Christmas: Struggling to become Saint

      Christmas: Struggling to become Saint 

  by: Peter James Obera

  Last year I wrote an article about celebrating Christmas in our hearts, despite of economic crisis. Now I will try to write a continuation about of that article the I've wrote last year. I want to go deeper this year because it seems the crisis not only in economic terms, but in spiritual aspect as well, that affects the way we celebrate Christmas. This year's Christmas is quite a different Christmas, others said "its so dry and cold" while others said no more gifts and noche buenas. In my last year article I talk about how consumerism and materialism really affects Christmas and I fervently said that Christmas is a season to practice of becoming saints. This article may short compared last year since this just an addition of thoughts and reflections rather than a mere sequel of literature.

  I want to express my feelings of struggling for holy cause or saintly cause I myself find hard to observed this, because I personally affected  with the intoxicating effect of consumerism and materialism, my family felt that even. It really hard too many temptations but I know and I believed in the Mercy and Grace of God, its a matter of prayers and sacrifice.This year is the Holy Year of Mercy, I guess Holiness Pope Francis felt this suffering and the struggle of the faithfuls in this world.

"The mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom," -Pope Francis-

 Pope Francis stresses that the Mercy of God may free us from the suffering of sins and embracing Christ especially this Christmas.

 For us its really hard to show mercy to people who those often times offended us. we been attached not only by our Material Relationship but also with our Internal Pride. Obviously it will only adds up to the burden that we carried. In my previous article about Christmas I talked about advent, in preparation for the Lord's coming, the dawn of our faith waiting for the sunlight of our faith Jesus Christ. There  I describe on how we must prepare. First is by having our internal houses to be clean and decorated. But what happened?  We tend  to forget to clean and ended up unprepared . Does anyone familiar about the "Foolish Virgins"?

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.  But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

 And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’But he answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

 - Matthew 25:1-13- 

 We are the perfect example of that often times, We are Perfect Virgins, determined, confident and enthusiastic to welcome our Lord. Yet we are Perfect Stupids also because we forget the details on how to make things done because we did it out of mediocre. If someone readers of this article he might think that I am pessimistic. But this is the Truth! We tend to forget all our struggles, suffering and preparations when abundance came but in times drought strikes. We complained because of devastation and grief. We are so superficial in our life. A true Christians must not always be in sorrow because he has no reason to be. The True Christians always rejoice because he received Christ His words and His Body but sadly earthly materialism covered this among us Christians. This Christmas we tend to received goods than Christ. Well this year I saw a blasphemous advertisement about expensive bag. On said ad it depicts the Nativity scene but yet it revealed to be an expensive bag in replacement to Christ, they adored it. Alas! Now that expensive bag is now their new Lord! That's how the materialism and consumerism intoxicates our Christianity. Another is a Television show portrayed a blasphemous act showing a protagonist undergoing abortion procedure while playing "Silent Night". That's blasphemous! A mockery direct to Christ! Christmas begins to deteriorates because of the introduction of Godless behavior and Culture of Death. Recently this December in this year, a group of youth having a rumble, a fistfight outside of the Church while the Misa de Gallo (Dawn Mass) was ongoing, the said trouble associated with "gangs". This dissident youths are in deep influence of "Colonial Ideolism" behaving as "gangster wannabe". They are not respecting our Lord anymore. They are Madman acting worse than Animal. St, Anthony of Egypt is right:

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.'” -St. Anthony of Egypt-

 People these days are madman.

I may aggressive this year compared my last year article but I want to remind that Christ not anything else. We Christians we must be during against the flood of errors of this modernity. We must not go with the flow, we must daring to go against it. In this Christmas we must resist against the influenced of Colonial Ideology. To became a saint we must struggle our self. By the grace of Baptism we are called to be Saints. Catholic our name and Christian is our surname, we carried the Holy Name of Christ. In the Name of Christ we aspired Modern Saints mus save Christmas! Its our duty as I said on my previous article Christmas is the time to practice of being a saint. A saint is a soldier of Christ, so onward be daring! Save the Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all !!

Montecassiano

 July 11 is a special day for me because first it is my Birthday and then secondly it is the Feast day of my patron Saint, St. Benedict of Nursia. Who is St. Benedict? Why he is so important in the Church?

St. Benedict was a son of a Roman noble in Nursia in 480 AD and a twin brother of St. Scholastica  (according to some acct.). He lived in a usual worldly life but later on turned himself to God as he realized that he is no longer a youth but a man of God. This conversion and spiritual maturity of St. Benedict give him an inspiration, God sent his Spirit to him to found a Monastic Order as he lived as a monk. Many youngsters are so attracted to his holiness like him they are inspired and they became monks. They ask St. Benedict to be their Abbot but he decline, because of strong persuasion. St Benedict accept but he warns the monks that he may too strict to them. As the group grows up they settle a place called "Montecassiano" there they build their monastery, St. Benedict wrote his Rule which is now called "The Rule of St. Benedict" the rule summarizes the life of a monk such as abandoning all the glory, power, wealth and pleasures of the world and turn into the way which lead to God. By much discipline, prayer and work, as their motto is "Ora et Labora". The reason why St. Benedict is one of my favorite Saints and my Patron because of being Zealous in Faith, as he goes against this word for the Glory of God. St. Benedict the one who give a good definition of Man as he said: "The first step of humility, then, is that a man keeps the fear of God always before his eyes.". Man created out of Love and does Man is not a merely creature but a Child of God. Because a Child loves his Father then he may fear his Father. By this Humility and Fear of God, Man finally exalted above of all of creatures here on earth. Because of being Zeal and Strict, some of the troubled monks plotted to kill him by poisoning the wine on his cup. As the monks presented it, St. Benedict makes a sign of the Cross and the cup was shattered. Because of the holiness of St. Benedict it cannot be denied that he and his group the Monastery became a popular place for pilgrimage. Then there is a local priest named Florentius who is so envious to St. Benedict's success on winning souls. He attempt to poison St. Benedict by offering a Poisonous Bread. As St. Benedict receives the offer he bless it immediately suddenly a raven snatch the bread away from the Saint. By this St. Benedict become the Patron against poison,witchcraft and temptation. St. Benedict has a gift to read hearts as t King Totila, King of the Goths after his success in invading Italy, he attempted to trick St. Benedict. By ordering his general to wear a royal kingly garment to impersonate as him. St. Benedict detected this impersonation because of shock and impression King Totila bowed down to St. Benedict and pay homage. In 543 AD God sent a message to St. Benedict that soon he will be with him forever. God told him that he was to die, and was buried in the same place as his sister St. Scholastica, he was died in a High Fever in Montecassiano. St. Benedict soon venerated as Saint together with his twin sister, by the people who witnessed his Holy Life, later formally canonized in 1220 by Pope Honorius. St. Benedict became the Patron of Europe because of his supernatural life many people inspired by him some are now Saints and there are many Popes in the History used his named as Papal name in his honor, notably Pope Benedict XVI.

St. Benedict live a simple yet extraordinary no wonder I am devoted to him saw him sought of inspiration in little by little I will fully turn myself to God,

St. Benedict, Pray for us young people..

Praise be to you

 In this late of the month Pope Francis released his encyclical regarding in the concern of the environmental exploitation. The title of the encyclical is "Laudato Si" (Praise be to you) from the hymn of St. Francis of Asisi praising to the Creator "Almighty God". This Encyclical sparked with issues upon its release there are lots of issues and concerns regarding the "Global Warming Hoax", "Human cause climate change Hoax", "Carbon tax", "Depopulation" and "Ecocentrism" of Mother Earth worship of Green Movement people. Too many speculations and rumors about the words of Holy Fathers from the encyclical, but to be honest I've never read the whole Encyclical since I'm not yet done reviewing the Veritatis Splendor of St. John Paul II. Atleast I have a glance with it. Since it talks about environmental concern the encyclical it does not talk the Global Warming or Climate change alone, but it talks more on concern such as environmental exploitation caused by rapid industrialization and commercialization. The Holy Father talks about the stewardship of Man to God's Creation, because "real talk" we do not own anything in this world, God gave Adam a authority to be steward:

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it." -Genesis 2:15-
and the Cathecism of the Catholic Church supported the Pope's concern on environment.

" To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it.God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become "God's fellow workers" and co-workers for his kingdom." -CCC 307-
This encyclical is more pastoral rather than scientific as Cardinal Tagle noted on his interview, the Pope calls for the "discipline" on taking care of our "common home" the Earth. The agenda of the Green People such as depopulation was not supported by the Pope. In fact on his encyclical he stresses.

"Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties? "If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away." -Laudato Si no. 120-

There is no way for the Green movement to use this encyclical on their own hidden agenda, even Gay marriage was lambasted by this encyclical. Since Gay marriage is part of the agenda by the liberals because they believe that Gay marriage can harmonize the ecology (Infact it destroys the Nature of Man in the first place) by controling population.

"Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of an "ecology of man," based on the fact that "man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will." It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God's gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one's own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek "to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it." -Laudato Si no. 155-

Pope Francis does not bring a havoc of rupture on this encyclical despite that he has a Pantheist adviser , yet it is still clear that Pope Francis maintained the Catholic Church views on environment by acknowledging the Creator.

"A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable. That is how we end up worshipping earthly powers, or ourselves usurping the place of God, even to the point of claiming an unlimited right to trample his creation underfoot. The best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world. Otherwise, human beings will always try to impose their own laws and interests on reality. " - Laudato Si no. 75-

"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made" (Ps 33:6). This tells us that the world came about as the result of a decision, not from chaos or chance, and this exalts it all the more. The creating word expresses a free choice. The universe did not emerge as the result of arbitrary omnipotence, a show of force or a desire for self-assertion. Creation is of the order of love. God's love is the fundamental moving force in all created things: "For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it" (Wis 11:24). Every creature is thus the object of the Father's tenderness, who gives it its place in the world. Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of his love, and in its few seconds of existence, God enfolds it with his affection. Saint Basil the Great described the Creator as "goodness without measure," while Dante Alighieri spoke of "the love which moves the sun and the stars." Consequently, we can ascend from created things "to the greatness of God and to his loving mercy."


-Laudato Si no. 77-

The Pope recognized Jesus Christ sanctifies the work of creation:

"Jesus worked with his hands, in daily contact with the matter created by God, to which he gave form by his craftsmanship. It is striking that most of his life was dedicated to this task in a simple life which awakened no admiration at all: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" (Mk 6:3). In this way he sanctified human labour and endowed it with a special significance for our development. As Saint John Paul II taught, "by enduring the toil of work in union with Christ crucified for us, man in a way collaborates with the Son of God for the redemption of humanity." -Laudato Si no. 98-

Lastly the Pope pointed out that it is Secularism, Cynicism and other immoralities that destroys the environment. Not merely Humans.

"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that lighthearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment." -Laudato Si no. 229-

There are instances that people are so alarmed and paranoid with the "advisers" who surrounds the Pope but as for me there is nothing wrong in this encyclical in fact the Pope presented the solution in the problem that cannot contradict to the teachings of Christ and of course its about virtues and discipline. Pope Francis follows the thoughts of St. Francis of Asisi as the Holy Father bares its papal name. There are instances that the Pope may surrounded by Bad Advisers but we must pray for the Pope as he was been sent in the midst of wolf. This encyclical may opens the door of our conversion in our life styles as we care much in our environment.

The full text of the encyclical is Here

Tips: The encyclical is too long to read as it takes days as it is the "Longest encyclical" in the History of the Church. Be patient in every details ;)

 

                                 

The cover of the Encyclical

The detailed cover of the encyclical

"Laudato si mi Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,
da la quale nullu homo uiuente pò skappare:
guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;
beati quelli ke trouarà ne le Tue sanctissime uoluntati,
ka la morte secunda no 'l farrà male."

(Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing Your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.)

Mayflower

 Here in Philippines traditionally we dedicate the month of May to Our Beloved Virgin Mary the celebration called Flores de Mayo. In this month devotees of Mary offers hymns (like Dios de Slave) and Flowers, in this month were each families has a its Altar decorated with flowers. In this month where Our Lady appeared in Fatima to the 3 Children, by this people dedicating a rosary prayer to her. This month is very relevant because May is a season where flowers bloom, just like Mary who bloomed by her Full of Grace from God. Let our faith bloom like a flowers and we must offer flowers to Mary by putting an live flowers in her Altar or by praying a rosary for the poor souls in the purgatory that may Christ will take them to paradise, and to those who are lost on their Faith just like a Motherless orphan. One day they may converted and hold the Mother's hand.

Holy Mary may your Humility and Purity be our guide

Pray for us..

For those who followed The Voice of Satan

 Prior to the Protestantism or Reformation during the time of Patristic Period of the Church, there are number of heretical groups sprang out to destroy the Teachings of the Church and to draw away the grace of those members of the Church. By inducing confusion of their false teachings, trough this many faithful will tremble and loss their faith to the Church that Christ establish. During this time our Church Fathers by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, used their wisdom and intellectual gifts to defend the Church. One of these Fathers and Defenders of the Church is St. Cyprian a former Magician, who lived in Carthage in 200-258 AD,  Carthage is the last Roman city that converted to Christianity and by this city the practice of Paganism was very prevalent, it is widely known for notorious "child sacrifices" to pagan god Moloch where held, and by this city where St. Augustine involved in paganistic activities during his youth.In Carthage where the first desecration to the Eucharist was happened when the first Black Mass was celebrated there. St. Cyprian is one of those people who been in this practices, there is even a legend has been linked to him. That there is a rich man from Antioch who paid his service to abduct St. Justina (a Christian virgin) for force marriage. Then magician St. Cyprian agreed and invoked demons for aid to disturb St. Justina but he failed as St. Justina foiled the threefold attacks of the demons by the Sign of the Cross. Due to this failure St. Cyprian realize that God is the most powerful of all, abandoned his occupation as Magician and converted to Christianity. Dedicated to study more about Gospels and writings of other Apostles and then eventually ordained as Priest until he consecrated as Bishop of Carthage. In 250 AD before he died he wrote a letter entitled De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate (On the Unity of the Catholic Church). This letter was served as a warning to those who attempt to leave that Church as start his own church, technically followed the Voice of Satan.

The Content of the Letter is here with the commentaries from a scholar of stpeterlist.com, my additional own personal commentary will marked in color Blue:


1. The New Voice of Satan

Pulling from Chapter III of St. Cyprian’s text, the saint teaches that those who call themselves “Christians” but leave the Catholic Church for a Christian sect are following the voice of Satan. Paganism was crumbling under the growth of the Church; thus, Satan started a “new way” to deceive.

The New Way of Satan
“He [Satan] has invented heresies and schisms, whereby he might subvert the faith, might corrupt the truth, might divide the unity. Those whom he cannot keep in the darkness of the old way, he circumvents and deceives by the error of a new way. He snatches men from the Church itself; and while they seem to themselves to have already approached to the light, and to have escaped the night of the world, he pours over them again, in their unconsciousness, new darkness.”

Still Call Themselves Christian
“So that, although they do not stand firm with the Gospel of Christ, and with the observation and law of Christ, they still call themselves Christians, and, walking in darkness, they think that they have the light, while the adversary is flattering and deceiving, who, according to the apostle’s word, transforms himself into an angel of light, and equips his ministers as if they were the ministers of righteousness, who maintain night instead of day, death for salvation, despair under the offer of hope, perfidy under the pretext of faith, antichrist under the name of Christ; so that, while they feign things like the truth, they make void the truth by their subtlety. This happens, beloved brethren, so long as we do not return to the source of truth, as we do not seek the head nor keep the teaching of the heavenly Master.”

This “new way” of Satan is the modus operandi that extends back to the garden. Satan does not tempt Adam and Eve with rebellion, but with being “like God.” Satan’s “new way” is to sell an incomplete and heretical faith to those seeking God.

2. Founded upon the Apostles

In Chapter IV the saint moves to speaking of the “easy proof for faith in a short summary of the truth.” He rests this proof upon Christ’s charge to St. Peter and the Apostles. Here a watershed issue enters between Catholic and Protestant thought. For protestantism to consider itself legitimate – not a schismatic heresy – it must interpret all these apostolic charges as general proclamations from to Christ to any believer at any time; therefore, any person who so deems could start a new “church” just as the Apostles founded the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

It should be sufficient to point out that Christianity believed in no such thing until the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s; thus, the concept is and was little more than rewriting biblical doctrine to serve and legitimate rebellious actions. Along with the biblical evidence and historical confirmation of Christ founding a structured apostolic Church, the protestant view hinges upon the idea that perfect faith and love can exist in disunity and dissent. Again, trying to navigate the incompatibility of love and faith with disunity, protestantism has – through centuries of in-fighting, splintering groups and cultural conformity – both boiled down the Christian faith to a fraction of apostolic and biblical existence and adopted the quasi-platonic stance that although all physical “ecclesiastical groups”4 exist in both hierarchical and doctrinal chaos they are unified by “Christ” in a mystical manner. In this scenario, Christ stops being a historical and divine person and become a malleable concept and/or term.

Upon This Rock
“There is easy proof for faith in a short summary of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter, saying, “I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” And again to the same He says, after His resurrection, “Feed my sheep.”

Apostolic Authority
“And although to all the apostles, after His resurrection, He gives an equal power, and says, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained;” yet, that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity.”

For St. Cyprian, the presence of St. Peter among the twelve provides a mark of ecclesial unity that safeguards the entire unity of the Church – where there is Peter, there is the Church. What schismatic groups fail to comprehend is that Christ founded a living breath physical Church. A study of Christ of the Son of David, the Old Testament motif of awaiting the New Davidic Kingdom, the Vicar role in the Kingdom of David and the Vicar of Christ as seen in St. Peter and other biblical realities help form the very core of understanding the Holy Catholic Church as the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the will of Christ Jesus.

*Additional commentary:

Truly the Catholic Church is founded upon the Apostles as supported by the scripture in Letters to the Ephesians.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone." -Ephesians 2:19-

Those who choose to leave the Church and start their own, are now become strangers, aliens and lost souls, who been separated from the Light of Christ.

3. Bishops Protect the Church
Chapter V grants the reader both a practical and an analogous insight. The saint exhorts bishops of the Church to hold together the unity of the Church, and while this may not seem profound, it is a thwart to those who would try and state that the hierarchy of bishops did not exist in this time. The second insight is a well written analogy of the Sun and the Church.

Bishops
“And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert, especially those of us that are bishops who preside in the Church, that we may also prove the episcopate itself to be one and undivided. Let no one deceive the brotherhood by a falsehood: let no one corrupt the truth of the faith by perfidious prevarication. The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one for the whole.”

The Analogy of the Sun
“The Church also is one, which is spread abroad far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of the sun, but one light; and many branches of a tree, but one strength based in its tenacious root; and since from one spring flow many streams, although the multiplicity seems diffused in the liberality of an overflowing abundance, yet the unity is still preserved in the source. Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,—when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up. Thus also the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spreads her branches over the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animated.”

4. Church as Mother

In Chapter VI, the saint discusses the Church herself and delivers one of his most famous lines:


“He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”

Can the Spouse of Christ Be Adulterous?
“The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”

The Holy Catholic Church cannot be reduced to a simple hierarchy that can historically trace its lineage to Christ, but it is centered and held together by a sacramental unity and the Holy Spirit. The Sacraments and the Holy Spirit further the truth that charity and faith cannot exist in disunity.\

*Additional commentary:

The Church is the rightful bride of Christ and it is supported by the scripture in Letters to Ephesians.

"For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior" -Ephesians 5:23-

Christ promised to be faithful to His Church and there will be no separation to it.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish." -Ephesians 5:26-27-

5. The People of God Always Had Unity

Chapter VII gives us the example of the undivided Church and Christ’s undivided garment. Chapter VIII can be characterized by a movement into Eucharistic Unity. The saint utilizes biblical examples from the New and Old Testament to demonstrate that God has always held his people to unity.

No Eucharist Outside the Church
“Also, the sacrament of the passover contains nothing else in the law of the Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in the figure of Christ should be eaten in one house. God speaks, saying, “In one house shall ye eat it; ye shall not send its flesh abroad from the house.”

St. Cyprian pulls from St. John, St. Paul, Exodus and Joshua to show that never before in the history of the People of God as there ever been a time where God did not hold the people to both a spiritual and physical unity. From Moses to St. Peter, the People of God have never been allowed to separate doctrinal unity from structural unity.

*Additional commentary:

The members of the Church bound to have communion with Christ. Christ is the Invisible Head of the Church.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." -1 Corinthians 12:12-

"So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another."

-Romans 12:5-

Those who leaved the Church broke its unity with Christ.

6. Schism Creeps Like Cancer

Chapter X pulls no punches. After laying a foundation for understanding the true hierarchical and sacramental unity of the Church, the saint speaks candidly about those who decide – for any reason, even the infamous “God told me…” – to appoint themselves a pastor and/or start their own church.

Those Who Start Their Own Church Vomit Poison
“These are they who of their own accord, without any divine arrangement, set themselves to preside among the daring strangers assembled, who appoint themselves prelates without any law of ordination, who assume to themselves the name of bishop, although no one gives them the episcopate; whom the Holy Spirit points out in the Psalms as sitting in the seat of pestilence, plagues, and spots of the faith, deceiving with serpent’s tongue, and artful in corrupting the truth, vomiting forth deadly poisons from pestilential tongues; whose speech doth creep like a cancer, whose discourse forms a deadly poison in the heart and breast of every one.”

7. The Person of Christ

Chapter XII address a mainstay argument of both ancient and modern schismatic groups: Isn’t the Church where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ?

Gathered to One Christ
“For wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them;” showing that most is given, not to the multitude, but to the unanimity of those that pray. “If,” He says, “two of you shall agree on earth:” He placed agreement first; He has made the concord of peace a prerequisite; He taught that we should agree firmly and faithfully. But how can he agree with any one who does not agree with the body of the Church itself, and with the universal brotherhood? How can two or three be assembled together in Christ’s name, who, it is evident, are separated from Christ and from His Gospel? For we have not withdrawn from them, but they from us; and since heresies and schisms have risen subsequently, from their establishment for themselves of diverse places of worship, they have forsaken the Head and Source of the truth.”

Heretical and schismatic groups – which include protestantism – cannot be gathered together to the true Christ, because their doctrines, beliefs and actions all point to a pantheon of “Christs.” To wit, protestantism is gathered around the term “Jesus Christ,” not the person. The same theme can be seen in Chapter XII:

Priests and Sacrifice
“What sacrifices do those who are rivals of the priests think that they celebrate? Do they deem that they have Christ with them when they are collected together, who are gathered together outside the Church of Christ?”

Additional Commentary:

Protestants and those who broke its unity to the Church, loses its priestly function their ordinations are invalid and they cannot hold sacrifices like Mass.

8. Non-Catholics Are Not Martyrs

Chapter XIV addresses a topic that our “modern sensibilities” find unsettling. The question at hand is whether or not schismatic or heretical individuals who die in the name of Christ are martyrs. Since we’ve seen that Christ is not amongst them because they gather around a term not a person, the answer of martyrdom will inevitably be no. The saint explains:

Blood Does Not Wash the Stain of Schism
“Even if such men were slain in confession of the Name, that stain is not even washed away by blood: the inexpiable and grave fault of discord is not even purged by suffering. He cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church; he cannot attain unto the kingdom who forsakes that which shall reign there.”

They Can Be Killed, Not Crowned
“They cannot dwell with God who would not be of one mind in God’s Church. Although they burn, given up to flames and fires, or lay down their lives, thrown to the wild beasts, that will not be the crown of faith, but the punishment of perfidy; nor will it be the glorious ending of religious valour, but the destruction of despair. Such a one may be slain; crowned he cannot be. He professes himself to be a Christian in such a way as the devil often feigns himself to be Christ, as the Lord Himself forewarns us, and says, “Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.” As he is not Christ, although he deceives in respect of the name; so neither can he appear as a Christian who does not abide in the truth of His Gospel and of faith.”

9. Rebels Against Christ’s Sacrifice

Chapter XVII makes clear that there is no unity in Christ without unity with the Church. Again, notice that he speaks of priests in this paragraph and spoke of bishops, apostles and St. Peter previously. Any notion that the Catholic Church was a medieval invention or developed later in history is simply historically false.

Enemies of the Altar
“Does he think that he has Christ, who acts in opposition to Christ’s priests, who separates himself from the company of His clergy and people? He bears arms against the Church, he contends against God’s appointment. An enemy of the altar, a rebel against Christ’s sacrifice, for the faith faithless, for religion profane, a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile brother, despising the bishops, and forsaking God’s priests, he dares to set up another altar, to make another prayer with unauthorized words, to profane the truth of the Lord’s offering by false sacrifices, and not to know that he who strives against the appointment of God, is punished on account of the daring of his temerity by divine visitation.”

10. The Spouse of Christ Cannot be Torn

Chapter XXIII returns to the reality of the Church as Body of Christ, the Spouse of Christ and the Mother of All Who Live in Christ; therefore, how could this Sacred Body be torn apart via schism and heresy?

The Church is One
“God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and the faith is one, and the people is joined into a substantial unity of body by the cement of concord. Unity cannot be severed; nor can one body be separated by a division of its structure, nor torn into pieces, with its entrails wrenched asunder by laceration. Whatever has proceeded from the womb cannot live and breathe in its detached condition, but loses the substance of health.”

Additional commentary:
No matter how strong the attack of the enemies of the Church still it cannot be torn down as Christ in Matthew 16:18 the "Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it.

11. Christ Comes Back for the Church

Chapter XXVII concludes the saints work On the Unity of the Church by asking: How will Christ know who to come back for? St. Cyprian’s answer is that He will come for his Bride, the Church.

Let Our Faith Be on Watch
“Let our light shine in good works, and glow in such wise as to lead us from the night of this world to the daylight of eternal brightness. Let us always with solicitude and caution wait for the sudden coming of the Lord, that when He shall knock, our faith may be on the watch, and receive from the Lord the reward of our vigilance. If these commands be observed, if these warnings and precepts be kept, we cannot be overtaken in slumber by the deceit of the devil; but we shall reign with Christ in His kingdom as servants that watch.”

Additional commentary:

Christ watched and protected His Church in a span of times, until He will come again..

"And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:20-

Credit and references:

http://www.stpeterslist.com/6272/those-who-start-their-own-church-follow-the-voice-of-satan-11-teachings-from-st-cyprian-ad-250/

 

                                              St. Cyprian, Pray for us

The Universal Church

 There is a Pastor who insisted that the Church was founded in Jerusalem and it does not started in Rome. Therefore the claims of the Catholics regarding the Matthew 16:18 is invalid. But this Pastor was definitely confused regarding the linkage of Rome and the Church that established by Christ.In Matthew 16:18 it is true that Christ established His Church in Jerusalem in 33 AD, Catholics won't deny it. But indeed in Matthew 21:43 stated that His Kingdom will be given to a Nation that will produce a fruit. What are these people or Nation?? Acts 23:11 cited "For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome." so it is clearly stated in the verse that Rome witness the testimonies from Jerusalem which is the Gospel of the Lord. And the fact that Church of Rome was called by God to evangelized the world a fact that it cant be denied that Rome played a much greater role. In Romans 1:7-8 "To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world." Therefore the Roman Catholic Church is indeed a Universal Church, granted that the Church has its large number of Saints a sign that the Christian Faith bear its fruits as what mentioned on Matt 21:43. Besides the Catholic Church is not only composed of a single Church which is the Church of Rome nor Church of Jerusalem but indeed it composed of Churches that in communion with Christ or rather united by the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12 and Rom 12:5) and as stated in Acts 9:31 where the Churches of Galiea, Judea and Sumeria where united and spread "throughout"* (*"Katha'oles in Greek means Universal.)" In Romans 16:16 the Church of Rome greeted by its members from the other Churches.

Conclusion: The Protestant doesn't posses a Ecclessiology to link the historicity of the Church.

The Medieval illustration of the Church

 

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris

"Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris" (Remember man that you are from dust and into dust you shall return) this lines are familiar during "Ash Wednesday" as the opening of Lenten season, originally taken from Gen 3:19 a remainders that Man as a mortal being that he does not own anything in this world. There are 2 points to consider this Ash Wednesday, First is to remind ourselves that we are Moral being and because of our sins we face death, by this we need to get closer to God through repentance and penance. Second "Humility" we can achieve repentance and penance in the means of Humility, in connection to this the soil in Latin is called "Humus" where Humility is taken place, it somewhat recognizing our humble beginning from soil or dust, that there is no point to boast or brag something from this world because at the end we're came from the dust and into dust we shall return.




Ash is significant in doing some penance, in Old Testament reference 2 Samuel 13:19, Job 42:3-6, Jeremiah 6:26 and Jonah 3:6. While in New Testament Hebrews 9:3. Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13 mentioned about the usage of Ash in penance. Ash Wednesday is like a Spiritual Repainting where Ash of Humility will served as paint to repaint all of our sins that been stained our souls. "Repent and believe in Gospel" another line that familiar also this Ash Wednesday it is a instruction of conversion to us that by following the teaching of Gospel the repentance will be genuine. This act of penance is also a step toward sainthood, all Saints that we have known today was been receiving ashes in their lives time to time, fast and abstained all of their desires and pleasure. As been mentioned Fasting is not all about foods but a fasting in our Pleasurable craving and concupiscence. It is easy to put ashes in our heads but very hard to received it, thats what I observed and our Saints are successfully received their Ashes that help their sanctifying lives.

                                   Pope Benedict XVI received his Ash

Priestess...

  If someone might bother why the Catholic Church does not allow ordination of women or even consecration of woman Bishops. It is simple because Church followed the teachings of Christ which handed by the Apostles. Priest and the Apostles are Alter Christus (Other Christ) so it must be male to confer a Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Altar. Even the priest of the Old Testament from Melchizedek, to Aron, to Zachariah, to Jesus Christ and lastly to his Apostles which are handed down to our current Priests and Bishops (Apostolic Succession) all are male.

St. John Paul II declared in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: "Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance…I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

The Church has no authority to confer ordination to women, simply because the Church is obedient to Christ.

It is not all about oppressing women but it is all about proper roles and distinct vocation inside the Church. As God comanded Women to be helpers of Men, just like Eve being a helper to Adam (Gen. 3:16). Women are indeed helpers of Men in terms of Pastoral work and prayer. Just like Nuns who helps the Priest in Pastoral works and Prayers.

The disadvantage of Women in leading the flock is that they are not strong enough to do these kind of duties. There are many things might hindered them by holding a Ministry as what describe on  ( 1 Tim 2:13-14 and 1 Peter 3:7) being weak they are easily get fooled and deceived by the devil just like Eve whose been deceived to ate the forbidden fruit and sinned which lead to fall and astray. Its not about oppressing them but the Church simply protects their dignity and identity that might Satan exploit. Protection from embarrassment that when Satan attacks them in the moment they hold a ministry that can affect the souls of their flocks. The Church just secure its masculinity to hold and protect its doctrines and unbroken Apostolic traditions.

So far it is very awkward to think that a "Man who wanted to be a Nun."  So far I didn't heard of that..

One thing I almost forgot.. Only Pagans who allows a priestess on their Altars..