WHY BE CATHOLIC

Two Reasons to Become Catholic

http://www.markmallett.com/blog/2008/04/two-reasons-to-become-catholic/#more-694

Forgiven by Thomas Blackshear II

AT a recent event, a young married Pentecostal couple approached me and said, "Because of your writings, we are becoming Catholic." I was filled with joy as we embraced one another, delighted that this brother and sister in Christ were going to experience His power and life in new and profound waysparticularly through the Sacraments of Confession and the Holy Eucharist. And so, here are two "no-brainer" reasons why Protestants should become Catholics.

ITS IN THE BIBLE Another evangelical has been writing me recently stating that it is not necessary to confess ones sins to another, and that he does so directly to God. Nothing wrong with that on one level. As soon as we see our sin, we should speak to God from the heart, asking His forgiveness, and then begin again, resolved to sin no more. But according to the Bible we are to do more:

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. 5:16)

(James

The question is, to whom are we to confess? The answer is to those whom Christ gave the authority to forgive sin. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Apostles, breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and said:
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. (John 20:23)

This was not a command to everyone, but only the Apostles, the first bishops of the Church. Confession to the priests was practiced from the earliest times:
Many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. (Acts 19:18) Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience . Didache "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", (c. 70 A.D.) [Do] not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine Origen of Alexandria, Church Father; (c. 244 A.D.) He who confesses his sins with a repentant heart obtains their remission from the priest . St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Church Father, (c. 295373 A.D.)

"When you hear a man lay bare his conscience in confessing, he has already come forth from the sepulchre," says St. Augustine (c. 354430 A.D.) in an obvious reference to the raising of Lazarus. "But he is not yet unbound. When is he unbound? By whom is he unbound?"
Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt 18:18)

"Rightly," Augustine goes on to say, "is the loosing of sins able to be given by the Church."
Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go. (John 11:44)

I cannot say enough about the healing graces I have experienced in my encounters with Jesus in the confessional. To hear I am forgiven by Christs appointed representative is a wonderful gift (see Confession Pass?). And that is the point: this Sacrament is only valid in the presence of a Catholic priest. Why? Because they are the only ones who have been given the authority to do so through apostolic succession down through the centuries.

HUNGRY? Not only do you need to hear the Lords forgiveness pronounced, but you need to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Is it possible? Can we touch the Lord before His final coming? Jesus called Himself the "bread of life." This He gave to the Apostles at the Last Supper when He pronounced:

"Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt 26:26-28)

It is clear from the Lords own words that He was not being symbolic.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is truedrink. John 6:55)

Then,
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

The verb "eats" used here is the Greek verb trogon which means to "munch" or "gnaw" as if to emphasize the literal reality Christ was presenting. It is clear that St. Paul understood the significance of this Divine Meal:
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. (I Cor 11:27-30).

Jesus said that whoever eats this Bread has eternal life! The Israelites were commanded to eat an unblemished lamb and place its blood upon their doorposts. In this way, they were spared from the angel of death. So too, we are to eat the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). In this meal, we too are spared from eternal death.
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. (John 6:5) I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His blood, which is love incorruptible. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Church Father, Letter to the Romans 7:3 (c. 110 A.D.) We call this food Eucharist For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that Jesus incarnated. St. Justin Martyr, first apology in defense of Christians, n. 66, (c. 100 165 A.D.)

Scripture is clear. The tradition of Christianity from the earliest centuries is unchanged. Confession and the Eucharist remain the most tangible and powerful means of healing and grace. They fulfill Christs promise to remain with us until the end of the age. What then, dear Protestant, is keeping you away? Is it the priest scandals? Peter was a scandal too! Is it the sinfulness of certain clergy? They need salvation also! Is it the rituals and traditions of the Mass? What family doesnt have traditions? Is it the icons and statues? What family does not keep pictures of their loved ones nearby? Is it the papacy? What family does not have a father? Two reasons to become Catholic: Confession and the Eucharistboth of them given to us by Jesus. If you believe in the Bible, you must believe in all of it.

If anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book. (Rev 22:19)

Personal Relationship With Jesus

Sacred Heart of Jesus by Michael D. OBrien

WRITTEN ON THE MEMORIAL OF ST. FAUSTINA KOWALSKA

This writing was first published October 5th, 2006.

AS I wrote in Moutains, Foothills, and Plains, the Summit of the Church is Jesus. This Summit is the foundation of the Christian Life.

FINDING THE SUMMIT In my early school years, we had no Catholic youth group. So my parents, who were devout Catholics in love with Jesus, sent us to a Pentecostal group. There, we made friends with other Christians who had a passion for Jesus, a love for the Word of God, and a desire to witness to others. One thing they often spoke of was the need for a "personal relationship with Jesus".

CATHOLICISM AND THE PERSONAL JESUS Many Evangelical or Protestant Christians reject the Catholic Church because theyve been led to believe that we do not preach the need to have a "personal relationship" with Jesus. They look at our churches adorned with icons, candles, statues, and paintings, and misinterpret sacred symbolism for "idol worship". They see our rituals, traditions, and spiritual feasts and regard them as "dead works", devoid of faith, life, and the freedom which Christ came to bring. On the one hand, we must admit a certain truth to this. Many Catholics do "show up" to Mass out of obligation, going through the rote prayers, rather than from a real and living relationship with God. But this does not mean that the Catholic Faith is dead or empty, though perhaps many the heart of an individual is. In this regard, the Catholic Church in some of its particular branches of the Western world has failed; we have neglected at times to preach Jesus Christ, crucified, died, and risen, poured out as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we may know Him, and the One who sent Him, that we may have eternal life. This is our faith! It is our joy! Our reason for living and we have failed to "shout it from the rooftops" as Pope John Paul II exhorted us to do, especially in the churches of the affluent nations. We have not succeeded in raising our voices above the noise and din of modernism, proclaiming with a clear and undiluted voice: Jesus Christ is Lord! But this does not annul the Catholic Faith. It does not void the "oral and written" traditions which Christ and the Apostles handed down to us. Rather, it is a sign of the times. A personal, living relationship with Jesus Christ, indeed the Holy Trinity, is at the very heart of our Catholic Faith. In fact, if it is not, the Catholic Church is not Christian. From our Catechism:
"Great is the mystery of the faith!" The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles Creed and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy, so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father. This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2558

POPES, AND THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

Contrary to the false prophets who seek to discredit Catholicism, the need to evangelize and reevangelize was very much the thrust of Pope John Paul IIs pontificate. It was he who brought into the Churchs contemporary vocabulary the term and urgency for a "new evangelization", and the need for a new understanding of the Churchs mission:
The task which awaits youthe new evangelizationdemands that you present, with fresh enthusiasm and new methods, the eternal and unchanging content of the heritage of the Christian faith. As you well know it is not a matter of merely passing on a doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Saviour. POPE JOHN PAUL II, Commissioning Families, Neo-Catechumenal Way. 1991.

This evangelization, he said, begins with ourselves.

Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally: not Christ as a mere paradigm or value, but as the living Lord, the way, and the truth, and the life . POPE JOHN PAUL II,LOsservatore Romano (English Edition of the Vatican Newspaper), March 24, 1993, p.3.

Teaching us as the voice of the Church, the successor of Peter, and the chief shepherd of the flock after Christ, the late pope said this relationship begins with a choice:
Conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple. Ibid., Encyclical Letter: Mission of the Redeemer(1990) 46.

Pope Benedict has been no less lucid. In fact, for such a renowned theologian, the current Holy Father has a profound simplicity in words, which time and again point us toward the need to encounter Christ personally. This was the essence of his first encyclical:
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.POPE BENEDICT XVI; Encyclical Letter: Deus Caritas Est, "God is Love"; 1.

Again, this Pope also addresses the true dimensions and genesis of faith.
Faith by its specific nature is an encounter with the living God. Ibid. 28.

This faith, if it is authentic, must also be an expression of charity: works of mercy, justice, and peace. But the evangelist must firsthimself be evangelized.
Practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ. Ibid. 34. ...we can be witnesses only if we know Christ first hand, and not only through others from our own life, from our personal encounter with Christ. Finding him really in our life of faith, we become witnesses and can contribute to the novelty of the world, to eternal life. POPE BENEDICT XVI, Vatican City, January 20th, 2010, Zenit

PERSONAL JESUS: BOTH HEAD AND BODY Many well-meaning Christians have abandoned the Catholic Church because they did not hear the Good News preached to them until they visited the "other" church down the street, or listened to a television evangelist, or attended a bible study Indeed, says St. Paul,
How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? (Romans 10:14)

Their hearts were set on fire, the Scriptures came alive, and their eyes were opened to see new perspectives. They experienced a profound joy which to them seemed in stark contrast to the mumbling monotone masses of their Catholic parish. But when these revitalized believers departed, they left behind the other sheep who were so desperate to hear what they had heard! Perhaps worse, they moved away from the very Fountainhead of grace, Mother Church, who nurses her children through the Sacraments. Didnt Jesus command us eat to his Body and drink his Blood? What then, dear Protestant, are you eating? Doesnt scripture tell us to confess our sins to one another? To whom are you confessing? Do you speak in tongues? So do I. Do you read your bible? So do I. But my brother, should one eat from only one side of the plate when Our Lord Himself provides a rich and full meal in the Banquet of His very Self?
My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.(John 6:55)

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? So do I. But I have more! For each day, I gaze upon Him in the humble disguise of bread and wine. Every day, I reach out and touch Him in the Holy Eucharist, who then reaches out and touches me in the depths of my body and soul. For it was not a pope, or a saint, or a doctor of the Church, but Christ Himself who declared:
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. (John 6:51)

But I do not hold this gift to myself. It is for you too. For the greatest personal relationship we can have, and which our Lord desires to give, is the communion of body, soul, and spirit.
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

But this communion, this personal relationship, does not happen in isolation, for God has given us a family of fellow believers to belong to. The Church consists of many members, but it is "one body." Thus, to keep oneself separated from the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church " is to be like a child reared by a foster parent. The child receives the basics for his living, but not the full inheritance of his birthright. These are straight words. But they have not changed for 2000 years. We need a personal relationship with Jesus, the Head. But we also need a relationship with His Body, the Church. For the "cornerstone" and the "foundation" are inseparable:
You are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20) While hearing about Christ through the Bible or through other people can introduce a person to Christian belief [Pope Benedict said], "it must then be ourselves (who) become personally involved in an intimate and deep relationship with Jesus." POPE BENEDICT XVI, Catholic News Service, October 4th, 2006 Man, himself created in the "image of God" [is] called to a personal relationship with God. CCC, 299

Mountains, Foothills, and Plains

MEMORIAL OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

I HAVE many Protestant readers. One of them wrote me regarding the recent article My Sheep Will Know My Voice in the Storm, and asked:
Where does this leave me as a Protestant?

AN ANALOGY Jesus said He would build His Church on "rock"that is, Peteror in Christs Aramaic language: "Cephas", which means "rock". So, think of the Church then as a Mountain. Foothills precede a mountain, and so I think of them as "Baptism". One passes through the Foothills to reach the Mountain. Now, Jesus said, "On this rock I will build my church"not churches (Matt 16:18). If that is the case, the one Church which Christ built can only be found in one place: on "the rock", that is, "Peter" and his successors. Thus, logically, the Mountain is the Catholic Church since that is where the unbroken line of Popes is to be found. Ergo, it is where the unbroken chain of the Lords teachings is found in its entrusted entirety.
"Come, let us climb the Lords mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction (Isaiah 2:3) The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 780

Are you on the Mountain, or in the Foothills at its base, or perhaps, somewhere out in the plains? The Summit of the Mountain is Jesus, the Head of the Church. You could also say the Summit is the Holy Trinity since Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is toward the Summit that all the truths which are to be found in other major religions are pointing. And really, it is the Summit which all men seek, whether they realize it or not. However, not everyone is on the Mountain. Some refuse to enter the Foothills of Baptism, rejecting as yet (at least intellectually or perhaps unknowingly) that Jesus is the Messiah. Others have entered the Foothills, but refuse to climb the Mountain. They reject (perhaps unknowingly) the surrounding Forest of Dogmas, such as Purgatory, the intercession of the Saints, the all-male priesthood or they refuse to pass by the towering Cedars of Human Dignity, from conception to natural death. Still others consider as intellectually impassible the majestic slopes of Mary. Still, others feel threatened by the colossal cliffs of the Sacraments, lined with the snow-capped Peak of the Apostles. And so, many linger in the Foothills of Fundamentals, leaping from hillside to mound, bank to bluff, prayer meeting to bible study, pausing to drink from the Waters of Worship and the Streams of Scripture (which incidentally, run down from the snow-cap, from that Peak where

the sparkling Inspiration of the Holy Spirit gathered after Pentecost. After all, it was the Apostles successors who around the fourth century determined what was pure water (inspired Scripture), and which was not, keeping only the untainted Tenets of Truth, letting the rest fall into the valleys below) Sadly, some souls eventually tire of the low altitudes. They decide to leave the mountains altogether, believing the lie that the Mountain is just a futile rockslide or, an evil volcano, intent on subduing whatever lies in its path. Born with a desire to touch the sky, they travel into the Cities of Self-Deception to buy "wings", at the price of their soul. And yet, others dance through the hills, as if on the wings of the Spirit They wish to fly, and it seems to me, their desire is leading them closer to the Mountain, even to its very base. But there is also a startling sight: many souls are sleeping on the Mountain while others are mired in the Muds of Stagnancy and Pools of Complacency. Others are tumbling and many running off the Mountain by the tens of thousandssome even in white robes and collars! Because of this, many in the Foothills fear the Mountain, for the cascade of souls looks very much like an avalanche indeed! So where does that leave you, dear reader? Though only you and God know your heart, the Church might say:
Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church: "For men who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by faith in Baptism, [they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church." "Baptism therefore constitutes the sacramental bond of unityexisting among all who through it are reborn." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1271

Yes, we must all ask, "Where am I?"whether Catholic or Protestant or what have you. For some hills do not belong to Gods Range, and many valleys look like mountains when youre at the bottom of them. Lastly, some reponses from the Apostle Paul, and his successors:

TO THOSE ON THE MOUNTAIN

Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17; Paul speaking to the believers regarding their bishops and leaders.) Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. (2 Thessalonians 2:15 ; Paul speaking to the believers of Thessalonica)

TO THOSE NEAR THE MOUNTAIN TOP

Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. (Acts 20:28; Paul addressing the first bishops of the Church) Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Timothy 1:14; Paul writing to Timothy, a young bishop) (2

TO THOSE IN THE FOOTHILLS

However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 818

TO THOSE IN THE PLAINS

Thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation.Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 171