, I promise you that I will not play with fire”. But the “death” God was speaking of was not a physical death, no, but a spiritual death, becoming separated from God and severing the relationship with Him. St. Paul writes in Romans:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23

The Catholic Church teaches this about Hell and why one might go to Hell:

“The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.” - Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1035

--Jesus, “Gehenna” = eternal fire--
--Eternal separation from God = spiritual death--
--Heaven, full union with God = eternal LIFE--

“He is not God of the dead but of the living…” - Mark 12:27a

We read on in the Catechism…

“God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a wilful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want ‘any to perish, but all to come to repentance’” - Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1037

Adam and Even turned away wilfully, thus they were no longer in union with God. So Adam and Even kind of muck it up for us but the news gets better…

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"I'm saved, I don't need to repent!" and other doozies

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A friend of mine told me about an Evangelical friend of his - I’m not sure how the topic came up - who claimed, “I’ve been saved; I don’t need to repent!” This flabbergasted me. I could not believe that any Christian could claim that they did not need to repent.

I wanted to know more. Not knowing which particular church this friend frequents, I decided to do some investigating. I rocketed out a few emails to Evangelical churches in my area – hoping to start a dialogue - and I asked them once very simple question: “How are we saved?” Only one church got back to me. The following is how our exchange went (I’ve omitted certain details at the request of the individual to whom I spoke with; I have his permission to publish this on the condition that those details are not revealed and that he be referred to under a pseudonym; we’ll call him “Martin”):

Me: Martin, thank you very much for getting back to me. Would you mind answering for me how we are saved, and more specifically, if you could explain the concept of “eternal security” to me or “Once saved, always saved” as it is otherwise referred to.

Martin: I’d be happy to do that, Stephen. First of all, and I’m sure Catholics would agree with this, we are saved by Christ. Just have a read of John 3:16; if you believe in Christ, if you believe that He is God, if you believe that He was sent to us to save us from our sins then you will be united with God in Heaven. At --church name omitted-- we uphold the tradition of Eternal Security or “Once saved, always saved” as you put it. We believe that once a person gives their life to Jesus, begins a personal relationship with him, and they claim that Christ is Lord, then nothing – no force on earth – can separate them from God. You can find this in scripture too; it says in Romans (8:35-39):

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Basically, once you give yourself to Christ, you’re His forever and by the promise made in John 3:16 you will meet Him in Heaven.

Me: Amen to all that, Martin, and you’ll find that Catholics will agree with most with what you’ve said there - especially where being saved by Christ is concerned - but there is something you said I wanted to question you further on. Regarding Eternal Security, Amen that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ; we know that God is all loving, merciful, and forgiving, but what if someone was to be “saved” one day, but sin Mortally the next day? Romans 8:35-39 doesn’t mention murder, sexual immorality, adultery, breaking any of the 10 Commandments, etc. What if someone who was “saved” one day was to sin in one of these ways after being “saved”? Are they still saved?

Martin: We believe and maintain that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, as it is written.

Me: Again, Amen to that, Martin. God loves us no matter what, but what if we reject His love willingly by sinning? Consider this:

“If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.” - 1 John 5:16-17
The author of 1st John points out quite clearly a distinction between types of sin, i.e. sin that is deadly, and sin that is not deadly. The Catholic Church further identifies this distinction as Mortal Sin (the sin that is “deadly”) and Venial Sin (sin that is not deadly). Now you and I both know that in Christ, in God there is life, but the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We believe that a person unrepentant of their Mortal Sin will not be joined with God in Heaven. So I ask you this question: if a person that is “saved” sins Mortally, are they still saved?

Martin: We don’t believe in a distinction between sins; sin is sin, and by the blood of Christ we are saved from them all.

Me: Amen to that, Martin, but you haven’t answered my question: if a person that is “saved” sins Mortally, for example if they murder someone after being saved, are they still saved?

Martin: Well, Stephen, if there’s a person that’s been saved that commits murder after giving themselves to Christ, then perhaps they weren’t being genuine about giving themselves to Christ to begin with.

Me: So they weren’t really “saved”?

Martin: It would appear so, yes.

Me: Are you suggesting that Christ couldn’t “save” that person?

Martin: No, that’s not what I’m suggesting. What I’m suggesting is that that person internally had no intention of giving themselves to Christ that day and because of this they went on in their sinful ways.

Me: Interesting. Martin, are you familiar with the parable of the Prodigal Son? Was the son not already in the “Father’s House” (which represents full union with God/salvation) before he left?

Martin: Of course.

Me: Okay, based on your own understanding of that parable, are you able to tell me how the son found himself out of the Father’s house?

Martin: Of course, Stephen. In summary, the son basically told his father, “You’re dead to me” and took his share of the inheritance and willingly left his Father’s House.

Me: In your opinion, was the son saved?

Martin: He was in the Father’s House; he was saved.

Me: But he left the Father’s House, and according to your logic - based on what we’ve already discussed - because he willingly left the Father’s House, he was never “saved” to begin with. How is this possible if he is in the Father’s House - with the Father - to begin with?

Martin: Stephen, it’s a parable, a made up story to teach the follower’s of Christ a lesson. It’s not meant to reveal the answers to the theological questions we have today.

Me: Wow, Martin, wow! Did you just suggest that Christ’s… Christ, the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), His teachings do not reveal any theological truths today?

Blogger’s note: that was the last message I left with “Martin”; I haven’t heard from him in three weeks. Suffice to say I’m disappointed that the exchange has seemingly come to an end as I would have loved to have learned more about Eternal Security (“Once saved, always saved”) from “Martin”.

What I find strange is how “Bible believing” Christians - not just from Evangelical churches - claim that Eternal Security is biblical yet at the same time they ignore passages in the Bible that very clearly contradict it! Since I did not get a chance to do a full and proper exegesis of the Parable of the Prodigal Son with “Martin”, I’m going to do a very quick on here. Here’s how we can break it down:

- the father in the parable represents God
- the father's house/home represents heaven/salvation/full union with God
- the son could be anyone one of us, but one that has sinned and turned away from God

The son starts out in his father's house - he is already “saved” - but he turns his back on his father and he makes a conscious decision in doing so. An Evangelical Christian might argue that if a person has lost their salvation then they weren't really saved to begin with (as demonstrated in the dialogue above). If you're in the father's house, YOU'RE IN THE FATHER'S HOUSE! Nothing can take you away, but that does not necessarily mean that you can't go on ahead and walk out if you so choose to (yes, it all boils down to free will). If we were "assured" of our salvation, then the father in the parable would have stopped his son from leaving his house even after his son had implied, "You are dead to me" and sinned against him (Luke 15:21).

By leaving his father, the son has to make a conscious decision to abandon his father and his house/home, something that would require a monumental amount of pride to accomplish, and by doing so the son as well says, "I don't need you". Choice can go either of two ways: You choose to either in communion with God, or you choose to abandon Him. In the same way, you can choose to come to God through His son, Jesus Christ, and be saved (John 3:16-17) but if you sin (mortally; 1 John 5:17) you can destroy that communion with God. The son in the parable chose to destroy the communion he had with his father and destroy the relationship. Did this mean his father stopped loving him? No, not at all, and this did not mean that the father did not want his son to be with him in his house. We have to remember that only those who persevere until the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13) and that we cannot love God if we have sinned against Him; the son could not love his father because he was dead to him. The son is welcomed back into his father's house only after he has humbled himself and repented for his wrongdoings; his father forgives him and celebrates his return to life (Luke 15:32).

So let’s take a look at just a handful of scripture passages that tell us that we need to repent in order to be saved… or, at the very least, tell us that we’re not “once saved, always saved” (bolded for emphasis) and that we must endure until the very end:

"'Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 7:21

"Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off." - Romans 11:22

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;" - Philippians 2:12

"For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries." - Hebrews 10:26-27

“And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” - Acts 2:38

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” - Hebrews 12:1

“… and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” - Matthew 10:22

“Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” - Hebrews 12:14

“Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.” - James 1:12

“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” - 1 John 1:6-10

“If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” - John 15:6-10

“I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” - Revelation 3:11

“My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” - James 5:19-20

“Look to yourselves, that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward.” - 2 John 1:8

“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.” - Ezekiel 18:24

I’ve only scraped the surface there, but let’s finish off by saying this: Even if you’re “saved” tomorrow, if you commit a Mortal Sin after that, you must repent again and seek forgiveness, time and time again! Catholics should know and understand that this is precisely why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation; we have a physical place where we can go, confess our sins, and reconcile ourselves with God and the Church again, and again if necessary. Why? Because the Church recognises that we have an inclination to sin (concupiscence). Repentance is a voluntary act of the will - led by grace - as living a life in cooperation with God’s grace to grow in holiness is. Both require humility, to devoid ourselves of the sin of pride and place our trust in the transformative power of Christ.

"Eternal fire was prepared for him who voluntarily departed from God and for all who, without repentance, persevere in apostasy." - St. Justin Martyr (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5:26 [A.D. 156]).

… and why? We do not repent and seek forgiveness because we don’t want to go to Hell, no. There is no love in doing (or not doing) because we fear the consequences, but rather we do (or not do) out of love. We admit fault and say sorry because we love God, and as doing harm to someone that we love may destroy the relationship with them, so too does Mortal Sin - rejecting the love God has for us - by our own fault destroys the relationship we have with God. That does not mean though that God stops loving us, but as the sacred scriptures and the Church teaches, to love God is to do His will and to grow in holiness (Matthew 5:48).

“We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbour or against ourselves: ‘He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.’ Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell’". - Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1033

Amen.

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Evangelising through our Pastimes and Hobbies

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I have a confession to make. It may not be so much of a confession to some of you because you've gotten to know me so well, but for the rest of you, I confess to you this: I am a gamer geek. I enjoy playing video games from time to time, I also frequent the gym to keep fit (I love lifting heavy things!), but form of escapism for me at the moment is miniatures gaming, a game called "HeroClix" which is the perfect union of my appreciation for tabletop games and comic book superheroes. I love strategy games and any opportunity to exercise my brain is a welcome opportunity, but on with some background information...

There would have been a time in my life when I would have thought that hobbies and faith/spiritual life should be kept separate. When I was younger - long before I looked deeper into my Catholic faith - I would wear different masks depending on what I was doing. When I was living at home with my mother, going to church every Sunday and going to prayer meetings, I was the "good Catholic boy". When I was playing competitive sports with my friends or my brothers, I was the highly competitive, win-at-all-costs sportsman with the colourful vocabulary to boot. There was also "gamer Steve" who played online games, chatted with friends online whilst doing so and discussing things and behaving in ways that were very, very contrary to what my saintly Catholic teachers and mentors would expect of me. I eventually came to a realisation that I was hiding my Catholic faith from others when I wasn't doing "churchy" things. It's fair to say that I was a timid Catholic and lukewarm; Christ was not at the centre of every aspect of my life.

"Why not make Christ the centre of every aspect of my life? Why not bring Christ into my hobbies?" I thought to myself. There were certainly some hobbies and pastimes that I was participating in that were unnecessary time sinks and that I could very well leave behind. There were, however, hobbies and pastimes that got me out of the house and interacting with people. I was raised in a very cloistered environment where the only people I knew outside of my family and school were church people; other Christians. I don't regret that one bit but it wasn't until I got to university that I started meeting people of other creeds, backgrounds, religions, people who lean to the left on the political spectrum, those who lean to the right, etc.

I was annoyed at myself for not being so open with my faith and, at times, hiding it. Yes, my closer friends knew I was a Catholic and had what they described as "traditional values", but when I was introduced to new people or within certain social groups, I did my best not to discuss my faith. I wasn't denying my Catholicity, but I was definitely making it very hard for myself to witness and evangelise. Suffice to say I chose my moments very carefully when it came to discussing matters of faith and morals.

Thankfully, as the years have gone on, I've been able to speak more boldly and openly about my faith and I love telling people about how much my Catholic faith means to me. So again, "Why not use every opportunity to share my faith?" So I made a decision: at every moment, give witness to Christ, whether by word or action. There's a way of evangelising which won't seem too "preachy" to your secular friends and that is, of course, through your actions and behaviour. As scripture tells us:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

Let me give you an example...

I mentioned the game HeroClix earlier. It's a superhero themed miniatures game, and I was never really into miniatures before I got into HeroClix. The person that got me into the game was a a friend of a mutual friend (let's call him "Clark" just for convenience) who also happened to be Christian but of the "born again" variety. We were playing a game one afternoon where, out of the blue, he said, "Stephen, you're probably the most Catholic Catholic I know". Puzzled I looked back at him and asked, "What do you mean?" and he said, "Well, I know a lot of people that say they're Catholic, but they don't really do the Catholic 'thing' if you know what I mean". Clark then went on to ask me, "So explain to me this then because I've never met a Catholic that could explain it in a way that makes sense: why do you guys worship Mary?" Suffice to say the conversation went on for a quite a bit after that. We finished our game somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00am (two hours of actual play; three to four hours of impromptu Marian Dogma catechesis) and as Clark was showing me out he said, "I think I understand the Mary thing better now. I don't agree with it, but I get why you guys do it now. 'Hyperdulia', right?"

Sometimes you don't even need to say a word to start a discussion; you don't need to start with words to evangelise. For me all it took was for someone to know that I was Catholic and by the grace of God I was about to give them the answers. For the times I do not have the answers, in humility I tell them, "I don't know, but I will find out for you".

Granted there have been times when some pretty heated discussions have arisen because someone has "discovered" my religious affiliation (e.g. "You're a practising Catholic so therefore you must be a bigot"), but the key is to never be the aggressor and to take your ego out of it. Evangelisation is not about you or any effort you make. As scripture tells us:

"... but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defence to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame." - 1 Peter 3:15-16

Your actions must also match what you believe in. This is key. We know how each other think; it's in human nature to judge the behaviour of others to a certain benchmark. My friends and my gaming buddies know that I am a practising Catholic and therefore I am judged according to that standard; even they have certain expectations of me! Ponder this: what would my peers think of Catholicism if I was speaking and behaving in ways contrary to what our faith teaches? People are not stupid. How can others begin to take the Catholic faith seriously if its faithful are not behaving in ways indicative of the One True Church of Christ? While St. Paul says that we must "... become all things to all people" (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) and this is very important to consider when evangelising no matter what we are doing, we must also bear in mind this for ourselves:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits." - Matthew 7:15-20

Yes, become all things to all people, but do not suppress Christ. The Lord will give you the opportunities to share His goodness; do not be afraid to take them no matter where you are or what you're doing. I love being a nerd and doing nerdy things, but not nearly as much as I love Christ and my Catholic faith.

Fear not.

Amen.

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The Unforgiving Ego

Posted by Unknown |

I've been hurt in the past and people have hurt me recently. I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself, but it's not physical harm that worries me; it's the harm that words can do. I'm not talking about general jibes and insults, no, but words that are sewn together with the purpose of disempowering, belittling, undermining, attacking your moral integrity, and so forth. These words are destructive. I have been subject to such words. Scripture tells us:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." - Proverbs 18:21

The tongue giving and taking life means that what we say and how we say it to others can either empower, inspire someone and help set them on the path of righteousness, or strip them of their hope, their faith and self-belief.

Dealing with such harm doesn't get any easier as some people may find different and new ways to hurt you. I've been accused of being an inept Christian father, accused of being irresponsible for supporting and echoing the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality, accused of being a bigot and a hate-monger, a fake, a phoney, a liar, and a hypocrite, but always by people that have disagreed with me or disagree what I believe in; critics of Church teachings or critics of Catholic-Christianity. I think the biggest mistake I've made is taking those attacks to heart, but then again it was difficult not to take them to heart; they were very direct and very personal.

What I've learned - this year in particular - or been reminded of is the importance of forgiveness. Yes, we should always be prepared to forgive, but in the process of forgiveness we also must recognise our pride. By the grace of God I have forgiven my transgressors and with the help of a friend (I guess unofficially he's my spiritual director) I have been able to recognise why I have taken these attacks so deeply to heart and how to sooner overcome them should it happen again.

I am a sinner and full of pride; I find it hard to admit to doing wrong to seek forgiveness. Forgiveness requires charity, and in order to love more charitably - to love more like Christ - I need more of Christ in order to forgive because I can't do it without His help. I have many short-comings and I ask that others forgive them. Despite my own short-comings I can still direct my will to cooperate with grace in order to forgive others. As Christ has taught, we must always me prepared to forgive (Matthew 18:21-23).

As well as the importance of forgiveness, I've also recognised another of my short-comings...

Blogger's note: prayer, meditating on scripture, and spending time with the Lord through Mass and the Blessed Sacrament hastens one's discovery for their own faults, failings, and short-comings.

Ego.

I was foolish enough to think that I had a "brand" to protect, a certain image to uphold, etc. so when I was attacked I would think, "How dare they! Don't they know who I am and what I do?!?" I have at times been very, very, very arrogant, and I didn't really have a right to be. Pride came before the fall. I have learned that if I do all things in humility - if I take my ego out of things - while it doesn't make me invincible to hurt, it makes it a lot easier for me to forgive. The strongest people are those unafraid of admitting their faults and failures. The haughty are prisoners of their ego, shackled and bound.

"The spirit of humility is sweeter than honey, and those who nourish themselves with this honey produce sweet fruit." - St. Anthony of Padua

The fruit of humility is forgiveness. It is this humility that bore our sins on the cross, overcame death, and gave us the means to unite ourselves fully with God in Heaven.

"He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease." - John 3:30

Less of us, more of Christ.

We need to be able to see Christ in others (Matthew 25:40) and others need to be able to see Christ in us. This means humility; this means forgiveness and charity (selfless love).

Being a Christian is to be more Christ-like, and if there's something else I have learned through the hurt and calumny I've been subjected to this year, it's that the only way to get through it and come out better for it is with Christ and to allow His light to shine brighter.

Less of me, more of Christ.

Amen.

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So September happened...

Posted by Unknown |

Hi folks.

You might be wondering why I was a bit quiet last month. I'm sorry that I didn't get around to posting a new blog entry but I've got a couple of very good excuses:

1.) September is a ridiculously busy time for teachers at the high school I work at; we were entering into the examination period for our senior students and this meant extra tutoring, exam preparation, finalising other assessments before finals exams, and of course accumulating assessment data for reports.

2.) My new baby daughter was born on Thursday, September 19. Having a new baby in the house - as you parents out there would know - can be a stressful time even at the best of times, but thankfully both my wife and the new baby (Madeline Grace Spiteri) are doing very, very well. We've spent the last four weeks adjusting to having a newborn in the house and while we're all a bit sleep deprived, we're otherwise feeling incredibly blessed to have happy and healthy children and a household filled with love and laughter.

What does this mean for the blog? Well, I'm still incredibly busy at the moment but I've got some great stuff planned for you all to read. I will get around to finishing some blogs that I started a while ago and trickle them out, and I will of course ask for your input every so often. I don't maintain this blog for me, but for you guys. If there's a topic you'd like me to cover, then please do not hesitate to put it forward.

In the meantime you can find me on Facebook (link/badge on the toolbar of this blog), Twitter (@TheSpiritMagnus), ask.fm (ask.fm/TheSpiritMagnus), or you can reply to this post below and leave me a message that way.

God bless. :)

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A Matter of Substance

Posted by Unknown |

I had a conversation with a fundamentalist the other day and he was asking how it was at all possible that Jesus could "be something so mundane as bread and wine... how can you believe that bread and wine becomes the flesh and blood of Christ?". As I pondered the question I was reminded of something Steve Ray (a Catholic apologist I have great admiration for) said in response to a similar question that was posed to him. When Steve Ray visited Australia in 2009, he shared with us his response to that question (I'm paraphrasing here, so Steve, if you read this, I apologise for any inaccuracy):

Steve Ray was approach by a man that wagered, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that if I took that bit of bread after the consecration and put it under a microscope, I wouldn't be able to see flesh and blood". Steve responded, "My friend, I'd be willing to wager that if I travelled back in time to the time of Christ and with my pocket knife cut off a bit of Jesus' skin and put that under a microscope, I wouldn't be able to see Christ's divinity".

Steve Ray's wagerer was for the most part satisfied with the response, but the question raises more queries about the Catholic definition of "substance".

The way I define "substance" to my students is this way: I am a Catholic, I am a father, I am a husband, etc. but these things are not perceptible; they typically cannot be detected by the human senses. These things are my substance; they define who and what I am and what I may become.

There are then "accidents", and these are things that are perceptible; detected by the human senses. I would ask my students to look at me and describe my appearance. They would then say "adult, dark hair, goatee/beard, tall, strong looking..." etc.

When we speak of "accidents" and "substance" in relation to the Eucharist, the "accidents" and "substance" are as follows:

Accidents: bread, wine
Substance (after consecration): body, blood, soul, divinity of Christ

The accidents of bread and wine remain after consecration but it is the substance that changes, i.e. transubstantiation, meaning "change of substance". Prior to consecration, the bread and wine's substance is the substance of bread and wine.

Substance, in this context, can be defined as the "essential nature" or "essence" of something. Christ's "essential nature" is divine; He is fully human and fully divine; He is God incarnate (God "in the flesh"). As far as the Eucharist is concerned, we believe that the bread and wine, while under the appearance of bread and wine, is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ and scripture reveals this truth:

John 6:35-57 -- the Eucharist is promised
Matthew 26:26 (Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19) -- the sacrament of the Eucharist is instituted
1 Corinthians 10:16 -- the Eucharist is participation in Christ's body and blood
1 Corinthians 11:23-29 -- Receiving the bread and the wine in an unworthy manner is to profane against the body and blood of Christ

The Early Church Fathers professed this faith too:

“Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ..." - St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, XXII:8 (350AD)

"[heretics] abstain from Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ..." - St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Smyrnaeans 6, 2, 2 (110AD)

"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." Justin Martyr, First Apology, 66 (155AD)

"... live by faith, and not by sight" - 2 Corinthians 5:7

Amen.

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