Baby Boy Survives for Two Days after Abortion

This is a horrific story. I hope that the Catholic priest baptized the poor infant. May the child pray for us and for this depraved world.

From the Telegraph:

The 22-week infant died one day later in intensive care at a hospital in the mother's home town of Rossano in southern Italy.

The mother, pregnant for the first time, had opted for an abortion after prenatal scans suggested that her baby was disabled.

However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die.

He was discovered alive the following day – some 20 hours after the operation – by Father Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, who had gone to pray beside his body.

He found that the baby, wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached, was moving and breathing.

The priest raised the alarm and doctors immediately arranged for the infant to be taken to a specialist neo-natal unit at the neighbouring Cosenza hospital, where he died on Monday morning.

Italian police are investigating the case for "homicide" because infanticide is illegal in Italy.

The law means that doctors have had an obligation to try to preserve the life of the child once he had survived the abortion.

The Italian government is also considering an inquiry into the conduct of the hospital staff.

Story by Simon Caldwell @ Telegraph.

HT: Dr. Bill Tighe

NT Wright Retires from Anglican Episcopate

NT Wright has announced that he will retire the bishopric of Durham on August 31. I don't blame him. Being an Anglican bishop these days is a pretty crummy occumpation. It's all falling apart and you have no magisterial (i.e. papal) support. It's a house built on sand. Here are the details from CT:

Leading New Testament scholar N. T. Wright, 61, will retire after seven years as the Bishop of Durham on August 31. He will take a chair in New Testament and Early Christianity at St Andrew's in Scotland.

'This has been the hardest decision of my life," Wright said in a statement. "But my continuing vocation to be a writer, teacher and broadcaster, for the benefit (I hope) of the wider world and church, has been increasingly difficult to combine with the complex demands and duties of a diocesan bishop. I am very sad about this, but the choice has become increasingly clear."

by Sarah Pulliam Bailey in Christianity Today

Please also read:

• Christianity Today Article Quoting Me on Catholicism and NT Wright
• 10 Questions for N.T. Wright regarding Catholicism, Justification
• N.T. Wright on Martin Luther Not Being All That Right
• Does N.T. Wright lead to the Catholic Church?

Great Catholic Blog: Sh'muel by Steven Nelson

Although we've never met, I consider Steven Nelson a good friend. We've kept up through the internet. He runs a thoughtful and lovely blog entitled Sh'muel.

He just entered into the sacrament of Holy Matrimony and there are some beautiful photos of the wedding up today on his site.

Please visit his blog Sh'muel and browse through his posts and articles. If you like Canterbury Tales, then you'll love his blog:

http://shmuelson.wordpress.com

Statistics on the Type of Men Becoming Priests Today

Please Watch Fishers of Men Video

• Close to two in five (37 percent) have a relative who is a priest or religious.
• Two thirds report regularly praying the rosary (67 percent) and participating in Eucharistic Adoration (65 percent) before entering seminary.
• More than half of ordinands (55 percent) report having more than two siblings, while one-quarter (24 percent) report having five or more siblings. Two in five (38 percent) are the oldest child in their family.
• Seven in 10 report their primary race or ethnicity as Caucasian/European American/white (70 percent). Compared to the adult Catholic population of the United States, ordinands were more likely to be Asian or Pacific Islander (10 percent of responding ordinands), but less likely to be Hispanic/Latino (13 percent). Compared to diocesan ordinands, religious ordinands are less likely to report their race or ethnicity as Caucasian/European American/white.
• Nearly one-third (31 percent) of the ordination class of 2010 was born outside the United States, the largest numbers coming from Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam. Between 20 and 30 percent of ordinands to the diocesan priesthood for each of the last 10 years were born outside the United States.
• Eight in 10 (85 percent) report they have seen the “Fishers of Men” DVD published by the USCCB.

Read the whole thing from the USCCB.

The Virgin Mary is the Greatest Philosopher of All Time

Last night, I told Joy (my wife) that I realized for the first time that Mary is "greatest scholar" of all time. Her mind is more fully alive and knowing than Augustine, Bernard, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, or John Duns Scotus. She is the blessed one - most happy and glorified in Heaven. She is also the most humble.

She is the greatest lover of wisdom ("philosopher") because her divine Son is Wisdom Incarnate through her. I have consecrated my academic studies to to Christ through Mary.

ἡ δὲ Μαρία πάντα συνετήρει τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα
συμβάλλουσα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς. (Lk 2:19)
("But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.")

Marcial Maciel Refused Confession and Last Rites Before His Death

Marcial Maciel in street clothes
By now we know that the founder of the Legionaries of Christ Marcial Maciel had abused drugs, abused children, abused millions in Church donations, and worked under four to five alias in order live as husband or lover to a number of women. He was "Raul Rivas" (Norma Hilda's spouse and father of little Norma). He was also "Jaime Alberto Gonzalez Ramirez" (the lover of a Mexican woman and father of three children in Switzerland whom he raped). He also went by the name "Juan Rivas."

It has been recently revealed that Marcial Maciel refused to confess his sins on his death bed and that he refused Last Rites by saying to the priests at hand "I said no!" and that he "did not believe in God's pardon." The reaction led to the summoning of an exorcist.

Here are the details from Jason Berry, author of the article "How Fr. Maciel built his empire":

Maciel died in a surreal drama where his life pieces converged with shuddering fall. In late January 2008, he was in a hospital in Miami, according to a Jan. 31, 2010 report by reporters Sota and Vidal of El Mundo. Although the article (available in English on exlcblog.com) is layered in opinion about Maciel's character, it provides a detailed look at the crisis he created for his followers. In the hospital gathered Alvaro Corcuera, Maciel's successor as director general; the Legion's general secretary, Evarista Sada; and numerous other associates. Maciel reportedly refused to make a confession, stirring such concerns that someone summoned an exorcist, though the article does not describe a ritual. The men around Maciel were jarred when two women appeared: Norma the mother, and Normita, 23. At that point, Maciel reportedly said of the Normas: "I want to stay with them."

The Legionary priests, alarmed by Maciel's attitude, called Rome. [Fr.] Luis Garza knew right away that this was a grave problem. He consulted with the highest authority, Alvaro Corcuera, and then hopped on the first plane to Miami and went directly to the hospital.

[Garza's] indignation could be read on his face. He faced the once-powerful founder and threatened him: "I will give you two hours to come with us or I will call all the press and the whole world will find out who you really are." And Maciel let his arm be twisted.

After the priests got Maciel to a Legion house in Jacksonville, Fla., he reportedly grew belligerent when Corcuero tried to anoint him, yelling, "I said no!" The article says Maciel refused to make a final confession, and states flatly that he "did not believe in God's pardon."

That is an opinion that Maciel's sordid life might well support, but for which, in fact, we have no proof.

Maciel's life seems thoroughly diabolical--plagued with lies, sacrilege, adultery, false witnesses, rape, theft, incest, and child molestation. The stories and legends that will arise about him through the ages will be stupendously haunting--a true Faustus. He is perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical villain since Judas Iscariot.

Comments?

Awesome Photos of the Iceland Volcano

Here are some great photos of the Iceland volcano from NBC.

SSPX Bishop Fined for Denying Holocaust

Richard Williamson of the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X has been fined $14,600 by a German court for denying the Holocaust in a Swedish television interview. He has been found guilty of incitement for denying that millions of Jews were killed during World War II.

My opinion is that the Holy Father (and I love the Pope!) should have never lifted the excommunication of this man. The media is having a field day with this - it's just one more PR problem impeding evangelization.

Converted by One Blood Drop of a Martyr: Saint Henry Walpole

Today the Church commemorates the English martyr Saint Henry Walpole (1558 - 1595). On 1 December 1581 Henry was present in London for Queen Elizabeth's execution of Saint Edmund Campion. When Campion was drawn and quartered, a drop of Campion's blood fell upon the lapel of Henry Walpole.

Thereafter, Henry converted to Catholicism, and left England to become a priest and a Jesuit in Europe. He was sent back to England with the Jesuit mission of 1590, but was arrested on his arrival. He was imprisoned at York, then sent to London, where he was severely tortured in the Tower of London. Eventually, in 1595, he was sent back to York for trial and was executed there on 7 April 1595. He joined Saint Edmund Campion in the Church's army of martyrs.

Saint Edmund Campion and Saint Henry Walpole: pray for us.

Twilight, Vampires, and the Holy Eucharist

Surely by now, every reader of Canterbury Tales has heard of the incredible success of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer and their film adaptations - Twilight and New Moon.

I haven't read the books, but I have seen the movie. Meyer, like Anne Rice, has demonstrated that the topic of vampirism is incredible fascinating...and addictive. Nevertheless, I am puzzled by Stephanie Meyer's depiction of vampires in Twilight. Edward Cullen, after all, is just so sweet and charming. Sure, he is dreadfully pale and carries that far away look in his eye, but he's far from frightful apparition of Béla Lugosi in the 1931 version of Dracula) - billed as a nightmare of horror!



Aren't vampires supposed to be demonic or satanic? I resolved that before I got too involved in Twilight, I'd go back and read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. So I downloaded it onto my Kindle for a mere $0.99 and started reading it...

Wow! Stoker's Dracula is a page-turner (on a Kindle is it a "button-masher"? I don't know.)

I was surprised at how "Catholic" the book is. English Protestant characters find the rosary and crucifix charmingly superstitious. However, as they come to understand the nature of Count Dracula, these Catholic sacramentals become their sole armor against demonic UnDead who thirstily seek their throats.

From a Catholic point-of-view, the most difficult element of Stoker's Dracula is that the Catholic hero Dr. Van Helsing uses the consecrated Eucharist as a form of "sanitation." He carries consecrated hosts in an envelope, and assures his Protestant friends that he received an "indulgence" to do so. Incidentally, here is a blatant example of 19th century ignorance regarding things Catholic - since an "indulgence" is not permission to do something unlawful.

We find Van Helsing crumbling the Holy Eucharist and placing it in door jams and making protective circles around him and others with the Eucharistic crumbs. Of course, the strategy works and the vampires cannot pass the fragments of Christ's consecrated Body.

A Catholic has to ask, "Is this kosher?" The answer, of course, is negative. One cannot desecrate the holy in order to fight the unholy.

However, the ubiquitous Eucharistic imagery in Stoker's Dracula highlights two important elements pertaining to the nature of vampires. The first is that only the Catholic Eucharist perfectly repels Count Dracula because the Eucharist is Christ himself. Hence, the vampire legend is a Christian legend, but especially a Catholic legend.

Secondly, it highlights the nature of vampires as not merely "Antichrist" but "Anti-eucharist." Think about it. They live off the body and blood of their victims. The life is in the blood and vampires thrive thereby. Christ proclaimed: "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day."

Ironically, the vampire cannot abide the presence of the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ. Moreover, the vampire as an "antichrist" constantly mocks the reality of the resurrection of Christ as a re-animation of his dead body. Just as Christ linked the consumption of His flesh and blood to the final resurrection of the faithful, so the demonic vampire links drinking blood to the foul resurrection of his own body.

Bram Stoker's Dracula captures the biblical worldview by illustrating vampirism as a pseudo-Catholicism. Unfortunately, Stephenie Meyer falls short. I'm not saying that she hasn't concocted an interesting tale of adolescent angst. However, by positing the existence of "good vampires," she has destroyed the genre. The shift is akin to suggesting that there are "good devils." The adjective destroys the meaning of the noun. Meyer has also abstracted the Catholic element from the vampire legend. There are no crucifixes, rosaries, or Eucharistic interactions. Just love and tears.

Here's my brutally honest assessment. I'm ready for criticism, so let if fly. The problem is that Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon. There, I said it. She does not think in terms of sacramentality. Instead, she thinks of spirituality in terms of the Mormon doctrine of "eternal marriage." The story is about achieving an eternal marriage between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. This is Mormonism 101. Salvation consists in attaining a spiritual union than cannot be obstructed by temporal death. Meyer rather brilliantly reinterprets her Mormon ideals into a tale about vampirism. Meyer isn't telling a vampire story. She's telling a Mormon myth with renovated "vampires."

Gone are those old time vampires who avoid the Eucharist with unholy hatred. Gone is that old time religion, i.e. the Catholic one...

Godspeed,
Taylor Marshall

Read the Bible for a Plenary Indulgence

Who said Catholics don't read the Bible? Did you know that the Church grants an indulgence to those devoutly read Sacred Scripture. (By the way, an indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment for a sin already forgiven by God. The distinction between guilt and the debt of punishment is explained here: The Mechanics of Sin and Redemption in Catholic Theology)

The Church grants a plenary indulgence to those who read the Bible for 30 minutes:

50. Reading of Sacred Scripture (Sacrae Scripturae lectio)
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who with the veneration due the divine word make a spiritual reading from Sacred Scripture.

A plenary indulgence is granted, if this reading is continued for at least one half an hour.

Obtaining a plenary indulgence also has the following conditions (see Norms which are summarized below):

* Sacramental confession. A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Communion must be received and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff must be recited for the gaining of each plenary indulgence.
* Eucharistic Communion.
* Prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. The condition of praying for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each one is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion.
* It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent. If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only, saving the provisions given in Norms 34 and 35.

from the Enchiridion:

Church Teachings on Indulgences

Norms

Indulgenced Works

Catholics on the "East-Side"

One of my students recently made an observation about "Catholics on the East-Side." I thought that perhaps he was referring to Catholics in the "West Side Story." No, he meant "Eastern Catholics" - those Eastern Christians in communion with Rome.

Ha!

Fishers of Men in the Old Testament & Why 153 Fish

This morning's Gospel reading was the account of Christ's third resurrection appearance and the Apostles' catch of 153 fish. So why all the fuss about fish and why does Saint John specifically record "153 large fish"?

Christ's teaching that the Apostles would be "fishers of men" was not something new with His appointment of the Apostles but something prophesied by Jeremiah:

“Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them" (Jer 16:16).

Ezekiel also uses this image as an image of redemption from exile. Ezekiel describes a river flowing from the eschatological Temple into the sea.

Fishermen will stand beside the sea; from En-gedi to En-eglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. (Ezek 49:10)

Christ assigns the task of evangelistic "fishing" to the Apostles - they are thus the fulfillment of Old Covenant prophecies (for more fulfilled OT prophecies, click here). In continuity of this tradition, St. John mentions the miraculous catch of the 153 fish after Christ has risen from the dead.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. (Jn 21:11)

Why did St. John record the exact number?

St. Augustine rightly observed its significance. 153 is the triangular of 17. That means that if you add all the numbers decreasing from 17, you get 153. That is to say, 17 + 16 + 15 + 14 +13 + 12 + 10 + ... + 1 = 153.

What is the significance of the number 17? The number was a sign. St. John has a special love for the number 17. The 12 extra baskets of bread from the five barley loaves adds up to 17. (St. Augustine said that it represented the gifts of the Old and New Covenant - the Ten Commandments and the Sevenfold Spirit.)

Seventeen is also the age at which Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery (Gen 37:2) and the Patriarch lived in Egypt for seventeen years (Gen 47:28). The Book of Acts lists seventeen nations present for Pentecost (Acts 2:7-11). Seventeen seems to be number of the nations, just as seventy also serves as the number of the nations (cf. Gen 10).

10 x 7 = 70

10 + 7 = 17

Peter's catch of 153 seems to indicate the superabundance of the ingathering of the nations. A sort of "wink wink" for the reader who is in the know.

153 also is a "magic number." Not only is it the triangular of 17, the Pythagoreans believed the number to be unique. 153 is the sum of the cubes of its own digits (1x1x1 + 5x5x5 + 3x3x3 = 153).

Baptism is More Than Forgiveness - It is Initiation into the Passion of Christ

This morning in the Office of Readings, there was a powerful passage regarding the efficacy of baptism. Even more, it demonstrates that baptism introduces us into the sufferings of Christ.

Let no one imagine that baptism consists only in the forgiveness of sins and in the grace of adoption. Our baptism is not like the baptism of John, which conferred only the forgiveness of sins. We know perfectly well that baptism, besides washing away our sins and bringing us the gift of the Holy Spirit, is a symbol of the sufferings of Christ. This is why Paul exclaims: Do you not know that when we were baptised into Christ Jesus we were, by that very action, sharing in his death? By baptism we went with him into the tomb.

As Saint Josemaria Escriva would say: In laetitia nulla dies sine cruce ("there is not day in joy without the cross").

As a Catholic, I'm learning that the cross isn't merely sorrowful, but it is the wellspring of joy. Denying yourself, far from depleting the spirit, actually brings about renovation. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." In the wisdom of the Church, Lent prepares us to carry this truth with us during the octave week of Easter. Easter is not the turning away from the cross in favor of the resurrection. Rather, it is a deeper embrace of the cross...with its power!

Christus resurrexit sicut dixit! Alleluia!

- Taylor

Gospel Tracts that look like Million Dollar Bills

If you ever use these (and I doubt Catholics would), don't ever leave them as a tip at a restaurant. I've heard of this - and it's a great way to make non-believing waiters hate your guts. I should know. I was once a waiter. It looks like bill on one side and then it has Bible verses on the back.

A federal judge has sided with a Christian ministry in a dispute over gospel tracts that look like million-dollar bills.

Several years ago, Secret Service agents entered the offices of the Great News Network in Texas and confiscated more than 8,000 million-dollar-bill gospel tracts. Agents claimed the tracts violated counterfeiting law, but last week, federal Judge Jorge Solis ordered the return of the gospel tracts, ruling they were not counterfeit.

Ray ComfortThe tracts are produced by evangelist Ray Comfort, founder of Living Waters Publications. He says the judge's ruling is solid.

"There are a lot of crimes, and there's murder and there's terrorism, and instead, [they're] running after people giving out gospel tracts," he laments. "But other people laugh, and everybody knows they're not real. A 167-word gospel presentation on the back is a clue that it's not government-issued."

Living Waters has just introduced a trillion-dollar-bill gospel tract that features an image of Abraham Lincoln.

From OneNews by Allie Martin.

Christ's Challenge to the Sinner: Who Will Contend with Me? (From a Easter Sermon by Melito of Sardis

From an Easter Homily of Melito of Sardis:

The Lord, though he was God, became man. He suffered for the sake of those who suffer, he was bound for those in bonds, condemned for the guilty, buried for those who lie in the grave; but he rose from the dead, and cried aloud:

Who will contend with me? Let him confront me. I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life, raised men from their graves. Who has anything to say against me? I, he said, am the Christ; I have destroyed death, triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot, bound the strong one, and taken men up to the heights of heaven: I am the Christ.

Come, then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your ransom, your life, your resurrection, your light, I am your salvation and your king. I will bring you to the heights of heaven. With my own right hand I will raise you up, and I will show you the eternal Father.

Does the word 'Easter' have pagan origins? (from Venerable Bede)

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Basing their hypothesis on a passage of the Venerable St. Bede, some claim that the Anglo-Christians adopted the name Easter from the name of a pagan goddess: Eastre in Anglo-Saxon; Eostre in Northumbrian.

The name comes from the proto Indo-European root "aus" meaning "to shine" and "the east" (since the sun shines from the east). She is the infamous Ashtorah of the Old Testament, the one for whom poles were erected as signs of fertility. The kingdom of Austria comes from the same root since it is the kingdom of the east or the "austra".

The Catholic Church does not formally call the feast "Easter" but rather "Pascha" - a word derived from the Aramaic word for "Passover". Only English and Germanic lands use the term related to "Easter".

Some apologist claim that Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "oster", meaning "to rise". This would be a convenient etymology since it avoids the pagan connotations.

I favor a third explanation. The Anglo-Saxons called the Spring equinox "Eostre". It was a astronomical description. Since pagans ceremoniously celebrate astronomical events as holy days, the natural phenomenon (the spring equinox as a "shining") and the religious feast (the goddess of fertility and light, Ashtorah) were indistinguishable.

Anglo-Saxons didn't borrow the name of a goddess for the feast of Christ's resurrection. They simply denoted it by the name of the natural phenomenon (the spring equinox), since the festival is calculated by using marking the equinox. It just happens that the name of the goddess and the name of the feast are etymologically connected. This would confirm the exact context of Bede's words:

"Eostur-month, which is now interpreted as the paschal month, was formerly named after the goddess Eostre, and has given its name to the festival."

The Church Fathers on the Virgin Mary as Sinless (Immaculate Conception of Mary)

Holy Theotokos by Kenneth Dowdy
Third Century Witnesses

"He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption."
- Hippolytus, Orations In illud, Dominus pascit me (ante A.D. 235).

"This Virgin Mother of the Only Begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one." - Origen, Homily 1(A.D. 244).

Fourth Century Witnesses

"Let woman praise Her, the pure Mary."
- Ephraim, Hymns on the Nativity, 15:23 (A.D. 370).

"Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother."
- Ephraem, Nisibene Hymns, 27:8 (A.D. 370).

"O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides."
-Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, 71:216 (ante AD 373).

[In the above quote by Saint Athanasius, the defender of the divinity of Christ, we find him identifying Mary with the gilded Ark of the Covenant. Moreover, he is praying to her.]

"Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin."
- Ambrose, Sermon 22:30 (A.D. 388).

Fifth Century Witnesses

"We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin."
- Augustine, Nature and Grace, 42 [36] (A.D. 415).

"As he formed her without my stain of her own, so He proceeded from her contracting no stain."
- Proclus of Constantinople, Homily 1 (ante A.D. 446).

[The quote above by Proclus demonstrates that the primative Eastern Church did already articulate sin in term of a transmitted and contracted "stain." Contemporary Eastern Orthodox dismissals of "the stain of original sin" is disingenuous.]

"A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns."
- Theodotus of Ancrya, Homily VI:11 (ante A.D. 446).

"The angel took not the Virgin from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged in the womb, when she was made."
- Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 140 (A.D. 449).

Sixth Century Witnesses

"The very fact that God has elected her proves that none was ever holier than Mary, if any stain had disfigured her soul, if any other virgin had been purer and holier, God would have selected her and rejected Mary."
- Jacob of Sarug (ante A.D. 521).

Seventh-Ninth Century Witnesses

"She is born like the cherubim, she who is of a pure, immaculate clay."
- Theotokos of Livias, Panegyric for the feast of the Dormition of Mary, 5:6 (ante A.D. 650).

"Today humanity, in all the radiance of her immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendour and attraction of human nature; but when the Mother of the Fair One par excellence is born, this nature regains in her person its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model truly worthy of God.... The reform of our nature begins today and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation."
- Andrew of Crete, Sermon I, On the Birth of Mary (A.D. 733).

"Truly elect, and superior to all, not by the altitude of lofty structures, but as excelling all in the greatness and purity of sublime and divine virtues, and having no affinity with sin whatever."
- Germanus of Constantinople, Marracci in S. Germani Mariali (ante A.D. 733).

"O most blessed loins of Joachim from which came forth a spotless seed! O glorious womb of Anne in which a most holy offspring grew." John Damascene, Homily I (ante A.D. 749).

On Holy Saturday, Christ Keeps the Perfect Sabbath

"And on the seventh day God rested from His labors and hallowed the Sabbath Day. "

Christ the Son of God lies in the tomb keeping the perfect Sabbath rest with His body. And with His soul He robs Sheol of the righteous souls of elder times. All of Heaven keeps still on this Sabbath, waiting in expectation for the New Creation - the Eighth Day.

A Holy Saturday to you all,

Taylor Marshall

Why Blood and Water from the Side of Christ? (from St John Chrysostom)

From Saint John Chrysostom's Catecheses 3:13 19 SC 50, 174-177

I especially like this passage because Chrysostom relates the Passover lamb's blood over the doorposts to the blood on the lips of the believer who receives the Holy Eucharist. It gives a whole new meaning to the prayer: "Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof." As you'll see, Chrysostom also uses nuptial language to reinforce the Eucharist union of the believer to Christ. Absolutely beautiful.

Have a wonderful Good Friday. Here's Saint John Chrysostom:

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy Eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.

“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolised baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit,” and from the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.

I'll be on EWTN radio for Good Friday

I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show syndicated through EWTN Radio at 7:45am EST or 6:45am CST on Good Friday 2010.

We'll be talking about the Old Testament prophecies regarding the crucifixion and death of Christ our Lord - and the significance of the Christ's holy passion in its Jewish context.

Please say a brief prayer for me.

Godspeed,
Taylor

Seven Reasons Why Christ Died on a Wooden Cross (from the Church Fathers and Thomas Aquinas)

First, Augustine observed that crucifixion is not only painful, it is painful and public. The public nature of Christ's death inspires us to face death heroically.

Second, Augustine observed that since Adam brought death through a tree, it was fitting that the New Adam destroy death by hanging on a tree.

Third, John Chrysostom and Theophylact observed that by being lifted up on the cross, Christ sanctified the air.

Fourth, Athanasius observed that by being lifted up on the cross, Christ shows that He has prepared the ascent into Heaven.

Fifth, Gregory of Nyssa observed that the shape of the cross was fitting for because it extends in the four directions and is therefore universal. Also, Athanasius wrote that the one outstretched arm sanctified the those in the past and the other arm as outstretched to the future. So we have both a spacial and temporal universality signified in the crucifixion.

Sixth, Augustine says the parts of the cross signifies the following:

• Breadth – This pertains to Christ’s hands and thus "good works"
• Length – This pertains to the upright nature of a tree and thus "longanimity".
• Height – This pertains to the top and Christ’s head and “the good hope” of the faithful.
• Base – The base is the root and it is hidden, thus it signifies “grace”.

Seventh, Augustine observes that wood is salutary in the Old Covenant. Wood saved Noah in the Flood. Moses divided the sea with a wooden rod; purified water with wood, and brought forth water with his wooden rod. Also, the Ark of the Covenant was made of wood.

I adapted these seven reasons for the wooden cross of Christ from Saint Thomas Aquinas III q. 46, a. 4.