A glimpse of riches from Wisdom

It is awesome being Catholic!  Not because being Catholic makes us better than any other Christians, but it does give us access to the fullness of the faith.  All Protestant churches have chosen to strip certain blessings and treasures from themselves.  One of these treasures is the Deuterocannonical books of the bible.  These books were written a relatively short time before the coming of Jesus.

For the purpose of understanding why Catholic bibles include these books and Protestant bibles don’t, I’ll give a quick history.  The Jewish cannon of scripture evolved slowly over time, as more books were written.  There were different groups of Jews who accepted different books as Scripture.  Some only considered the first five books (Torah) as inspired Scripture.  Other included the additional Prophets and Writings sections.  Still others used the Greek version called the Septuagint, which included all the Old Testament books that Catholics have in their bibles today.  The Apostles used this Septuagint, and the Catholics Church has continued to include all of its books going back to those Apostles.  Around the year 80 AD, a Jewish council came together to establish an official cannon of scripture.  The Deuterocannonical books contain many obvious references to Jesus, so the Jews cut them.  1400 years later Martin Luther sought to bring the Church back to her roots.  He looked around and saw the Jewish religion of his day excluding those books, so he did the same.  For a more detailed history, check out this link.

Anyway, one of these books that has some really astounding references to Jesus is the book of Wisdom.  I was reminded of one of these passages as we heard the account of Jesus’ Passion and death a couple times during this Holy Week.  Remember this passage from Matthew, as the scribes mocked Jesus as he hung from the cross?:

Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he want him.  For he said “I am the Son of God.” Matthew 27:42-43

Notice how the chief priests, scribes, and elders associated God delivering Jesus with His claim to be Son of God?  While this makes sense from a logical perspective (wouldn’t God want to save His own son?), it becomes so much richer when you look at the Book of Wisdom.

Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Wisdom 2:17-18

It amazes me how closely this Scripture passage fits Jesus!  The Crucifixion represents the end of His life.  He claimed to be, and was in fact, the Son of God.  He was being killed at the hands of his adversaries.  That’s a pretty tight fit!

The rest of the chapter goes on to describe how the subjects of the chapter were blinded by their wickedness, for treating the righteous man in that way.  If you haven’t read it lately, I urge you to check it out.  Keep in mind the verses in Matthew 27 as you read it.

If you’re Catholic, I urge you treasure the fullness of faith that we have received from Jesus through his Apostles and their successors.  If you’re not Catholic, I invite you to take a fresh look at our faith.  It’s easy to take for granted all the things others have told you about Catholicism.  But why not let informed Catholics tell you what we believe?  A great resource for doing so is Catholic Answers.  God Bless!

A Call to Reverence

With the conclusion of Holy Week, we’ve now had a chance to enter into in-depth contemplation of Jesus’ gift of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday and his suffering and death on Good Friday.  For many of us this will be the most thorough reflection on these two mysteries that we will undergo for the entire year. This makes it the perfect time to revisit our general attitude toward the Mass.

 

We’ve all heard many criticisms of the Mass – it’s too long, it’s boring, the music is bad, Father’s homily isn’t relatable, the congregation isn’t welcoming, etc., etc., etc.  But missing from all these complaints is the truth that the Mass isn’t about us. It’s about God. Its sole purpose is to worship the God who poured Himself out for us on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  If we’re feeling like we’re not getting anything out of Mass, then we’ve already missed its true purpose.

 

I’m reminded of Jesus’ Agony in the Garden, when He went through so much sorrow and anguish that He sweat blood.  Do you ever wonder what would bring Him so much sorrow? After all, many people face death without sweating blood.  It couldn’t just have been his impending Passion that made him sorrowful unto death. Rather, it was taking on the weight of the sins of the world – our sins.  As Jesus agonized in the Garden that night, he saw every single sin that you and I have ever committed, and that you and I will ever commit. I’m sure if you took several minutes and reflected back on your entire life, you’d come up with several sins that are painful to think about.  Now imagine doing that for every single human that has ever lived. That much hurt and brokenness was all presented to Jesus during His Agony in the Garden.

Yet in spite of seeing how ungrateful so many of us are to Him, He still chose to accept those sins and their upcoming punishments.  He allowed His body to be beaten, savagely scourged, humiliated, and pierced for each one of those sins. Jesus gave His entire life and His entire body up for us.  To go along with the gift of His passionate death as punishment for our sins, hours earlier his gave us the Eucharist – His uninterrupted personal presence for our Church.  The Mass is a re-presentation of His sacrifice for our sins – the Eucharist and His Passion are inextricably linked. To say the gift of the Eucharist is amazing would be an immense understatement.  Jesus only asked us to celebrate this gift in memory of Him.

 

So how do we treat this gift?  Do we show up for Mass with a mindset ready to worship, or should God just be happy that we bothered to show up at all?  Are we dressed to meet He who gave everything for us because His love for us is so intense, or are we dressed like we’re going to the office or a ballgame or a movie?  Do we give Jesus in the Eucharist our undivided attention, or are we thinking about who we want to talk to after Mass? Do we take time to thank God after Mass for the great gift, or are we rushing to make it out of the parking lot first?  In summary, are we worshiping God the way we want to or the way He wants us to? Imagine how Jesus felt during his Agony in the Garden seeing all the future disrespect and sacrilege of the Mass, the sacred gift he had given mankind only hours earlier.  What a bitterly sad thought!

 

I think we have a tendency to view Jesus abstractly, since he lived so long ago and he was God.  But he was also human like the rest of us. I have a hard time imagining how I would feel if my sweet, innocent child volunteered to die for each person in our parish.  Then at his funeral, many didn’t show up, many were late, many were dressed down, and many kept checking their watches like they had somewhere better to be. This is what we do to Jesus when we fail to appreciate the Mass.  Let’s all make an Easter resolution to appreciate the Mass for what it is, and give our Savior in the Blessed Sacrament the reverence He deserves.

In the Beginning…

The idea of authoring a Catholic blog has been swimming around in my head for quite some time.  Not because I’m a particularly good writer or because I have something new to say, but rather because I love Jesus and his bride, the Church.

My perspective is shaped by my vocation in life.  My wife and I are in our mid 30s, proud parents of four young children.  We live in a suburb of Milwaukee in southeast Wisconsin.  We are members of St Frances Cabrini parish in the archdiocese of Milwaukee, and are very active in both the church and school.

I spend most of my non-working hours enjoying my family and faith.  In my free time I love to hunt, fish, or spend time outdoors.  I also enjoy reading inspiring books, both fiction and non-fiction.  My favorite story is The Lord of the Rings, and I hope I live long enough to see J.R.R. Tolkien beatified.

My favorite saints are Maximilian Kolbe, John Paul II, Thomas More, John Henry Newman, and Mary our Mother.  I love seeing, hearing, and reading conversion stories, whether it be unbelievers, members of other religions, or members of Protestant denominations.  I find the passion with which the converts talk of their newfound faith, and the way they treasure the fullness of truth to be incredibly inspiring.  I love watching episode of The Journey Home on youtube.  Because of this I expect many of my future blog posts will be on apologetic topics, especially involving those issues separating our Protestant brethren from the Church.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought— Saint John Paul II