Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Friday, September 20, 2024
The Importance of allowing your heart to be ripped open
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Monday, August 19, 2024
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Friday, July 26, 2024
Monday, July 15, 2024
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
National Eucharistic Procession Elizabeth Ann Seton Route Enters into Indiana
The National Eucharistic Procession that started on Pentecost Sunday at the Atlantic Ocean in Connecticut entered the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in mine and Fr. Meyer's parish boundaries. Here is a beautiful 2 minute video that captured one leg of our 6 miles today
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Are we saved by Faith Alone?
Saved
by Faith Alone?
Most of the 30,000 different sects of protestantism in the
US teach "Salvation comes to each person by Faith alone", which is
just flat wrong.
Saint
Paul says in Romans 3:28 "For we consider that a person is justified by
faith apart from works of the law" so Martin Luther took that, and then in
his own translation added "ALONE" so that it reads "For we
consider that a person is justified by faith ALONE apart from
works of the law" in Martin Luther's "Bible"
And
St. Paul also writes to the Galatians in Galatians 2:16 "a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by
works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."
So
Martin Luther took these two lines from St. Paul, and accuse Catholics of
believing that we believe that we are justified by our works.
But
St. Paul is not saying that our works do not matter, St. Paul is saying
"works OF THE LAW" as in, "The Jewish Law"
When
St. Paul talks about "works of the law" there are 3 different types
of laws in the Old Testament:
1)
Laws that established cultural customs for the Jewish people (circumcision,
what foods to eat and not eat, etc.)
2)
Laws governing Jewish Temple worship
3) and
there are lots of Moral Laws in the Old Testament, which do not change over
time.
St.
Paul, in Romans and Galatians is referring to the Jewish cultural laws,
which no longer apply to Christians when he says "apart from works of the
law"
Anyone
who doubts the importance of our works can look to several places:
1)
James 2: 15-17 "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister
has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to
them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the
necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of
itself, if it does not have works, is dead"
2)
And, as Catholics, we could also point to Matthew 25 where the things
Jesus requires for entrance into Heaven are all WORKS:
"I was naked and you clothed me, in prison and you visited me, hunger and
you gave me food…"
3)
There also at least 7 other places in the same Letter to the
Romans where St. Paul says our salvation IS based on works that we perform:
2:6
“God will repay everyone according to his works"
2:7 “eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through
perseverance in good works”
2:10 “There will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good”
2:13
“For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God;
rather, those who observe the law will be justified”
2:16 “God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ
Jesus.”
10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
10:10 “one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”
These are all "works".
Saturday, June 8, 2024
A Brief Reflection on the first ending to the Gospel of John
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name." John 20:30-31
This is the first ending of John's Gospel. Chapter 21 goes on to recount the conversation between Jesus and Peter "do you love Me more than these..."
But I just want to reflect briefly on the end of chapter 20.
John implies that his Gospel is all that is needed to establish the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and that through belief in Jesus, we have life in Jesus' name...and recently that just struck me for the first time.
Thursday, June 6, 2024
15 Years a Priest
Today, June 6th, is my 15th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Thank you for all of the prayers!
Monday, May 20, 2024
A Pentecost Examination of Conscience
A Pentecost Examination of Conscience
2024
Today, we
celebrate one of the great Solemnities in our Catholic Church. It is the Solemnity of Pentecost. Pentecost was originally a harvest feast for
the Jewish People, but of course it became the day where the Holy Spirit was
first poured out on humanity. And what
happens??? The Holy Spirit immediately turns cowards into men and women of
great courage who run out of their locked room and immediately start preaching
the Good News of Jesus without any fear whatsoever.
I have said
many times that on the day of my Confirmation, I had absolutely no idea what I
was getting even though my catechists and parents likely told me 1,000 times. It was not until I was teaching a
Confirmation class in a local parish while still a seminarian that I learned
what I had received at my Confirmation.
And learning the gifts that I had received through my Confirmation, it
instantly changed me into a rather cowardly seminarian into a bold seminarian.
The gifts of
the Holy Spirit, though, need to be opened, and if we don’t know that we have
received gifts, then we can’t open them.
Confirmation
is Latin for “to strengthen” and the Holy Spirit, on all of us who have been
confirmed, bestows lots of gifts, and St. Paul says that the Holy Spirit a
unique set of gifts and amounts of those gifts to each person. So first of all, do you know that you have
received the Holy Spirit at your confirmation, and that the Holy Spirit has
given you the strength to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ without
fear? Do you also understand that the Holy
Spirit has given you a unique proportion of all these gifts that the Holy
Spirit has not given to any other person besides you?
And finally,
regardless of the unique way that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been poured
out upon you, Saint Paul says there are 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit. You can find them in the Catechism and I like
to use these 12 fruits as a regular examination of conscience.
Charity – do
you seek to lay down YOUR life for other’s holy needs and holy desires?
Joy – do you
radiate Joy to other people?
Peace – we live
in a world that is always trying to upset our peace, but when you meet a peaceful
person you know it. When people meet
you, do they recognize that you are at peace?
Patience – are
you a person of patience?
Goodness –
when you meet a person who is full of goodness, you know it instantly as
well. Do people who meet you say that
they have just met a good person?
Generosity –
are we generous with our time? Are we
generous with our talent and treasure?
Gentleness –
Jesus promised adversity to anyone who would follow him in the world. Do we let adversity destroy our Gentleness?
Faithfulness
– are we faithful to God no matter what happens to us?
Modesty – do
we dress properly?
Self-control
– do we submit our various passions to our reasoning and logic or are we ruled
by our passions and desires?
And the twelfth
is chastity - do we seek to live out our
human sexuality according to our state in life?