11.30.07
Posted in Daily Mass Readings at 9:06 am by Brian Schuettler
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW THE APOSTLE
Andrew was the first disciple of Christ. Next, Andrew brought his brother Simon (St. Peter) to Jesus and Jesus received him, too, as His disciple. At first the two brothers continued to carry on their fishing trade and family affairs, but later, the Lord called them to stay with Him all the time. He promised to make them fishers of men, and this time, they left their nets for good. It is believed that after Our Lord ascended into Heaven, St. Andrew went to Greece to preach the gospel. He is said to have been put to death on a cross, to which he was tied, not nailed. He lived two days in that state of suffering, still preaching to the people who gathered around their beloved Apostle. Two countries have chosen St. Andrew as their patron - Russia and Scotland.
Romans 10:9-18
Brothers and sisters:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone to preach?
And how can people preach unless they are sent?
As it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!
But not everyone has heeded the good news;
for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?
Thus faith comes from what is heard,
and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
But I ask, did they not hear?
Certainly they did; for
Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
R. (10) The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. (John 6:63) Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
or:
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
Mt 4:18-22
As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
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11.29.07
Posted in Got Grace? at 4:31 pm by Brian Schuettler
I have been notified by Amazon that my book is sold out and tempoarily out of stock. Anyone who wishes in the interim to purchase Got Grace? can contact me directly and I will arrange for autographed copies before Christmas. Anyone interested can e-mail me at Kaiser3111@honorofgod.org
Thanks,
Brian Schuettler
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Posted in General at 12:36 pm by Brian Schuettler
Saved In Hope will be coming very shortly, in fact tomorrow, the second encyclical of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. Benedict presented a beautiful reflection on God is Love in his first opus (Deus Caritas Est) and now will presumably continue and synthesize the theme of hope and love, two of the three Theological Virtues. Is Benedict writing in a descending order? Stay tuned.
In the interim, a very good introduction and source of context to the pending encyclical can be found at Catholic Answers entitled “An Apologetics of Hope” written by Carl E. Olson, author and editor of Ignatius Insight. Carl is a very gifted writer and has an engaging style that nudges difficult and complex ideas into an understandable format, thus encouraging the timid and less stouthearted to attempt the audacious.
________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0610fea2.asp
Love, as St. Paul explained in 1 Corinthians, is the greatest of the three theological virtues. Faith is the theological virtue most commonly debated and pondered by theologians and apologists. Hope, on the other hand, has among many Christians a status similar to the Holy Spirit: vague in character, forgotten in conversation, and an enigma in everyday life.
Human and Theological Virtues
A virtue is a habit, or a consistent and “firm disposition to do the good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1803). The human virtues are the attitudes that control man’s actions and passions according to reason and faith. They include the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. They prepare man for communion with God, which ultimately comes through the divine gift of the theological virtues, which in turn “dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity” and “adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature” (CCC 1812). The origin and object of the theological virtues are one: the Triune God. They direct man to God, they are infused into man by God alone, and they are made known to man by divine revelation.
The Catechism defines hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817). The German Thomist Josef Pieper wrote in his classic work On Hope (in the volume Faith Hope Love) that “in the virtue of hope more than any other, man understands and affirms that he is a creature, that he has been created by God.” Philosophers, he went on, would not describe hope as a virtue unless they were also Christian theologians. Pieper means that hope—the desire for fulfillment beyond what is found in time and history as opposed to the hope we have for good health or a long life—makes no sense unless there is a personal and loving God.
St. Thomas Aquinas explains in the Summa Theologiae that “man’s happiness is twofold.” The first happiness belongs to human nature and can be obtained by man’s natural efforts. The other, he writes, “is a happiness surpassing man’s nature and man can obtain by the power of God alone, by a kind of participation of the Godhead, about which it is written that by Christ we are made ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4)” (ST I-II.62.1). Because this supernatural happiness surpasses what man is naturally capable of, he is reliant on God to provide the ability to achieve it.
Continue reading at Catholic Answers >>>>> http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0610fea2.asp
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Posted in Catholic Leadership at 11:32 am by Brian Schuettler
Most Rev. Arthur J. Serratelli
Bishop of Paterson
Committee Chairman
Justin F. Cardinal Rigali
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB
Archbishop of Indianapolis
Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap.
Archbishop of Denver
Most Rev. George H. Niederauer
Archbishop of San Francisco |
Most Rev. Kevin J. Farrell
Bishop of Dallas
Most Rev. Ronald P. Herzog
Bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana
Most Rev. Octavio Cisneros
Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn
[Final Member To Be Determined] |
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Posted in Daily Mass Readings at 7:55 am by Brian Schuettler
Dn 6:12-28
Some men rushed into the upper chamber of Daniel’s home
and found him praying and pleading before his God.
Then they went to remind the king about the prohibition:
“Did you not decree, O king,
that no one is to address a petition to god or man
for thirty days, except to you, O king;
otherwise he shall be cast into a den of lions?”
The king answered them, “The decree is absolute,
irrevocable under the Mede and Persian law.”
To this they replied, “Daniel, the Jewish exile,
has paid no attention to you, O king,
or to the decree you issued;
three times a day he offers his prayer.”
The king was deeply grieved at this news
and he made up his mind to save Daniel;
he worked till sunset to rescue him.
But these men insisted.
They said, “Keep in mind, O king,
that under the Mede and Persian law
every royal prohibition or decree is irrevocable.”
So the king ordered Daniel to be brought and cast into the lions’ den.
To Daniel he said,
“May your God, whom you serve so constantly, save you.”
To forestall any tampering,
the king sealed with his own ring and the rings of the lords
the stone that had been brought to block the opening of the den.
Then the king returned to his palace for the night;
he refused to eat and he dismissed the entertainers.
Since sleep was impossible for him,
the king rose very early the next morning
and hastened to the lions’ den.
As he drew near, he cried out to Daniel sorrowfully,
“O Daniel, servant of the living God,
has the God whom you serve so constantly
been able to save you from the lions?”
Daniel answered the king: “O king, live forever!
My God has sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths
so that they have not hurt me.
For I have been found innocent before him;
neither to you have I done any harm, O king!”
This gave the king great joy.
At his order Daniel was removed from the den,
unhurt because he trusted in his God.
The king then ordered the men who had accused Daniel,
along with their children and their wives,
to be cast into the lions’ den.
Before they reached the bottom of the den,
the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
Then King Darius wrote to the nations and peoples of every language,
wherever they dwell on the earth: “All peace to you!
I decree that throughout my royal domain
the God of Daniel is to be reverenced and feared:
“For he is the living God, enduring forever;
his Kingdom shall not be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be without end.
He is a deliverer and savior,
working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth,
and he delivered Daniel from the lions’ power.”
Daniel 3:68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74
R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Dew and rain, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Frost and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Ice and snow, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Nights and days, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Light and darkness, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Let the earth bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Lk 21:20-28
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword
and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;
and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.”
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11.28.07
Posted in Got Grace? at 12:46 pm by Brian Schuettler
I have recently received several e-mails requesting information on my book, Got Grace? and whether I sell it directly. The answere is no, I do not. It is, however, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and quite a few other outlets.
Some links:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1420818724/ref=pd_sl_aw_alx-jeb-9-1_book_16252899_2
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781420818727&itm=1
If you have any questions about Got Grace? please contact me at kaiser3111@honorofgod.org.
Thanks!
Brian Schuettler
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Posted in Marian Literature at 10:25 am by Brian Schuettler
From First Things >>>>> http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=907
The project known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together is now in its thirteenth year—following its initial statement, “The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” with much-discussed statements on salvation, Scripture, and the Communion of Saints. The group is currently engaged in studying what can be said together about the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a number of participants were asked to prepare preliminary papers. With the permission of the authors, we will be posting five of these papers over the next five days—papers by Edward T. Oakes, J.I. Packer, T.M. Moore, Matthew Levering, and Cornelius Plantinga.—eds.
By Edward T. Oakes, S.J.
Protestants and Catholics differ across a range of issues, but never more obviously than over the Catholic doctrine that the mother of Jesus was immaculately conceived, meaning that from her conception on she was free from sin, very much including from the “stain” of original sin (“immaculate” = without stain). But even those who disagree with the doctrine can admit its meaning: the grace given to Mary is above all the premier example of the grace of meritless predestination.
: the grace given to Mary is above all the premier example of the grace of .This absence of merit on Mary’s part is obviously no mere concession to the Protestant stress on sola gratia but is required by the very meaning of the words immaculate and conception. Since this grace became operative at the very inception of her existence, it had to come to her prior to any deeds she might later perform. Furthermore, the doctrine explicitly states that the grace of the Immaculate Conception was given to Mary in view of the later merits of Christ. As Pope Pius IX says in his encyclical solemnly defining the doctrine for Catholics, Ineffabilis Deus, “To the glory of the holy and undivided Trinity, to the honor and renown of the Virgin, . . . the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”
But Pius IX also makes clear that, although singular, this grace was not given to Mary purely for her own glorification but to effect a turning point in salvation history:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman.” In these words the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was announced to our first parents. It was to be the reversal of the friendship with the serpent contracted by Eve, when she listened to his voice and fell under his power. The second Eve was never to be under the power of the devil; the enmity between them was to admit of no possible exception. This involved the grace of being conceived immaculate. Mary’s Immaculate Conception was the foundation of all her graces. The absence of any stain or spot of sin distinguished her from all the rest of mankind. It distinguished her from the holiest of the Saints, since they, one and all, were sinners. Her perfect sinlessness was the source of all her glory and all her majesty; it was this which opened the door to the unlimited graces that she received from God; it was this that qualified her for her divine maternity and raised her to the throne as Queen of heaven. (emphases in the original)
In other words, Mary is the perfect example of sola gratia at work: Everything she later did and was given came from this first grace of predestination, won for her purely and entirely by the merits of Christ, not her own; and even those “merits” she “earned” came from the graces given her aboriginally, in view of her predestined status as the chosen Mother of the Savior. As Pius IX clearly asserts, by a venerable exegetical tradition dating from patristic times, she was predestined to be sinless when God spoke thus to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden after our first parents’ first sin: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your dead, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
By placing the promise of Mary’s sinlessness in the Garden, Pius definitively altered the usual perspective on what predestination means. Unlike both Protestant and Catholic views of predestination in the Augustinian tradition (which tends to see predestination in terms of the fate of the individual soul at the end of time), recent Catholic mariological thought picks up on Pius IX’s salvation-historical perspective by interpreting Mary’s predestined status to be the mother of the Lord as part of God’s wider intentions for the world. For example, in his essay “The Sign of the Woman,” located in his book Mary: The Church at the Source 
(coauthored with Hans Urs von Balthasar), Cardinal Ratzinger speaks this way:
The Fathers saw God’s words of punishment to the serpent after the Fall as a first promise of the Redeemer—an allusion to the Descendent [Seed, Offspring] that bruises the serpent’s head. There has never been a moment in history without a gospel. At the very moment of the Fall, the promise also begins. The Fathers also attached importance to the fact that Christology and Mariology are inseparably interwoven already from this primordial beginning. The first promise of Christ, which stands in a chiaroscuro and which only the light to come finally deciphers, is a promise to and through the woman. (emphases added)
In other words, Mary is wholly enclosed within the biblical narrative of God’s dispensation to his people, an insight deftly caught by Dante when he places on the lips of St. Bernard of Clairvaux this address to Mary: “Virgin Mother, daughter of your Son” (Paradiso), a coinage that forms a nice chiasmus to another of her titles, “Mother of God.”
Read the entire essay and the others at >>>>> http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=907
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Posted in Christ in Christmas at 10:17 am by Brian Schuettler
| At Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, Christmas hardly exists. For these three companies, all owned by Gap, the only items listed as having anything to do with Christmas were a pair of boxer shorts and a child’s sleepwear set.
Last year, when Gap also censored Christmas, we contacted the company. The company refused to change their policy of censoring Christmas. This year the company has continued their practice of censoring Christmas from their stores and promotions. The only conclusion one can reach is that Gap will continue to censor Christmas, a Christian holy day.
Last year an Old Navy store manager was asked if the word “Christmas” was used in his store, he answered: “We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores, but the word ‘Christmas’ is not used here. Everything is ‘holiday’.”
A search of Old Navy’s website shows only the two references to Christmas, the boxer shorts and a child’s sleepwear set. There were 25 results in a search for “holiday” for the San Francisco based company, including a “Holiday Gift Guide”.
A search of Banana Republic found no reference to “Christmas.” Everything is “holiday.” While Christmas scored a 0, holiday scored 41
At Gap there was a single reference to Christmas–the boxers. Gap offered 56 holiday items. However, Gap did offer video greetings called “Happy Chrismukkah” and “Merry Christmas Gaptidings.”
Take Action!
- Send your e-mail to Gap letting the company know that there are those who still recognize Christmas even if it doesn’t.
- After you have sent your e-mail, be sure to follow up with a phone call. Be polite. Ask Gap if they will reconsider their policy of censoring Christmas. The toll-free number is 1-800-427-7895. The company number is 650-952-4400.
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| Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution? Click here to make a donation. |
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| Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association |
|
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Posted in Daily Mass Readings at 8:07 am by Brian Schuettler
Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28
King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords,
with whom he drank.
Under the influence of the wine,
he ordered the gold and silver vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
had taken from the temple in Jerusalem,
to be brought in so that the king, his lords,
his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.
When the gold and silver vessels
taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in,
and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers
were drinking wine from them,
they praised their gods of gold and silver,
bronze and iron, wood and stone.
Suddenly, opposite the lampstand,
the fingers of a human hand appeared,
writing on the plaster of the wall in the king’s palace.
When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched;
his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook,
and his knees knocked.
Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king.
The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile,
whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?
I have heard that the Spirit of God is in you,
that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.
I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties;
if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means,
you shall be clothed in purple,
wear a gold collar about your neck,
and be third in the government of the kingdom.”
Daniel answered the king:
“You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.
You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven.
You had the vessels of his temple brought before you,
so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers,
might drink wine from them;
and you praised the gods of silver and gold,
bronze and iron, wood and stone,
that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.
But the God in whose hand is your life breath
and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.
By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.
“This is the writing that was inscribed:
MENE, TEKEL, and PERES.
These words mean:
MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;
TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;
PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Daniel 3:62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67
R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“All you winds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Fire and heat, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Cold and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Lk 21:12-19
Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
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