Two Short Answers to Pro-file Questions: "Pro-Choice" vs "Pro-Abortion", and The Case of Dangerous Pregnancies

Today I thought I'd cover two questions on the Western world's most debated issue:

The Mass - A Sacrifice... but not a Re-Sacrifice? Huh?

Today I wanted to address one of the most incomprehensible aspects of Catholic worship when looking in from the outside.

The Catholic Church’s worship service is called “the Mass”.  As you may be aware, the Church regards the Mass as a sacrifice in which the offered victim is Jesus Christ.  In addition, most Catholic parishes celebrate the Mass multiple times per day.

With this in mind, many non-Catholics will be concerned that Catholics are attempting to sacrifice Jesus again and again.  In  fact, some will confront Catholics with the words from the letter to the Hebrews, which emphatically says that Christ was sacrificed ONCE for all.  However, when faced with those quotations, knowledgeable Catholics will look you in the eye and assert that the Mass does not “re-sacrifice” Jesus.

The mind reels.

What is going on there?  How can the Mass be a sacrifice, be something which is repeated, and yet not be a “re-sacrifice”?

That’s what we’ll explore today.

Why Do Some Catholics Say Mary is the "Coredemptrix"?

Catholics are often thought to have an unhealthy preoccupation with the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The number of titles and honors given to the mother of the Savior seem, from the outside, to be an unnecessary distraction from Christ – and many times a theologically problematic one.  For those who know about it, the crowning jewel of these unnecessary and problematic titles for Mary is “Coredemptrix.”

The title of “Coredemptrix” is not an official, dogmatically defined title in way certain others are.  Rather, it is common parlance among Catholics with a particularly high Marian piety.... and it is misunderstood by almost everyone else.

So today I wanted to explore the title, what it means, and how it reflects the teaching of Scripture.

A Response to Saint Hilary on the Agony in the Garden

A friend of mine approached me after the Monday Bible Study and said he had an ancient quandary.  It came from a commentary on the Agony in the Garden written by Saint Hilary of Potiers.

My Favorite Theistic Arguments - Part 0 - What Do We Mean?

For a long while I've been wanting to give a treatment to the most basic tenet of Christianity - the existence of God.  Namely, I wanted to do a sketch of the most common (and powerful, in my opinion) argument's for God's existence.

Before we begin with the messy work of providing those arguments, it may be instructive to do a little background work.  First, we'll touch upon what we mean by “God" and then what it means to have "faith in God".  Lastly, I'll provide links to all 6 arguments I wanted to examine.

My Favorite Theistic Arguments - Part VI - The Moral Argument

The previous parts dealt with things which are observed outside of us – the nature of the universe, miracles, and so on.  Today we’re going to look at an argument that requires a bit of introspection.  Today we will give a brief sketch of that most provocative argument:  The moral argument.

Over time I’ve become more convinced that comprehension of this argument is a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit.  The most common response from non-Theists to this argument is the complete inability to understand what it is getting at.  So it is probably not a good argument to start with, but is more helpful to a person who is on the fence.

With that said, let’s begin:

My Favorite Theistic Arguments - Part V - The Argument from Miracles

Up until now we have been looking at arguments formed from purely natural premises.   Today I wanted to look at the supernatural - namely miracles.

 Miracles are typically understood as events which go beyond what is possible given the natural forces present.  The argument here is simple;  If there has ever been a single genuine miracle - that serves as verification that God exists.

So today I want to look at five examples.