All Activity

In our Gospel lesson, two people go to the Temple to pray, but only one goes home justified. First, we meet the Pharisee. He assumes the correct position for prayer: he stands. Yet, he stands by himself, setting himself apart from others. But not too far. From his vantage point, he can scan the crowd of worshippers, can even spy a tax collector hunched over on the edge of the assembly. The Pharisee chooses a place with good sight lines, somewhat apart from others, where he can see and be seen, he offers prayers to God that are meant to be overheard. In his prayers, he uses two strategies to puff himself up. One, is about himself. And two, he puts others down. The Pharisee points out to the Lord God what the Lord surely already knows: he fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all his income. One wonders for whose benefit he says these things. For God? Hardly. For the other worshippers? He probably thinks so. We should note a couple of things about what the Pharisee says. The technical term for what the Pharisee does — fast twice a week and tithe on all of his income means he goes above and beyond what is required by the law. By saying he fasts twice a week, the Pharisee was boasting of an asceticism that went beyond the norm. The same goes for tithing. He wants God and everyone within earshot to know about his super observance, which goes well beyond that of the others. We don’t get too much psychological theory in the New Testament. But Luke gives a pretty clear explanation in the introduction to the parable. He says that Jesus “told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” People who boast try to portray themselves as righteous. Whether their audience is found in the Temple or on Instagram, braggarts try to prove their righteousness through their superior character and deeds. Which leads us to the second strategy. The Pharisee thanks God that he is “not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” But more seriously, why do people belittle others? Again, we don’t find too much psychological theory in the New Testament, but Luke’s explanation is still pretty good. Self-righteous promotion before God goes hand in hand with demeaning others. Second on the scene, we meet the tax collector. He also stands for prayer, but with lowered eyes. He stands also far off, not wanting to be noticed. Unlike the Pharisee who assumes a position from which to see and be seen, the tax collector tries to fade into the background. There, he beats his breast as a sign of repentance. Tax collectors were contemptible. Not only did they collaborate with the Romans, but they also cheated their fellow Jews. When the tax collector does speak, he utters a simple cry for mercy: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In the Greek text, the tax collector’s entire petition consists of six words. The Pharisee’s speech is twenty-nine words, four times as long. The Pharisee boasts about himself and his deeds, using the word “I” four times. The only thing that the tax collector says about himself is that he is a sinner. Unlike the Pharisee who passes judgment on all manner of people, the tax collector passes judgment only on himself. But the tax collector does one thing the Pharisee doesn’t. He asks for God’s mercy. The Pharisee gives God a status report highlighting his extraordinary piety and practice. What’s God’s mercy have to do with it? According to the tax collector, everything. It’s the only thing he asks for. That day, the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified. We must remember the parable is not primarily about us. It is about God. In Luke 15:7, Jesus tells us, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” The saying about the humble being exalted is a saying about God, who does the exalting, God, who does the justifying, God, who rejoices over the repentance of one sinner. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector might better be named the Parable of the Merciful God. We may also rightly understand this parable as not only spoken by Jesus but also about Jesus. God’s greatest act of mercy is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Jesus’s crucifixion is also his exaltation. It is at once the paradox of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation, and the source of our salvation. As Jesus says, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). All people — the sinful and the righteous, the humble and the braggarts, the Pharisees and the tax collectors — are drawn into the mystery of redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, at the foot of the cross, we can make the tax collector’s cry for mercy our own: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In Luke’s Gospel, we see this enacted in the penitent thief who says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (23:42-43).

S4.9 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

S4.8 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

A New Postulant for Glencairn Cistercians (Trappistines) Grace McCann entered as a postulant at St Mary’s Abbey on 15 October, the feast of St Teresa of Ávila. Having previously explored her vocation at Glencairn, Grace returns with a renewed openness to God’s call. In the words of St Teresa, “God does not tire of giving, nor should we tire of receiving.”. Please continue to pray for Glencairn's postulant sisters, Marlena and Grace!

S4.7 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Tolerance: The ability to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behaviors that one does not necessarily agree with. Essentially, it’s active Christian humility, charity, temperance, and patience. Not being an empty gong. 1 Corinthians 13.

This is an age old topic, here at Phatmass. Please review what the Church says about Mark 9:38…. Read the CCC 811-870, and especially 818, 819, and 822.

S4.6 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

I agree. However, I believe we've now high jacked this thread - maybe we should start another?

I've been considering lately the absence of a sacrifice in Protestant worship. Catholics and Protestants alike have largely forgotten what true worship is, that it is centered around the Continual Sacrifice. It's no wonder they think we worship the Blessed Virgin Mary, when their highest form of "worship" is singing songs and gathering in community. And that goes to show, "Praise and Worship" is a misnomer. That's not worship. Not to a Catholic, anyway.

S4.5 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

On July 29th, St. Gregory's Abbey (Benedictine monks) in Oklahoma posted: " ... Work is currently being completed by the three abbey postulants and Abbey staff member Manny Sauviller." On August 7th, I posted: "If you know any prayers, say 'em now for these guys - this monastery is holding on, and they've had a few vocations in the last ten years, but they could really use an infusion of monks." ON October 19th, I am happy to report that all three postulants have entered Saint Gregory's Abbey in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Three Benedictine Novices in Oklahoma

S4.4 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Maybe I didn't use the correct wording here - I meant to say that Protestantism has the same intent, and they advertise salvation, although admittedly the method is wrong. What I notice most in protestant services is the the absence of sanctity - go to a couple of services then go to a Catholic Church and you will learn in part the immense value of the Eucharist.

I agree with all of what you said here. But that is not the same as saying, "Protestantism offers the same destination." Protestantism itself does not offer salvation in any way, shape, or form. Only the Catholic Church offers salvation. Other faiths cannot be said to offer salvation, in themselves, in even the slightest degree. I'll reiterate: people of other religions can be saved, but only through special graces that ultimately come to them from Christ, through the Catholic Church. It is a very important distinction; it's the difference between heresy and orthodoxy.

S4.3 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

I respectfully disagree. Someone who was born into and follows genuinely their face by seeking Christ cannot be lost on account of the church they attend. Although I admit that if someone is genuine and labours in their faith, inevitably in time this should bring to the Catholic faith. Protestants have a share of the Truth, they do not however have the fullness of the Truth. I do abhor the church of England and what they've become. They have held to so little of the Truth now it is hard to imagine they have any of it. Looks like they are heading towards another schism too. All protestants are called to return to the one true Church,

There are a lot of voices in today’s parable. There’s the voice of Luke, the gospel writer, who tells us this is a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart. There’s the voice of Jesus, who tells this parable about a widow and a judge. There’s the voice of the widow and the voice of the judge. What Jesus says about the widow. is that she kept coming to the judge and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” That’s it. Jesus doesn’t call her hysterical. He does say her action is repetitive and durative—it continues over time. Like daily prayer over the course of a lifetime. Like going to church, week in, week out. She wouldn’t be the first persistent widow in the Bible. There’s Tamar, who, though it took years, wouldn’t let her father-in-law Judah deny her the right to have a child that was hers according to the law (Genesis 38). There’s Ruth, who wouldn’t let her mother-in-law return home without her and uttered the now-familiar words, “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). There’s Bathsheba, made a widow by King David, who wanted to cover up his adulterous affair with her, who would not let David overlook her son, Solomon, when naming his successor. These three widows are Jesus’ great-great-grandmothers, part of Jesus’ genealogy that’s at the begging of Matthew’s Gospel. These widows, and more, sometimes in a process that takes years, cling to God’s will, against opposition and against voices who say that God doesn’t care. Or in answer to the question, “Does God keep God’s promises?” In the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, there’s the widow Anna, who has been fasting and praying day and night in the Temple for more than sixty years, waiting, longing for the good news of the arrival of the redeemer. When she sees Mary and Joseph bringing the baby Jesus to the Temple, she praises God and speaks about Jesus “to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-38). There’s the widow of Nain, whom Jesus meets when her son has died and is being carried out of the town to be buried. Jesus has compassion for her and raises her son, her only son, from death (Luke 7:11-17). There’s the poor widow, whom Jesus sees putting her last two coins into the temple treasury, “all she had to live on” (Luke 21:2-4). There are lots of widows in Jesus’ life including his mother. But maybe Jesus tells this parable because Jesus is like this widow in his parable. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he will be on trial before a bunch of unjust judges. Jesus will be brought before the Sanhedrin, who listen to him only to get the evidence they need to get the gears of injustice grinding against him. Jesus will stand trial before Herod—a puppet king—and Pontius Pilate—a man so cruel, even the Romans eventually dismissed him from being governor. Neither Herod nor Pilate cared about God or justice. And yet, Jesus goes. He goes, and repeats, by his action of giving himself over, what he has been saying with his words, his teaching, his healing, his paying attention to widows all his life—that God is merciful and just. The widow in the parable goes before an unjust judge to obtain justice against her opponent. Jesus goes before unjust judges to obtain salvation for an unjust world. The parable is not about badgering God until God gives us what we want. But it is about our need for constant connection with God, which is prayer, as we live in this world and face injustice, but never lose heart that God keeps God’s promises. Perhaps that’s why Jesus says, “ ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say?.” The context in which Jesus tells the parable is his teaching about the coming of the Son of Man in the fullness of time, at the end of time. Jesus talks about how days are coming when you will long to see the time of God’s justice, when the Kingdom of God will be complete. That time is coming. But it isn’t here yet. Like the Israelites and the widow in today’s Gospel, we face opposition and injustice—at times from godless and pitiless adversaries. Are we left to our own devices in the meantime? Absolutely not. We have prayer, to keep us connected to our God, the source of justice, mercy, our strength, and our salvation. We have God’s vindication of Jesus by raising him from the dead, As Paul exhorts in today’s Epistle, we need to remain faithful, to turn to the inspired Scriptures—given by God to train us in righteousness. We must persist, so that when the Son of Man comes again in power, He will indeed find faith on earth.

This is actually heresy, and one of the most prevalent today. It has been condemned by a multitude of popes and encyclicals, by Doctors of the Church, including St. Thomas Aquinas, by the early Church Fathers, and by the great mystics. Not specifically Protestantism, but any faith outside of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that only the Catholic Church offers the destination of Heaven. It is possible for non-Catholics to get there, but only through the graces they get through the Catholic Church. What @Anomaly said does not cross the doctrinal line your statement does. What he said, even as a non-Catholic, can still be understood in congruence with Church teaching. This line above cannot. CCC 846: Emphasis mine.

G4.2 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entre toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Looks like you're still posting here... You've posted more than me!!!

The Fourth Glorious Mystery The Assumption of Mary Le Quatrieme Mystere Glorieux L'Assomption de Marie Notre Pere, qui est au cieux, Que Ton nom soit sanctifier, Que Ton regne vienne, Que Ta volonter soit faites, sur la terre comme au ciel Donnes-nous aujourd'hui, notre pain de ce jours, Pardonnes-nous nos offenses, commes nous pardonnons aussi a ceux qui nous ont offense. Ne nous soumet pas a la tentation, mais delivres-nous du mal. Amen G4.1 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Avert the mortal sin or presumption? I find that protestants often give 'easy' answers... not trying to be insulting here or anything. But there's more to it than 'believe'... do you think the devil believes in God? I can agree to this... It is easier to ride into heaven in a car than a bicycle... but both can get there. The Church is in a way a tool to help in our salvation, and it's the best around. Protestantism offers the same destination, but in a smaller vehicle.

My statement was a general one. I believe in the Baptism of Desire. My statement stands as-is, which you can confirm doesn't fall into Feenyism by the condition given: "outside of extraordinary graces that some individuals might get." The doctrine "outside the Church there is no salvation" [extra Ecclesiam nulla salus] is a very old one. All Orthodox and Catholics believe it. And it's not to be taken lightly. There are, of course, multiple different interpretations of this doctrine, and the Orthodox might view it differently than the Catholics (if they do so, I think they would view it more explicitly, but I could be wrong). According to Catholic theology, the statement means that if a non-Catholic is saved, it is through extraordinary graces that they receive through the Church. We can get into a discussion about how the Orthodox fit into that, but the Orthodox do also believe in this doctrine. Christ said, "He who is not with me is against me." And since most Protestants actually reject him by rejecting belief in the truth of the Eucharist and the Church, and also rejecting the sacrificial nature of true worship, their only defense when standing before their judge after death will be ignorance. Now I believe that ignorance goes a long way ("Father forgive them for they know not what they do"), so I believe it is likely that some Protestants are saved. I make no claims on anyone specifically, Catholic or Orthodox or Protestant, that I think they are not saved. I can't judge people's hearts or souls - only God can. I heard recently that some Protestants actually pray the rosary. That is, I think, an indication that God is working in their lives, through graces He gives them through the Church. As to the salvation of those specific Protestants, I have no idea. I certainly hope they are saved when they die. All I can do is pray for them.

Fides is wrong. Google Feenyism. The correct Catholic answer is outside of the the Church, you lose access to many of the Graces Jesus has won for your redemption, so it is more difficult to obtain salvation.