Canon Law of the Week

Title 6 / Chapter 1 / Can 96

By baptism one is incorporated into the Church of Christ and is constituted a person in it with the duties and rights which are proper to Christians in keeping with their condition, insofar as they are in ecclesiastical communion and unless a legitimately issued sanction stands in the way.


What question does this answer- How does one know that she is Christian?

Catholiphobe Alarm: KHBA of Spokane, and its 7th Day Advent Sponsors

Catholiphobe Alarm: KHBA TV of Spokane, WA “He’s Alive Television”

A late night show played on KHBA which is a 7th Day Advent channel, broadcast in UHF locally in Spokane, WA. The program purported to be one of prophecy, and its interesting topic of the antichrist proved to be eye catching.

The man giving a sermon, apparently taped in a Michigan church, was organizing ten “biblical truths” which shed light on what the anti-Christ is, or was. (I apologize, the program did not give his name to my recollection). I had been following the points in my head, thinking he was going to reveal that it was either the Holy Roman Empire or Hitler's Nazi Germany. To my surprise, it was “Roman Church-State”

Seventh Day Adventism is not just another sect of Protestantism, it is in fact, devoutly anti-catholic. This kind of bigotry is not your normal, if not innocent, person saying “why do you worship Mary,” they would ask you “Why do you serve the Whore of Babylon?”

The following were some of the reasons why the Church is in fact the Anti-Christ, and my first-look responses depicting either 1/ why the reason is absurd 2/ why it is absurd to consider the Catholic Church

1: 1024 Reign: The Anti-Christ is supposed to reign for somewhere around 1024 years. He picked a random year, when Emperor Justinian invoked the Throne of Peter and another random year when Napoleon temporarily dethroned a Pope in the 18th century to prove the 1024 prediction. He was careful never to actually mention the word, Catholic, but he failed to realize that our church started when Peter took on the responsibility of the church, …. And has not ended.

2: Diverse Kingdom: He claims that a kingdom will rise and won’t be like other kingdoms. This is so vague, that literally anything could fit into this description.

3: Rule of Three: This kingdom will devour three others. (This is why I thought of the HRE or Hitler). He claims that the Catholic Church is responsible for the slaughter of three nations of people. The folklore of the “crimes” committed by the Church is getting laughable. Even if it were true, again this is so vague that it could fit anywhere… England, Untied States, Mexico, Spain, China, Russia…

4/5/6: Blasphemy: He takes three contexts in the Bible where the word blasphemy is founds and uses them as definitions. The context to these is very poor, but by the end, he equates the Church to be blasphemous because he claims the Church attempts to usurp Jesus on earth. He put up a statement, likely taken very much out of context from Pope Pius equating the churches authority to Gods. The Catholic Church does not exist to usurp Gods glory, in fact it exists as an extension of it, the human part of his universal Church. The Pope does not replace Jesus to Catholics, he acts as a representative, a servant. And finally, the Church does not steal authority from heaven to forgive people, it has a priesthood that utilizes a God given ability to do so, just as this supposed prophet doesn’t steal his prophetic power from heaven.

7: 10 Horns: The kingdom is supposed to rise from 10 horns, or 10 other kingdoms, which is a metaphor for the fall of the Roman Empire. His point is that it has to be European. This is a stretch on both counts, whether that actually means Europe, whether that matters, and whether that is the Papacy.

8: Jew Decision: He says the people of today, apparently Catholics, have the same choice that Jews did before crucifixion. We can either choose Jesus or Rome, and we choose poorly. Come on, it really wouldn’t be a crazy rant without one jew-bash would it?

9: Run by a man: The kingdom will be run by a man. What institution hasn’t been run by a man in the last 2,000 years. Women being the face of institutions is something recent to the last 50 years. Literally, this could be anything and everything. In fact, there is circumstantial evidence that the Church was run by a female Pope for a short time.

10: Use Christianity to harm Christians: He blames the dark ages on the Church because the protection of holy scriptures in that era. First of all, people were not killed by the Church for having a Bible. The main reason why one found Bibles only the Church was because the priest was one of the few who could read in a community, particularly latin, and because bibles were expensive. If they were chained to the church, it was for reasons of theft because the pages were likely works of art and bindings had gold. This sentiment he is spewing is just filth.

Honestly, this man is an example of why Catholic church functions so much better than other systems of organization. It has 2000 years of history and understanding to draw upon in order to create doctrine and church infrastructure. This unfortunate person, if he even obtained a theological degree, got one from a church that is younger than the soda you drink, and because of that, there were no rules, infrastructure or avenues of understanding, besides his own interpretation of the Bible. That has not only gotten him a bigoted and skewed understanding of the holy scriptures.

Ultimately I feel sorry for this man. Something happened in his life that has culminated to this behavior. As for the network KHAB, shame on you. I hold you in a higher contempt for promulgating such hatred while flying the flag of Christianity. I understand that a evangelical or protestant station is not always going to air ideas that flow with Catholic doctrine. This however was not respectful disagreement, but an ill-planned, hate-filled attack on Catholicism, that any lay person could identify.

Lastly a note on what is known as “the end times.” When you focus your faith on the notion of the end of the world, this is the kind of thought that will breed. If you speak of apples all day, spend time reading about apples, spend time with others who do the same, eventually you will want and will eat an apple. The like is true with end times devotion. If you endlessly talk about the end of the word, if you read myriad books on the antichrist, and spend time with others devoted to antichrist study, you will eventually need to find an antichrist, and it won’t likely be valid. I have already heard the following as proposed antichrists: Hitler, Putin or other Russian Leader, Obama, Bush, Netanyahu, the state of Isreal, money, microchips in one’s skin… but my new personal favorite is the throne of St. Peter.

Feast Days in July

What is a feast day?

Feast Days, or Holy Days, are commemorative times of celebration of the sacred mysteries and events recorded in the history of our redemption, in memory of the Virgin Mother of Christ, or of His apostles, martyrs and saints, by special services and rest from work. A feast not only commemorates an event or saint, but also serves to excite the spiritual life by reminding us of the event it commemorates.

The succession of these seasons form the ecclesiastical year, in which the feasts of Our Lord form the framework, the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints an ornamental tracery.

Let us take a look at July's Holy Days, as listed below.

3 / St. Thomas
11 / St. Benedict
15 / St. Bonaventure
20 / St. Margaret of Antioch
22 / St. Mary Magdalene
23 / St. Bridget of Sweden
25 / St. Christopher
St. James the Great
26 / St. Anne
St. Joachim
29 / St. Olaf
31 / St. Ignatius of Loyola


Catholic Encyclopedia
Angels and Saints, Lleewllyn

The Seven Archangels

Within the contemporary Catholic Church, the seven archangels correspond with the days of the week, and each archangel has been canonized as a saint. As the list goes, Saint Michael represents Sunday, Saint Gabriel represents Monday, Saint Raphael represents Tuesday, Saint Uriel represents Wednesday, Saint Selaphiel represents Thursday, Saint Jegudiel represents Friday, and Saint Barachiel represents Saturday.

There are three archangels named in the bible, of which we know a great deal more than the other four: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It should be noted that archangel is one of Aquinas’ classifications that is not very high in the hierarchy, so when I say archangel in this post, I am referring to the title or nobility, not the classification.

Michael -------------------------------

He is believed to be the guardian of the Isrealites, God’s chosen people, and one of the most, if not the, most powerful of the angels. The name means “who is like God.”

Michael is the angel that fought Lucifer and banished him from heaven. He is known as the warrior angel and is oft pictured in armor, and is the patron of Brussels, police officers and the sick.

Gabriel --------------------------------

Mentioned several times in the Bible, he is most known for being the angel who appear to St. Mary to inform her of the Immaculate Conception, called the Annunciation. Gabriel also encounters Daniel to clear up prophecies about Jesus and tells Zechariah about his son, John the Baptist.

Gabriel’s name means “the hero of God” and he is the patron saint of broadcasters, messengers, postal workers, telecommunication workers and writers.

Raphael ---------------------------------

Raphael signifies “God heals,” which is indicative of his involvement in the story of Tobit and his son, Tobias. Tobit had gone blind and asked God for healing. Raphael appeared to Tobias in human form as an unknown distant relative and convinced him to remove the insides of a fish and rub them on his father’s eyes, which functioned as a cure. Raphael then revealed his angelic form and said, “I am Raphael, one of seven holy angels who… enter in the presence of the glory of the Holy One.”

Raphael is the patron saint of the blind, doctors, nurses and travelers.

Uriel -----------------------------------

Uriel means the “light or the fire of God.” This archangel enlightens the minds and the hearts of the faithful with the light of divine truths and the fire of divine love.

Selaphiel --------------------------------

Salaphiel is the patron of prayer and is so depicted on icons, with eyes gazing downward, with hands crossed on his chest, with an air of humility and deep inner concentration. He is a primary teacher of prayer.

Jegudiel ---------------------------------

Jegudiel is the patron, defender and helper of all those who toil, and is depicted on icons with a crown of victory in his hands. Such crowns will be earned by those who will endure to the very end, who will worthily bear the light yoke of Christ.

Barachiel --------------------------------

Barachiel is the angel of God’s blessings.

The Council of Rome of 745 is the reason why the Church gives more emphasis to the main three Archangels (and why the other four generally do not have feast days). Pope St. Zachary, intending to clarify the Church's teaching on the subject of angels and curb a tendency by some toward angel worship, condemned obsession with angelic intervention and angelolatry, but reaffirmed the approval of the practice of the reverence of angels. This synod struck many angels’ names from the list of those eligible for veneration in the Church of Rome.

Saints and Angels, Llewellyn

http://forums.catholic.com/

Angels: More Queries Answered

Are angels created or did they pre-exist?

They were/are created. Although the Bible doesn’t specifically say it, it neither says that He created dogs either. Psalm 148:2,5 – “Praise God, all his angels, all the armies of heaven… Let everything he has made give praise to him. For he gave the command, and they came into being.”

Do angles have names?

Angels have names and personal identities. We are told of Gabriel and Michael only in the Bible. In Judges 13:18 it is written, “Don’t even ask my name,” the Angel replied, “For it is a secret.” There are many things we do not know about angels that we must suppose because they are the servants of God, and not meant to replace him in awe or worship.

Angles have intellect and free will, but do they have emotions that may govern the later?

There are Bible passages that tell of angels rejoicing when someone believes in Jesus, and others that say angles sing songs of gladness. Although we do not know exactly why Satan fell from grace, it was speculated by early church members that he grew prideful when Christ humanly incarnated, because he would have to worship a human, which he considered to be a lower life form.

Do angles have a sex?

Angels are not physical beings normally, so big parts of what we would consider masculine or feminine like physical features are not possible. When assuming human form, they have usually taken a male form. Matthew 22:30 says, “For in the resurrection there is no marriage. Everyone is like the angels in Heaven.” – ie the sacrament is not necessary because there is no male/female.

Do angels have halos?

In a sense, they do. However, in the clichéd, contemporary ‘golden ring around your head’ sense, they do not. Angels are beings of light that shine like the sun or fire, so if one was to see an angel whether it was in human or normal form, it likely would shine in a halo-like functionality.

Can angels die?

Die is probably the wrong word because it implies an eventuality. Angels are everlasting beings, immortal in our sense of being. However, that does not mean that God cannot make them cease to exist just as quickly as they came to exist. So while you can’t shoot an angel with a gun, it could yet fall into a state of non-existence. This is an interesting point when watching the new wave of angel movies that you see in your redbox, where angels fight other angels and die.

Are there guardian angels?

If you asked a protestant, he or she would say that since the Bible does not specifically say so, that we do not have individual angels. The problem with such a stance is that, the Bible doesn’t specifically say a lot of thing, but that doesn’t become a verdict on their existence (often a shortfall in protestant thinking). For example, the word “rapture” never appears, but that remains in teachings. The Catechism says “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God" (CCC 336).

The First Choir of Angels: Seraphim

Seraphim ----------------------------------

Seraphim means "burning ones". They are so bright that no one look upon them, including other angels. An alternate translation, "fiery serpent" likely comes from burning sensation of venom.

They have 6 wings, two covering the face, two covering the body, and two for flying, according to Isaiah 6.

Purposefully, they worship God and call attention to His majesty. They continuously shout, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. All the earth is filled with His Glory," which is called the Trisagion in the Greek Orthodox Church.

There are four seraphim princes that stand by the throne of God.

One seraph named Seraphiel, is said to have the head of an eagle. Lucifer may also have been a seraph before his fall.

Angels, An Introduction

What is an angel? They are written of poetically, seen in modern movies and referred to in ordinary dialogue. How much do we really know about them? Let us start by answering some common questions.

Do Angels exist, and are they recognized by the Church?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reads "The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition" (CCC 328) and "From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God" (CCC 336).
The Bible has many stories that involve angels, including the following:
Angels announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds (Luke 2:14)
minister to Christ after his temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:11)
comforted Jesus in his agony in the garden (Luke 22:43)
appear to announce his resurrection from the dead (John 20:12)
will come with Christ on the Day of Judgement (Matthew 24:31)
will separate the wicked from the just on the Last Day (Matthew 13:49)

Why are they called Angels?
"Angelos" is Greek for messenger, their primary function.

Are there different kinds of angels?
St. Thomas Aquinas classifies the angels into three groups and three subgroups per group, making nine classifications as follows:

Seraphim

Cherubim

Thrones.

Orders of Dominations

Order of Virtues

Order of Powers

Principalities

Archangels

Angels

How many angels are there?
Daniel 7:10 reads, "Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him.." At the least, according to my math, there is 1 billion, 1 million.

Do angels look like humans?

Angels do not have shape or a body, but may take such on to fulfill duty. In fact, it is written, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Heb 13:2).

Do angels have free will?

Absolutely. Angels have intellect and will, as seen by those who have fallen. From my understanding of Aquinas, they have supernatural knowledge of all things, but not a supernatural understanding of everything. We build a human understanding from knowledge of our senses out of nothing. Think of a map analogy. We start at a point, use current understanding to find new understanding, and eventually, we will attain a full map of the area. Angels, with a supernatural understanding, know every place, every tree, and need no rational links of comprehension. In the end, both groups lack wisdom. One could know everything in the world, whether man or angel, and yet not be able to answer simple why? Questions, only how?

Summa Theologica, Aquinas

Angels, Billy Graham

http://www.maryourmother.net/Angels.html

http://www.jesus-passion.com/angels.htm