A Baptist Knocking At My Door, Part 3

After not hearing from Matthew for a few days, I decided to write him again to see if he was still interested in having this discussion with me. Finally after nearly a week, I heard from him again. He first asked about the Protestant Reformation. He claims that Martin Luther and Jean Calvin both brought their "churches" back to the way the Church was originally set up by the apostles. He also asked me why do Catholics pray to the saints. I am not sure why he chose such vast differnt topics.

After thinking about it for a short time, I replied and below is what I said to him --

Dear Stephen,

A discussion on the Protestant Reformation is a vast topic. We can discuss this later. Plus, it was not in your original email to me and I want to focus on the topics you gave to me there. I will not jump from one topic to another.

Let's start on the saints first -- You are asking why shouldn't we pray to just God the Father or to God the Son Jesus?

Catholics do pray to God directly! Last night I prayed for a friend of mine who is having surgery this week. I went directly to Christ! However, it does not mean that it is not a good thing to ask others to pray for us as well. Catholics believe that there are holy men and women in heaven already that can pray for us, just as if I asked you to pray for me. Do you ask others to pray for you? I know I do.

The saints are our brothers and sisters in the faith that have come before us and are now in the presence of the Holy Trinity. The saints intercede for us when we ask them to do so. Catholics do not omit God the Father from their prayers at all. They simply just ask others (the saints) to pray to God the Father since they are already in his presence in heaven. If we look at Revelation 5:8 - here we see the saints actively interceding for us. As John writes, the incense the saints offer up to God are our prayers. Prayers are not physical and cannot be offered up physically to God. The saints as they intercede for us offer up our prayers to God mentally.

Now does this violate the mediatorship of Christ? Not at all! Christ is the unique mediator between God and man because he is both human and divine. He is the bridge between the two since he is the God-man (John 1:14). The role as mediator is not compromised at all by the fact that others intercede for us. Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant which binds God and man (Hebrews 9:15, 12:24) just as Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant (Greek - mesitas). Galatians 3:19-20 shows this. The saints in heaven do not violate this mediatorship because what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1-4. The intercessory prayers of Christians, which includes the saints in heaven, does not violate Christ's role as mediator, but is "good and pleasing to God." Paul in other places asks for people to pray for him. Please see Romans 15:30-32, Epheisians 6:18-20, Colossions 4:3, 1 Thessolonians 5:25, and 2 Thessolonians 3:1. It is important to note, that Jesus himself required us to pray for others and not those who just asked us to do so (Matthew 5:44).

In conclusion, since the saints are already in heaven and are not distracted with the day to day dealings we face in life, they can help us by interceding for us. They are there to support us in our trials and sufferings since they themselves at one point were here on earth dealing with the same daily activities we face. The saints, since they are in the presence of God, have a greater devotion and confidence to God. Jesus himself supplied for one person based on another person's faith (see Matthew 8:13, 15:28, 17:15-18, Mark 9:17-29, and Luke 8:49-55). Just as the saints intercede for us from heaven, so too must we pray for one another here on earth.

You are in my prayers. In the Peace of Christ, Tom

Matthew responded by saying that he now has a better understanding of this topic. However, this was not good enough for me. During these emails that will go back and forth between us, I am really looking to draw him out to fully understand where he is coming from in this thoughts. I, playing "devils advocate", asked to some more questions about the saints - i.e. statues, relics, religous pictures. He responded by saying -

I believe there is much to be learned from the people God has used for his purposes on this earth, however I don't need to communicate with them for wisdom on how to live even if they have been in my shoes. Jesus has walked this earth and experienced everything they have without sinning so that he is able to help fill that role Heb 4:15-18. In fact he says that if you lack wisdom, ask the Lord (James 1:5-7) not dead saints who have gone to be with him. Those saints are worshipping God and not interceding for him. What could they have to offer that is more valuable than communion with God who came as a man and lived a full life on earth engaging and surrounded by every human experience and temptation. I think much can be learned from the early church fathers and I read about St. Augustine and other influential saints throughout the history of Christianity. However, Jesus never instructs us to pray to them. He said pray like this... Our Father which art in heaven... Never did he say.. sometimes pray to saints in heaven. A concern about the statues of saints would be that they arise to the level of idols. In the old testament the people of Israel made asherah poles and worshipped statues of idols to Baal. God detested this. My question is..what's the difference.

I will answer these questions this week. Please pray for Matthew's conversion.

A Baptist Knocking At My Door - To be continued...

A Baptist Knocking At My Door, Part 2

I was intrigued by the whole account with Matthew on July 21 that I decided to email him on July 22. Below is what I wrote to him:

Hello Matthew,

I am the guy who was reading on my porch that you spoke to yesterday in Steubenville. As I promised, I would email you to have the discussion you wanted to have with me yesterday. I am sorry if I came off as impatient and uncharitable yesterday, but I am taking a 3 week course on the Nature of Love. It's a graduate theology/philosophy course at the Franciscan University of Steubenville - www.franciscan.edu Check out the school when you get the chance. This class is an amazing course in the discussion of love. I am reading some amazing texts and the content is as equally impressive. As Christian men, we really need to fully understand the importance of love and how we are to love others, especially, our beloved wives.

Now I might not be able to answer your questions for another two weeks, but I would like to know what questions you were seeking yesterday on my porch. I have to give you and the other two kids some credit. It takes courage to go out door-to-door and preach the gospel to the world. The genesis of missionary work begin in the Catholic Church, but I have to admit it's something we don't do enough here in this country as much (I mean door-to-door). There are great Catholic missions in the world today, especially in Nigeria, where so many vocations to the priesthood are originating. If you want to have this dialogue with me, that is fine.

I look forward to hearing from you.

In Him,

Tom
P.S. The book I was reading yesterday - A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken is fantastic. Read it - it's well worth it!

Six days later on July 28, Matthew wrote back to me. He thanked me for being a man of my word by emailing him like I said I would. He told me again, like he did on my porch, that his "catholic" friends really had no idea what the Church taught. He told me that the bible answers so many of the questions of life in a simple way. His claims were those I had heard many times before - Mary is elevated above Jesus robbing him of his glory, the traditions of the church are false (this is humorous since 2 Thessalonians 2:15 speaks of the traditions taught by the apostles), no one man could have infallible thoughts, the Pope is the Anti-Christ, the teaching of purgatory was invented because of money purposes and the worship of idolatry when speaking of the saints. He also claimed that the Church makes "Christianity a religion and not a relationship with God." Not sure where he is going with this one.

Matthew thinks that it is fate that he and the two others came to my door that day. He thinks that it is his mission to pull me out of the deception of the Catholic Church, which he also claims is a product of Satan. In his own words -

"Tom, I think God sent us to your doorstep that day for a reason, could it possibly be to let you see that many Catholics will be deceived on the day they stand before Christ because they are not putting all of their trust in Christ on the cross. They are putting their hope in Religion, hoping they will be "Good Enough" to enter heaven. It will be a sad day when they see that they are among the "many" Jesus refers to in Matthew 7:21-23."

When I first read his email, honestly, I laughed a bit. I then forwarded it on to two of my professors for them to read it. Dr. John Bergsma responded and said that I had a live one on the line. He also said that it will be good experience for me to talk to him and answer his questions.

In my response, I told him that I thought his email was harsh and uncharitable. I told him that he clearly attacked Catholicism and I never once attacked his faith tradition. I went on and said to him numerous times that whoever gave him this information about the Catholic Church has gravely mislead him. The Church is not some evil organization looking to take over the world. I lovingly, yet forcibly, told him that I would never leave the Catholic Church and that I believe the Church is the one true church established by Christ 2000 years ago. I told Matthew that I would not hold any of his claims against him and that I was looking forward to explaining what Catholics believe and why we believe it. I told him that he is in my prayers and that I would write again soon.

That day I went to Holy Mass and offered up my mass intention for him. Please pray for Matthew's conversion!!

A Baptist Knocking At My Door - To be continued...

A Baptist Knocking At My Door

On the afternoon of July 21, as I was reading the book, A Severe Mercy, three young Baptist missionaries came knocking on my door. There were two boys and one girl. The older boy, who is in college, did all of the talking. The other two were silent. They were going door-to-door inviting people to come to a dinner and a movie at some small non-denominational community in Steubenville.

I asked them besides inviting people to dinner, why were they here in Steubenville. The older boy, Matthew (name changed), said to me that they were here to investigate the spiritual formation of Steubenville. I was taken back a bit and sort of chuckled and replied by saying, "Do you have any idea where you are?" Matthew said no. I went on to tell him that Steubenville is home to Franciscan University of Steubenville. It's one of the most orthodox and passionate Catholic universities in the country and maybe even the world. He picked up on the word catholic and informed me that he has "catholic" friends at school, but they don't seem to know what Catholicism teaches. I said well you have come to the right door. I am working on a Masters in Theology from Franciscan. I would enjoy informing you on what the Catholic Church teaches, but that I had to get back to reading my book for class.

Instead of just saying okay, the next question out of his mouth was, "Do you think you are saved?" I thought to myself okay we can talk for a bit. Once I began to engage him he automatically began to quote different scriptures to me. He was jumping from scripture to scripture and not really making much sense at all. I should have gone and got my bible, but since I was so involved in my book, I chose not to get it. We spoke about the scriptures a bit, sacred tradition, and some other topics. He told me that the Catholic Church's view on history has been skewed and is not correct. I found this humorous since many Protestants leave off at St. Paul and pick up again at Martin Luther. They clearly leave out 1500 years of Christian history. Realizing that he is young, I let it go...for now.

His interpretation of scripture was incorrect and he was constantly on the defensive. He thinks that the "Word of God" is only the Scriptures. I informed him that the "Word of God" is both the written word (scriptures) and oral (tradition). I asked him where in the scriptures does it say, sola scriptura - scriptures alone, he kept on referring to the Word of God. He then catapulted into sola fide - faith alone. After that, he then jumped from that subject and asked me, "When you stand before God Almighty, what will you tell him so he lets you into heaven?" He was really all over the place the whole time.

After we danced a bit on a variety of subjects, I asked him to give me his email so I could write him when I was finished with my class. Matthew gave me his email and they left my porch.

A Baptist Knocking At My Door -To Be Continued...

Applied Biblical Studies, Defending the Faith, Steve Ray, and Fr. Benedict Groeshcel

Wow! That is all I can say after experiencing the Applied Biblical Studies Conference, the Defending the Faith Conference, Steve Ray and Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

Over this summer, as I was taking courses here at Franciscan, I was working the Summer Conferences. Although all of the conferences were very good, the last two (ABS and DTF) were what I was anticipating all summer long. The reason I was so excited was because some of the best theologians in the Church today were coming to these two conferences. Since I was working during these two conferences, I ordered CD's I would have liked to attend.

During ABS, I was able to meet and speak with Dr. Edward Sri, David Currie, and Dr. Jeffery Morrow. Dr. Sri and David Currie also signed a book that each of them wrote. It was such a surreal experience to speak theology with these men.

During DTF, I was given the opportunity to pick up from the airport, Steve Ray. Ever since I started teaching theology at St. Mary's High School, I have wanted to meet Steve Ray. Over the past six years, I had emailed him a few times. After his flight was delayed for nearly 2 hours, he arrived at the Pittsburgh Airport. On the car ride back to Franciscan we spoke about many things. It was such a great experience to meet him. He is really down to earth. I thanked God that day that we have him in the Catholic Church and for the work he is doing.

Although meeting these great men was fantastic, I would say that driving Fr. Benedict Groeschel to the airport at 5:30 am. on Sunday morning was by far one of the most memorable experiences I have had as a Catholic. Yes - I did see John Paul II three times, but never sat with him like I did with Fr. Groeschel. Below is my account of the car ride with Fr. Groeschel --

I arrived at the Holiday Inn at 5:15 am. Fr. Groeschel and his assistant (David I want to say) came to the lobby where I was waiting at 5:30 am. Fr. Groeschel shook my hand and asked if we had met before. I kindly said, "no, we have never met." After getting Fr. into the car, he blessed 3 plastic bags I had of rosaries and other religious items (one was my bag and 2 friends had given me bags as well). He also signed one of this books for me - "Praying in the Presence of Our Lord - Prayers for Eucharistic Adoration." By this time, I was shacking a bit. It was such a blessing to be in his presence. He asked me if I had a wife, I said no, and he replied by saying, "Okay. Me either." All three of us laughed at his comment.

It was raining the morning I picked him up. As I began to drive down University Blvd, Fr. asked me where I was from. I told him Arizona is home, but I was born in New Jersey. He continued to ask where in New Jersey. As I told him the town of Woodridge in Bergen County, he couldn't believe it. He was born in Jersey City, but lived in Woodridge for a short period. Fr. Groeschel was Baptized in the same church where I received my First Holy Communion - Our Lady of the Assumption. He said he had never met anyone from Woodridge before and I concurred with him.

As we began to drive on the freeway to the airport, Fr. said a blessing for our short trip. All I could think of was stay focused on the road! To be able to pray with such s holy man was making my mind race in a million different directions. Fr. asked where I received my undergraduate degree. I told him I went to the University of San Franciscco with the Jesuits, his response was - Good Lord! We both laughed a bit. I went on to explain to him that the only reason I attended USF was because of the St. Ignatius Insitute. He responded with great enthuaism and said, Fr. Joe's program was fantastic and that I received a great education then. We also talked about how the program was destroyed in 2001 and that he spoke about it on his EWTN program. He then continuned to ask me about how I got to Franciscan and what I was interested in doing after working on my M.A. in Theology. I told him that I have a real passion for the Scriptures and that Apologetics was entering the picture again and that although I loved teaching high school, I was hoping to work for a lay apostolate. I said to him that I think the Lord might be telling me something and he completely agreed. He said that I should look into Catholic Answers.

Furthermore, we talked about a Baptist missionary who had come to my door recently and how I emailed him. Fr. said, "he is looking to convert you, but really you will convert him." He spoke a bit of the Early Church Fathers - St. Irenaeus, St. Polycarp, and St. Ignatius of Antioch. Fr. said that the Protestants leave off at St. Paul and start up again at Martin Luther. They completely leave out 1500 years of Christian history. I was thinking to myself - No way! I am talking about the theology of the Early Church Fathers with Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

He asked me about what classes I had enjoyed at Franciscan. I told him that Mary in the Modern World was probably my favorite so far and how it changed my relationship with the Blessed Mother. He liked hearing that he said. We also spoke about my course the Nature of Love and the texts I had read in that class. I told him that I really enjoyed Dietrich Von Hildebrand's book - The Heart. We spoke briefly about him and his contributions. He mentioned that he knows Alice Von Hildebrand. The two of them sat on Franciscan's Board of Trustees at one point together. I told about the book - "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken. I explained the thesis of the book and how the love of Van and Davy although a great love on many levels was flawed and inconsistent with Christian thought. We also spoke about Karl Adam's - "The Spirit of Catholicism." I told him I was amazed how I found teachings of Vatican II in his book. Fr. agreed with me and had some rather great points to give me.

By this time, we had entered the airport and our car trip was coming to an end. As I pulled up to the Delta curb, his assistant got out of the car to get a wheelchair for Fr. Groeschel. Fr. then gave me a blessing and told me that he would pray to Mother Teresa for me. He told me that I would do good things for the Church soon. I got out of the car and helped him into the wheelchair. He shook my hand and say good-bye. His assistant gave me a hug, said God Bless you, and asked me to pray for him. I walked back over to the driver side of the car and realized I had tears rolling down my face. I got into the car and began to weep slightly. I drove off thinking how blessed I have been since coming to Franciscan.

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry!

In Christ through Mary!

I Am Published

I am officially published! You can check out my article - The Geribah: Our Advocating Queen Mother on the website: www.motherofallpeoples.com 

I am in the July 18 issue. 

It's Been A Long Time Coming

Some will think that I forgot about my blog here, but in reality I never forgot about it, I just never had the time to write with my studies in Graduate Theology here at Franciscan. My last posted was dated December 6, 2008. So much has happened to me since then, I really have no idea where to start. 

The first semester ended very well and I was happy with most of my grades. There was one that I was disappointed in, but I still passed the class and did not effect my GPA overall. I am not really sure why I am so worried about my GPA since I am not going on to work on a Ph.D. Going home for Christmas was great and spending time with my family was very enjoyable. 

I returned to Steubenville in the beginning of January and started a semester that confirmed with nearly a "Papal Bull" that being at Franciscan is the place I should be at right now in my life. I learned quite a good deal about Tommy Perna between January and May. For the second year in a row, I attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. It was yet another great experience even though the most Pro-Choice President in the history of this country now sits in the Oval Office. We must pray for his conversion. 

Lent this past year was probably the best Lenten Season I had in a very long time. I worked on some serious faults and even though I still struggle with them, Lent allowed me to see that I can fight them with the grace of God. It is not through my ability, but only through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The sacraments are so important in the daily life of a Catholic Christian. I realized, maybe for the first time in my life, that when I received the Holy Eucharist daily, the perpetual sins and concupiscence are weakened to the point where I can fight them with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). 

Furthermore, throughout the semester and leading into this summer, I learned that I have many strengths, but many more weaknesses.  I am grateful for two friends here who charitably told me things I need to work on in my life. Pride is such a major sin of mine! I rarely ever want to admit that I am wrong. I have been praying for humility in my own life. I often know what the right choice is, but more often than not, I choose the wrong thing to do. I now understand what St. Paul was speaking about in Romans 7:13-25 and what Czeslaw Milosz writes about in his poem, A Confession (This poem is posted on here from last year - look it up! It's worth it). 

It was through my studies in the Spring Semester that I realized being in the Graduate Theology Program here at Franciscan was the place I needed to be in my life at this time. Although I loved all of my classes (Theological Foundations with Dr. Scott Hahn, Principles of Biblical Studies 2 with Dr. John Bergsma, and Mary in the Modern World with Dr. Mark Miravalle), it was the last class that really had the most impact on my life. My relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary has dramatically changed my life. Not only have I learned the Theology of Mary (Mariology) in great detail, I have come to see her as my own Mother who intercedes for me to Jesus. I go to her for nearly everything. Of course I still have great devotions to the saints too, but she is my Queen Mother (1 Kings 2:19-21). For this course, we had to write a 20 page paper on the Blessed Mother and her role as Mediator. The title of my paper was - The Geribah: Our Advocating Queen Mother. Dr. Miravalle asked to me submit it for publication. At this time, I am still waiting to hear if it will be published or not. If is not, I will post it on here. 

I just finished taking Historical Foundations with Dr. Alan Schreck. We went through 2,000 years of Church History in three weeks! Let me tell you, it was a lot of history for three weeks. I learned a great deal about the history of the Church and throughly enjoyed yet another course here at Franciscan. I wrote two papers for this course, but the paper on St. Gianna Molla was my best (First paper: The Council of Trent). She is an amazing certain saint! If you do not know about her, go to this link - www.saintgianna.org (see recommended books below on her life)

In a few weeks, I begin the Nature of Love with Dr. Michael Healy. I hear that this course will change my life in other areas. I look forward to it greatly since we are going to read John Paul II, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and other great minds of the Church. 

I am going to make a very good effort not to go another 6 months without writing on here. I will write more this summer since I have more time to do so. Before I end this post, there are some very good books I would like to recommend.  Most of these books can be purchased on Amazon.com -- 

1. The Spirit of Catholicism - Karl Adam (As a cradle Catholic, I was pumping my fist in the air).

2. First Comes Love - Dr. Scott Hahn 

3. Introduction to Mary - Dr. Mark Miravalle 

4. The Nature and Mission of Theology - Card. Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) 

5. The Compact History of the Catholic Church - Dr. Alan Schreck

6. Saint Gianna Beretta Molla - A Woman's Life - Giuliana Pelucchi 

7. Saint Gianna Molla - Wife, Mother, Doctor - Pietro Molla & Elio Guerriero 

Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! 

FINAL EXAMS

It's been some time since I have written anything on my blog, but what I am asking for today is PRAYERS. We are now in Final Exams. I have a final exam in my Vatican II class in two hours. Please pray that I remember the information I need to remember for this test. I also have a final on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Please pray to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine for their intercession.