Who was the first disciple of Jesus?

November 30^th, Feast of St. Andrew

The Church begins her liturgical year with the disciple called first by the Lord. For, while it is true that the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. Elizabeth, and St. Joseph (in that order) all believed in the Messiah before him, St. Andrew is the Protokletos, the first-called.

St. Andrew was the first disciple of Christ Jesus in his public ministry – and in this sense, it is fiting that his feast be celebrated at the first of the Church’s year.

However, there is a difficulty: St. John tells us that Andrew was called in the place where John was baptizing, but St. Matthew specifies that Andrew and Peter were called together while cleaning their nets on the sea of Galilee. How are these two accounts to be reconciled?

What if the priest messes up the words of consecration?

This past Sunday, in the English speaking world, the new translation of the Mass was implemented. While there were certainly many of little mistakes – most notably, the struggle to say “And with your spirit” – we all can recognize that these are of no great consequence. Surely, we want to celebrate the Mass correctly, but a mistake is only a mistake, right?

However, there is one area where we recognize that a mistake could have serious consequences: What happens if the priest does not say the words of consecration correctly? What if he confuses one or two words, especially if he accidently says some portion of the old translation?

New page, new links - your comments?

The “Ask Father Ryan” page is back up and running [here], after the comment box for the page had been out of service for over a month. It seems that there were too many back-logged comments, hence (from now on) I will occasionally go through and delete all the comments so that we can start fresh.

Additionally, I have added a page “For Priests and Seminarians” [here] which contains links to articles from the New Theological Movement which relate particularly to the life and ministry of priests.

There are several new sets of links along the right sidebar – here I have placed links to the two Catholic blogosphere centers that I check on occasion, The Pulpit and New Advent. Additionally, I have added links to the blogs that I read from time to time – certainly, there are many other good Catholic blogs out there, but these are the ones which I personally read and enjoy.

Finally, if you have any comments regarding the layout of New Theological Movement blog, please do let me know (leave a comment to this post, even anonymously). Is the NTM blog easy to use? Are there too many links, or not enough? How well does the page load on your browser? What could Fr. Martin and I do to make NTM better (on the level of design and format)?

Blessings to all for a holy Advent! +

Why didn't Jesus tell us the day and the hour of his return?

1^st Sunday of Advent, Mark 13:33-37

Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.

As we enter upon the season of Advent, the Church with all her children looks to the coming of the Christ. There are, of course, three advents of our Savior: First, when he came as a child (and this is the mystery celebrated on Christmas); second, when we will come at the end of time (and this is the focus of Christ the King and of the first days of Advent); and then a “middle coming”, when he enters the soul by sanctifying grace.

This Sunday’s Gospel focuses on the second coming, the Parousia, the Final Judgment. Our Savior stresses that we do not know the day or hour of his return, and therefore we must watch and pray. Still, we may ask why it was that Jesus didn’t tell us when he would return in glory. Would it not be helpful for us to know the exact time of the judgment?

Ought we to pray for young children who have died?

In this article we enter upon a very sensitive question – Ought we (or even, Can we) pray for the young children who have died before attaining to the use of reason? Thus, we consider miscarried, aborted, and still-born children; as well as those who have died after birth but before growing up. Additionally, we must consider what difference the sacrament of baptism would make in regard to our praying or not praying for these children. Further, we note that those who have never had use of reason but have grown past the age of childhood (i.e. the severely mentally disabled) are, for our purposes, included in the notion of “young child” insofar as they have not attained to the use of reason.

In this article, we will discuss certain points about the traditional doctrine of limbo (which is not binding on any Catholic). I know that this will be a very sensitive subject - please recognize that, in spite of the great many possible theological opinions on limbo and other subjects, there are still some things we can say with great certainty regarding young children who have died. To ease the heart, I will say here at the beginning of the article that young children who have died (even without baptism) are most certainly in a state of perfect happiness and they know and love God while knowing that he loves them infinitely - but whether this is a natural or supernatural happiness, I do not know.

Why did God choose Mary?

"Come my elect, and I will place in you my throne.
And thus in Sion I have been established, and I rested in the sanctified city."

November 21^st, Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

At Jerusalem, the Presentation in the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. (Roman Martyrology)

As the Blessed Virgin, the true Ark of the Covenant, enters the Temple at the age of three, the heavens rejoice and earth is glad – for the long awaited promise of the Messiah is soon to be fulfilled. Let us enter into a period of contemplation together with our Lady in this season of Advent, may we prepare with her for the coming of Christ our God.

And yet, we ponder, why was it that God chose Our Lady?

Who will judge and who will be judged on the last day?

Feast of Christ the King, Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.

Following upon the particular judgment (which occurs immediately upon death and determines the eternal destiny of the soul, either ultimately in heaven or in hell), there is need also for a general judgment. “The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life.” (CCC 1039)

If the particular judgment reveals God’s sovereignty of each individual, it is in the general judgment that the Lord “will pronounce the final word on all history. […] The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.” (CCC 1040)

But, will all be judged on the last day? And will any be judges together with Christ? [we will rely especially on Summa Theologica Supplementum, q.89.]