The Official Catholic Thread

[Belle Du Jour]

Oh lawd....so my youngest asks me to explain to him Revelations...and all I can think of is that it's largely allegorical and that some of it explains some of the tribulation of the Church that has already occurred. Suggestions for an online catholic study according to our faith? The kid is 12.

This isn't online, but Scott Hahn's Marriage of the Lamb was a good read.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

Can we talk about medals, scapulars, saints bracelets, etc? I really want a miraculous medal (I actually have one that was blessed and sent free in the mail) but I don't have a chain for it. Does anyone wear these items? If so why?

 

[auparavant]

Hi, I wear a scapular of brown wool. My kids wear them. I believe in the promises made to assist us in this daily walk. Love sacramentals and I view them as wonderful gifts from G-d. They are not necessary and obligatory, but they are a lot of help in this life.

As for how many medals I have...I don't know but I kinda collect them. St. Benedict's medal against evil is another one I like...as well as the Miraculous Medal.

 

[auparavant]

How do you meet people in your parish? We get a lot of visitors at my church although I'm starting to recognize the regulars like myself. However, there doesn't seem to be a lot of time to socialize. There's a young black woman I see come into church for Mass, but I never got a chance to say hello after service is over. There are a few black families I see every Sunday too.

Pretty family-oriented and that's wehre I got most of my friends in the parish (connected or friends with my kids at the parish school). Maybe try and seat yourself with the regulars and strike up a convo with them sometime. It can be daunting with any large parish (like when we moved here) or even smaller. Try to go to programs and events sponsored for singles etc. You'll probably make more friendships.

 

[Galadriel]

Can we talk about medals, scapulars, saints bracelets, etc? I really want a miraculous medal (I actually have one that was blessed and sent free in the mail) but I don't have a chain for it. Does anyone wear these items? If so why?

I wear the Brown Scapular because I love Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Carmelites . I also believe in the promises Our Lady made to those who wear the Brown Scapular.

 

[Galadriel]

Oh lawd....so my youngest asks me to explain to him Revelations...and all I can think of is that it's largely allegorical and that some of it explains some of the tribulation of the Church that has already occurred. Suggestions for an online catholic study according to our faith? The kid is 12.

I'll take a look around and get back to you on that. It has been my understanding that Revelation is a mix of allegory and prophecy (concerning the Second Coming, the General Judgment, etc.)

The Church Fathers spoke of the end of the world/end times in the following sequence (in general):

• a Great Apostasy, where many will fall away from the faith and there will be the True Church vs. the False Church
• St. Paul says after the apostasy or falling away, will come the Antichrist
• there'll be a final persecution of the Church
• Christ will return to judge the living and the dead (the General Judgment)

When Christ speaks of the "abomination of desolation," prophesied by the prophet Daniel, Church Fathers had always interpreted this to be the absence of the True Presence from the tabernacle--i.e., a false/invalid Eucharist set up by the apostate church.


Also, think of when it says in Revelation that sacrifices will be stopped or hindered for 1.5 years--I know most Protestants interpret this as the Jews will eventually get around to animal sacrifice again, but name one CURRENT Judeo-Christian religion which offers sacrifices every day of the week--the Catholic Church offers the sacrifice of the Mass.

 

[auparavant]

Also, think of when it says in Revelation that sacrifices will be stopped or hindered for 1.5 years--I know most Protestants interpret this as the Jews will eventually get around to animal sacrifice again, but name one CURRENT Judeo-Christian religion which offers sacrifices every day of the week--the Catholic Church offers the sacrifice of the Mass.

All I know is that the perfect heiffer is being searched for lol. Can't hold a sacrifice until the temple is rebuilt. And then, how will that be interpreted? You know what I'm thinking lol! 3 Days...yes. But there are some churches that still have a sacrifice, not daily. It's not sacrificial, though, more symbolic.

I'm looking for something to delineate all the prophecies already taken place and tie them in with the "old" Testament. Maybe if I look at some curriculum from a local paroquial high school, I can tweak it for a younger kid.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

Hi, I wear a scapular of brown wool. My kids wear them. I believe in the promises made to assist us in this daily walk. Love sacramentals and I view them as wonderful gifts from G-d. They are not necessary and obligatory, but they are a lot of help in this life.

As for how many medals I have...I don't know but I kinda collect them. St. Benedict's medal against evil is another one I like...as well as the Miraculous Medal.

I wear the Brown Scapular because I love Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Carmelites . I also believe in the promises Our Lady made to those who wear the Brown Scapular.

Y'all are hardcore!

I'm just learning about the scapular now but I'm not ready to commit. I understand you have to be enrolled in it? I think I'll start with a medal and possibly a green scapular.

 

[Galadriel]

Y'all are hardcore!

I'm just learning about the scapular now but I'm not ready to commit. I understand you have to be enrolled in it? I think I'll start with a medal and possibly a green scapular.

hardcore, baby!!!

On a more serious note, even if you haven't enrolled in the Brown scapular yet, if you still wear it and follow Carmelite spirituality, you can still reap many benefits.

 

[milaydy31]

How do you interpret the Psalm 22? If the 2nd verse of this Psalm are Jesus words, do you think that Jesus felt betrayed by God during His last instants?
I just thought about this sentence and I realised I don't know how to interpret it.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[auparavant]

^^^I don't know either...other than, perhaps, G-d turned His face from the sin Jesus took on in that sacrifice? I dunno.

 

[Galadriel]

How do you interpret the Psalm 22? If the 2nd verse of this Psalm are Jesus words, do you think that Jesus felt betrayed by God during His last instants?
I just thought about this sentence and I realised I don't know how to interpret it.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

milaydy31 Psalm 22 touches upon the Messiah as the "Suffering Servant" (like in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, and Daniel 9:26). It's not that He felt betrayed by God in that moment, but rather that (1) Christ is expressing the anguish and suffering He is bearing for the sins of the world, and (2) by quoting part of this Psalm He points to the fact that He is indeed the Messiah foretold by the prophets.

Just think, most of His disciples had been dispersed, He has been humiliated and assaulted, and people are taunting Him "If you are the Messiah...come down, free yourself..." Christ is King, but what those who rejected Him failed to see, is that He is also the Suffering Servant, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

 

[milaydy31]

milaydy31 Psalm 22 touches upon the Messiah as the "Suffering Servant" (like in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, and Daniel 9:26). It's not that He felt betrayed by God in that moment, but rather that (1) Christ is expressing the anguish and suffering He is bearing for the sins of the world, and (2) by quoting part of this Psalm He points to the fact that He is indeed the Messiah foretold by the prophets.

Just think, most of His disciples had been dispersed, He has been humiliated and assaulted, and people are taunting Him "If you are the Messiah...come down, free yourself..." Christ is King, but what those who rejected Him failed to see, is that He is also the Suffering Servant, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Thank you for your explanation

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[zora]

I'll take a look around and get back to you on that. It has been my understanding that Revelation is a mix of allegory and prophecy (concerning the Second Coming, the General Judgment, etc.)

The Church Fathers spoke of the end of the world/end times in the following sequence (in general):

• a Great Apostasy, where many will fall away from the faith and there will be the True Church vs. the False Church
• St. Paul says after the apostasy or falling away, will come the Antichrist
• there'll be a final persecution of the Church
• Christ will return to judge the living and the dead (the General Judgment)

When Christ speaks of the "abomination of desolation," prophesied by the prophet Daniel, Church Fathers had always interpreted this to be the absence of the True Presence from the tabernacle--i.e., a false/invalid Eucharist set up by the apostate church.


Also, think of when it says in Revelation that sacrifices will be stopped or hindered for 1.5 years--I know most Protestants interpret this as the Jews will eventually get around to animal sacrifice again, but name one CURRENT Judeo-Christian religion which offers sacrifices every day of the week--the Catholic Church offers the sacrifice of the Mass.

Ok, it is just me or isn't this kind of scary. It's bad enough we have all these things that try pull us away from God, but then you are persecuted for your beliefs.

How do you gain spiritual armor? How do you discern who are true believers versus deceivers?

 

[Galadriel]

Ok, it is just me or isn't this kind of scary. It's bad enough we have all these things that try pull us away from God, but then you are persecuted for your beliefs.

How do you gain spiritual armor? How do you discern who are true believers versus deceivers?

We already see false doctrines and "false Christs" arise in our world. Whether it's spiritualism, New Ageism, various heresies, etc.

This is why God gave us Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition (i.e., the oral teachings and examples of the Apostles faithfully handed down).

We must:

1) Hold on to the Faith entirely and purely, study it and know it so that we can tell truth from falsehood, as well as defend the Faith
2) Repent of our sins and follow Jesus Christ, growing in sanctity and communion with Our Lord
3) Pray, cultivate a strong prayer life
4) Help and encourage everyone we know to do #1-3

 

[auparavant]

We already see false doctrines and "false Christs" arise in our world. Whether it's spiritualism, New Ageism, various heresies, etc.

This is why God gave us Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition (i.e., the oral teachings and examples of the Apostles faithfully handed down).

There was so much of christianity I could not comprehend (disjointed, out of place) until it was placed within the correct view and practice for me. The precedences were EVERYTHING for me. Holy Tradition comes straight down from the Aaronic practices, leading back to Moses and the Oral Law G-d passed to him. It took me years to figure that out and I'm glad I did.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

I just started a 54 day rosary novena Let's hope I can make it through this time LOL.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

Have we discussed Eucharistic Adoration yet? I love going to adoration. Here is a link to some information on it.

3 Kings 7:48 "And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, upon which the loaves of proposition should be set..."

2 Paralipomenon 2:4-2 "So do with me that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel."

Luke 22:19 "This is my body, which is given for you."

John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who taketh away the sin of the world."

John 6:32-36 ... "Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world. They said therefore unto him: Lord, give us always this bread. And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you also have seen me, and you believe not."

Apocalypse 2:17 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna and will give him a white counter: and in the counter, a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it."

Visits to the Blessed Sacrament

The simplest, least formal, and most common way that Catholics honor Christ in the Eucharist outside of the Mass is by making simple visits to a Church to be near the Blessed Sacrament. They may go to pray, to sit quietly, to meditate, pray the Rosary, read Scripture, etc. As churches lock their doors now in response to the paganization of Western culture, it's become much more difficult to randomly visit a church and find it open to pay our respects, but one can possibly arrange with one's priest or with the parish office to be allowed inside during off-hours.

The Blessed Sacrament should be kept in the Tabernacle on the High Altar in the sanctuary, and with a sanctuary lamp ("ner tamid" to the ancient Israelites) burning nearby, but sometimes you might find the Tabernacle in a side chapel (often called a "Blessed Sacrament Chapel" or, if your parish offers Perpetual Adoration, a "Perpetual Adoration Chapel"). The tabernacle itself is the receptacle that holds the vessels that contain the Blessed Sacrament. It is lined inside with either gold or white silk, and is covered outside with a veil called a "canopeum."

 

[Galadriel]

Awesome I've also been getting into the Divine Mercy chaplet. It would be nice to pray the chaplet while doing Eucharistic Adoration.

Thanks for the link!

Have we discussed Eucharistic Adoration yet? I love going to adoration. Here is a link to some information on it.

 

[auparavant]

For awhile, I could only say it by singing it lol. My frst intro to it was via an EWTN televised prayer. It's a beautiful prayer ...still rather mysterious to me. We offer thee the Body, the Blood, Soul and Divinity? But I am trustful of it for souls in peril.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

My first experience with it was doing the novena leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday this year. At church, we had a procession around the block with the Sacrament and then sang it. It's beautiful as a song (like the Litany of the Saints).

I agree that it's a mysterious prayer. I honestly don't know how I feel about Sr. Faustina, but sometimes, her simple prayer comes to my mind: "Jesus, I trust in you!"

 

[Belle Du Jour]

Speaking of the Divine Mercy chaplet, I have a question:

What exactly does it mean to "offer [God] the body, blood, soul and divinity of [His] dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ." How can we offer that as atonement? Jesus already made that sacrifice, right? So if you have any insight, please share!

 

[Belle Du Jour]

This is a nice story: Ethiopian winner of the 5000m race had a ppicture of the Virgin Mary under her clothes as she ran.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thecrescat/2012/08/faith-of-an-olympian.html

 

[Galadriel]

Speaking of the Divine Mercy chaplet, I have a question:

What exactly does it mean to "offer [God] the body, blood, soul and divinity of [His] dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ." How can we offer that as atonement? Jesus already made that sacrifice, right? So if you have any insight, please share!

The atonement of the Cross is eternal, for all times and places. When the priest consecrates the Host during Mass, he is offering that one same Sacrifice.

When we are praying the chaplet of Divine Mercy, "I offer You..." isn't meant in the sense "I have the authority/power to make this offer to You," but rather you are presenting that one same Sacrifice to God or bringing it before Him, and asking for His Mercy.

 

[Belle Du Jour]

Happy Feast of the Assumption!

Her death:

Her Assumption:

 

[Belle Du Jour]

What is the Assumption?

The Feast of the Assumption is a very old feast of the Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it is known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means "the falling asleep." The earliest printed reference to the belief that Mary's body was assumed into Heaven dates from the fourth century, in a document entitled "The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God." The document is written in the voice of the Apostle John, to whom Christ on the Cross had entrusted the care of His mother, and recounts the death, laying in the tomb, and assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Tradition variously places Mary's death at Jerusalem or at Ephesus, where John was living.

As early as the second century, Christians had begun to venerate the bones of martyrs and saints. Yet at no time did any local Christian church claim to possess the earthly remains of the Blessed Virgin's body, nor has anyone ever claimed to have discovered her tomb.

These are arguments from silence, of course; but knowing the deep respect and devotion in which Christians held the remains of the martyrs and saints, it would particularly odd for Christians of the first few centuries to have had no interest in relics of the Blessed Virgin. The lack of such interest must be explained another way, and the early, universal belief in the Assumption of Mary is the best explanation.

The Assumption reflects the honor that Christ accorded to His Mother, an honor so great that He did not allow her body to suffer decay after her death. But it also provides us with a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time and, thus, confirms our faith and gives us hope. Mary wasn't assumed into Heaven because she was somehow more than human; her Assumption is actually a sign of what it means to be truly human--a condition that is possible only through the grace that comes through our faith in Christ.

Interesting apocryphal account of her death and assumption:

In that time before the Lord came to His passion, and among many words which the mother asked of the Son, she began to ask Him about her own departure, addressing Him as follows:— O most dear Son, I pray Your holiness, that when my soul goes out of my body, Thou let me know on the third day before; and do Thou, beloved Son, with Your angels, receive it. Then He received the prayer of His beloved mother, and said to her: O palace and temple of the living God, O blessed mother, O queen of all saints, and blessed above all women, before you carried me in your womb, I always guarded you, and caused you to be fed daily with my angelic food, as you know, how can I desert you, after you have carried me, and nourished me, and brought me down in flight into Egypt, and endured many hardships for me? Know, then, that my angels have always guarded you, and will guard you even until your departure. But after I undergo suffering for men, as it is written, and rise again on the third day, and after forty days ascend into heaven, when you shall see me coming to you with angels and archangels, with saints and with virgins, and with my disciples, know for certain that your soul will be separated from the body, and I shall carry it into heaven, where it shall never at all have tribulation or anguish. Then she joyed and gloried, and kissed the knees of her Son, and blessed the Creator of heaven and earth, who gave her such a gift through Jesus Christ her Son.

In the second year, therefore, after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most blessed Virgin Mary continued always in prayer day and night. And on the third day before she passed away, an angel of the Lord came to her, and saluted her, saying: Hail, Mary, full of grace! The Lord be with you. And she answered, saying: Thanks to God. Again he said to her: Receive this palm which the Lord promised to you. And she, giving thanks to God, with great joy received from the hand of the angel the palm sent to her. The angel of the Lord said to her: Your assumption will be after three days. And she answered: Thanks to God.

Both from www.catholicism.about.com

 

[Belle Du Jour]

hardcore, baby!!!

On a more serious note, even if you haven't enrolled in the Brown scapular yet, if you still wear it and follow Carmelite spirituality, you can still reap many benefits.

I think I will hold off on the brown scapular but I'm ordering some green scapulars for the coversion of other folks (insert "evil" laugh).

I am feeling called to get a Miraculous Medal. I recently visited The Chapel of the MM and saw St. Catherine's incorrupt body eek. Amazing. I should have gotten a medal there but I got there just a few moments before the place closed.

 

[Galadriel]

Happy Feast of the Assumption!

Her death:

Her Assumption:

Happy Feast of the Assumption!

 

[Belle Du Jour]

I've been reading a bit on Marian apparitions, specifically the Fatima predictions and the ones that took place (not confirmed by the Vatican) in Conyers, GA. I'm scared y'all. I may start the first Saturdays consecration in the September. I'm already doing a daily Rosary for this 54-day novena).

Specifically about Fatima and the message about Russia, I remember an elderly Pentecostal woman that used to take care of me when I was a child had a timeline in her (Protestant) Bible about things that were going to happen signaling the end of the world. RUSSIA/war with Russia was one of the things mentioned and it was stamped on my brain because I always thought it was such a random country to be mentioned. But all these years later, after reading about Fatima, I'm starting to wonder if there is some truth to that. . .

 

[auparavant]

Yeah, I used to be worrried about those things but then married life hit me and those soon quelled. I don't worry about them anymore lol! It's one day at a time. I have so many other worries. I am a bit concerned about this economy and potential collapse but what can I do? Nothing other than what I'm able.

Well, I consecrated myself to Mary long before becoming a catholic. She is how I entered. It's a good thing. She is very beautiful and her eyes are all for Jesus, her son.