MYTH: A ship could be build from the "relics" of the True Cross

What may be the largest relic of the True Cross
Santo Toribio de Liébana in Spain

September 14^th, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

“There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In some places there are large fragments, as at the Holy Chapel in Paris, at Poitiers, and at Rome, where a good-sized crucifix is said to have been made of it. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it.” John Calvin, Traité Des Reliques

Protestants, rationalists, modernists, and other enemies of Christ and his Church attack the veneration of the True Cross (a practice as ancient as Christianity itself) with the mockery: “If all the supposed splinters of the True Cross were collected, there would be enough wood to build a boat!” Those who are not quite so pompous will add, “Or at least three crosses.”

But is it true? Just how much Sacred Wood is venerated in the Church of Christ?

In response to Father Brian Mullady - "Contraceptive intention" and NFP

Over at Human Life International’s “Truth and Charity Forum” [here], Father Brian Mullady O.P. has an interesting little article on “Fundamental Differences: NFP vs. Contraception”.

While the majority of the article is quite insightful, Fr. Mullady falls into the same error which has plagued many scholars and lay-folk alike who enter this discussion: He fails to realize that a sinful use of Natural Family Planning is still not “an act of contraception.”

Must a man "renounce all his possessions" to be a Christian? On counsels and precepts

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 14:25-33

Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

After telling the crowds that a man must hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, in order to be his disciple, the good Savior then seems to enjoin radical poverty upon all Christians.

To understand properly this passage, which is closely related to the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we must keep in mind the difference between a counsel and a precept. Likewise, it will be well to consider certain styles of Hebrew speech which are not easily translated into modern western languages.

Only in this way will we succeed in giving the proper interpretation of our Lord’s words.

Pope St. Gregory the Great on the human knowledge of Jesus Chrsit

September 3^rd, Feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great

But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. (Mark 13:32)

Many will be shocked to discover that Pope St. Gregory the Great, together with all the doctors of the Church after him, expressly condemns the opinion that Our Savior, in his humanity, did not know all created truths including the day and the hour of the final judgment.

This opinion, considered a heresy by the holy Pontiff (and by all the great theologians since him), is called Agnoeticism, meaning “not knowing”. Fr. Hardon summarizes the Agnoetes as follows, “A sect of Monophysites who held that Christ was subject to positive ignorance. The leading exponent of its error was Deacon Themistios of Alexandria. He was condemned by the Church, which declared that Christ’s humanity cannot be ignorant of anything of the past or of the future. To attribute ignorance to Christ’s human nature is to profess Nestorianism (Denzinger 474-76).” (Modern Catholic Dictionary, “Agnoetes”)

In other articles [here] and [here], we have discussed many particulars of this debate – at present, we intend only to explain something of why it will be important to adopt St. Gregory’s teaching.

The beatitude of poverty, the gift of fear, the virtue of hope

22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 14:1,7-14

Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

The Savior speaks to those who were dinning at the house of a Pharisee, exhorting them to the practiced of true poverty of spirit. Not only humility, but also a certain poverty is praised – to take the lower place at table, and to invite the poor rather than the rich when holding a banquet.

What then is “poverty in spirit”? How does this relate to the gift of fear of the Lord and the virtue of hope? This question will also clarify the relation of the virtues, the gifts, and the beatitudes.

St. Augustine's mistress and son, and a lesson from his conversion

The conversion of St. Augustine, by Fra Angelico

August 28^th, Feast of St. Augustine

The greatest of the Fathers of the Church, the Doctor of Grace, St. Augustine was not always so saintly. This is well known. Until his thirty-second year, the future Bishop of Hippo was not baptized nor did he live a life worthy of the true Faith.

St. Augustine, in the time before his conversion, had contracted an illicit relationship with an unnamed woman and, from this union, came a son. What became of these two – this mother and son – after St. Augustine’s conversion?

What brought about this great conversion in Augustine?

The sufferings of the damned compared to the suffering of St. Bartholomew

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 13:22-30

“I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Saturday, August 24^th, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Bartholomew, the apostle who gave his life in service of the Gospel through the most gruesome torment of being flayed alive. In this Sunday’s Gospel, our Savior tells us that many will strive to attain salvation but will fall short and, not taking the narrow road which only a few find, will instead take the broad road to eternal damnation.

As we consider the horrible pains which St. Bartholomew endured, we recognize that these sufferings are nothing as compared to the torments which the damned will suffer in hell. The reason is threefold.