ADAM AND EVE, BLESSINGS OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

God: You sin, you die

Adam and Eve were not supposed to die. God originally blessed them in such a way that they would not even suffer, get sick or grow old. Paragraph 376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church attests, "As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die."

God had originally intended for the first parents and their progeny to live full lives, grow in virtue and finally enter Heaven without ever having to suffer. They did sin, of course, and thus lost this blessing not only for themselves but for the entire human race as Romans 5:12 relates, "so death passed upon all men."

God also gave Adam and Eve the supernatural gift of sanctifying grace, the effect of God's presence within them. They lost this gift with the first mortal sin.

Along with immortality, Adam and Eve were additionally given two other gifts that were called preternatural or beyond nature. The first was the gift of knowledge called infused science. This was like a mental owner's manual of life that God download into their minds. They thus knew how to live and how to teach the human race about life.

An example of this knowledge is found in Genesis 2:19 where Adam names the animals, which shows he first understood them. Their minds were also made nimble and prone to learning.

The third preternatural blessing, called the gift of integrity, allowed their emotions to be balanced and reasonable. Paragraph 376 of the Catechism says this gift afforded our first parents an "inner harmony" that promoted an external "harmony between the first couple and all creation."

God had even blessed nature making it conformable to their service. This was shown in Genesis 2:15 where God placed them "into the paradise of pleasure to dress it and to keep it." After they fell from grace, this blessing would be withdrawn and the earth would then yield "thorns and thistles."

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ADAM AND EVE, FALL OF

Why do all men die?

Have you ever wondered why all men die? Adam and Eve signed their own death warrants and ours when they disobeyed God to get some forbidden knowledge. God tells them in Genesis 2:17 not to eat any fruit off the "tree of knowledge of good and evil," or else you'll "die the death." The devil said otherwise and so they ate the forbidden fruit. At first bite, they both died spiritually by immediately losing sanctifying grace. They also lost the gift of immortality and began growing old, eventually dying.

Adam is the physical head of mankind, so all inherit his punishment of death both spiritually and physically. Saint Paul spells this out in Romans 5:12: "Wherefore as by one man, sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned." Paul gives the remedy for eternal death in 1 Corinthians 15:22: "And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."

The devil tempts our first parents in Genesis 3:5 with the promise that "you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." His twisted truth sort of comes to pass as Genesis 3.7 reveals, "the eyes of them both were open and ... they perceived themselves to be naked." This new knowledge, however, shamed them into hiding their nakedness with fig leaves. Their rebellion further cost them the grace needed to keep their passions in check. Absent this inner harmony, their once harmonious relationship with each other would now be frayed by manipulation and domination as told in Genesis 3:16.

Peace with God was also lost. Genesis 3:8 recounts how the two "hid themselves from the face of the Lord." Even nature rebels against Adam as Genesis 3:17-19 attests: "[C]ursed is the earth in your work; with labor and toil shall you eat thereof … till you return to the earth."

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ADAM AND EVE, NEW

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Without Jesus and Mary we'd all be dead

Without Mary, there would be no Jesus. Without Jesus, there would be no life. Christ, the Redeemer, and Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, brought spiritual life to a world dead in sin.

Saint Paul pairs the life-giving Christ with Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:22: "And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."

Saint Paul further explains in Roman 5:19, "For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just."

Echoing his words, paragraph 411 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) tells how Christ reset life: "[T]he 'New Adam' who, because he 'became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross,' makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam."

After the head of mankind fell, God announces the coming of Christ and His Virgin Mother in what's called the Proto-evangelium, or first gospel. God conveys to Satan the role that Mary would play in His future triumph over the Devil's work of sin and death.

In Genesis 3:15 God tells Satan, "I will put enmities between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed: She shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel."

The CCC in paragraph 411 affirms this "battle between the serpent and the Woman" involves "Mary, the mother of Christ, the new Eve." The Catechism teaches that Mary's sinless role as the "new Eve" was grounded by God's grace in her Immaculate Conception: "[S]he was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life."

When Pope Pius IX in 1854 proclaimed Mary's Immaculate Conception he emphasized her role foretold in Genesis 3:15: "[T]he most holy Virgin" in closest union with her Son, the Redeemer, was "eternally at enmity with the evil serpent, and most completely triumphed over him, and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot."

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ADAM AND EVE, ONLY ONE

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Science and Faith agree

Scientists have proven that everyone descended from one ancestral mother, whom they call Mitochondrial Eve. This name is from a 1987 study that found all people were genetically linked to the same historical matriarch.

Basically, a person's body is made up of cells with a certain part of each cell called mitochondria. DNA in every other part of the cell comes from the father and mother. But DNA in the cell's mitochondria comes only from the mother. Essentially, each child's mitochondrial DNA matches their mother's.

The landmark study in 1987 found that all people have exactly the same mitochondrial DNA. Scientists uphold the study as proof that everybody comes from a single mother thus known as Mitochondrial Eve.

Science and Sacred Scripture are in perfect agreement. According to the Bible, Eve is the name Adam gave his wife, as Genesis 3:20 recounts, "because she was the mother of all the living." But having Eve as the original mother means that Adam is the biological father of all mankind including Eve as Genesis 2:21-23 attests that God made Eve's body from Adam's rib.

Catholics also have a spiritual reason for knowing each person shares a common ancestry. The Church teaches mankind inherits original sin from the head of the human race, Adam. This historical patriarch lost sanctifying grace by committing a mortal sin.

All of Adam's descendants, meaning humankind, would have shared in Adam's blessings without personally meriting it. So too they now share in his punishment without personally meriting it. As a result, all people are created in the state of original sin, meaning they are created without God's sanctifying presence in their souls.

Pope Pius XII in his 1950 encyclical Humani Generis flagged the unscientific theory that mankind has multiple first parents. The Pope noted this heresy, called "polygenism," contradicts the Catholic teaching that original sin "proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all."

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ANGELS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

If angels are persons, why can't they die?

Have you ever wondered what it would take to kill an angel? Well, the answer is that angels don't have bodies so nothing can kill them. Likewise, they never get sick and never grow old. God created countless angels — pure spirits without bodies. This means angels are neither male nor female. They also can't taste ice cream. Each angel is, however, what's called a person having the ability to think and choose, to know and love.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 327 that God first made spiritual angels at the "beginning of time" before creating man. Catholics must believe angels exist. This Catechism calls this "a truth of faith."

The word angel is from the Greek word angelos, which means messenger. Angels are God's messengers, who do His will. The Old Testament speaks of angels doing all sorts of things. Paragraph 332 of the Catechism recalls that angels "protected Lot ... stayed Abraham's hand ... led the People of God ... announced births ... and assisted the prophets."

Angels weren't busy just in the Old Testament. Hebrews 1:14 calls angels "ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation." Paragraph 333 of the Catechism focuses on angels in New Testament. Here it says they announced the birth of Christ, sang at His birth and strengthened Him in the garden of Gethsemane. The Catechism also foretells that angels "will be present at Christ's return, which they will announce, to serve at His judgment." They're even at every Mass, according to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:10.

Angels are what theologians call preternatural beings, meaning they can do things men can't. They're really smart and can also manipulate energy and matter in ways man doesn't understand. Angels are not, however, supernatural. They can't create stuff like God can or know the future unless God reveals it to them.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is called the Angelic Doctor because of how much he wrote about the angels in the Summa Theologica.

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ANGELS, 9 CHOIRS OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Heavenly hierarchy

Few Catholics today can name all nine choirs of angels — let alone in order of hierarchy.

An ancient source on angels, Celestial Hierarchy, is from St. Dionysius the Areopagite or "Pseudo-Dionysius." Some believe he was St. Paul's disciple mentioned in Acts 17:34 and the first bishop of Athens, whose feast day is Oct. 3.

Seventh-century Father and Doctor of the Church St. John Damascene cited "Dionysius the Areopagite" on the nine choirs of angels' being divided "into three groups" or hierarchies. Pope St. Gregory the Great drew upon this source in the previous century, as did subsequent Doctors of the Church — like St. Bonaventure in the 13th century.

The 13th-century Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, tapped this authoritative work when discussing the nine choirs forming three ranks:

Dionysius (Coel. Hier. vii), places in the highest hierarchy the "seraphim" as the first, the "cherubim" as the middle, the "thrones" as the last; in the middle hierarchy, he places the "dominations" as the first, the "virtues" in the middle, the "powers" last; in the lowest hierarchy the "principalities" first, then the "archangels" and, lastly, the "angels" (P. 1, Q. 108, A. 6, s.c.).

All nine choirs are in the Bible, as St. Thomas, in his Summa, shows:

For the name "seraphim" is found in Isaiah 6:2; the name "cherubim" in Ezekiel 10:15, 20; "thrones" in Colossians 1:16; "dominations," "virtues," "powers" and "principalities" are mentioned in Ephesians 1:21; the name "archangels" in the canonical epistle of St. Jude and the name "angels" is found in many places of Scripture (P. 1, Q. 108, A. 5, s.c.).

The highest rank, composed of seraphim, cherubim and thrones, "meditate upon the Person, wisdom and judgment of God." The middle rank, made of dominions, powers and virtues, "govern the forces of nature and the universe as a whole." The lowest rank is comprised of principalities, who guard "nations and cities," archangels, who guard "special people" and angels, who are "guardians and messengers to us all."

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ANGELS, FALLEN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Do you know the name and rank of your greatest enemy?

The first angel to rebel against God was named Lucifer and he was a member of one of the nine choirs of angels called Cherubim. Lucifer started the angelic rebellion and continues to lead the demonic host hellbent on mankind's eternal damnation. All the angels were created good but became devils and man's sworn enemies, according to paragraph 393 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, owing to the "irrevocable character of their choice."

The chief fallen angel is named in Isaiah 14:12, which reads, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?" In his Summa Theologica (P 1, Q 63, A 5, co.), St. Thomas Aquinas references this passage and explained that it "is said of the devil under the figure of the prince of Babylon." Saint Thomas further notes this same devil is the subject of Ezechiel 28:11–17, revealing that Lucifer belonged to the angelic choir of Cherubim.

If allowed by God, warns the Catechism in paragraph 395, fallen angels "may cause grave injuries — of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature — to each man and to society." Chapters one and two of Job shows that God allows Satan to harm good men with plagues, bad weather and inspired attacks by evil men.

Our Lord freed many from the power of fallen angels by performing exorcisms. Mark 9:16–28 shows that without "prayer and fasting" even Christ's closest disciples weren't able to cast out certain devils. A bishop's permission is needed to formally conduct the Catholic Church's sacramental rite of Exorcism. The Church does offer to the laity, however, prayers they can recite to curb diabolic influence such as the Prayers Against the Powers of Darkness.

The various degrees of control that fallen angels exercise over their victims are called obsession, oppression and possession. Persons morally weakened by sin are more susceptible to demonic influence. Exorcists, therefore, wholeheartedly promote the sacrament of confession to help free souls from Lucifer and his minions.

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ANGELS, GUARDIAN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Did you know an angel is always at your side trying to save you from going to Hell?

God assigns a guardian angel to each person to help him get to Heaven. This truth is verified in Matthew 18:10 which reads, "See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven."

This Catholic dogma is confirmed in paragraph 336 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which teaches, "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." The Catechism further says of these preternatural helpmates, "From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession."

These angelic guardians are mentioned throughout Scripture such as in Psalm 90:11 which reads, "For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways." This was the bible verse cited by the devil in Matthew 4:6 when tempting Our Lord to presumptuously cast Himself off the temple. Afterward, angels came to Christ's assistance as Matthew 4:11 relates, "Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him."

Guardian angels assist men by praying for them, protecting them from physical and spiritual harm, guiding them in difficulties and by inspiring them to do good. Another example of this was in chapter one and two of Matthew's gospel where an angel appeared to St. Joseph four times in dreams offering special guidance concerning the Holy Family.

The Church's liturgy testifies to Guardian Angels by celebrating their feast on October 2. The Church offers the following Angel of God prayer dating back to the 11th century for any Catholic wanting to pray to his own Guardian Angel:

Angel of God, my guardian dear,

To whom God's love commits me here,

Ever this day, be at my side,

To light and guard, rule and guide.

Not only people but also countries, communities and churches have angelic patrons as shown in chapter 10 of Daniel.

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BIBLE BACKS SCIENCE

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Scripture slays abortion

As a Democratic presidential candidate in 2019, Pete Buttigieg sacrilegiously claimed the Bible supports abortion. The gay politician, who was baptized Catholic, unscientifically ignored the biological role of an umbilical cord and conjectured that preborn babies aren't living because they don't breathe air through their mouths and noses into their lungs.

Specifically, Buttigieg made this flaccid appeal to Scripture: "There's a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath."

A living baby, however, must take in oxygen through his mother's umbilical cord in order to live. Without this oxygenative process, the heart would stop beating, brain waves would cease and the growing body would then decay.

So much for leftists "following the science."

Now, Adam did not have a biological mother or a belly button. So when Moses, in Genesis 2:7, relates that God "breathed into his face the breath of life," he is speaking of a unique act of creation on God's part.

But all that aside, the Bible gives sundry indications that unborn babies are, indeed, alive. Saint John the Baptist, for instance, was in St. Elizabeth's womb when he leaped for joy in the presence of Jesus, Who was in Mary's womb.

The Gospel of Luke (1:41–44) recounts, "And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary ... she cried out ... 'Behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.'"

Furthermore, the prophet in Jeremias 1:5 recites God's testimony: "Before I formed you in the bowels of your mother, I knew you: and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you and made you a prophet unto the nations."

Personal identity as a child of God, therefore, begins in the womb. Witnessing to this fact, Psalm 21:10–11 reads, "For thou art He that has drawn me out of the womb. ... I was cast upon Thee from the womb. From my mother's womb, Thou art my God."

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‘BIBLE ALONE’ WASN’T CHRIST’S PLAN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Scripture was scarce for 1,500 years

Many modern-day Catholics are ignoring Church teaching on various moral issues — claiming Christ never condemned such behavior in the Bible.

The Scripture-alone mentality turns a deaf ear to Sacred Tradition. Indeed, it's reminiscent of the mindset of the 16th-century Catholics who converted to Protestantism. A brief look at where the Bible came from, however, shows the so-called sola Scriptura theory doesn't hold historical water.

For starters, first-century Christians didn't even have all 27 books of the New Testament, as the last book, St. John's Apocalypse, wasn't written till nearly A.D. 100.

During the next four centuries, the Bible-only theory still fails because most Christians didn't know which books were inspired and which were apocryphal. This problem wasn't solved until A.D. 382, when the Church, during a synod in Rome under Pope St. Damasus I, declared which writings belonged in the Bible (Denzinger, §84). This declaration was duplicated in A.D. 397 at the Council of Carthage (Denzinger, §92).

Prior to this, even saints debated which books were part of Sacred Scripture. Fourth-century Father and Doctor of the Church St. Augustine sided with the Church: "For my part, I should not believe the gospel, except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church."

Another problem was the 73 books of Scripture existed in various languages, including Hebrew and Greek. That wasn't resolved until the early fifth century, when St. Jerome completed the Church's commission of compiling all 73 inspired writings into one language in a single book — the Latin Vulgate.

The scarcity of access to the Vulgate for the next 1,000 years further proves the inanity of the Bible-alone theory. It took a monk several years to hand make a single copy in his monastery's scriptorium. The printing press wasn't invented until the 15th century. This invention made copies of the Bible somewhat more available, but didn't solve the pervasive problem of widespread illiteracy.

It is, therefore, understandable why Christ, in Matthew 28:19, told His first bishops to go forth and teach (instead of write).

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CATHOLIC IDENTITY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Mark 16:16: "He who does not believe shall be condemned"

The vast majority of self-identified Catholics either refuse to attend weekly Mass or reject Church teaching on the Real Presence as well as many Catholic moral teachings or simply disobey Church precepts, particularly those regarding marriage laws. When you run the numbers, fewer than 1 in 10 Catholics can actually claim to "adore the Father in spirit and in truth" as Christ desired in John 4:23–24.

Authentic Catholics are united with Christ — Priest, Prophet and King — in the worship, doctrine and governance that He established within His one, holy and apostolic Church. This union isn't an option. In Mark 16:16 Christ declared, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned."

A Catholic is required to believe all the perennial dogmas of faith and morals formally taught by the Catholic Church. Failure to do so is called heresy, as stated in canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law and in paragraph 2089 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism). A person espousing heresy isn't a liberal or progressive Catholic, but simply a heretic. Likewise, a person who believes all Catholic doctrine isn't conservative or traditional, but simply Catholic.

To be Catholic, a person is further required to submit to the governing authority of Christ's vicar, the pope, and those legitimately exercising authority under him. Refusal to do so is called schism in the same canon 751 cited above and paragraph 2089 of the Catechism. Such rebels are actually schismatics and not left-wing or modern Catholics.

Likewise, unbelieving and non-practicing Catholics are not united in worship under Christ the High Priest. These self-styled Catholics can't really claim to love Christ either as Christ in John 14:15 declared: "If you love me, keep my commandments." He further elaborated in John 14:24, "He that loves me not, keeps not my words."

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CHRIST COULD NOT GROW IN HOLINESS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Did Jesus really advance in wisdom and grace?

Luke 2:52 reads, "And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men." But did Christ actually become more holy during His lifetime?

The short answer is no. Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary from 1859 cites Pope St. Gregory the Great when explaining that Christ did not grow in wisdom or grace in any real sense but, rather, gradually manifested both over time as was appropriate to His salvific mission. The commentary reads: "In the same manner, also He increased in grace, by displaying, as He advanced in age, the gifts of grace with which He was endowed."

Commenting on Luke 2:52 in his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas similarly teaches that Christ didn't grow in grace, but that He simply unveiled that grace more fully over time:

Anyone may increase in wisdom and grace in two ways. First inasmuch as the very habits of wisdom and grace are increased; and in this way Christ did not increase. Secondly, as regards the effects, i.e., inasmuch as they do wiser and greater works; and in this way Christ increased in wisdom and grace even as in age, since in the course of time, He did more perfect works, (ST III, q.7, a.12, ad. 3).

Of course, Christ is a divine person. As God, He's the source of sanctity and, therefore, can't become more holy. But what about Christ's human nature: Could it become holier over time?

Again, no. During life, God gradually confers holiness to men via the Holy Spirit in what's called the divine indwelling. But with the Incarnation, as St. Thomas relates, Christ completely sanctified His human nature by perfectly uniting it to His divine nature in the hypostatic union.

Another reason that Christ's human nature couldn't grow in grace, St. Thomas explains, was that, like the blessed in Heaven, Christ always beheld the beatific vision in His human mind, "hence there could have been no increase of grace in Him, as there could be none in the rest of the blessed" (ST III, q.7, a.12, co.).

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CHRIST COULD NOT SIN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Divine Love Himself must love perfectly

Movies like The Da Vinci Code and The Last Temptation of Christ imply Jesus could've sinned. Of course, the faithful know Christ was "without sin," as Hebrews 4:15 attests. But was the God-man able to sin, if He'd wanted to?

The twofold answer is, first, no, Christ, Who is God, could not sin without contradicting His own divine nature; and, second, the deified humanity of Christ could never be torn from God's illuminating embrace.

The Second Person of the Holy Trinity couldn't sin any more than God the Father or God the Holy Spirit could. It's an inherent contradiction to say, with 1 John 4:8, that "God is love," and then claim Divine Love acted without love by sinning.

Nor could Christ, in His human nature, commit sin, as the eternal Christ remained a single divine Person while clothing Himself with human nature. The eternal Son of God became the Son of Mary without becoming two persons, one incapable of sinning and the other able to sin. Splitting Christ into two persons is actually a fifth-century heresy called Nestorianism.

Moreover, Christ's humanity was unable to be an instrument of sin, as the go-to theologian for Catholic seminarians, Fr. Ludwig Ott, explains on page 169 of his theological manual Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma: "From the Hypostatic Union, there arises a physical impossibility of sinning, and the Beatific Vision, a moral impossibility; that is, it involves such a close connection with God in knowledge and love that a turning away from God is actually excluded."

Not only was Christ's humanity perfectly sanctified via the Hypostatic Union, but His human mind was always enlightened by the Beatific Vision, even from Mary's womb, as Pope Pius XII, in Mystici Corporis Christi, affirms: "For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the Mother of God when He began to enjoy the Beatific Vision, and, in that vision, all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love."

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CHRIST, INCARNATION OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John 1.14: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us"

The Incarnation of Christ is spoken of in John 1:1,14 which reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us."

The divine Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus, assumed a sinless human nature in the womb of Mary with no change to His divine personhood. He is from all eternity the divine Son of God the Father, who 2,000 years ago became the son of Mary when He took on a spotless soul and a sinless body in her womb.

This divine act that began the redemption of sinful man followed the Annunciation commemorated by Catholics on March 25. In Luke 1:31,35 the angel Gabriel announced to Mary, "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. ... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

The term used by the Catholic Church for this union of divine and human natures in the one person of Christ is called the hypostatic union. In Christ, there's one "who" and two "whats." This union is called substantial as distinguished from a merely accidental union, which describes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within a soul in the state of sanctifying grace. A type of substantial union spoken of by Church Fathers to analogously describe Christ's hypostatic union is the union of an immaterial soul with a material body at conception.

Christ remained the same divine Person after His incarnation. While retaining His divine will He assumed an untainted human will, which was always in perfect conformity with His divine will. In a similar way, Christ retained His omniscient, divine intellect and assumed a human intellect that beheld all created things in the beatific vision.

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CHRIST’S KNOWLEDGE AS MAN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Christ's human intellect was imbued with beatific, infused and experiential knowledge

Christ, as one divine Person knows all things, so it's heretical to imply Christ was ignorant of anything. It can be asked, however, what knowledge was in Christ's human intellect when He was on earth.

Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that Christ, whose divine intellect was omniscient, also had a human intellect imbued with beatific, infused and experiential knowledge. If Christ's human mind is likened to a computer, then beatific knowledge would be like accessing all the knowledge on the internet. Infused knowledge in Christ's human mind would be like downloaded software. Acquired or sense knowledge would be like information typed in on a keyboard or the senses. Thus, when Christ heard, felt or saw something, it was again only in what's called sensual or experiential knowledge without any actual increase in conceptual knowledge.

Christ knows all things by virtue of His divine intellect but His human mind beheld the beatific vision and thus knew all things that have been created in the past and present or will be created in the future. The infused knowledge in His human intellect exceeded that of all the angels. Both beatific and infused knowledge were fixed in Christ's human mind from the moment of His incarnation in Mary's womb and never increased.

While knowing all things as God, Christ's human nature could grow in experiential knowledge which wasn't an increase in new concepts but was merely another way of experiencing the same knowledge He'd obtained from beatific or infused knowledge. An example of this is in John 18:4 which reads, "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said to them: Whom seek ye?" Likewise, John 6:5–6 reads, "When Jesus, therefore, had lifted up His eyes and seen that a very great multitude cometh to Him, He said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this He said to try him; for He, Himself knew what He would do."

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CHRIST’S PERFECT HUMANITY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Matthew 26.38: "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death"

Christ, as one divine person didn't grow in truth, grace or virtue in His divine or human natures. His human nature was always sinless and perfectly united to His divine nature in what's called the hypostatic union. His human intellect beheld the beatific vision from the moment of His conception, confirming His human nature in a state of sanctifying grace.

Christ asked questions to teach, not to learn. Luke 2:46 reads, "They found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions." Christ, who is the master rabbi or teacher, asked thought-provoking questions as all teachers do. He wasn't lacking in understanding as Luke 2:47 attests, "And all, that heard Him, were astonished at His wisdom and His answers."

Luke 2:52 reads, however, "Jesus increased in wisdom and age and grace with God and men." Pope St. Gregory the Great, Church Father and Doctor of the Church, teaches that Christ chose to increasingly manifest His wisdom and grace to men at opportune times. He is clear, however, that Christ never actually increased in wisdom or virtue as He aged.

Christ didn't fearfully vacillate in spirit regarding His salvific mission such as in the Garden of Gethsemane when in Matthew 26:42 He prayed, "My Father, if this chalice cannot pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done." This was not said in fear at His impending crucifixion. It was, however, the foreseen loss of reprobate souls that caused Him in Matthew 26:38 to cry out, "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death."

This understanding was confirmed to St. Faustina as stated on day nine of the Church-approved Divine Mercy Novena, which reads: "My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me if it be Your will.'"

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CHRIST’S SOCRATIC METHOD

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Jesus was not ignorant

So-called Scripture scholars claim Christ asked questions in order to learn information. As "proof," they point to His asking questions in the Temple. Verily, Luke 2:46–47 recounts that Christ was "in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions." Such scholars leave out the next part: "And all that heard Him were astonished at His wisdom and his answers."

Some cite Luke 2:52, which says Jesus "increased in wisdom." But the likes of Pope St. Gregory the Great, a Father and Doctor of the Church, explained (in the sixth century), "This is said because He chose to manifest increasing signs of wisdom as He increased in years."

From eternity, Christ was a single Divine Person. He didn't stop being that all-knowing Divine Person when He assumed a human nature 2,000 years ago. To claim the single Divine Person of Christ (though incarnate) asked questions to learn would split Him into two persons — one Who is omniscient and one Who knows less than the scribes and Pharisees. To claim Christ is two persons is to commit the fifth-century heresy of Nestorianism.

It is OK, however, to ask, "What did Christ, in His human nature, know?" But this has already been answered by saints who showed that even Christ's human nature had beatific and infused knowledge. And the single person Who is Christ has knowledge accruing from both His all-knowing divine nature and from His ultra-informed human nature.

Another question-and-answer moment in Luke 5:22, however, clarifies that Jesus is the all-knowing teacher and not an unknowing student: "And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering, He said to them: 'What is it you think in your hearts?'"

Finally, those who opine that Jesus asked questions to learn are at odds with the belief of Christ's disciples, as John 16:30 makes clear: "Now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this, we believe that Thou camest forth from God."

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CHRIST, RESURRECTION OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

1 Corinthians 15:17: "If Christ has not risen, vain is your faith"

Testifying to the Resurrection of Christ, St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 writes, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ... He was buried, and ... rose again the third day ... He appeared to Cephas and after that to the Eleven. Then He was seen by more than 500 brethren at one time, many of whom are with us still ... After that, He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles. And last of all ... He was seen also by me."

The Apostles Creed states Christ "died and was buried" and "descended into Hell." Christ's divine Personhood united to His soul went to the Limbo of the Patriarchs to announce the good news to them. This is affirmed by St. Peter, who in 1 Peter 3:19 says of Christ, "[H]e went and preached to those spirits that were in prison." The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism) in paragraph 650 explains that Christ's divine nature "remained united to His soul and body, even when these were separated from each other by death." The Catechism adds, "For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two."

When Christ's body and soul were reunited, a massive burst of energy was released totaling some 3,400 bolts of lightning. The Shroud of Turin, revered as the burial cloth of Christ, testifies to this. Scientists studying this most precious relic in 2011 reported that 34,000 billion watts of VUV radiation seared the cloth and imprinted on it the image of a body Catholics affirm is Christ's.

Others also rose from the dead on Good Friday. The Gospel of St. Matthew 27:52–53 reads, "[The] tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; and coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they came into the holy city and appeared to many."

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CHRIST WASN’T A COWARD

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Sharing His Cross to save souls

Was Christ praying to avoid His Cross when, in Matthew 26:39, He prayed, "Let this chalice pass from Me" — or was He praying to share His Cross for the salvation of souls?

Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, asks whether "Christ's prayer was always heard." The first proffered "objection" claims Christ prayed that the "chalice of His passion might be taken from Him ... yet it was not taken from Him" (ST III, q.21, a.4, obj.1).

But when replying to this objection, St. Thomas cites, among others, St. Hilary of Poitiers, whom he paraphrases:

He does not pray that it may pass by Him, but that others may share in that which passes on from Him to them; so that the sense is, As I am partaking of the chalice of the Passion, so may others drink of it, with unfailing hope, with unflinching anguish, without fear of death. (ST III, q.21, a.4, ad.1).

Saint Thomas observes if Christ was praying that "other martyrs might be imitators of His Passion," then "His prayer was entirely fulfilled."

Thomas notes that Christ, as man, had a natural repugnance to suffering, but clarifies that "neither the divine will nor the will of reason in Christ was impeded or retarded" by any passion (ST III, q.18, a.6, co.). While the Angelic Doctor allows that Christ may have been teaching us to conform our will to God's, he also countenances that Christ's prayer in Gethsemane wasn't owing to fear swaying Him.

Sharing the cross of redemptive suffering with future Christians was the means of reducing the number of lost souls — Christ's main concern conveyed in Church-approved private revelations to the 20th-century mystic, St. Faustina Kowalska. Day nine of the subsequent Divine Mercy Novena recounts Christ telling the Polish nun, "My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out, 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.'"

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CHRIST WASN’T ‘NICE’

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Remaking God according to man's likeness

"Church of Nice" is a Church Militant term for those Catholics who preach toleration of evil but avoidance of the cross. Their vision of a milquetoast Jesus glosses over the moments when Christ wasn't so nice.

If a "nice" person is never angry, abrasive or offensive, then Christ wasn't always nice.

Our Lord did get angry with the Pharisees, who were looking for any excuse to accuse Him, while being closed-minded to His teachings. Mark 3:5 recounts that Christ looked "round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts."

And if Christ wasn't angry when He drove the money changers out of the Temple with a whip, trashing their tables, then He was at least abrasive, as John 2:15 records: "And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the tables He overthrew."

He was also blunt in John 4:18, when He reminded the woman at the well, "For thou hast had five husbands: And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband."

Then again, He didn't mince words in Matthew 17:16, when He declared, "O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?"

Many consider name-calling to be offensive, but in Matthew 23:33, Our Lord peppers religious leaders with offensive names: "You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Hell?" He also called them hypocrites, blind guides and whited sepulchers.

He even blasted St. Peter as Matthew 16:23 recounts: "Go behind me, Satan; thou art a scandal unto me."

Of course, we're talking about the God-man, Who in Matthew 10:34 revealed, "I came not to send peace, but the sword."

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CHURCH AUTHORITY AND SCHISM

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Matthew 16:19: "Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven"

Schism is the "refusal of submission to the Supreme (Roman) Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him," as defined in canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law and paragraph 2089 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Refusal of submission isn't a simple act of disobedience, but rather a denial of the pope's God-given authority to command. Refusal of communion means deliberately refusing to participate in Catholic life and worship. Canon 1364 states that schismatics are automatically excommunicated.

Christ not only bestowed on St. Peter and his successors the charismatic grace of infallibility to teach but also established their papal primacy to authoritatively govern as Christ. Matthew 16:19 declares, "I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

In 1302 Pope Boniface VIII referenced this passage when speaking of the grave necessity of Catholics to submit to papal authority. In his bull Unam Sanctam, Boniface VIII wrote,

This authority ... is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors. ... Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2]. ... Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

In 1870 Vatican I similarly taught,

Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity ... are bound to submit to this power ... not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world. ... This is the teaching of the catholic truth, and no one can depart from it without endangering his faith and salvation.

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CHURCH DOCTORS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Four women and 32 men taught the faith so well the Church calls them Doctors

Doctor means teacher. In the Catholic Church, it means a holy person, who expressed profound doctrinal insights within an extensive body of writings on the Faith. As of 2015, the title has been conferred by the Church upon 32 men and four women.

Eight men bore the title Doctor of the Church until 1568 when Pope St. Pius V added St. Thomas Aquinas to their ranks. The original eight men were all Fathers of the Church — four Western and four Eastern Church Fathers. The four Latin Doctors are St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome. The four Greek Doctors are St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. John Chrysostom. Eight more Church Fathers from the patristic era, meaning prior to the eighth century, have since received the title of Doctor.

The only Doctor to be mentioned in the Catholic Code of Canon Law is St. Thomas Aquinas. Concerning the formation of seminarians canon 252 §3 states, "There are to be classes in dogmatic theology, always grounded in the written word of God together with sacred tradition; through these, students are to learn to penetrate more intimately the mysteries of salvation, especially with St. Thomas as a teacher."

Only men were designated Doctors until 1970 when Blessed Paul VI conferred the title on St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila. Pope St. John Paul II in 1997 bestowed the appellation upon St. Therese of Lisieux. Pope Benedict XVI, in turn, granted that distinction in 2012 to St. Hildegard of Bingen, bringing the number of female Doctors to four. The most recent title of Doctor was conferred on St. Gregory of Narek in 2015 by Pope Francis.

Writings of all saints are first reviewed by the Church for their orthodoxy prior to a saint's beatification. Regarding Doctors, however, the Church not only approves their theological writings but also promotes them to the faithful on account of their spiritual insights.

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CHURCH FATHERS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Vatican I: No one can interpret Sacred Scripture contrary to the Church Fathers

The Fathers of the Church are those holy and learned teachers from the early centuries of the Catholic Church, whose writings the Church values as authoritative witnesses to Her Deposit of Faith.

The Church Fathers were either direct disciples of the Apostles or were taught by their disciples. Although not all have been declared saints, they, nonetheless, are recognized by the Church for their antiquity, orthodoxy, sanctity and ecclesiastical approval. Most lived prior to the fifth century, with one dying in the eighth century.

There are 49 Eastern or Greek Fathers and 39 Western or Latin Fathers. The last of the Western Fathers, who died in 636 A.D., was St. Isidore of Seville. The last of the Eastern Fathers, who died in 749 A.D., was St. John Damascene. The study of their writings is called patristics, from the Latin word pater meaning father.

In Magisterial documents, they're often referred to simply as the Fathers. Complete agreement by them on any point of doctrine, as evidenced by their writings, is viewed as authoritative teaching by the Magisterium. This was stated at the Council of Trent in 1546, which used the phrase "unanimous consent of the Fathers." This teaching was restated in 1870 at Vatican I which decreed, "We, renewing the same decree, declare ... that, in matters of faith and morals ... no one is permitted to interpret Sacred Scripture ... contrary to the unanimous agreement of the Fathers."

The teachings of both Trent and Vatican I, concerning the authority of the Church Fathers, were reiterated in the 1893 encyclical Providentissimus Deus by Pope Leo XIII, who wrote, "The Council of the Vatican, which, in renewing the decree of Trent declares ... that 'in things of faith and morals ... it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture ... against the unanimous agreement of the Fathers.'"

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CHURCH, INDEFECTIBILITY OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Matthew 28:20: "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world"

The Catholic Church is in substance and essence the same Church that Christ founded and will remain so until the end of time. His Mystical Body, of which He's the head, will continue to be the source of truth and the means of grace for all generations.

Christ assured His doubtful Apostles that He'd protect His divinely established institution. In Matthew 28:18–20 He tells them:

All power is given to me in Heaven and in earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

Our Lord is the reason that truth and grace will never and can never fail universally in the Church. One way Christ preserves the Church He founded was by providing Her with an infallible teaching authority via the Petrine office. He established this papal Magisterium in Matthew 16:18 when He told St. Peter, "Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

The attribute of indefectibility means the Church will never formally teach error on faith and morals, nor will She promote invalid sacraments on a universal level. It doesn't mean, however, that all prudential judgments of the pope or those in authority will be flawless or that local churches, either diocesan or national, will be free from corruption.

The Church has evidenced Her indefectible nature for 2,000 years in withstanding persecutions for three centuries by Roman emperors, two centuries by barbarians and nine centuries by Muslims. The Church's greatest enemies, however, are Her own leaders. Pope Pius VII spoke of these wolves in sheep's clothing when responding to Napoleon's threat of destroying the Church, "If popes, cardinals, bishops and priests have not succeeded in destroying the Church," said Pius VII, "how do you expect to do so?"

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CHURCH’S GRANTING OF INDULGENCES

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

2 Maccabees 12.46: "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead"

The following definition of an indulgence, which is used in canon 992 of the Code of Canon Law and in paragraph 1471 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, was given by Bl. Pope Paul VI in his 1967 apostolic constitution, Indulgentiarum Doctrina:

An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due sins already forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned, which the follower of Christ with the proper dispositions and under certain determined conditions acquires through the intervention of the Church which, as minister of the Redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints.

A person may apply the indulgence he obtains to himself or offer it for a departed soul. Soliciting the Church's intervention on behalf of the dead was practiced by faithful Jews, as 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 shows: "And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead. ... It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."

An indulgence can be obtained only by a Catholic in a state of grace, who performs a work that's indulgenced by the Church with the intention of gaining that indulgence. Besides being detached from all mortal and venial sins, the person must also receive Holy Communion, go to confession and pray for the pope's intentions. Unless legitimately impeded, these conditions must be fulfilled within 20 days before or after doing the indulgenced work.

A plenary indulgence remits all the temporal punishment due to one's sins. A partial indulgence is "an equal remission of punishment through the intervention of the Church" that is "in addition to the remission of temporal punishment acquired by the action itself." A current list of indulgenced works is in the Enchiridion of Indulgences.

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CHURCH, MAGISTERIUM OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Vatican II: "Our Lord placed Simon alone as the rock and the bearer of the keys of the Church"

The Magisterium is the Catholic Church's teaching authority that Christ vested in the Roman Pontiff and those bishops who teach the Deposit of Faith in union with the Vicar of Christ. It comes from the Latin word, magister, meaning teacher.

The ordinary Magisterium is the Church's teaching office exercised throughout the world by bishops using normal means to instruct the faithful in fidelity with the Petrine Office. These normal means include all forms of communication. When the doctrine taught to the faithful by the ordinary Magisterium is in union with Catholic faith and morals as taught by the Roman Pontiff, then it's infallible.

The extraordinary Magisterium is the Church's teaching office exercised in a solemn or formal way by a pope's declaration or by conciliar decisions from an ecumenical council of bishops approved by the Holy Father. When a papal definition or conciliar decision on Catholic doctrine is presented by the extraordinary Magisterium to the faithful and requires their assent, then it's infallible.

Collegiality is a reference to the college of bishops, which is headed by the pope. Vatican II taught in paragraph 22 of Lumen Gentium that the charism of infallibility to teach and the God-given authority to govern can never be exercised by the body of bishops apart from the Holy Father:

The college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter as its head. ... The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of Apostles ... is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head, the Roman Pontiff, and never without this head. This power can be exercised only with the consent of the Roman Pontiff. For Our Lord placed Simon alone as the rock and the bearer of the keys of the Church and made him shepherd of the whole flock.

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COMMANDMENTS, TEN

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Luke 10:27: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God … and thy neighbor as thyself"

The Ten Commandments are the enduring moral precepts revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai as recorded in Exodus 20:2–17. Also called the Decalogue, they're repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy 5:6–21. The first three commands cover love of God, while the other seven sum up love of neighbor. They can be known by reason using only natural law and, therefore, have been practiced by various unchurched civilizations.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) lists them as follows:

1. You shall not have strange Gods before me
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
3. Keep holy the Lord's Day
4. Honor your father and your mother
5. You shall not kill
6. You shall not commit adultery
7. You shall not steal
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods

The First Commandment forbids idolatry, which includes the worship of graven idols like the golden calf described in chapter 32 of Exodus. Protestants split the First Commandment in two, with the Second Commandment forbidding graven images. This is evidently false, as Exodus 25:18 speaks of making angelic figures of gold for the Jewish temple. Protestants keep to ten commandments, however, by joining coveting thy neighbor's wife to coveting thy neighbor's property, as if lust and envy were the same sin.

The Fifth Commandment forbids murder, which is the taking of innocent human life. In paragraph 2261, the CCC references Exodus 23:7, which reads, "The innocent and just person you shall not put to death." The Sixth and Ninth Commandments involve impurity, while the Seventh and Tenth Commandments involve what Christ called mammon.

Christ did not abolish the Commandments but perfected them. In Matthew 5:21–30, He extended the external sin of murder to include the internal sins of anger and contempt. He likewise extended the physical sin of adultery to include the spiritual sin of lust.

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CONSCIENCE

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

The Catholic Conscience

A person's conscience is his thoughtful application of accepted moral principles to decide the moral goodness or badness of an imminent action. It's the practical intellect engaged in the act of judging what ought to be done or not done in an immediate moral choice.

The conscience applies objective moral principles it gains by faith or revelation and from reason or naturally known moral truths. Examples of such principles are "do good and avoid evil" and the Ten Commandments. Catholics are obliged to adopt Catholic moral principles when informing their conscience as demanded by canon 750 in the Code of Canon Law. Failure to do so is a rejection of Christ as He said in Luke 10:16, "He that hears you hears Me."

Failing to properly inform one's conscience with morally sound principles results in following a blind guide. Informing it with immoral principles results in following an evil guide. A deformed conscience erroneously accepts as true immoral principles such as "do evil that good may come of it" or rationalizations such as "look out for number one." A Catholic's conscience applies Catholic moral principles in the context of personal circumstances without dissenting from those principles.

Violating one's conscience occurs in failing to apply the moral principles it has previously adopted. This results in a guilty feeling sometimes called a "twinge of conscience." Repeated violations of one's conscience result in a deadened conscience or "hardened heart," whereby the sense of guilt is numbed. The mere absence of guilty feelings, however, doesn't mean a person isn't guilty from God's viewpoint.

In 1946, Pope Pius XII noted the "loss of the sense of sin" was the greatest sin of modern time. In his 1984 apostolic exhortation, Reconciliatio et Paenitenia, Pope John Paul II referenced Pius XII's statement, adding that the "loss of the sense of sin" deceives man into accepting "an illusion of sinlessness."

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CONSCIENCE, GUILTY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Pope Francis: The great sentiment of shame opens the door to healing

The feeling of guilt in a person's conscience is the proper sentiment after he commits a sin against God or neighbor. It leads him to seek forgiveness and to make amends for his offense.

When a person violates his conscience by deliberately doing something he knows to be morally wrong then he ought to feel guilt or shame. Pope Francis calls this proper sense of shame a "great sentiment" and a "grace of God" that "opens the door to healing." Guilt leads a sinner to contrition, to be sorrowful for his sins. It then leads him to seek forgiveness and to make amends for his transgressions.

The proper feeling of guilt presupposes a well-formed conscience that knows right from wrong. It also presupposes a person's awareness of his actions when violating his conscience. Many in the Catholic Church and in secular society today do their best to blur a person's moral responsibility in order to shield him from ever feeling guilty. Without guilt, however, a person wouldn't be moved to reconcile with his God or his neighbor after he violated his relationship with them.

A person, who feels little or no shame when sinning, tends to be what's called psychopathic. Oftentimes, this is owing to a lack of moral formation. A person, who scrupulously feels guilt over non-sinful actions, tends to be what's called neurotic. Oftentimes their excessive guilt is fueled by a misguided moral formation that sees sin everywhere. Repeated sins tend to numb or deaden a person's conscience and diminish his authentic feelings of guilt over time.

A delicate or well-formed conscience, on the other hand, is one that is easily pricked by a sense of guilt when slightly violating God's commandments. The conscience immediately moves the person to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. After doing so, the conscience again feels at peace.

Pope Pius XII said in 1946 that the loss of the sense of sin or feelings of guilt at having sinned was the greatest sin of modern time.

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DEATH PENALTY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Cdl. Ratzinger: Catholics may disagree with the pope on applying capital punishment

The death penalty or capital punishment is the state execution of a criminal, whose crime is so grave that the death penalty proportionally redresses the disorder inflicted on society by the crime.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2266 teaches, "Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense."

This point was reiterated by Pope St. John Paul II, who in his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, taught, "The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is 'to redress the disorder caused by the offence.' Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime."

Besides exacting adequate expiation or retribution for the crime, society's criminal punishment is also for the purpose of rehabilitating the criminal, defending society against the danger posed by the criminal and deterring other criminals from committing similar crimes. In the same encyclical, John Paul II exhorts that "except in cases of absolute necessity," if these ends can be met without executing the criminal, then the death penalty should not be invoked. "Today, however," said the pope, "as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare if not practically non-existent."

Catholics can disagree on when to apply the death penalty in various societies. In 2004, one year before becoming pope, Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, relates:

"If a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. ... There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty."

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DIVINE INDWELLING

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

2 Corinthians 6:16: "You are the temple of the living God"

The divine indwelling is the Trinity present in the soul of a just person. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, St. Paul asks, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 1265 teaches, "Baptism ... makes" a person "a temple of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is emphasized because He is sent by God the Father, as St. Paul in Galatians 4:6 writes: "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" In John 14:16–17, Christ says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of truth. ... [Y]ou shall know him, because he will dwell with you and be in you."

The Holy Trinity cannot be separated, as the Son is eternally proceeding from the Father, and the Holy Spirit is eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, meaning there was never a time when this was not the case. Divine activity outside of the Trinity Itself, for instance, sanctifying a soul, is said to be accomplished by all three Divine Persons acting in unison as the One God.

The presence of God in a person's soul is what causes sanctifying grace, much like electricity in a light bulb causes light. It is all three Persons acting collectively Who produce sanctifying grace in a soul, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: "[T]he effect of grace is also from the Father, Who dwells in us by grace, just as the Son and the Holy Ghost."

It is the triune God, therefore, Who dwells in a holy soul, as 1 John 4:16 attests: "God is charity: and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him." In John 14:23, Christ similarly professes, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him."

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DIVINE TRINITY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

One God in Three Persons

The two pillars of Christianity are the Holy Trinity and Christ's Incarnation. The Trinity is three distinct persons — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — all sharing in the same divine nature. During Christ's Incarnation, the divine Second Person of the Blessed Trinity united with unsullied human nature in Mary's womb. While the Incarnation involves one "who" and two "whats," the Holy Trinity involves three "whos" and one "what."

Each person of the Trinity shares equally in the one divine Godhead but is distinct in origin. God the Father is unoriginated from all eternity. God the Son is begotten solely from the Father. God the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son and is thus said to proceed from them both.

The great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, explained these two processions as spiritual processes of knowing and loving. He taught that God the Father, contemplating Himself from all eternity, begets the perfect understanding of Himself, which is the Divine Word — Jesus. This follows the teaching of St. John in his Gospel, John 1:1 which reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Moving to the spiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Augustine explains that the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity proceeds from the bond of love between the Father and the Son. This agrees with what St. John teaches in 1 John 4:16, "God is charity: and he that abides in charity abides in God, and God in him."

The Old Testament gives a foreshadowing of the Trinity when in Genesis 1:26 God says, "Let us make man to our image and likeness." Before ascending, Christ explicitly mentions the Trinity in Matthew 28:19, "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost."

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EUCHARIST IS JESUS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Christ veiled

The Eucharist is actually the one Christ, complete with His risen Body and Sacred Blood that's in living union with His immortal soul and divine personhood. It's really not a what but a Who.

This Blessed Sacrament is the same eternal Son of God who clothed Himself with humanity in Mary's womb 2,000 years ago, died and rose from the dead. The Eucharist is thus "the whole Christ," Who "is truly and substantially" present on the altar, teaches the 16th-century Council of Trent.

By Christ's words of consecration offered through the priest at Mass, the bread and wine become the substance of Christ's Body and Blood. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 1376 refers to this radical transformation as transubstantiation.

The bread and wine don't actually change, however, into Christ's spiritual soul or divine nature. But all four parts are together. As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, this happens because wherever Christ's inseparable risen Body and Blood are present, there His soul and divinity are present through the principle of concomitance.

Thus, after the consecration, the bread changes into Christ's risen Body and the wine changes into Christ's Blood but the appearance of bread and wine remains. Eucharistic miracles have borne witness to this supernatural truth throughout the centuries and continue to do so.

But because Christ as the Blessed Sacrament remains veiled by the eucharistic appearances of bread and wine, various followers of Christ have struggled from the beginning to accept the mysterious fact of His Real Presence.

John 6:61 attests, "Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it?"

This supernatural mystery is thus rightly called "the mystery of faith."

The Eucharist is also called Holy Communion because in this way Catholics receive Christ in His risen Body. Reception of the smallest particle of what once was bread or the smallest drop of what once was wine is truly the reception of Christ — wholly and entirely.

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EVANGELIZATION

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John Paul II: "What is needed is a 'new evangelization' or a 're-evangelization'"

Evangelization is defined "in terms of proclaiming Christ to those who do not know Him, of preaching, of catechesis, of conferring Baptism and the other sacraments," by Bl. Pope Paul VI in paragraph 17 of his 1975 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN). Paul VI stressed in EN the necessity of including each of these elements:

Any partial and fragmentary definition which attempts to render the reality of evangelization in all its richness, complexity and dynamism does so only at the risk of impoverishing it and even of distorting it. It is impossible to grasp the concept of evangelization unless one tries to keep in view all its essential elements.

Paul VI further emphasized that Christ gave the mandate of evangelization to the Catholic Church and evangelization is not effective apart from Her. In paragraph 16 of EN he writes, "This mandate is not accomplished without her, and still less against her." He sorrowfully recalls those "well-intentioned" but "certainly misguided" people who are "continually claiming to love Christ but without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church, to belong to Christ but outside the Church." He adds, "The absurdity of this dichotomy is clearly evident in this phrase of the Gospel: 'Anyone who rejects you rejects me.'"

Paul VI also summed up evangelization as the use of divine truths for the purpose of making converts. "[T]he best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims," said the pope. This is different from proselytizing, which seeks to make converts by using unfair or unscrupulous means of coercion.

Pope St. John Paul II in his 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio coined the phrase "New Evangelization" in describing the way to revert lapsed Catholics, writing that "entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the Faith or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church. ... In this case, what is needed is a 'new evangelization' or a 're-evangelization.'"

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EVANGELIZATION AND AMERICANISM

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Leo XIII prophetically denounced America's false ecumenical movement

Americanism is the heresy that seeks to win over non-Catholics by watering down or ignoring sublime truths of the Catholic faith. This form of false evangelization was named by Pope Leo XIII in his 1899 apostolic letter Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, addressed to the archbishop of Baltimore.

Leo XIII warned that true Catholic unity in worship, doctrine and government is not obtained by diluting or hiding Christ's teachings. He described this duplicity as follows:

[In] order to more easily attract those who differ from her, the Church should ... make some concessions ... not only in regard to ways of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong to the Deposit of the Faith ... to omit certain points of her teaching which are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning which the Church has always attached to them.

The pope further noted Americanism emphasizes so-called "active" virtues of social welfare and democratic equality while devaluing the "passive" virtues of humility and obedience to Church authority. He clarified that Americanism had little to do with the U.S. legal structure or mindset of the nation's people: "Americanism ... if by this name are to be understood certain endowments of mind which belong to the American people ... and if, moreover, by it is designated your political condition and the laws and customs by which you are governed, there is no reason to take exception to the name."

The pope said his letter targeted a translation of the biography of U.S.-born Fr. Isaac Thomas Hecker, Servant of God and founder of the Paulist Fathers. The pope doubted the United States had this problem, saying that if it did, "there can be no manner of doubt that … the bishops of America, would be the first to repudiate and condemn it."

His letter, however, proved prophetic. Roughly 70 years later clergy began glossing over the Deposit of Faith to foster false unity and began exalting social justice while ignoring religious life.

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EVIL: WHY DOES GOD ALLOW IT?

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Freedom to love

God never forces men or angels to love others because love must be freely given or it isn't authentic love. Allowing free will to take its course, however, often results in mankind's suffering.

Man suffers many physical evils of fallen nature from tornadoes to cancer. He also suffers external attacks from fallen angels or fallen mankind. He even suffers internal attacks from personal sins that harm his own soul. These sins may even cause him to suffer eternally in Hell.

Evil isn't a created thing but is really a lack of due goodness. God created only good, as Genesis 1:31 attests: "God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good." All physical and moral evils, therefore, can be traced back to the fall of the angels or the fall of man.

Regarding the angelic rebellion, Wisdom 2:23–24 reads, "For God created man incorruptible. ... But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world." Regarding the rebellion of Adam, St. Paul, in Romans 5:12, writes, "Wherefore as by one man, sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men."

But evil doesn't triumph over good. Romans 8:28 confirms "to them that love God, all things work together unto good."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism) in paragraph 412 likewise teaches, "God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good." Part of that higher good is in expressing love as 1 Peter 2:20 relates, by prayerfully bearing undeserved suffering.

This ultimately is proven by the crucified Christ. The Catechism in paragraph 312 reaffirms: "From the greatest moral evil ever committed — the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men — God, by his grace ... brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption."

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FAITH, DEPOSIT OF

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John Paul II: "Guarding the deposit of faith is the mission"

The Deposit of Faith is the entire body of Catholic revelation contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which Christ passed on to His Church through the Apostles. Paragraph 86 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) relates that all magisterial teaching "is drawn from this single deposit of faith." Paragraph 10 of Vatican II's Dei Verbum teaches that the Magisterium, or "living teaching office of the Church ... is not above the word of God, but serves it ... and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed."

In 1870 Vatican I spoke solemnly of this deposit: "The holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles."

It further recognized that the "meaning of the sacred dogmas" contained in the "divine deposit committed to the spouse of Christ" must never be abandoned "under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding."

To promulgate the CCC in 1992, Pope John Paul II wrote an apostolic exhortation, which he named Fidei Depositum, or Deposit of Faith. His opening line reads, "Guarding the Deposit of Faith is the mission which the Lord has entrusted to his Church and which she fulfils in every age." He's referring to Our Lord's Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18–20.

The Oath of Fidelity that's taken by seminary professors and Church officials as required by canon 833 reads, "I shall hold fast to the Deposit of Faith in its entirety; I shall faithfully hand it on and explain it, and I shall avoid any teachings contrary to it." Canon 750 also uses this term in defining what Catholics must believe.

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FREEDOM, RELIGIOUS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Is religious freedom even a thing?

Religious freedom is touted as the right to hold personal beliefs about God or religion, no matter how ungrounded or immoral such beliefs are. Christians, however, including bakers and those operating adoption agencies, are forced by the government to participate in same-sex weddings or approve same-sex parenting.

Long before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), when governments were founded on Christian principles, religious freedom was discussed from the objective point of view that error has no rights. The emphasis was on man's moral responsibility to make his religious choices based on divine truth. There's only one God, and He established only one Church as the means of salvation.

In an age when secular governments are oppressive and unmindful of God's laws, Council Fathers authored Dignitatis Humanae (DH). It came from the subjective standpoint that all people, including those in error, have rights. The council recognized that people must be free from secular legal coercion in order to seek God and to choose His Divine Truths. Even Catholics can't force or coerce unbelievers to convert. Faith is a divine gift and authentic conversion happens only when a person sincerely accepts divine truth with the assistance of grace.

This subjective view supports what Americans call their inalienable or God-given natural right to religious freedom. This natural or human right is expressed as a legal or civil right in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This legal right to religious liberty is called a negative civil right as it bars secular government from meddling in personal religious affairs.

Religious freedom doesn't give Catholics the moral right to rebel against divine authority within the Catholic Church. It also doesn't exonerate non-believers from their moral responsibility to seek God and His Church. The Council Fathers affirmed in DH that God created all men with the moral duty to sincerely seek His Truth and the grave obligation of embracing that supernatural truth once they found it.

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GENESIS AND CREATIONISM

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Faith meets science

God wasn't limited to 144 hours when creating the world out of nothing and His first creative act might have begun with a bang.

Creationism is opposed to atheistic evolution that claims matter is eternally self-subsisting. But if matter answers the question of its own existence, then by definition, it would be God.

Creationism isn't married to biblical fundamentalism, however, which asserts God created everything in exactly six 24-hour periods totaling 144 hours. Genesis chapter 1 does speak of six days in which God created all things including man. And Genesis 2:2 further relates that "God ended his work" and then "rested on the seventh day."

But as pre-Vatican II catechisms teach, this "'seventh day' is still going on." This means God is allowing nature to take its course without creating anything new. The seventh day, therefore, has lasted from the creation of Adam and Eve until now — far longer than 24 hours.

Fundamentalists don't realize the English word "day" as used in the creation narrative is actually translated from the Hebrew word yom. This is the same word used in such familiar phrases as Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement and Yom Yahweh — the Day of the Lord.

The traditional catechism further notes the word "'day' may stand for a day, a week, a month, a century, or any indefinite period of time."

Biblical fundamentalists further ignore solar data that shows stars predated the earth and geological data that shows layers of geological time existed between prehistoric species and mankind. But supernatural or revealed truth doesn't violate natural or scientific truth as truth is truth.

Genesis 1:3 relates, "And God said: 'Be light made.' And light was made." Pope Pius XII personally believed this initial Divine act resulted in what's called the Big Bang. During the remaining five days of creation, that possibly lasted millions of years, God allowed nature to take its course while sequentially creating all living species as recorded in Genesis.

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GRACE AND BAPTISM

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved but he who does not believe shall be condemned"

Baptism is the removal of original sin by an infusion of the Holy Spirit, Who enters the soul of the baptized and imparts to it sanctifying grace. A baptized person is justified and made righteous by partaking in the justice of God, which removes all guilt of sin and its punishment.

Baptism is accomplished in three ways: by water, by blood (or martyrdom) and by desire. Only baptism of water, called the sacrament of baptism, impresses a permanent baptismal character on the soul, enabling a person to receive the other sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in paragraph 1258 speaks of all three means of baptism: "This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament." Baptism of blood occurs when a person willingly dies for Christ or some Christian virtue. Martyrdom of a formerly unbaptized person remits all of his sins and ushers his soul into Heaven.

In his 13th-century Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas calls the desire for baptism a baptism of repentance: "In like manner a man receives the effect of Baptism by the power of the Holy Ghost, not only without Baptism of Water, but also without Baptism of Blood: forasmuch as his heart is moved by the Holy Ghost to believe in and love God and to repent of his sins: wherefore this is also called Baptism of Repentance."

In John 3:5 Christ declares, "Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Saint Thomas explains, "The other two Baptisms are included in the Baptism of Water, which derives its efficacy, both from Christ's Passion and from the Holy Ghost. Consequently for this reason the unity of Baptism is not destroyed."

In a letter approved by Pope Pius XII in 1949, the Holy Office states that a desire for baptism may be "implicit" but to "produce its effect" must be rooted in "supernatural faith" and "animated by perfect charity."

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GRACE, SANCTIFYING

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

1 Peter 1:16: "You shall be holy, for I am holy"

Sanctifying grace is the deifying effect of God's all-holy presence in a person's soul. A soul in the supernatural state of sanctifying grace is a temple of God. God's presence in the soul causes sanctifying grace much like electricity in a light bulb causes light. The Trinity acting collectively produces this supernatural quality in a soul, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: "[T]he effect of grace is also from the Father, Who dwells in us by grace, just as the Son and the Holy Ghost."

God divinizes a person's soul by imparting to it the quality of His holiness, comparable to how electricity powers a light bulb. This is why sanctifying grace is called "deifying grace" in paragraph 1999 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Sanctifying grace is called "habitual grace" by the CCC in paragraph 2000 because it's an abiding or permanent supernatural quality or disposition of soul gained by baptism and lost only by mortal sin. A soul in the state of sanctifying grace is no longer in the state of either original or mortal sin.

It's also called justifying grace, as it restores a person to God's friendship, either from original sin by baptism or from mortal sin by confession. It makes a person an adopted child of God and an heir of Heaven. By it a soul is said to be justified and made righteous because the soul then shares in the justice of God, which removes all personal guilt.

Sanctifying grace transfigures the soul with God's divine beauty. The more intensely a soul shines with the light of sanctifying grace, the more it heats up with the infused theological and moral virtues. The CCC in paragraph 2023 teaches, therefore, that sanctifying grace is infused into the soul "to heal it of sin" by helping it to overcome the sinful effects remaining from original sin and the sinful tendencies of vice acquired by repeated personal sins.

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HERESY

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

There are two types of heresy, material and formal. Material heresy is an innocent misunderstanding of Catholic teaching on faith or morals. Formal heresy is sinfully persisting in that misunderstanding even after being corrected by the Church.

Formal heresy, as defined in canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law and paragraph 2089 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith."

Canon 1364 says heretics are automatically excommunicated. To be excommunicated a person must obstinately reject or positively doubt what they know to be the Church's teaching on faith or morals.

A person commits the sin of formal heresy by deliberately dissenting from some magisterial teaching contained in the Deposit of Faith, that body of public revelation given to the Church by Christ through the Apostles. Canon 750 says:

A person must believe with divine and Catholic faith all those things contained in the word of God, written or handed on, that is, in the one deposit of faith entrusted to the Church, and at the same time proposed as divinely revealed either by the solemn magisterium of the Church or by its ordinary and universal magisterium.

One year before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger, who in 2004 was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained how Catholics must believe essential Catholic doctrine but need not accept every exhortation issued on social justice.

"There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics," wrote the cardinal, "about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not, however, with regard to abortion and euthanasia."

A deliberate rejection of official Catholic teaching on faith or morals is a sin that erodes a Catholic's theologically infused virtue of faith. The persistent sin of heresy can lead to a complete loss of supernatural faith in Catholicism. A Catholic's total rejection of Catholicism is apostasy.

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INFALLIBILITY AND SENSUS FIDELIUM

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Sense of the faithful is not the majority opinion of Catholics at a given time

The sense of the faithful, or sensus fidelium, is what Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 called a "supernatural instinct" for knowing what teachings ring with Catholic truth. He also referred to it as the sensus fidei, or sense of faith by which Catholics have a "criterion for discerning whether or not a truth belongs to the living deposit of the Apostolic Tradition." It's sometimes called a sensus catholicus, or Catholic instinct.

Vatican II taught in paragraph 12 of Lumen Gentium (LG),"The entire body of the faithful … cannot err in matters of belief … when they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals." This led some dissident Catholics to invoke a false notion of the sensus fidelium to dissent from Catholic teaching. The same paragraph in LG, however, states that this Catholic instinct is "exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority" to which the people of God show "faithful and respectful obedience."

Pope Benedict warned that the sensus fidelium isn't a "kind of public ecclesial opinion" which can be invoked "in order to contest the teachings of the Magisterium." He clarified that this "supernatural sense of faith" can only be "authentically developed in believers" to the extent that they "fully participate in the life of the Church, and this demands responsible adherence to the Magisterium, to the deposit of faith."

So-called nominal Catholics who dissent from Church teaching and ultra-traditional Catholics who reject the authority of the Supreme Pontiff and thus put themselves in schism will both hold up a mistaken concept of sensus fidelium to assert that their understanding of Church teaching is correct, in defiance of the authentic Magisterium.

In 2014 the International Theological Commission (ITC), then chaired by Cdl. Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, emphasized that this sense of faith isn't the same thing as "public opinion inside (or outside) the Church." The sense of the faithful, ITC noted, isn't simply "the opinion of the majority of the baptized at a given time."

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JUDGING

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Thou shalt not judge

There are two types of judging. One is a sin, and the other is required by God. The first type is attempting to judge a sinner's subjective moral culpability, which God alone can know. This is a sin as only God can see the degree of malice with which a sin was committed. The second type is simply judging the objective sin itself as being in violation of the Ten Commandments. God requires each person to discern good from evil, so they may do good and avoid evil.

Simply pointing out the fact that a sinner has materially broken one of the Ten Commandments is not forbidden. It's actually part of the spiritual work of mercy called admonishing the sinner. In 2 Timothy 4:1–2, St. Paul taught:

I charge thee, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead ... preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and teaching.

This can only be done by first judging what is a sin so that the sinner may be corrected.

Condemning one's neighbor as being irredeemable is a type of judging that's forbidden but charitably correcting them is not. Our Lord directs in Matthew 18:15–16:

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he doesn't listen to you, take with you one or two more so that on the word of two or three witnesses every word may be confirmed.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus exhorted in Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, that you may not be judged." The Church Fathers explain here that Christ is warning against having a hypocritical blindness to one's own faults while pointing out the moral faults of others. They note, too, that Christ is also warning against rashly judging others in an unfavorable light and with an air of moral superiority.

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LAST THINGS: ‘CHURCH’S ULTIMATE TRIAL’

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Antichrist's 'mystical body'

Prelates, official Catholic catechisms and the Bible all say mass apostasy is a hallmark of the end times.

Under the heading of "The Church's Ultimate Trial," the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 675, speaks of a widespread loss of faith amongst Catholics: "Before Christ's second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers."

The catechism also warns of a "persecution" accompanying "a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth." This sounds eerily like the "Great Reset."

Cardinal Willem Eijk focused on the catechism's paragraph 675 in a letter he penned in 2018 while archbishop of Utrecht (a city in the Netherlands).

The cardinal was lamenting Pope Francis' failure to forbid German bishops from distributing Holy Communion to Protestants, as well as cardinals "who publicly propose to bless homosexual relationships."

Eijk revealed the widespread attacks on the "Deposit of Faith contained in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture" moved him to believe the Church is nearing Her "ultimate trial."

Venerable Abp. Fulton Sheen already spoke in 1946 of a looming apocalyptic crisis of faith. Sheen predicted the Devil would even attempt to counterfeit the Church:

He will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter church which will be the ape of the Church because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will be the mystical body of the Antichrist that will, in all externals, resemble the Church as the mystical body of Christ.

The 16th-century Catechism of the Council of Trent (also called the "Roman Catechism") accords with the modern catechism on the matter. The Tridentine catechism explains, "The Sacred Scriptures inform us that the general judgment will be preceded by these three principal signs: the preaching of the gospel throughout the world, a falling away from the Faith and the coming of Antichrist."

Such "Sacred Scriptures" include St. Paul's 2 Thessalonians 2:2–5, wherein he reminds his flock that Christ's second coming will not occur "unless there come a revolt first, and the Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition."

Learn how the groundwork has been laid for the coming apostasy, in Church Militant's Premium show FBI—Rebellion in the Church.

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LAST THINGS: GENERAL JUDGMENT

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John 5:28-29: "All who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God"

The general judgment is passed publicly by Christ on all people gathered together at the end of the world. It'll happen after the general resurrection of the dead. Each person, reunited with his body, will receive a public repetition of his particular judgment already pronounced privately on death. In John 5:28–29 Christ says, "[T]he hour comes wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment."

In Matthew 25:31–46 Our Lord describes this event:

[T]hen he shall sit on the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him ... and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then the king shall say to them that shall be on his right hand: "Come, blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." ... Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels." ... And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

In Apocalypse 20:11–15 St. John also describes the general judgment:

I saw a great white throne ... . And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; ... and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. ... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.

Learn more about death, judgment, Heaven and Hell in Church Militant's Premium show Father Pablo Says—The Four Last Things.

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LAST THINGS: PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Hebrews 9.27: "It is appointed unto men to die once and after this comes the judgment."

Immediately on death the particular judgment is passed by Christ on the moral state of a person's soul. In Hebrews 9:27 St. Paul says, "[It] is appointed unto men to die once and after this comes the judgment." This judgment will be rendered privately by Christ to each person without any witnesses. In Romans 14:12 St. Paul teaches, "Therefore every one of us will render an account to God for himself."

At death a person's soul separates from his body and goes alone before Christ to be judged. At that moment Christ will welcome the perfect directly into Heaven, send the just, who still need purification, temporarily into Purgatory, or send the reprobate, those who die in mortal sin, immediately into Hell for all eternity.

Paragraph 1022 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains, "Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven through a purification or immediately, or immediate and everlasting damnation."

At that moment a person's entire life, everything he's done or failed to do, will be judged; this includes his every thought, word and deed. In Matthew 12:36 Our Lord warns, "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment." The particular judgment will be final and irrevocable. It will be repeated in front of all at the general judgment after the resurrection of the dead.

Paragraph 1022 of the CCC also quotes Doctor of the Church St. John of the Cross: "At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love." Christ's judgment will not be based on how much He has infinitely and unconditionally loved us. He will, rather, judge us on how much we have loved Him. In John 14:15 Christ defined love: "If you love me, keep my commandments."

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LAW, NATURAL

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Natural law is common sense

The natural law is man's grasp of God's Will acquired through astute observation of creation and by the use of right reason about what he observes. The Church teaches that man can come to know the existence of God by natural law apart from revelation. A basic understanding of the Ten Commandments is also attainable from natural law as demonstrated in various pagan cultures, which have similar codes of conduct. Man's conscience too, uninformed by revelation, also bears witness to the natural law when he experiences guilt after violating his naturally formed conscience.

The analogy of an automaker serves to contrast the natural law, also called reason, with the divine positive law, also known as revelation. In the analogy, God's the carmaker and creation is the car. A reasonable and astute man is the good mechanic who learns by observation and common sense how to operate the car even before reading the owner's manual, which analogously is the Bible and oral tradition.

The automaker makes the car to be operated in a specific way much like God makes creation to function in a specific way. The mechanic, for instance, knows the car can't be started by putting the key in the tailpipe and thus knows by common sense or right reason that the carmaker never intended for the car to be operated that way. So too, a common sense person of good will can see that God didn't design the body to perform homosexual acts and can thus conclude that such acts are contrary to God's Will. Such conclusions are said to be known by natural law or common sense.

What the mechanic learns by experience and reason isn't contradicted by the owners manual, but rather is reinforced and fine-tuned by it. This is shown in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus safeguarded and elevated the Old Testament law to a spiritual level by equating such things as physical murder with spiritual contempt and physical adultery with spiritual lust.

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LITURGICAL COLORS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

GIRM 346: "The colors white or black may be used at funeral services"

The liturgical colors authorized by the Catholic Church for use in the Roman rite include red, white, black, green, purple and rose. On solemn feast days, "sacred vestments of a gold or silver color can be substituted as appropriate for others of various colors but not for purple or black" as per paragraph 127 of Redemptionis Sacramentum, the 2004 instruction issued by Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW). Blue, however, is not universally permitted in the Roman rite liturgy.

Green is the most common liturgical color as it's used in Ordinary Time when there isn't a saint or sacred event being celebrated. According to a St. Joseph Daily Missal published in 1962, green is "the color of budding and living vegetation." This is appropriate for Ordinary Time which represents a period of growth after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It's also a "symbol of hope" in eternal life.

Rose is the least common liturgical color. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) number 346 authorizes its use only "on Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent) and on Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent)." During the rest of Advent and Lent, the use of purple is mandated. As per GIRM 346, purple may also be used at Masses for the Dead along with black, a symbol of mourning or white, a symbol of innocence and triumph over sin and death.

Red as a symbol of fire is used at Pentecost and as a symbol of blood is used for the feasts of martyrs. White is commonly used for other saints who were not martyrs. Such saints are called confessors as they died confessing or professing the Catholic faith.

Liturgical colors adorn the vestments worn by priests. They likewise color the chalice veil, tabernacle veil and burse, which carries the corporal in traditional Masses.

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LITURGICAL HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Canon 1247: On "Holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass"

Holy days of obligation are special feast days when Catholics must attend Mass and avoid unnecessary servile work, just as on Sundays. Employers must allow Catholic workers to attend Mass on each holy day or attend the vigil Mass the evening before. To purposely skip Mass on a holy day of obligation without a serious reason is a mortal sin.

The Catholic Church sets aside these special feast days to commemorate key mysteries and events in the life of the Church. Canon 1246 in the Code of Canon Law establishes 10 days in the universal calendar as holy days of obligation. It also gives bishops the ability to "suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday."

The U.S. bishops have used Rome's permission to keep the observance on the respective day for the following five holy days of obligation listed in canon 1246: Mary Mother of God on January 1, Mary's Assumption on August 15, All Saints Day on November 1, Mary's Immaculate Conception on December 8 and Christmas Day on December 25. Rome allowed the bishops to transfer the observance of Ascension Thursday to the following Sunday and to downgrade the other holy days listed in canon 1246. The U.S. bishops have also used Rome's permission to transfer the following feasts to Sunday when they fall on a Saturday or Monday: Mother of God, Assumption and All Saints. The only two holy days that are not moved in the United States are the Immaculate Conception and the Birth of Our Lord.

The first of the six Precepts of the Church requires Catholics under pain of grave sin to sanctify all Sundays and holy days of obligation. This is rooted in the Third Commandment, which orders all people to keep holy the Sabbath. On holy days of obligation, the parish pastor or his delegate priest is required to offer a special Mass for the parishioners.

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LITURGICAL SEASON OF ADVENT

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Christ came as an Infant, Christ comes as the Eucharist and Christ will come as Judge

Advent is the liturgical season when Catholics spiritually prepare for Christ's three comings, or advents: first, His past coming as a babe and sacrificial savior; second, His future coming as judge; and third, His present coming as the Eucharistic Lord.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux speaks of Christ's threefold advent in his homily, which the Church places during Advent in Her Office of Readings. In his homily, the Doctor of the Church proclaims, "We know that there are three comings of the Lord. ... In His first coming, Our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming, He comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming, He will be seen in glory and majesty."

Monsignor M. Francis Mannion, founder of the Mundelein Liturgical Institute, wrote of this triple theme of Advent:

During Advent we celebrate what are sometimes referred to as the "three comings of Christ": the coming of Christ in Bethlehem, the coming of Christ in glory at the end of time, and the coming of Christ today in the sacraments and life of the Church. ... The third coming of Christ occurs in the present: ... Christ comes today in the gift of the Holy Eucharist in which we are privileged to share, in the sacraments of Christian life.

Advent begins the Church's new liturgical year and leads into the liturgical cycle of Christmas, just as Lent leads up to the Church's second great liturgical cycle of Easter. During this solemn yet joyful period of spiritual preparation, priests wear purple vestments to symbolize the spiritual house cleaning that Catholics are urged to accomplish by penance, almsgiving and prayer.

Homes have Advent wreaths on their doors but minimal decorations. Churches postpone decorating or putting flowers on altars until right before Christmas. Advent wreaths in churches contain four candles for the four Sundays of Advent. Three of the candles are purple as a sign of penance, and one candle is pink for the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, meaning "Rejoice, the Lord is near."

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LITURGICAL SEASON OF CHRISTMAS

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

1 Timothy 1:15: "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners"

For Catholics, Christmastide isn't an elongated birthday party for baby Jesus. It's a liturgical season when they rejoice over Christ having come to save man from sin.

Christ came to die on earth so that man could live in Heaven. As Abp. Fulton Sheen noted in his book Life of Christ, the baby Jesus was born "to die."

Sheen spoke of the babe's twofold role as savior and teacher: "He presented Himself as a Savior rather than merely as a Teacher. It meant nothing to teach men to be good unless He also gave them the power to be good."

Advent prepares Catholics to rejoice during Christmastide in Christ's salvific mission by fruitful meditation on Christ's three comings: as humble Savior, as future judge and as silent Eucharistic Lord. Catholics conduct spiritual house cleaning during Advent to spiritually prepare them for Christmastide. A fruitful Advent redounds to a joyful Christmas.

The Christmas octave begins with the vigil Mass on Christmas Eve and extends to the feast of Mary, Mother of God on New Year's Day. On that day, as recorded in Luke 2:21, the eight-day-old Christ was circumcised in the Temple and given the name "Jesus."

Matthew 1:21 further elaborates, "He shall save people from their sins." During the octave of Christmas, the Church witnesses to Christ's work of salvation by celebrating the deaths of St. Stephen, the Holy Innocents and St. Thomas à Becket.

Christmastide traditionally lasts 40 days after Christmas Eve. It ends Feb. 2 on Candlemas Day with simultaneous feasts: the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of her divine Child Jesus in the Temple. In the Novus Ordo rite, however, the liturgical season concludes with the Baptism of the Lord, which directly follows the feast of Epiphany on the twelfth day of Christmas.

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LITURGICAL SEASON OF LENT

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Matthew 4 "After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry"

Lent is the liturgical season when Catholics spiritually prepare to commemorate Christ's passion, death and resurrection at Easter. Canon 1249 in the Code of Canon Law instructs Catholics to "devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence."

Canon 1250 says these penitential practices are done during the "season of Lent," which is 46 days long minus the six Sundays in Lent. The Lenten exercises begin on Ash Wednesday when Catholics typically are anointed with ashes recalling their mortality and end at noon on Holy Saturday. Canon 1251 decrees that Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of both fast and abstinence from meat but requires only abstinence on the other Fridays of Lent.

Lent's 40 days of prayer, almsgiving and fasting imitates Our Lord's 40-day fast in the dessert recorded in chapter four of Matthew's Gospel. By it, Our Lord not only showed man how to vanquish the devil but also showed him how to overcome the threefold concupiscence listed in 1 John 2:16, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life."

During Lent, Catholics prepare for a more fruitful reception at Easter of the graces merited by Christ's passion and death. They unite more intimately with God in prayer, mortify their unruly desires with self-denial and give themselves to others more fully by alms and works of mercy. In his 1966 apostolic constitution, Paenitemini, Bl. Pope Paul VI says reconciling with God is aided by "the traditional triad of 'prayer—fasting—charity.'"

As per the precepts of the Church related in paragraph 2042 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, all Catholics must annually confess any mortal sins and worthily "receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season." This Easter Duty, as it's called, must be fulfilled sometime between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday.

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LITURGICAL SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

USCCB: "The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time ... take us through the life of Christ"

The Liturgical season of Ordinary Time in the Novus Ordo rite calendar falls outside of the Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter cycles. It comes in two segments: first, the time after the Baptism of the Lord until Ash Wednesday; second, the time after Pentecost until the first Sunday of Advent.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains that Ordinary Time is "divided into two sections (one span of 4–8 weeks after Christmas Time and another lasting about six months after Easter Time), wherein the faithful consider the fullness of Jesus' teachings and works among His people." The USCCB adds: "The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time ... take us through the life of Christ. ... Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation ... The goal ... is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe."

Ordinary Time, lasting up to 34 weeks, is by far the longest of the Church's liturgical seasons. It derives its name from the Latin word, ordinalis, which refers to the numbering of the weeks. It also represents an "ordered life of the Church" comprised of "watchfulness and expectation of the Second Coming of Christ" that's distinct from the festivities of Christmas and Easter and from the penances of Advent and Lent.

During Ordinary Time, the use of Scripture is emphasized in accord with the dictates of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II's document on the liturgy, which decreed, "In sacred celebrations, there is to be more reading from Holy Scripture." The document further elaborates, "In this way, a more representative portion of the Holy Scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years." This wish was implemented by a cyclically ordered lectionary used at Mass containing a schedule of Bible readings that for Sundays "extends over three years" but for weekdays "over two."

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Liturgy

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Cdl. Ratzinger: "We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development"

Liturgy is the public worship of God the Father, which Christ offers with the members of His Mystical Body, the Church. Liturgy includes the Divine Office, Holy Mass called the Divine Liturgy and the other sacraments.

The Vatican II document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, says liturgy is a "great work wherein God is perfectly glorified, and men are sanctified." It adds, "in the liturgy, the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members." Earthly liturgy, says the document, is but a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy offered by the angels and saints, who forever behold the Beatific Vision.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism) in paragraph 1077–1083 speaks of God the Father as the "source and goal of the Liturgy." God gives man the gift of liturgy through the Church so man is able to worship Him with signs, symbols, words, actions, colors, holy attire and liturgical time. The Church adapted much of this ceremony from Mosaic ritual given by God to the Jewish people in the Old Testament.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church expresses in Her liturgy an ever-deepening understanding of the sacred mysteries, which She contemplates over time. She also employs aspects of authentic culture as it develops. This is called the organic development of the liturgy and is not a banal fabrication. In paragraph 1125, the Catechism affirms, "Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the Liturgy arbitrarily but only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy."

In 1993, Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, addressed the lack of organic liturgy following Vatican II: "In the place of Liturgy as the fruit of development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over centuries and replaced it — as in a manufacturing process — with a fabrication, a banal on-the-spot product."

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Liturgy of the Hours — Divine Office

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Psalm 118:164: "Seven times a day, I have given praise to Thee"

The Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office, is part of the public prayer in the Roman Catholic liturgy. As with all liturgy, it involves Christ praying to His Heavenly Father joined by members of His Mystical Body, the Church. It's a collection of Psalms, antiphons, prayers, biblical and spiritual readings and hymns assembled into what's called the Breviary.

The Breviary is a shortened version of the monks' prayer books that originated in the 11th century for use by itinerant friars. The prayers of the monks, in turn, were adapted primarily from Psalms and Scripture passages recited by the Jews prior to Christ. These prayers were traditionally broken into seven segments to be said throughout the day in what's called the canonical hours.

In 1970, the Breviary was revised by Bd. Pope Paul VI with his apostolic constitution Laudis Canticum: what was called Matins prior to 1970 is now called Office of Readings; what was called Lauds is now called Morning Prayer; what was called Terce, Sext and None are now called Daytime Prayer (Mid-Morning, Mid-Day, Mid-Afternoon); what was called Vespers is now called Evening Prayer; and what was called Compline is now called Night Prayer.

The Church in Canon 276 of the Code of Canon Law mandates that clerics are "obliged to carry out the liturgy of the hours daily." Canon 1174 extends this mandate to religious "according to the norm of their constitutions." It further says the laity "are also earnestly invited to participate in the Liturgy of the Hours as an action of the Church."

Priests and religious typically use the four-volume breviary, which is divided into the four liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent plus Easter and Ordinary Time. A single volume version, called Christian Prayer, is an abbreviation of the four-volume set that's often used by the laity, who want to participate in this efficacious public worship of God.

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Mary, Immaculate Conception of

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Our Lady of Lourdes: "I am the Immaculate Conception"

The Immaculate Conception is Mary's singular title affirming that she was free from original sin and its effects from the moment she was conceived in St. Anne's womb. She alone was never without the sanctifying presence of God in Her soul. Her passions, therefore, were not stained with disorder. Her will was not tainted with malice and inclined towards evil. Her intellect was not dimmed nor sluggish. Neither did Her body have the defects of fallen human nature and the suffering and death that accompanies such defects.

Pope Pius IX in his 1854 papal bull Ineffabilis Deus infallibly defined the dogma:

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of Her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.

The "Mother of God" was already called "Immaculate Mary" in A.D. 649 by the Lateran Council. In his encyclical, Pius IX noted that previous popes had taught this same doctrine. He quoted Pope Alexander VII from his 1661 apostolic constitution Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum:

Concerning the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, ancient indeed is that devotion of the faithful based on the belief that her soul, in the first instant of its creation ... was, by a special grace and privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Her Son and the Redeemer of the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin.

During Her apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, Mary affirmed, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Eight years prior to Pius IX's formal declaration, U.S. bishops in 1846 chose Mary as their patroness under the title "Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without sin."

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Mary, Mother of God

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

God's mother is our mother

Protestants reject the fact that Mary is the Mother of God. Catholics know God's divinity didn't originate in Mary's womb. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity did, however, unite Himself to a real human soul in Mary's womb and there clothed Himself with a real human body.

Before the third century, the Fathers of the Church had already given Mary the Greek title Theotokos, meaning God-Bearer. Because this term was disputed by heretics like Nestorius, the Church in 431 at the Council of Ephesus solemnly defined that it was theologically proper to call Mary the Mother of God.

Nestorius falsely claimed that Mary gave birth only to the human nature of Christ. At Ephesus, the Church asserted that Mary gave birth to the Person of Christ and not merely Christ's body. The divine person, Son of God the Father from all eternity, was the same divine person born of Mary. Although Mary is the daughter of God the Father and spouse of God the Holy Spirit, She's still the Mother of God the Son, which makes Her Mother of God.

The faithful have been invoking Mary's aid under the title Mother of God from time immemorial, as shown by the Angelic Salutation. The Hail Mary, recited by the faithful in the Rosary, contains the phrase: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners." The traditional feast exalting Mary's maternity, however, was extended to the universal liturgical calendar in 1931 by Pope Pius XI, who set aside October 11 for its observance.

As God clothes a person's soul with human flesh in the womb of his mother, so too did Christ clothe Himself with flesh in the womb of His mother Mary. On the Cross, Our Lord extended Mary's maternity to all the human race when in John 19:26 He said to Her, "Woman, behold thy Son" and to St. John, "Behold thy mother."

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Moral Culpability

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Latin Mass: "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa"

Moral culpability means how guilty a sinner is before God for having committed some sin. This moral responsibility is part of what's called a formal sin. The sinful act someone unwittingly commits, however, is called a material sin.

A person's subjective or imputed guilt in committing some objectively sinful act is not the same for everyone, owing to personal mitigating circumstances. These circumstances include a sinner's ignorance about the sinfulness of his action or his lack of free will in choosing to commit the sin.

Two people committing the same sin aren't punished equally according to Luke 12:47–48 where Our Lord attests, "That servant who knew the will of his lord ... and did not act according to his will, will be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."

Culpa is Latin meaning fault or blameworthy. For complete culpability, a person must have sufficient awareness of the sinfulness of his action and give full consent of his free will when committing the sin. Habitual sin that causes a certain addiction may diminish a person's free will also called voluntariety. Lack of free will decreases one's culpability. Likewise, their ability to reason and the time given for deliberation affect a person's moral responsibility. A crime done in the heat of passion is viewed differently by the courts and by God as a crime done with deliberation or "in cold blood."

A person's guilt is also diminished when committing sins out of what's called invincible ignorance. This is ignorance that couldn't be overcome. Vincible or culpable ignorance, however, doesn't free one from guilt as the sinner could've and should've known better. A surgeon, for instance, is responsible for knowing basic surgery prior to operating. Likewise, a Catholic, who can't read a catechism, still has enough common sense from the natural law to know that murder is wrong. A person who doesn't want to know better has willful ignorance for which he's culpable.

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Moral Determinants

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

What's done, why it's done and the circumstances of the deed determines morality

Determining the objective morality of an action itself, without judging the culpability of the person doing it, involves looking at what's called the three moral determinants. These moral parameters are the object or what's actually done, the end or why the deed's done and the various circumstances surrounding the act such as the time or place of the deed. All three parts must be good before the action itself, independent of any personal mitigating factors, can be judged morally permissible.

In Romans 3:8, St. Paul  the notion that a person can "do evil, that there may come good." In other words, a good end or purpose doesn't justify using an objectively or intrinsically evil means. Yet situational ethics are the norm today, whereby intrinsic evils such as abortion or euthanasia are done for the good intention or end of alleviating the suffering of some kind.

The object or action itself, ironically, is often the most overlooked moral factor. Moral actions such as participating in contraceptive or homosexual sex and performing abortion or euthanasia are intrinsically or objectively evil — meaning the very act itself is inherently contrary to God's natural design no matter who does them. These actions are always wrong regardless of any good intention or in any circumstance. One cannot, for instance, choose to commit fornication in hopes that it'll lead to marriage or murder the elderly to alleviate their suffering.

An example of telling a joke in a crowded theater with a punch line of yelling fire illustrates all three moral determinants. The object of telling a joke is a neutral or good act in itself. Telling the joke for the sake of humoring someone is a neutral or good intention. The fact that the punchline happens to require yelling the word fire and is done in a crowded theater, are circumstances that render the overall action immoral.

Abortion is always an intrinsically or objectively disordered action. Racism can occur in a morally neutral action like hiring or firing someone if done with a motive of unjust discrimination. Telling a joke that may harm others when done at a certain time or place is immoral owing to the circumstances.

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Morality and Seamless Garment Theory

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John Paul II: "Voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral"

The so-called "seamless garment theory" currently equates intrinsic evils such as abortion and euthanasia, which are always bad, with complex social justice issues such as the death penalty, immigration and wages which might have immoral aspects based on their circumstances but are not intrinsically evil.

The term coined by a Catholic pacifist in 1971 hitched abortion to capital punishment. It referenced Christ's untorn cloak mentioned in John 19:23–24. The late Cdl. Joseph Bernardin of Chicago made similar moral comparisons in 1983, using the term "consistent ethic of life." Speaking then of "respect for life" he lumped together abortion and capital punishment with eugenics, nuclear war and euthanasia. A few months later he adopted the terminology of seamless garment and added social justice issues such as human rights, hunger and poverty.

In drafting Catholic voter guidelines in the mid-1990s, U.S. bishops expanded Cdl. Bernardin's "consistent ethic of life" from protecting all life, innocent or not, to the promotion of "human dignity," which looped in poverty, violence and other perceived forms of injustice. In their 2015 voters guideline, U.S. bishops joined to the intrinsic evils of abortion, euthanasia and redefining marriage other merely social justice issues such as racism, employment, education, housing, health care, immigration and perceived environmental issues. While some prelates equate the morality of abortion with poverty, others rightly deny such moral equivalence.

In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope St. John Paul II spoke of intrinsic evils such as abortion and euthanasia. While making allowances for the death penalty and a just war theory in certain circumstances, the Holy Father stated, "I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral." He went on to say, "In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it or to 'take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law or vote for it.'"

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Redemptive Suffering

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Galatians 2:19: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross"

Redemptive suffering is the personal sacrifices that Christians unite with Christ's sacrifice He made of Himself to the Father. Crosses carried by members of Christ's mystical body have redemptive value to atone for sin and to call down God's blessings on humanity. Christ views crosses borne with Him as an extension of His cross, as St. Paul in Galatians 2:19–20 writes: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me."

Christians by virtue of their baptism participate in Christ's priesthood. Saint Peter in 1 Peter 2:5 says, "Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Christians are able, therefore, to mingle their drops of blood, sweat and tears with those shed by Christ, as St. Paul in Colossians 1:23-24 writes: "I Paul ... now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in paragraph 1502 teaches that all pain, toil and sorrow united to Christ's passion "can also have a redemptive meaning for the sins of others." In paragraph 1505 the CCC explains, "Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: ... By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion." Paragraph 1521 likewise states that suffering in "union with the passion of Christ ... acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus."

By making what's called the Morning Offering Catholics unite their "prayers, works, joys and sufferings" with the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" for the "salvation of souls" and in "reparation of sins."

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Saints

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

James 5:16: "The continual prayer of a just man avails much"

In the broad sense, a saint is anyone living in a state of grace or who has died in the grace of God. Such saints make up what's called the Communion of Saints, which are the triumphant in Heaven, the faithful striving for holiness on earth and the Holy Souls being purified in Purgatory. In this sense St. Paul in Romans 15:25 says, "I shall go to Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints."

In a narrower sense the saints are all the citizens of Heaven. In the narrowest sense, however, a saint is someone the Catholic Church has declared to be in Heaven by canonizing them. The Church attests that a canonized saint lived a life of heroic virtue, died in God's grace and is in Heaven. In order to be declared blessed, or beatified, a saint must have worked one Church-verified miracle after death and one more prior to being canonized. The miracles attest to the fact that the person is in Heaven and that God wants his holiness recognized. A person's enrollment in the canon of saints is called a dogmatic fact and is infallible.

When the Church canonizes a person, it authorizes public veneration of him and showcases his life of virtue to be imitated. It also recommends him to the faithful as an intercessor with God. Honoring or venerating the saint is not worshipping him as God, but rather seeing him as God's special handiwork. Praying to a saint, likewise, is simply asking for his prayers. James 5:16 reads, "[P]ray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man avails much." The saints in Heaven are completely just, perfectly willing to assist those on earth, and raptured in prayer.

It's Church custom to name children after a saint at baptism and for confirmation. Patron saints are chosen not only for particular persons but also for places, communities and organizations. The Roman Martyrology lists all the canonized saints.

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Saints, Communion of

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

The Triune God has a three-tier Church

The Communion of Saints is the union of the blessed in Heaven, the faithful on earth and the holy souls in Purgatory. The saints are united in Christ's Mystical Body with Christ as their head. In 1 Corinthians 12:27 St. Paul says, "Now you are the body of Christ and members of member." In Colossians 1:18 St. Paul affirms, "[H]e is the head of the body, the Church."

The saints are called the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:28-30, which reads, "He that loves his wife, loves himself. ... as also Christ does the Church: because we are members of His body." The mystical spouse of Christ is composed of members found in three stages of perfection: the Church Triumphant in Heaven, the Church Militant on earth and the Church Suffering in Purgatory.

In Heaven the saints are crowned for their triumph over sin while on earth. They reflect God's radiance in Heaven to the degree they grew in virtue in their earthly life. Saintly people on earth are called militant, as they strive to love God and neighbor while battling sinful temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil. Saints in Purgatory, or the poor souls, willingly suffer in purification of unremitted guilt from venial sins and atonement for temporal punishment remaining from sins they committed on earth.

The three folds of the universal Church are in communion with one another as they profess the same doctrine, obey the same authority and spiritually assist one another. The Church Triumphant assists the faithful on earth and the poor souls in Purgatory by their prayers. The Church Militant honors the members of the Church Triumphant and strives to imitate their virtue. The faithful also assist the holy souls in Purgatory with prayers, fasting, good works, alms and indulgences. The holy souls, in return, can pray for the faithful on earth.

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Saints, Relics of

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Mark 5:27: "If I touch but His cloak, I shall be saved"

A relic is some object associated with a saint. They're a fragment of the saint's body, something the saint used in their lifetime or an object touched to the saint's body. A part of the saint's body is called a first-class relic. A second-class relic is something the saint used. A third-class relic is some object touched to the saint's body.

God shows His approval of relics and their veneration by working miracles through them. An Old Testament example of this is 4 Kings 13:20–21, which reads, "Eliseus died, and they buried him. ... And some that were burying a man ... cast the body into the sepulcher of Eliseus. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life and stood upon his feet."

A New Testament example is in Acts 19:11–12 which relates, "God worked more than the usual miracles by the hand of Paul; so that even handkerchiefs and aprons were carried from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them."

Another example involves Christ's garment. Mark 5:27–30 reads:

Hearing about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. For she said, "If I touch but His cloak, I shall be saved." And at once the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. And Jesus, instantly perceiving in Himself that power had gone forth from Him, turned to the crowd, and said, "Who touched my cloak?"

The earliest Christians preserved relics of the saints and venerated them. God draws our attention to particular saints by working miracles through their relics. Christians obtain the prayers of saints whose relics they venerate.

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Salvation and the Church

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Luke 13:23: 'Lord, are they few that are saved?'

The Catholic Church infallibly teaches the truth that "Outside the Church, there is no salvation." The Church isn't saying here that only Catholics go to Heaven but that all graces needed for salvation originate in Christ and pass through His Mystical Body, the Church.

Section 846 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that this dogma does mean "All salvation comes from Christ the head through the Church, which is His body."

Those unable to know this truth have what's called invincible ignorance. A little Jewish girl who dies at the age of 6 might be such a person.

Of these, Pope Pius IX in his 1863 encyclical, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, wrote:

It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life, since God ... will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.

As cited in Denzinger §1677, Pius IX adds:

But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom "the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior," cannot obtain eternal salvation.

Vatican II repeats this admonition in Lumen Gentium §14: "Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved. ... Not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged."

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Sex

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

John Paul II: Sex closed to life or permanency is not an act of love

The Catholic Church teaches that contraceptive sex within marriage or sex outside of marriage is not an act of love. Homosexual sex, a form of mutual masturbation, is closed to both life and the permanence of marriage. Immoral sex is a mortal sin that stops the infusion of divine charity.

In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (HV), Bl. Pope Paul VI taught that contraception within marriage separates the procreative aspect of life and the unitive aspect of love. Many Catholics misunderstood Paul VI to mean the unitive aspect of sex (love) remains even when procreation (life) is blocked. The Church teaches, however, that destroying one destroys the other.

In paragraph 12 of HV, Paul VI re-presented previous magisterial teaching by reaffirming the "inseparable connection ... between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act." He further taught, "[If] each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love." The reverse is also true; if the essential quality of procreation isn't preserved, then the use of marriage doesn't retain its sense of true mutual love.

Pope St. John Paul II made this point in his 1984 reflection on paragraph 12 of HV:

[The] conjugal act signifies not only love, but also potential fecundity. ... [It] is not licit to separate the unitive aspect from the procreative aspect, because both the one and the other pertain to the intimate truth of the conjugal act.. ... Therefore, in such a case the conjugal act, deprived of its interior truth because it is artificially deprived of its procreative capacity, ceases also to be an act of love.

Sex devoid of permanence is likewise devoid of its unitive or love-giving aspect. Fornication, adultery and homosexuality are, therefore, absent true charity and make each person an object of use rather than a subject of sacrificial love.

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Sex and Homosexual Acts

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Leviticus 18:22: "It is an abomination"

A homosexual act is a sexual act between members of the same sex. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2357 teaches that Sacred Scripture "presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity" and that Sacred Tradition "has always declared 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.'" It adds, "They are contrary to the natural law. ... Under no circumstances can they be approved." Intrinsically disordered means they're not in accord with how God designed nature to work. This means they're contrary to His Will and, therefore, always immoral regardless of why they're done.

Scripture presents sodomy as a grave depravity in both Old and New Testament. Chapter 19 of Genesis recounts the destruction of Sodom from which the term sodomy comes. Verse seven of Jude explains, "As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, in like manner, having giving themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire." God's directive to Moses in Leviticus 18:22 explicitly commands, "You shall not lie with mankind as with womankind because it is an abomination."

In 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, St. Paul confirms, "[N]either fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, ... shall possess the kingdom of God." In 1 Tim 1:9–10, St. Paul writes, "[T]he Law is not made for the just man but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners ... for fornicators, for them who defile themselves with mankind."

In chapter one of Romans, St. Paul teaches that God may permit homosexual desires to overcome men as a punishment for having rejected Him under the natural law. In Romans 1:26–27, St. Paul warns:

For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error.

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Sex and Homosexual Tendencies

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: "This inclination … is objectively disordered"

A homosexual tendency is an exclusive or predominant inclination towards same-sex attraction. It's the opposite of a normal heterosexual tendency of being sexually attracted to persons of the other sex. The tendency or inclination towards same-sex attraction becomes sinful if acted upon.

The practice of homosexuality, insofar as it involves committing homosexual acts, represents "grave depravity," as taught by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in paragraph 2357. The CCC teaches that a homosexual act is "intrinsically disordered" because it's an unnatural use of the sexual gift. It's not a conjugal act that manifests sexual complementarity but is, rather, a type of mutual masturbation.

The CCC in paragraph 2358 teaches that an "inclination" towards same-sex attraction is "objectively disordered" because it leads to an intrinsically evil homosexual act instead of a natural act of conjugal sex within marriage and open to procreation. The CCC further teaches that the subjective feelings based on homosexual desires "do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity." This means that without sexual complementarity, homosexual acts are devoid of life and love.

When a sexual act is not open to procreation, it is not an expression of genuine or authentic love. Pope St. John Paul II made this point when speaking of contraceptive sex in his 1984 commentary on the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968). In paragraph six, John Paul II writes, "[T]he conjugal act ... artificially deprived of its procreative capacity, ceases also to be an act of love."

In paragraph 2358, the CCC emphasizes that a homosexual inclination in people "constitutes for most of them a trial." It adds that Christians with a tendency towards same-sex attraction are called "to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition." This means that people who struggle with same-sex attraction can become holy by co-operating with Christ in resisting such temptations.

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Sex and Natural Family Planning

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Spacing births by avoiding marital relations is moral only in serious circumstances

Blessed Pope Paul VI in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (HV) presented the perennial Catholic teaching that "artificial birth control" was always "intrinsically wrong." He did, however, defend the use of what's called natural family planning (NFP) when serious reasons applied.

The natural method of spacing births called NFP, when done for unselfish motives, is morally accomplished by simply avoiding marital relations during the woman's fertile period. An obsolete form of NFP, called the rhythm or calendar method, attempts to predict a woman's fertility based only on the number of days since the start of her last feminine cycle. In a typical 28-day cycle, ovulation occurs around day 14. To avoid pregnancy, the couple would simply abstain from marital relations for about five days before ovulation until a couple days after ovulation. The lead time is owing to the lifespan of semen once inside the woman. This method isn't very accurate as many women don't have consistent monthly cycles.

Another form of NFP is the highly accurate sympto-thermal method that indicates fertility based on a woman's temperature, cervix position and mucus secretions. During fertility the woman's basal temperature rises about a half a degree, her cervix rises almost an inch and the flow of mucus is noticeably heavier. To avoid pregnancy the couple, once again, would simply avoid marital relations from five days prior to the crossing of these symptoms until a couple days afterward. Two other major forms of NFP include the Creighton and Marquette Models.

These methods are considered 99 percent effective at spacing births and are recommended by Catholic healthcare professionals. The argument, therefore, that artificial forms of contraception must be employed in grave circumstances isn't scientific. Most contraceptives are far less effective than the sympto-thermal form of NFP.

The use of NFP doesn't constitute a frustrated sexual act that immorally separates the unitive and procreative aspects of sex. Natural Family Planning is, therefore, not objectively or intrinsically immoral. Because the ends of marriage include procreation, however, Paul VI taught in HV that the use of NFP is immoral unless there are "well-grounded reasons for spacing births."

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Sex and Conjugal Acts

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Safe-sex and same-sex relations are closed to God's grace

The conjugal act is natural sexual intercourse between a married heterosexual couple that's open to life and love. It's open to procreation and, therefore, to charity. Charity is a divinely infused virtue given to those who obey God's commands, which enables them to love unselfishly.

The conjugal act is more than mere sexual stimulation. It's called the marital act as it is occurs only within marriage and is a natural act meaning it's open to procreation. Frustrated sexual acts, including contraception and sodomy, aren't procreative nor unitive. They're acts of self-love.

Blessed Paul VI, in paragraph 12 of his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, spoke of the "unitive significance and the procreative significance" that are "both inherent to the marriage act." He elaborated, "And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood." Blocking the procreative or life-giving aspect of sex also blocks the unitive or love-giving aspect of sex as well.

Many people wrongly thought they could express love within marriage by contraceptive sex. This error spread from safe sex within marriage to same-sex relationships outside of marriage. Pope John Paul II dispelled this error in his 1984 commentary on HV. In paragraph six he writes, "[T]he conjugal act ... artificially deprived of its procreative capacity, ceases also to be an act of love."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also equates the unitive aspect of the conjugal act with true love. Paragraph 2369 reads, "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love."

The Church teaches in canon 1061 in the Code of Canon Law that only a conjugal act consummates a marriage. She further elaborates that contraceptive sex is not a conjugal or marital act and doesn't, therefore, consummate a marriage.

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Sex and Contraceptives

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

St. Augustine: "Onan, the son of Juda, did this and the Lord killed him for it"

Contraception is any action that separates the procreative (life) and unitive (love) aspects of sex. Its methods include the use of hormone pills, condoms, IUDs, spermicides and withdrawal during intercourse to block conception from occurring.

Withdrawal was the contraceptive method used by Onan in the Old Testament. Of Onan, Genesis 38:9–10 relates, "He, knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore, the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing." Contraception has, therefore, traditionally been called Onanism in moral theology.

The Catholic Church's perennial condemnation of contraceptives is found in the 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii (CC). In it, Pope Pius XI writes, "Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural power and purpose sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious."

The pope also quotes in the encyclical the fourth century Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine:

Holy Writ bears witness that the Divine Majesty regards with greatest detestation this horrible crime and at times has punished it with death. As St. Augustine notes, "Intercourse even with one's legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of the offspring is prevented. Onan, the son of Juda, did this, and the Lord killed him for it."

Pius XI issued this condemnation in response to the approval of contraception that year by the Anglican bishops at their Lambeth Conference. They were the first Christian denomination to condone the limited use of contraceptives within marriage. Thirty-eight years later, Bl. Pope Paul VI presented the unchanging Catholic teaching that contraceptive sex is unnatural and, therefore, always objectively sinful. In his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, Paul VI writes, "Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means."

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Sin, Original

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Original sin is ... a state and not an act"

Original sin is the fallen state, or condition, of man's nature owing to an absence of sanctifying grace in his soul at conception. It was caused by Adam's first personal sin, which involved pride in wanting to be like God and disobedience in obeying his wife instead of God, as revealed in Genesis 3:6. Adam, who was created in the state of original justice, immediately lost sanctifying grace by his first sin. All people, being his bodily descendants, are consequently conceived without God's sanctifying presence in their souls.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism) in paragraph 404 affirms that "original sin is ... a state and not an act." As the state of mortal sin is caused by an act of mortal sin, so too was the state of original sin caused by Adam's first, or original, sin. As mortal sin is the lack of sanctifying grace after being justified by baptism, similarly, original sin is the state of being without sanctifying grace before baptism. And, as the sacrament of confession restores God's sanctifying presence to the soul, so too does baptism remit original sin by introducing God's justifying presence into the soul.

In Adam's state of original justice, he enjoyed what's called the preternatural gifts, which included infused science, as shown in Genesis 2:19-20 by his ability to name the animals; the gift of integrity allowing his passions to freely follow reason; and the absence of bodily suffering and death.

By his fall Adam lost sanctifying grace and the preternatural gifts. He acquired what's called concupiscence — defects that include a darkened intellect, making learning arduous; a will tainted with malice, inclining it to choose sin; and unruly passions ever ready to rebel against reason.

Paragraph 405 of the Catechism affirms that Adam's lineage retains, even after Baptism, what's called the stain of original sin, which is concupiscience. Fallen human nature, even when in a state of grace, is thus still "subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin."

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