What a Friday night on the Northshore of New Orleans! While so many are obsessed with LSU v. Alabama, or the last Friday night of the regular prep football season, or just the weekend in general, a crowd of over 300 gathered at Most Holy Trinity for a great Friday night. The special event for this particular night was a visit from the healing ministry of Alan Ames. I will include his ministry website at the end of this article. For now, suffice to say Alan has a powerful testimony and a worldwide accepted and respected Catholic healing ministry.
Our evening celebration began with Holy Mass, followed by Alan Ames' testimony. While the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, Alan began his healing service, inviting the congregation forward for the healing blessings he has been given as a gift from God. I have never seen his ealing services before. This was powerful! While healing was happening on the Church, many others went to the Sacrament of Reconciliation tonight. The response to this beautiful Sacrament tonight was very encouraging. All this time the choir sang and recited the Rosary. Finally, Benediction closed the evening; the very special blessing from the Eucharistic Jesus.
What a powerful night; God's grace and healing power moving throughout Most Holy Trinity Church.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A Father of the Council of Trent
St. Charles Borromeo
Feastday: November 4
Patron of learning and the arts.
1584
Charles was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret Medici, sister of Pope Pius IV. He was born at the family castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy on October 2. He received the clerical tonsure when he was twelve and was sent to the Benedictine abbey of SS. Gratian and Felinus at Arona for his education.
In 1559 his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV and the following year, named him his Secretary of State and created him a cardinal and administrator of the see of Milan. He served as Pius' legate on numerous diplomatic missions and in 1562, was instrumental in having Pius reconvene the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1552. Charles played a leading role in guiding and in fashioning the decrees of the third and last group of sessions. He refused the headship of the Borromeo family on the death of Count Frederick Borromeo, was ordained a priest in 1563, and was consecrated bishop of Milan the same year. Before being allowed to take possession of his see, he oversaw the catechism, missal, and breviary called for by the Council of Trent. When he finally did arrive at Trent (which had been without a resident bishop for eighty years) in 1556, he instituted radical reforms despite great opposition, with such effectiveness that it became a model see. He put into effect, measures to improve the morals and manners of the clergy and laity, raised the effectiveness of the diocesan operation, established seminaries for the education of the clergy, founded a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the religious instruction of children and encouraged the Jesuits in his see. He increased the systems to the poor and the needy, was most generous in his help to the English college at Douai, and during his bishopric held eleven diocesan synods and six provincial councils. He founded a society of secular priests, Oblates of St. Ambrose (now Oblates of St. Charles) in 1578, and was active in preaching, resisting the inroads of protestantism, and bringing back lapsed Catholics to the Church. He encountered opposition from many sources in his efforts to reform people and institutions.
He died at Milan on the night of November 3-4, and was canonized in 1610. He was one of the towering figures of the Catholic Reformation, a patron of learning and the arts, and though he achieved a position of great power, he used it with humility, personal sanctity, and unselfishness to reform the Church, of the evils and abuses so prevalent among the clergy and the nobles of the times. His feast day is November 4th.
Feastday: November 4
Patron of learning and the arts.
1584
Charles was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret Medici, sister of Pope Pius IV. He was born at the family castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy on October 2. He received the clerical tonsure when he was twelve and was sent to the Benedictine abbey of SS. Gratian and Felinus at Arona for his education.
In 1559 his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV and the following year, named him his Secretary of State and created him a cardinal and administrator of the see of Milan. He served as Pius' legate on numerous diplomatic missions and in 1562, was instrumental in having Pius reconvene the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1552. Charles played a leading role in guiding and in fashioning the decrees of the third and last group of sessions. He refused the headship of the Borromeo family on the death of Count Frederick Borromeo, was ordained a priest in 1563, and was consecrated bishop of Milan the same year. Before being allowed to take possession of his see, he oversaw the catechism, missal, and breviary called for by the Council of Trent. When he finally did arrive at Trent (which had been without a resident bishop for eighty years) in 1556, he instituted radical reforms despite great opposition, with such effectiveness that it became a model see. He put into effect, measures to improve the morals and manners of the clergy and laity, raised the effectiveness of the diocesan operation, established seminaries for the education of the clergy, founded a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the religious instruction of children and encouraged the Jesuits in his see. He increased the systems to the poor and the needy, was most generous in his help to the English college at Douai, and during his bishopric held eleven diocesan synods and six provincial councils. He founded a society of secular priests, Oblates of St. Ambrose (now Oblates of St. Charles) in 1578, and was active in preaching, resisting the inroads of protestantism, and bringing back lapsed Catholics to the Church. He encountered opposition from many sources in his efforts to reform people and institutions.
He died at Milan on the night of November 3-4, and was canonized in 1610. He was one of the towering figures of the Catholic Reformation, a patron of learning and the arts, and though he achieved a position of great power, he used it with humility, personal sanctity, and unselfishness to reform the Church, of the evils and abuses so prevalent among the clergy and the nobles of the times. His feast day is November 4th.
A nice media update on Blessed Seelos
I am so pleased to see a local news station do such a nice piece on Blessed Seelos, whom I have blogged about often. Please find my earlier story of the cure of Angela Boudreaux!
Before you watch this story let me clarify a point or two that most Catholics understand but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. We use human wording often that fails us. You will hear references to "praying to Seelos". We know what that means. More accurately, we pray with our Saints and Blesseds and we pray through them. Ultimately, all prayer is directed to God.
Secondly, we also know that it is Jesus who cures and heals. Our friends, like Blessed Seelos intercede for us with their prayers and petitions.
Now that this is clear; please enjoy this wonderful video from Channel 8 in New Orleans:
http://www.fox8live.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=27836@wvue.web.entriq.net&navCatId=3
Before you watch this story let me clarify a point or two that most Catholics understand but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. We use human wording often that fails us. You will hear references to "praying to Seelos". We know what that means. More accurately, we pray with our Saints and Blesseds and we pray through them. Ultimately, all prayer is directed to God.
Secondly, we also know that it is Jesus who cures and heals. Our friends, like Blessed Seelos intercede for us with their prayers and petitions.
Now that this is clear; please enjoy this wonderful video from Channel 8 in New Orleans:
http://www.fox8live.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=27836@wvue.web.entriq.net&navCatId=3
LSU fans come to the aid of tornado victims in Tuscaloosa
Alabama, LSU fans unite to aid Tuscaloosa tornado recovery efforts at LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl
Published: Friday, October 28, 2011, 8:05 AM Updated: Friday, October 28, 2011, 12:19 PM
Getting fired up for the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are, clockwise from bottom left, Bob Baumhower and Steve Zucker from the Baumhower's Restaurant chain and Rick Tramonto and John Folse of Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans. BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Kickoff for the historic showdown between the No. 1 LSU Tigers and the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is still eight days away, but cooks from both sides of the rivalry are already stirring the pot for the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. Representing the great state of Alabama is Tide football hero, restaurateur and king of wings Bob Baumhower.
Representing the fine folks from Louisiana is LSU fan, celebrity chef and authority on all things Creole John Folse.
And while they won't square off against each other, buddies Baumhower and Folse will be among the judges who will decide which state makes the best gumbo.
"I've had some folks say, 'Don't you think you are a little disadvantaged -- doesn't Louisiana have a corner on the gumbo market?'," Baumhower says. "If you live down in LA -- Lower Alabama -- you know that we've got great gumbo down here, too.
"So I feel like we're going to have some pretty good competitors. I think we can go head-to-head with them."
The LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl will take place outside the Ferguson Center on the UA campus throughout the morning and afternoon hours leading up to the 7 p.m. kickoff of the Alabama-LSU game on Nov. 5.
Four Alabama gumbo cooks and four from Louisiana will compete in a preliminary round to determine who will represent each state in the final round.
The Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn., has cast these trophies for the winners of the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. The overall winner will take home the Gumbo Bowl Tailgate Cook-off Grand Champion trophy, a heavy-duty piece of hardware that features a well-seasoned cast-iron pot from the Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn. Each state winner will receive a cast-iron kettle, too.
Meanwhile, Baumhower and Steve Zucker, the corporate chef for the Baumhower's Restaurant chain, will combine their cooking skills with Folse and chef Rick Tramonto, Folse's partner in the soon-to-open Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans -- to make what they say will be the world's largest pot of gumbo, a 4,000-pound serving of soup that's enough to feed 10,000 hungry fans. They
They'll prepare the gumbo in a 300-year-old, 1,700-pound cast iron kettle that in its previous life was used to boil sugar cane into crystallized sugar, Folse says.
For the Gumbo Bowl, it will require six propane-fired burners to heat the kettle and keep it simmering.
"When we fire that kettle up, it's almost like watching the Space Shuttle take off," Folse says. "It's got about that much fire and smoke under it."
Among the celebrity guests who will help stir the pot, Baumhower says, are "CSI: NY" star and former Alabama cheerleader Sela Ward, former Crimson Tide and Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler, and former LSU All-American A.J. Duhe, who was Baumhower's teammate and best friend from their NFL days with the Miami Dolphins.
"CSI: NY" star and former UA cheerleader Sela Ward will be one of the celebrity pot stirrers. (AP photo)Folse, who is the keeper of the kettle, says the recipe for the monster pot of gumbo calls for 750 pounds of shrimp, 450 pounds of catfish filets, 200 pounds of alligator meat, 150 pounds of crab meat, 100 pounds of oysters and 25 pounds of crawfish tails.
Throw in another 200 pounds of onions, 150 pounds of okra, 100 pounds of bell pepper, 75 pounds of celery, 50 pounds of garlic and 20 pounds of butter, and Folse has the makings of what he has been assured will be a new Guinness World Record.
He's already contacted the authorities at Guinness, and once the pot is full, they'll weigh it with a digital scale to make it official.
"They didn't have a (gumbo) category, so they agreed and created a category just for this game," Folse says. "We are going to set the world record, rather than break the world record."
But the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl is not about setting records as much as it is about raising money for victims of the April 27 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state.
Folse contacted Baumhower soon after the tornadoes swept through Alabama and offered to do something to help. The idea for the gumbo cook-off grew from there.
"It became apparent that we (Louisianans) should be reciprocating with the good folks from Alabama who had helped us out during all of the tragedies we had in Louisiana," Folse says.
The Gumbo Bowl organizers hope to raise $50,000, which will be divided between the Nick's Kids Fund established by Alabama coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, and Caring Days Adult Day Care, which helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia enhance their quality of life.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is shown here talking to Teddy Rowe, left, and his daughter, Helen Sims, in the Holt community back in May. The Nick's Kids Fund, one of the charities that will benefit from the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl, is helping rebuild 13 homes in the Holt area. (AP photo/Tuscaloosa News/Dusty Compton)The Nick's Kids Fund is in the process of rebuilding 13 homes that were destroyed in the Holt area during the tornado outbreak, and Caring Days has seen a significant increase in the demand for its services as a result of the April 27 storm.
The seafood industries in Alabama and Louisiana are donating all of the seafood for the event, Baumhower says.
"The world record pot of gumbo we're doing is going to be made with all Louisiana seafood, and then the competition is being done with all Alabama seafood," he says.
"The other thing we're doing is promoting Gulf Coast seafood, which needs all the help it can get right now since the oil spill."
Baumhower and Folse hope to make their gumbo cook-off an annual event that would move between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge depending on which school has the home game. The charities might change from year to year, as well.
But Gumbo Bowl II will have to wait until next year.
Meanwhile, tickets to the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are $5 and are available online at gumbobowl2011.ticketbud.com and beginning Monday at Baumhower's Restaurant locations Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, as well as Wings U in Tuscaloosa.
Each ticket-holder receives a serving of gumbo. Serving hours will between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on game day.
To enter the gumbo cooking competition, email your recipe and contact information to info@tourism.alabama.gov. The deadline for submissions is midnight Sunday.
For more information on the event, go to the Alabama Tourism Department's website at www.alabama.travel.
With a mammoth pot of gumbo in the afternoon and an epic football game that night, Nov. 5 is shaping up to be a spectacular day, Folse says.
"We're coming in to have a great time, and we hope to feed 10,000 people, with $50,000 being spilt between two fabulous charities," he says.
"I can't think of a better event on a better day anywhere in America."
Representing the fine folks from Louisiana is LSU fan, celebrity chef and authority on all things Creole John Folse.
And while they won't square off against each other, buddies Baumhower and Folse will be among the judges who will decide which state makes the best gumbo.
"I've had some folks say, 'Don't you think you are a little disadvantaged -- doesn't Louisiana have a corner on the gumbo market?'," Baumhower says. "If you live down in LA -- Lower Alabama -- you know that we've got great gumbo down here, too.
"So I feel like we're going to have some pretty good competitors. I think we can go head-to-head with them."
The LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl will take place outside the Ferguson Center on the UA campus throughout the morning and afternoon hours leading up to the 7 p.m. kickoff of the Alabama-LSU game on Nov. 5.
Four Alabama gumbo cooks and four from Louisiana will compete in a preliminary round to determine who will represent each state in the final round.
The Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn., has cast these trophies for the winners of the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. Meanwhile, Baumhower and Steve Zucker, the corporate chef for the Baumhower's Restaurant chain, will combine their cooking skills with Folse and chef Rick Tramonto, Folse's partner in the soon-to-open Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans -- to make what they say will be the world's largest pot of gumbo, a 4,000-pound serving of soup that's enough to feed 10,000 hungry fans. They
They'll prepare the gumbo in a 300-year-old, 1,700-pound cast iron kettle that in its previous life was used to boil sugar cane into crystallized sugar, Folse says.
For the Gumbo Bowl, it will require six propane-fired burners to heat the kettle and keep it simmering.
"When we fire that kettle up, it's almost like watching the Space Shuttle take off," Folse says. "It's got about that much fire and smoke under it."
Among the celebrity guests who will help stir the pot, Baumhower says, are "CSI: NY" star and former Alabama cheerleader Sela Ward, former Crimson Tide and Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler, and former LSU All-American A.J. Duhe, who was Baumhower's teammate and best friend from their NFL days with the Miami Dolphins.
"CSI: NY" star and former UA cheerleader Sela Ward will be one of the celebrity pot stirrers. (AP photo)Throw in another 200 pounds of onions, 150 pounds of okra, 100 pounds of bell pepper, 75 pounds of celery, 50 pounds of garlic and 20 pounds of butter, and Folse has the makings of what he has been assured will be a new Guinness World Record.
He's already contacted the authorities at Guinness, and once the pot is full, they'll weigh it with a digital scale to make it official.
"They didn't have a (gumbo) category, so they agreed and created a category just for this game," Folse says. "We are going to set the world record, rather than break the world record."
But the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl is not about setting records as much as it is about raising money for victims of the April 27 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state.
Folse contacted Baumhower soon after the tornadoes swept through Alabama and offered to do something to help. The idea for the gumbo cook-off grew from there.
"It became apparent that we (Louisianans) should be reciprocating with the good folks from Alabama who had helped us out during all of the tragedies we had in Louisiana," Folse says.
The Gumbo Bowl organizers hope to raise $50,000, which will be divided between the Nick's Kids Fund established by Alabama coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, and Caring Days Adult Day Care, which helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia enhance their quality of life.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is shown here talking to Teddy Rowe, left, and his daughter, Helen Sims, in the Holt community back in May. The Nick's Kids Fund, one of the charities that will benefit from the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl, is helping rebuild 13 homes in the Holt area. (AP photo/Tuscaloosa News/Dusty Compton)The seafood industries in Alabama and Louisiana are donating all of the seafood for the event, Baumhower says.
"The world record pot of gumbo we're doing is going to be made with all Louisiana seafood, and then the competition is being done with all Alabama seafood," he says.
"The other thing we're doing is promoting Gulf Coast seafood, which needs all the help it can get right now since the oil spill."
Baumhower and Folse hope to make their gumbo cook-off an annual event that would move between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge depending on which school has the home game. The charities might change from year to year, as well.
But Gumbo Bowl II will have to wait until next year.
Meanwhile, tickets to the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are $5 and are available online at gumbobowl2011.ticketbud.com and beginning Monday at Baumhower's Restaurant locations Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, as well as Wings U in Tuscaloosa.
Each ticket-holder receives a serving of gumbo. Serving hours will between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on game day.
To enter the gumbo cooking competition, email your recipe and contact information to info@tourism.alabama.gov. The deadline for submissions is midnight Sunday.
For more information on the event, go to the Alabama Tourism Department's website at www.alabama.travel.
With a mammoth pot of gumbo in the afternoon and an epic football game that night, Nov. 5 is shaping up to be a spectacular day, Folse says.
"We're coming in to have a great time, and we hope to feed 10,000 people, with $50,000 being spilt between two fabulous charities," he says.
"I can't think of a better event on a better day anywhere in America."
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The patron Saint of haircuts(at least barbers)
St. Martin de Porres
Feastday: November 3
Patron of Barbers
1639
St. Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a coloured freed-woman from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner, and infirmarian among other things.
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.
Feastday: November 3
Patron of Barbers
1639
St. Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a coloured freed-woman from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner, and infirmarian among other things.
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.
A little Catechism primer on Purgatory
Purgatory
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030). It notes that "this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031).
The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.
When we die, we undergo what is called the particular, or individual, judgment. Scripture says that "it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). We are judged instantly and receive our reward, for good or ill. We know at once what our final destiny will be. At the end of time, when Jesus returns, there will come the general judgment to which the Bible refers, for example, in Matthew 25:31-32: "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." In this general judgment all our sins will be publicly revealed (Luke 12:2–5).
Augustine said, in The City of God, that "temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment" (21:13). It is between the particular and general judgments, then, that the soul is purified of the remaining consequences of sin: "I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper" (Luke 12:59).
One argument anti-Catholics often use to attack purgatory is the idea that the Catholic Church makes money from promulgating the doctrine. Without purgatory, the claim asserts, the Church would go broke. Any number of anti-Catholic books claim the Church owes the majority of its wealth to this doctrine. But the numbers just don’t add up.
When a Catholic requests a memorial Mass for the dead—that is, a Mass said for the benefit of someone in purgatory—it is customary to give the parish priest a stipend, on the principles that the laborer is worth his hire (Luke 10:7) and that those who preside at the altar share the altar’s offerings (1 Cor. 9:13–14). In the United States, a stipend is commonly around five dollars; but the indigent do not have to pay anything. A few people, of course, freely offer more. This money goes to the parish priest, and priests are only allowed to receive one such stipend per day. No one gets rich on five dollars a day, and certainly not the Church, which does not receive the money anyway.
But look at what happens on a Sunday. There are often hundreds of people at Mass. In a crowded parish, there may be thousands. Many families and individuals deposit five dollars or more into the collection basket; others deposit less. A few give much more. A parish might have four or five or six Masses on a Sunday. The total from the Sunday collections far surpasses the paltry amount received from the memorial Masses.
Fundamentalists may be fond of saying the Catholic Church "invented" the doctrine of purgatory to make money, but they have difficulty saying just when. Most professional anti-Catholics—the ones who make their living attacking "Romanism"—seem to place the blame on Pope Gregory the Great, who reigned from A.D. 590–604.
But that hardly accounts for the request of Monica, mother of Augustine, who asked her son, in the fourth century, to remember her soul in his Masses. This would make no sense if she thought her soul would not benefit from prayers, as would be the case if she were in hell or in the full glory of heaven.
Nor does ascribing the doctrine to Gregory explain the graffiti in the catacombs, where Christians during the persecutions of the first three centuries recorded prayers for the dead. Indeed, some of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, like the Acts of Paul and Thecla and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity (both written during the second century), refer to the Christian practice of praying for the dead. Such prayers would have been offered only if Christians believed in purgatory, even if they did not use that name for it. (See Catholic Answers’ Fathers Know Best tract The Existence of Purgatory for quotations from these and other early Christian sources.)
Whenever a date is set for the "invention" of purgatory, you can point to historical evidence to show the doctrine was in existence before that date. Besides, if at some point the doctrine was pulled out of a clerical hat, why does ecclesiastical history record no protest against it?
A study of the history of doctrines indicates that Christians in the first centuries were up in arms (sometimes quite literally) if anyone suggested the least change in beliefs. They were extremely conservative people who tested a doctrine’s truth by asking, Was this believed by our ancestors? Was it handed on from the apostles? Surely belief in purgatory would be considered a great change, if it had not been believed from the first—so where are the records of protests?
They don’t exist. There is no hint at all, in the oldest writings available to us (or in later ones, for that matter), that "true believers" in the immediate post-apostolic years spoke of purgatory as a novel doctrine. They must have understood that the oral teaching of the apostles, what Catholics call tradition, and the Bible not only failed to contradict the doctrine, but, in fact, confirmed it.
It is no wonder, then, that those who deny the existence of purgatory tend to touch upon only briefly the history of the belief. They prefer to claim that the Bible speaks only of heaven and hell. Wrong. It speaks plainly of a third condition, commonly called the limbo of the Fathers, where the just who had died before the redemption were waiting for heaven to be opened to them. After his death and before his resurrection, Christ visited those experiencing the limbo of the Fathers and preached to them the good news that heaven would now be opened to them (1 Pet. 3:19). These people thus were not in heaven, but neither were they experiencing the torments of hell.
Some have speculated that the limbo of the Fathers is the same as purgatory. This may or may not be the case. However, even if the limbo of the Fathers is not purgatory, its existence shows that a temporary, intermediate state is not contrary to Scripture. Look at it this way. If the limbo of the Fathers was purgatory, then this one verse directly teaches the existence of purgatory. If the limbo of the Fathers was a different temporary state, then the Bible at least says such a state can exist. It proves there can be more than just heaven and hell.
Some Fundamentalists also charge, as though it actually proved something, "The word purgatory is nowhere found in Scripture." This is true, and yet it does not disprove the existence of purgatory or the fact that belief in it has always been part of Church teaching. The words Trinity and Incarnation aren’t in Scripture either, yet those doctrines are clearly taught in it. Likewise, Scripture teaches that purgatory exists, even if it doesn’t use that word and even if 1 Peter 3:19 refers to a place other than purgatory.
Christ refers to the sinner who "will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matt. 12:32), suggesting that one can be freed after death of the consequences of one’s sins. Similarly, Paul tells us that, when we are judged, each man’s work will be tried. And what happens if a righteous man’s work fails the test? "He will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor 3:15). Now this loss, this penalty, can’t refer to consignment to hell, since no one is saved there; and heaven can’t be meant, since there is no suffering ("fire") there. The Catholic doctrine of purgatory alone explains this passage.
Then, of course, there is the Bible’s approval of prayers for the dead: "In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (2 Macc. 12:43–45). Prayers are not needed by those in heaven, and no one can help those in hell. That means some people must be in a third condition, at least temporarily. This verse so clearly illustrates the existence of purgatory that, at the time of the Reformation, Protestants had to cut the books of the Maccabees out of their Bibles in order to avoid accepting the doctrine.
Prayers for the dead and the consequent doctrine of purgatory have been part of the true religion since before the time of Christ. Not only can we show it was practiced by the Jews of the time of the Maccabees, but it has even been retained by Orthodox Jews today, who recite a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish for eleven months after the death of a loved one so that the loved one may be purified. It was not the Catholic Church that added the doctrine of purgatory. Rather, any change in the original teaching has taken place in the Protestant churches, which rejected a doctrine that had always been believed by Jews and Christians.
Why would anyone go to purgatory? To be cleansed, for "nothing unclean shall enter [heaven]" (Rev. 21:27). Anyone who has not been completely freed of sin and its effects is, to some extent, "unclean." Through repentance he may have gained the grace needed to be worthy of heaven, which is to say, he has been forgiven and his soul is spiritually alive. But that’s not sufficient for gaining entrance into heaven. He needs to be cleansed completely.
Fundamentalists claim, as an article in Jimmy Swaggart’s magazine, The Evangelist, put it, that "Scripture clearly reveals that all the demands of divine justice on the sinner have been completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It also reveals that Christ has totally redeemed, or purchased back, that which was lost. The advocates of a purgatory (and the necessity of prayer for the dead) say, in effect, that the redemption of Christ was incomplete. . . . It has all been done for us by Jesus Christ, there is nothing to be added or done by man."
It is entirely correct to say that Christ accomplished all of our salvation for us on the cross. But that does not settle the question of how this redemption is applied to us. Scripture reveals that it is applied to us over the course of time through, among other things, the process of sanctification through which the Christian is made holy. Sanctification involves suffering (Rom. 5:3–5), and purgatory is the final stage of sanctification that some of us need to undergo before we enter heaven. Purgatory is the final phase of Christ’s applying to us the purifying redemption that he accomplished for us by his death on the cross.
The Fundamentalist resistance to the biblical doctrine of purgatory presumes there is a contradiction between Christ’s redeeming us on the cross and the process by which we are sanctified. There isn’t. And a Fundamentalist cannot say that suffering in the final stage of sanctification conflicts with the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement without saying that suffering in the early stages of sanctification also presents a similar conflict. The Fundamentalist has it backward: Our suffering in sanctification does not take away from the cross. Rather, the cross produces our sanctification, which results in our suffering, because "[f]or the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11).
Purgatory makes sense because there is a requirement that a soul not just be declared to be clean, but actually be clean, before a man may enter into eternal life. After all, if a guilty soul is merely "covered," if its sinful state still exists but is officially ignored, then it is still a guilty soul. It is still unclean.
Catholic theology takes seriously the notion that "nothing unclean shall enter heaven." From this it is inferred that a less than cleansed soul, even if "covered," remains a dirty soul and isn’t fit for heaven. It needs to be cleansed or "purged" of its remaining imperfections. The cleansing occurs in purgatory. Indeed, the necessity of the purging is taught in other passages of Scripture, such as 2 Thessalonians 2:13, which declares that God chose us "to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit." Sanctification is thus not an option, something that may or may not happen before one gets into heaven. It is an absolute requirement, as Hebrews 12:14 states that we must strive "for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.
Two Judgments
When we die, we undergo what is called the particular, or individual, judgment. Scripture says that "it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). We are judged instantly and receive our reward, for good or ill. We know at once what our final destiny will be. At the end of time, when Jesus returns, there will come the general judgment to which the Bible refers, for example, in Matthew 25:31-32: "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." In this general judgment all our sins will be publicly revealed (Luke 12:2–5).
Augustine said, in The City of God, that "temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment" (21:13). It is between the particular and general judgments, then, that the soul is purified of the remaining consequences of sin: "I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper" (Luke 12:59).
Money, Money, Money
One argument anti-Catholics often use to attack purgatory is the idea that the Catholic Church makes money from promulgating the doctrine. Without purgatory, the claim asserts, the Church would go broke. Any number of anti-Catholic books claim the Church owes the majority of its wealth to this doctrine. But the numbers just don’t add up.
When a Catholic requests a memorial Mass for the dead—that is, a Mass said for the benefit of someone in purgatory—it is customary to give the parish priest a stipend, on the principles that the laborer is worth his hire (Luke 10:7) and that those who preside at the altar share the altar’s offerings (1 Cor. 9:13–14). In the United States, a stipend is commonly around five dollars; but the indigent do not have to pay anything. A few people, of course, freely offer more. This money goes to the parish priest, and priests are only allowed to receive one such stipend per day. No one gets rich on five dollars a day, and certainly not the Church, which does not receive the money anyway.
But look at what happens on a Sunday. There are often hundreds of people at Mass. In a crowded parish, there may be thousands. Many families and individuals deposit five dollars or more into the collection basket; others deposit less. A few give much more. A parish might have four or five or six Masses on a Sunday. The total from the Sunday collections far surpasses the paltry amount received from the memorial Masses.
A Catholic "Invention"?
Fundamentalists may be fond of saying the Catholic Church "invented" the doctrine of purgatory to make money, but they have difficulty saying just when. Most professional anti-Catholics—the ones who make their living attacking "Romanism"—seem to place the blame on Pope Gregory the Great, who reigned from A.D. 590–604.
But that hardly accounts for the request of Monica, mother of Augustine, who asked her son, in the fourth century, to remember her soul in his Masses. This would make no sense if she thought her soul would not benefit from prayers, as would be the case if she were in hell or in the full glory of heaven.
Nor does ascribing the doctrine to Gregory explain the graffiti in the catacombs, where Christians during the persecutions of the first three centuries recorded prayers for the dead. Indeed, some of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, like the Acts of Paul and Thecla and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity (both written during the second century), refer to the Christian practice of praying for the dead. Such prayers would have been offered only if Christians believed in purgatory, even if they did not use that name for it. (See Catholic Answers’ Fathers Know Best tract The Existence of Purgatory for quotations from these and other early Christian sources.)
Why No Protests?
Whenever a date is set for the "invention" of purgatory, you can point to historical evidence to show the doctrine was in existence before that date. Besides, if at some point the doctrine was pulled out of a clerical hat, why does ecclesiastical history record no protest against it?
A study of the history of doctrines indicates that Christians in the first centuries were up in arms (sometimes quite literally) if anyone suggested the least change in beliefs. They were extremely conservative people who tested a doctrine’s truth by asking, Was this believed by our ancestors? Was it handed on from the apostles? Surely belief in purgatory would be considered a great change, if it had not been believed from the first—so where are the records of protests?
They don’t exist. There is no hint at all, in the oldest writings available to us (or in later ones, for that matter), that "true believers" in the immediate post-apostolic years spoke of purgatory as a novel doctrine. They must have understood that the oral teaching of the apostles, what Catholics call tradition, and the Bible not only failed to contradict the doctrine, but, in fact, confirmed it.
It is no wonder, then, that those who deny the existence of purgatory tend to touch upon only briefly the history of the belief. They prefer to claim that the Bible speaks only of heaven and hell. Wrong. It speaks plainly of a third condition, commonly called the limbo of the Fathers, where the just who had died before the redemption were waiting for heaven to be opened to them. After his death and before his resurrection, Christ visited those experiencing the limbo of the Fathers and preached to them the good news that heaven would now be opened to them (1 Pet. 3:19). These people thus were not in heaven, but neither were they experiencing the torments of hell.
Some have speculated that the limbo of the Fathers is the same as purgatory. This may or may not be the case. However, even if the limbo of the Fathers is not purgatory, its existence shows that a temporary, intermediate state is not contrary to Scripture. Look at it this way. If the limbo of the Fathers was purgatory, then this one verse directly teaches the existence of purgatory. If the limbo of the Fathers was a different temporary state, then the Bible at least says such a state can exist. It proves there can be more than just heaven and hell.
"Purgatory Not in Scripture"
Some Fundamentalists also charge, as though it actually proved something, "The word purgatory is nowhere found in Scripture." This is true, and yet it does not disprove the existence of purgatory or the fact that belief in it has always been part of Church teaching. The words Trinity and Incarnation aren’t in Scripture either, yet those doctrines are clearly taught in it. Likewise, Scripture teaches that purgatory exists, even if it doesn’t use that word and even if 1 Peter 3:19 refers to a place other than purgatory.
Christ refers to the sinner who "will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matt. 12:32), suggesting that one can be freed after death of the consequences of one’s sins. Similarly, Paul tells us that, when we are judged, each man’s work will be tried. And what happens if a righteous man’s work fails the test? "He will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor 3:15). Now this loss, this penalty, can’t refer to consignment to hell, since no one is saved there; and heaven can’t be meant, since there is no suffering ("fire") there. The Catholic doctrine of purgatory alone explains this passage.
Then, of course, there is the Bible’s approval of prayers for the dead: "In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (2 Macc. 12:43–45). Prayers are not needed by those in heaven, and no one can help those in hell. That means some people must be in a third condition, at least temporarily. This verse so clearly illustrates the existence of purgatory that, at the time of the Reformation, Protestants had to cut the books of the Maccabees out of their Bibles in order to avoid accepting the doctrine.
Prayers for the dead and the consequent doctrine of purgatory have been part of the true religion since before the time of Christ. Not only can we show it was practiced by the Jews of the time of the Maccabees, but it has even been retained by Orthodox Jews today, who recite a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish for eleven months after the death of a loved one so that the loved one may be purified. It was not the Catholic Church that added the doctrine of purgatory. Rather, any change in the original teaching has taken place in the Protestant churches, which rejected a doctrine that had always been believed by Jews and Christians.
Why Go To Purgatory?
Why would anyone go to purgatory? To be cleansed, for "nothing unclean shall enter [heaven]" (Rev. 21:27). Anyone who has not been completely freed of sin and its effects is, to some extent, "unclean." Through repentance he may have gained the grace needed to be worthy of heaven, which is to say, he has been forgiven and his soul is spiritually alive. But that’s not sufficient for gaining entrance into heaven. He needs to be cleansed completely.
Fundamentalists claim, as an article in Jimmy Swaggart’s magazine, The Evangelist, put it, that "Scripture clearly reveals that all the demands of divine justice on the sinner have been completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It also reveals that Christ has totally redeemed, or purchased back, that which was lost. The advocates of a purgatory (and the necessity of prayer for the dead) say, in effect, that the redemption of Christ was incomplete. . . . It has all been done for us by Jesus Christ, there is nothing to be added or done by man."
It is entirely correct to say that Christ accomplished all of our salvation for us on the cross. But that does not settle the question of how this redemption is applied to us. Scripture reveals that it is applied to us over the course of time through, among other things, the process of sanctification through which the Christian is made holy. Sanctification involves suffering (Rom. 5:3–5), and purgatory is the final stage of sanctification that some of us need to undergo before we enter heaven. Purgatory is the final phase of Christ’s applying to us the purifying redemption that he accomplished for us by his death on the cross.
No Contradiction
The Fundamentalist resistance to the biblical doctrine of purgatory presumes there is a contradiction between Christ’s redeeming us on the cross and the process by which we are sanctified. There isn’t. And a Fundamentalist cannot say that suffering in the final stage of sanctification conflicts with the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement without saying that suffering in the early stages of sanctification also presents a similar conflict. The Fundamentalist has it backward: Our suffering in sanctification does not take away from the cross. Rather, the cross produces our sanctification, which results in our suffering, because "[f]or the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11).
Nothing Unclean
Purgatory makes sense because there is a requirement that a soul not just be declared to be clean, but actually be clean, before a man may enter into eternal life. After all, if a guilty soul is merely "covered," if its sinful state still exists but is officially ignored, then it is still a guilty soul. It is still unclean.
Catholic theology takes seriously the notion that "nothing unclean shall enter heaven." From this it is inferred that a less than cleansed soul, even if "covered," remains a dirty soul and isn’t fit for heaven. It needs to be cleansed or "purged" of its remaining imperfections. The cleansing occurs in purgatory. Indeed, the necessity of the purging is taught in other passages of Scripture, such as 2 Thessalonians 2:13, which declares that God chose us "to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit." Sanctification is thus not an option, something that may or may not happen before one gets into heaven. It is an absolute requirement, as Hebrews 12:14 states that we must strive "for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
All Saints and All Souls in Lacombe
All Saints and All Souls Day comes with some beautiful traditions in Louisiana. In a small neighboring community just south of Abita Springs, where I live, in Lacombe there has been a long standing tradition of decorating and lighting the graves and tombs.
Our local paper has some great pictures. Enjoy:
http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/all_saints_day_candles_lit_at_lacombe_cemetery/index.html
Our local paper has some great pictures. Enjoy:
http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/all_saints_day_candles_lit_at_lacombe_cemetery/index.html
A beautiful All Souls Day Liturgy
As I enter my 10th month of service at Most Holy Trinity Parish I experienced one of our beautiful traditions. A special Mass of Bereavement is held during the evening hours of All Souls and the families who lost loved ones this past year are invited to be present to remember their beloved dead. After the Gospel and homily, which tonight was a beautiful explanation of purgatory, each deceased family member is remembered by name. As their names are read, a family member comes forward and places a beautiful rose near the altar. It is beautiful, emotional, spiritual and perfectly in line with our Catholic teaching.
All too often All Souls Day is dwarfed by the Solemnity of All Saints Day. Because of this Catholics all too often celebrate the dead on All Saints Day. This should be done on All Souls Day, although everyone of us indeed wants to be a Saint!
After Mass, the families who have experienced death in the past year, are able to gather and enjoy each others company, some good food and remember their loved ones.
Well done Most Holy Trinity; what a beautiful parish and I am thankful for my assignment and time at MHT!
All too often All Souls Day is dwarfed by the Solemnity of All Saints Day. Because of this Catholics all too often celebrate the dead on All Saints Day. This should be done on All Souls Day, although everyone of us indeed wants to be a Saint!
After Mass, the families who have experienced death in the past year, are able to gather and enjoy each others company, some good food and remember their loved ones.
Well done Most Holy Trinity; what a beautiful parish and I am thankful for my assignment and time at MHT!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Feast Day for All Souls
All Souls Day
By Scott P. Richert, About.com Guide
See More About:
Two gravestones in Saint Mary and Saint James Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois.
(Photo © Scott P. Richert) Introduction to All Souls Day:
Often overshadowed by the two days preceding it, Halloween (October 31) and All Saints Day (November 1), All Souls Day is a solemn feast in the Roman Catholic Church commemorating all of those who have died and now are in Purgatory, being cleansed of their venial sins and the temporal punishments for the mortal sins that they had confessed and atoning before entering fully into Heaven.
Quick Facts:
- Date: November 2
- Type of Feast: Feast
- Readings: Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Romans 5:5-11 or Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40 (full text here)
- Prayers: Eternal Rest, Eternal Memory, Weekly Prayers for the Faithful Departed
- Other Names for the Feast: All Souls' Day, Feast of All Souls
History:
The importance of All Souls Day was made clear by Pope Benedict XV (1914-22), when he granted all priests the privilege of celebrating three Masses on All Souls Day: one, for the faithful departed; one for the priest's intentions; and one for the intentions of the Holy Father. Only on a handful of other very important feast days are priests allowed to celebrate more than two Masses.
While All Souls Day is now paired with All Saints Day, which celebrates all of the faithful who are in Heaven, it originally was celebrated in the Easter season, around Pentecost Sunday (and still is in the Eastern Catholic Churches). By the tenth century, the celebration had been moved to October; and sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo of Cluny decreed that it should be celebrated on November 2 in all of the monasteries of his Benedictine congregation. Over the next two centuries, other Benedictines and the Carthusians began to celebrate it in their monasteries as well, and soon it spread to the entire Church.
On All Souls Day, we not only remember the dead, but we apply our efforts, through prayer, almsgiving, and the Mass, to their release from Purgatory. There are two plenary indulgences attached to All Souls Day, one for visiting a church and another for visiting a cemetery. (The plenary indulgence for visiting a cemetery can also be obtained every day from November 1-8, and, as a partial indulgence, on any day of the year.) While the actions are performed by the living, the merits of the indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory.
Praying for the dead is a Christian obligation. In the modern world, when many have come to doubt the Church's teaching on Purgatory, the need for such prayers has only increased. The Church devotes the month of November to prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and participation in the Mass of All Souls Day is a good way to begin the month.
While All Souls Day is now paired with All Saints Day, which celebrates all of the faithful who are in Heaven, it originally was celebrated in the Easter season, around Pentecost Sunday (and still is in the Eastern Catholic Churches). By the tenth century, the celebration had been moved to October; and sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo of Cluny decreed that it should be celebrated on November 2 in all of the monasteries of his Benedictine congregation. Over the next two centuries, other Benedictines and the Carthusians began to celebrate it in their monasteries as well, and soon it spread to the entire Church.
On All Souls Day, we not only remember the dead, but we apply our efforts, through prayer, almsgiving, and the Mass, to their release from Purgatory. There are two plenary indulgences attached to All Souls Day, one for visiting a church and another for visiting a cemetery. (The plenary indulgence for visiting a cemetery can also be obtained every day from November 1-8, and, as a partial indulgence, on any day of the year.) While the actions are performed by the living, the merits of the indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory.
Praying for the dead is a Christian obligation. In the modern world, when many have come to doubt the Church's teaching on Purgatory, the need for such prayers has only increased. The Church devotes the month of November to prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and participation in the Mass of All Souls Day is a good way to begin the month.
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