Advent

According to present [1907] usage, Advent is a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30) and following four Sundays. The first Sunday may be as early as November 27, and then Advent has twenty-eight days, or as late as December 3, giving the season only twenty-one days.

With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During this time the faithful are admonished 1) to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love and mercy, 2) thus to make their souls fitting dwellings for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and 3) thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.

Here some links to some good Advent stuff:

Catholic Education Resource Center Advent Catholic Traditions for Avent & Christmas
USCCB Advent Resources
The Our Sunday Visitor’s “Definitive Guide to Advent”
DomesticChurch.com “Fridge Art” Advent activities (good for kids)
Catholic.org Advent Resources
EWTN Advent Resources
Catholic Fire’s 12 Tips to a Holier Advent

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Prayer and the Saints

One of the chief objections raised by non-Catholics is why do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints when Sacred Scripture states that there is only one mediator between God and man?

There is a very simple response to this once we agree on a few basics. First of all, Catholics do recognize and have always recognized that Christ is the one mediator between God and man. Second, prayer to the saints does not bypass Christ but is actually a request to the saints to intercede for us before the throne of Christ in Heaven.

It is very much like you asking a friend of yours to pray for you. If you truly believe that there is only one mediator between God and man then why would you ask someone else to pray for you?!

It appears that this issue is now reduced to the question of can the saints hear our requests and can they pray for us? Scripture teaches us that the angels and saints place the prayers of the holy on earth before the throne of God (Tobit 12:12, Revelation 5:8 and Revelation 8:3-4). So if we believe scripture, we can agree that the saints are interceding for us before God. So Catholics are simply asking Mary and the saints, as well as their friends on earth, to pray for them.

One last question to consider in this regard is this; are the prayers of sinners on earth more or less effective than the prayers of the saints in Heaven who are already in the presence of the Beatific Vision? Who would you rather have praying for you?

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Purgatory

When we do something wrong to another, there are generally two issues to be addressed. One is seeking the forgiveness of the person who was hurt and the other is performing restitution. For example, if you were to break a neighbor’s window, the chances are that they would forgive you. You would however, still owe them for the replacement of the window.

This is like the Catholic understanding of our relationship with God. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines Purgatory as "the condition or state for those who have not totally alienated themselves from God by their sins, but who are temporarily and partially alienated from God while their love is made perfect and they give satisfaction for their sins".

So if we die while still owing restitution to God, we Catholics believe that our souls must pass through a cleansing state before entering Heaven. Scriptures refers to this in Revelation 21:27 where it states that nothing unclean shall enter Heaven. Also in 1 Corinthians 3:15, St. Paul tells us that each man's works will be tried after his death. If his works fail, he will be the loser and yet he himself will be saved, though only as men are saved by passing through fire. This penalty can not refer to Hell since no one is saved from Hell. It can't refer to Heaven since there is no pain in Heaven. Therefore, there must be some other state or process after our death.

The Catholics have another scripture reference in 2 Maccabees 12:39-45, one of the books that Luther removed from the Bible. This book has a direct reference to praying for the dead. Why should one pray for the dead if they are in Heaven? Or why pray for the dead in Hell since it can't help them?

Who decides which position is correct? Who decides if Maccabees is or is not an inspired book of the Bible? For Catholics it's simple. The Church, using her teaching authority from Christ, is the only one authorized to make such a decision.

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The Eucharist

As with previous posts, we can first look to the Old Testament for a prefiguring of the Eucharist.

Let's begin with the very first Passover meal. This meal was the key to the deliverance of the chosen people from their bondage. As the story goes, an un-blemished male lamb was chosen to be slaughtered for the Passover meal. The blood of the lamb was applied to the doorpost. All who participated in the Passover meal were required to eat the flesh of the lamb. Only this way would the firstborn of the family be spared from the angel of death.

Now we come to the New Testament. The key reference we want to start with begins at John 6:48. Before He is done at verse 71, Christ mentions not once but four times that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to obtain eternal life. Many disciples decide to leave Christ at this point because they could not accept His teaching. Does our Lord call them all back and say to them that He really didn't mean what He said? No! He lets them go their way.

Jesus then goes on to challenge the Apostles. Simon Peter is the only one to speak saying "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Did the Apostles understand the discourse that Jesus just finished giving? Probably not; but they accepted the teaching and believed in Him. 

The fulfillment of Christ's command in John 6 to eat His body and drink His blood comes at the last supper (Passover) when He institutes the Eucharist with the words "this IS my body ..." and "this IS my blood ...". Here is where the first imperfect Passover from the Old Testament is perfectly fulfilled in the New Testament. The spotless male lamb is to be offered as a sacrifice to obtain our redemption from the bondage of sin. The flesh and blood of the lamb is consumed. 

The words of our Lord are clear and the parallels with the Old Testament are undeniable. The Eucharist is truly the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't make the mistake of walking away from this teaching as many did in John's Gospel.

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The Papacy

It might help to understand the Papacy and the role of the Pope, by first looking back to the Old Testament and our salvation history.

All throughout salvation history, God has raised up leaders for His chosen people, i.e. Moses, David and Abraham. These leaders spoke on behalf of God with His full authority to speak. They taught and directed the chosen people in the practice of their beliefs, in determining right from wrong and in making moral decisions.

Peter was singled out in the scriptures as the first in authority among the apostles. Peter is generally mentioned first when Christ speaks of the apostles (Matthew 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, and Acts 1:13). Peter also speaks on behalf of the apostles in several instances (Matthew 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41 and John 6:69). Peter is also the first to speak at Pentecost!

When our Lord first chose Peter, his name was Simon. Our Lord changed it to Peter which in and of itself is no small statement by our Lord. For the Jews of that time, a change in name was very significant. Consider those who had their names changed by God the Father, i.e. Abram to Abraham.

When Peter made his profession of faith in Matthew 16:16, that Jesus was the Son of the living God, Jesus responded in a unique way. He declared to Peter that he was rock and on this rock He would build HIS church. That the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He would give Peter the keys of the kingdom and what he bound on earth would be bound in heaven and what he loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. After the resurrection, Peter was asked by our Lord three times to confirm his love and then he was instructed three times to feed His sheep. There can be no doubt about this responsibility or this authority since it was given directly by Christ to Peter.

Why would Christ give such responsibility and authority to a man who would follow him to the Father relatively soon? What is it that Peter could do in his short lifetime that Christ had not already accomplished? If we take Christ's promises to Peter seriously and if we trust in the Old Testament as a prefiguring of the events of the New Testament, it is not to hard to conclude that the authority given to Peter was indeed to be passed on to his successors in order to have an authoritative teacher as Christ's representative here on earth.

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Are We Assured of Salvation?

Let's start our review of this topic by defining what is meant by redemption and salvation.

Christ redeemed us all through His incarnation, life, passion, death and resurrection in complete obedience to the will of His Father. Because of His redemptive action, heaven is now open to ALL of mankind. Salvation on the other hand, deals with each of us individually and our relationship with God and how we, as an individual, actually get to heaven.

The non-Catholic view of salvation is that once one accepts Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, their salvation is assured. This comes from several scripture quotes including John 3:3, Hebrews 9:12 and Romans 5:15. The belief is generally that no matter how good or bad we are after we've accepted Christ, we can not lose our salvation. They often require what they call the ‘Sinner’s Prayer’, which by the way is not found in the Bible.

Although none of these verses refer specifically to FAITH ALONE, Romans 3:28 is generally used to support this belief since it states that a person is justified by faith apart from the law. It is possible that one might be led to this conclusion by looking ONLY at these scriptures AND by approaching scripture with the predetermined idea that all Catholic practices and traditions are unnecessary. But as I previously discussed, the entire Bible is inspired and we can not therefore recognize ONLY those verses which meet our particular need, i.e. no cherry picking.

St. Paul, in Romans 3:28, was referring to works peculiar to the old Jewish Law, i.e. circumcision as in Romans 3:30-31. When Catholics refer to works they mean works of charity and love.

Understanding that the entire Bible is inspired, we only have to look to many other scripture verses where the doctrine of faith alone is specifically singled out as invalid. For example, you can refer to Ephesians 2:10, 1 Timothy 6:18, Titus 2:7, James 2:14-26, Revelation 2:5, 2:23, 2:26, 20:12 where works are identified as key to our salvation.

Finally, we can look to Matthew 25:32-46 where our Lord Himself specifically identifies the necessity of performing good works. Those who perform good works during their lifetime will be saved; those who don't will not. Studying these scriptures with an open heart and an open mind can only lead us to the conclusion that faith AND good works are necessary for salvation; not simply faith alone.

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