Born in England in 1118, Thomas learned reading at Merton Abbey and later studied in Paris. He won a position clerking for Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1141.  Despite a slight studder, he was valued for his keen discernment and ability to handle difficult negotiations, he was sent to study civil and canon law at Bologna and Auxerre, where he ordained a deacon in 1154.  When Henry II came to the throne Archbishop Theobald recommended “Thomas of London,” as Becket was known, as chancellor to the king in 1154.  As chancellor, he collected revenue from all landowners, including the Church.  At 36 years of age, Thomas was twelve years senior to young king, but the two seemed to be one in “heart and mind.”

Henry Plantagenet, a descendant of William the Conqueror who ruled as Henry II, really wanted to control the Church and appointed one of his youthful friends, St. Thomas ὰ Becket, not only as Chancellor but as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162.  Thomas, who had rode alongside the king into battle in the 1159 at the head of 700 knights from his own household in an expedition to assert Henry’s rights to Toulouse in France, told the king that he knew his plans for the Church and if he were appointed he would have to oppose them, but he was, nonetheless, ordained as a priest and bishop on June 2nd-3rd. But Thomas took his new religious duties very seriously donning a monk’s habit and lifestyle and soon resigned his post as Chancellor, which led to the loss of his friendship with King Henry. 

Henry II imposed the Constitutions of Clarendon on the English clergy, which insisted on the right of the king to approve the appointment of bishops or abbots, restrict travel outside the kingdom by these prelates, including the archbishop, without the king’s permission, taking the revenue from vacant ecclesiastical offices for the king’s exchequer and a prohibition against appeals to Rome without the king’s license along with other kingly claims.   Under great pressure Thomas swore an oath to accept these along with the other bishops, but soon regretted his weakness and retracted his oath, dispatching clergy to Pope Alexander III in Sens France, where he was in exile.  Henry’s fury was such that Becket fled to France requesting protection from King Louis VII and then went onto see the pope. 

Pope Alexander III annulled the Constitutions of Clarendon, but to moderate the struggle did not push Henry too hard and refused to accept Becket’s resignation.[i]  Henry confiscated Thomas’ property and banished his dependents.  Finally in 1170 after six years, threatened with excommunication and interdict, and secondly because Becket was so popular, Henry finally agreed to his return.  When Becket returned he delivered excommunications of two bishops who had sided with the king and took benefices from them.  The King hearing of this complained and asked rhetorically if there was anyone to rid him of this “insolent priest.” 

Four knights recently returned from France did just that murdering St. Thomas ὰ Becket on the Cathedral floor at Canterbury.  The Catholic world was incited to indignation and Henry swore an oath he had not been complicit in the murder and did public penance for his rash words in 1172.  The king accepted scourging at the archbishop’s tomb as a part of his public penance on July 12, 1174. The blood of a martyr brought victory as the English Church was brought back into union with Rome. 

​All that Thomas had fought and died for was obtained and Canterbury became a great pilgrimage site where the intercession of the martyr produced miracles of healing. Historian John Laux believed the Saint’s courage delayed the Reformation in England by 300 years.[ii] The four assassins fled to refuge in Scotland but after the pope excommunicated them, they went to Rome and received a penance of service in the Holy Land of 14 years.  The sentence inspired the formation of the Knights of St. Thomas at Acre in 1191.[iii] The Church had become a consolidating force for Western society. 
 


[i] Laux, 339.

[ii] Barry Canon, The Papal Monarchy, 277 quoted in Laux, 341.

[iii] Frank Barlow, Thomas Becket (University of California Press, 1986), 257-258.

“I am your God who was crucified on the cross; true God and true man in one person who is present everyday in the hands of the priest. When you pray any prayer to me, always end your prayer with the intention that my will always shall be done and not yours. For when you pray for the already condemned, I do not hear you. Sometimes you also pray for some things that are against your own welfare and that is why it is necessary for you to entrust your will to me, for I know all things and do not provide you with anything but what is beneficial. Many pray without the right intention and that is why they do not deserve to be heard.

There are three kinds of people who serve me in this world: The first are those who believe me to be God, the Creator and giver of all things and mighty ruler over everything. They serve me with the intention of gaining honor and worldly things, but the things of heaven are considered as nothing to them so that they would gladly do without it if they, instead, could gain the perishable and present things. According to their desire, worldly pleasure falls to them in everything and so they lose the eternal things, but I recompense them with worldly benefits for all the good things they have done for my sake right down to the last farthing and the very last moment.

The second are those who believe me to be God almighty and a strict judge, and these serve me because of fear of punishment but not out of love for the heavenly glory. If they were not afraid of suffering, they would not serve me.

The third are those who believe me to be the Creator of all things and true God and who believe me to be just and merciful. These do not serve me because of any fear of punishment but because of divine love and charity. Rather, they would prefer and endure every punishment, if they could bear it, than to even once provoke me to wrath. These truly deserve to be heard in their prayers, for their will is according to my will.

But the ones who belong to the first kind shall never escape from the place of punishment and torment or get to see my face. The ones who belong to the second kind shall not be punished and tormented as much, but will still be unable to see my face, unless he corrects his fear through penitence and amendment.


The words of Christ to his bride wherein he describes himself as a great king, and about the two treasuries symbolizing the love of God and the love of the world, and a teaching about how to proceed and improve in this life.  

For more go to http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Bridget%20(Birgitta)%20of%20Sweden%20-%20Prophecies%20and%20Revelations.html

i      Since Holy Scripture is inspired by God it is unique. Although Sacred Apostolic Tradition (oral) and the Magisterium (teaching office) of the Church share in the charism of infallibility with Sacred Scripture, only Scripture is inspired, God-breathed.  Therefore, it can be said that the authors of Sacred Scripture (human ones) are the normative theologians and Scripture has the primacy in theology. 

     All three, Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition and the Magisterium are inter-dependent as explained by the Second Vatican Council in their dogmatic constitution on the Word of God known as Dei Verbum, and are equally necessary, because like the analogy of the three-legged stool, one cannot stand without the others.  As St. Paul assures us, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16).  Sacred Tradition is the faithful "handing on" (paradosis, Gr.) of what Christ and the Apostles through the Holy Spirit taught. It was from Tradition (capital T, not human tradition, small t) and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, that the canon of Scripture was defined for the first time at the synod of Rome in 382 A.D. and subsequently at synods in Hippo (393, 397) and finally by the Council of Trent after the Protestant revolution. 

     The Magisterium is tasked with authentically interpreting both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.  Yves Cardinal Congar once described Tradition as the interpretation of Scripture.  Thus, the teaching office of the Church infallibly carries out authentic interpretation of the Word of God in the deposit of faith (i.e. Scripture and Tradition), but as the Second Vatican Council stressed it is not above the Word of God, but rather it is the servant of the Word.  So all three (Scripture, Tradition, Magisterium) are mutually interdependent and equally necessary.  St. Paul notes that "the household of God which is the Church of the living God" is "the pillar and bulkwark [foundation] of truth" (1 Timothy 3: 15).  The Church faithfully preserved the Tradition and produced the Scriptures.  The Magisterium was created by Christ himself when He made St. Peter the rock, assuring him, "I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven . . . (Matthew 16:18-19).

     The theological principle of divine accommodation (synkatabsis Gr.) can be seen in both the Old and the New Testaments.  It functions mostly "negatively" in the Old Testament as deuterosis (literally second law) wherein God stoops down to our level (synkatabsis) to lift us up to his.  So, for example, St. John Chrysostom, an Early Church Father who is considered the "father of divine accommodation," speaks of the Law (Torah) as deuterosis, an accommodation to raise sinful Israel up from her sins.  All those who wrote on this, from Chrysostom to St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine and later the rabbi Maimonides, all saw animal sacrifice which Israel practiced as an accommodation or condescension to get Israel to give up false gods.  The paternal purpose is what we look for to see how God stoops down as a Father to get Israel to give up their secretly practiced polytheism and prepare for their redemption in Christ.  

     St. John Chrysostom defined synkatabsis in his work on The Incomprehensible Nature of God. He considered marriage a divine accommodation, believing that virginity was too great a burden for sinful humanity to bear. In the New Testament the Incarnation of Christ is the ultimate synkatasis wherein God becomes man without ceasing to be God. St. Augustine wrote of God's plan of salvation (okonomia Gr.) in seven stages (dipensatio).  Here was the "Divine Physican" at work in salvation history always acting in a paternal manner to give the patient (humanity) what is needed in the way of an accommodation to aid us achieving our eternal destiny to be with God.  An example from the Old Testament is the appearance of God to Moses and Isaiah.  Chrysostom said there were synkatasis and indeed, St. Paul said the Law was given to Moses by an angel.  In the New Testament the prayer of Christ before raising Lazarus from the dead was also seen as a condescension or accommodation to Martha and the crowd of bystanders--as well as for the readers of Scripture.

 m    So in understanding salvation history and why God orders animal sacrifice, circumcision, or even Sabbath law, we look to his paternal purpose always and then come to understand what at first glance seems difficult to grasp.  Likewise, in bringing greater understanding to dogmatic theology we must look to the wisdom and paternal love of the Divine Physician to better understand God's dogma.  Like Augustine our attitude should be humble as we say, "Credo ut intelligam"(I believe so that I may understand).  God's blesses our faith, our belief and with it comes increased understanding.  The mysteries of God and the challenges of His Word are best understood by those who place all of their trust in Him and His Word.  That takes great humility and is the road to sainthood.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
     The four Gospels and the testimony of St. Paul are the primary sources of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Jesus had prophesied his rising on the third day on several occasions while He was still with the disciples (John 2:19-22 and Matthew 20:19; Mark 9:9, 14:28) and even his enemies knew of the prophecy, for the chief priests and the Pharisees asked Pilate to have the tomb guarded.  Pilate, however, told them, to seal the stone before the tomb and provide the guard themselves (Matthew 27:65). 
​     Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and the holy women, who were not believed by the Apostles.  Peter and John ran to the tomb and found it as Mary Magdalene had said, empty.  The guards who witnessed the angel rolling back the stone, but found themselves trembling and “became like dead men,” (Matthew 28:4) went to the chief priests to report what they had seen. They were given money and told to claim that the body had been stolen by his disciples, but if that had been the case, the authorities would have let nothing stop them from recovering it. 
     Jesus also appeared to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, seven miles outside Jerusalem, but they did not recognize Him at first.  He showed them how all that had happened had been prophesied and they came to recognize Him in “the breaking of the bread,” (Luke 24: 30, 35) an expression used by the early Church to describe the Eucharist.  They went to tell the eleven that “the Lord has risen indeed” and as they were reporting it, Jesus suddenly appeared to them in the locked room and showed them His hands and his feet and urged them to believe.  He reminded them of the words He had spoken to them concerning the testimony of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, which He declared fulfilled in His rising (Luke 24: 44).  John testified to the fact that Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20: 22-23).  Thomas, who was not present still doubted, but the Lord subsequently appeared to them again and allowed Thomas to put his hands into his wounds. Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” (John 20:29).
     As instructed, the remaining eleven Apostles (Judas Iscariot having taken his own life in despair) went to Galilee where they saw the resurrected Lord and worshiped him. There Jesus appeared to Peter and two other disciples on the Sea of Tiberias, where He gave Peter the opportunity to atone for his earlier threefold denial of Christ during the Passion, asking him if he loved him, three times. Jesus’ response to Peter’s three professions of love are in succession “feed my sheep,” “tend my sheep,” “feed my sheep.” These are commands to exercise authority over Christ’s flock, under the authority of Christ. Jesus will remain the one Shepherd, yet Peter will “feed” and “tend” the sheep, in the sense that Jesus will not be physically present to do it. Peter will be the visible, vicarious shepherd of the flock. In the original Greek the word which is used for “feed” in John 21 is boskein --a word which the Jewish historian Philo of Alexandria, and other first century writers, use to denote “spiritual nourishment.” Similarly, the word “tend” is actually the Greek word poimanao --the same Greek word which is translated as “rule” in Matthew 2:6, Revelation 2:27, 7:17; 12:5, where it is applied to Jesus Himself. Like Jesus, Peter is to “rule” over the flock and provide spiritual nourishment for them.[i]
    The Acts of the Apostles records that “he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). St. Paul too provides vital testimony, noting that Jesus appeared to Peter, then to James before appearing to all the others.  He wrote, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:6).  The fact that most of them were still alive is an important detail, indicating Paul was aware of many witnesses, all of them, however, “brethren,” that is, believers.  St. Paul is emphatic, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). 


[i] The word poimanao is also used to describe the rule of bishops in Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2.  Peter is spoken of in the Gospels more than all the other apostles put together and is always listed first when a list of the apostles is given.

      Pope Pius XI wrote this encyclical letter in 1930 when for the first time a Christian Church approved, under limited circumstances, the use of artificial birth control.  This was done at the 1930 Lambeth conference of the Anglican Church. 

The Comstock laws (1873) were passed by essentially Protestant legislatures and lasted until 1930 Lambeth Conference.  This was legislation designed to outlaw obscene literature in the mails, including contraceptives, abortifacients and sexually explicit literature.  Anglicans were  the first Christians to approve of contraception under some circumstances.  In the United States, Margaret Sanger founded the National Birth Control League in 1914.  She generated pressures that were influential in removing the legal, religious and social barriers to contraception and then, abortion.  Other churches and society in general came to embrace contraception and even abortion, in some cases, over time.  Pope Pius XI wrote his encyclical to uphold moral truths about chaste wedlock.

Even the Washington Post newspaper was reacted negatively to the news of the Lambeth conference in one editorial which stated:  Carried to its logical conclusion, the committee's report, if carried into effect, would sound the death knell of marriage as a holy institution by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality. The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be 'careful and restrained' is preposterous (Washington Post Commentary, 1931).

In the light of current American contraceptive marriage with its 50% divorce rate, it is profitable to reflect upon some of the truths reiterated in this encyclical letter.  It is also important to note that Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the teaching of Casti Connubii in Humanae vitae (On Human Life) in 1968.  Before we do that, a quiz question for you: •"What theologian declared in the 1500’s that birth control was the murder of future persons?" "What priest in the 1700’s declared that taking 'preventative measures' was unnatural and would destroy the souls of those who practiced it?" "Who declared that birth control was sodomy?“  The answers are respectively, John Calvin, John Wesley, and Martin Luther.  On the other hand, these same Protestant leaders sought to remove the sacramental status of the institution of marriage. 

Pius XI wrote:  “. . . a great number of men, forgetful of that divine work of redemption, either entirely ignore or shamelessly deny the great sanctity of Christian wedlock, or relying on the false principles of a new and utterly perverse morality, too often trample it under foot.”  He sought to vindicate the divine institution of marriage, its sacramental dignity and its perpetual stability as a lifelong union of a man and a woman.  This was, in fact, restored by Christ and cannot be subject to any human decrees. When questioned by the Pharisees about divorce, Jesus answered:

Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?i 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mt. 19:3-6)

As Pius XI wrote: “From God comes the very institution of marriage, the ends for which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from it; through generous surrender of his own person made to another for the whole span of life . . .” (para. 9)

He quotes St. Augustine: “are all the blessings of matrimony on account of which matrimony itself is a blessing; (1) offspring [children]; (2) conjugal faith; (3) sacrament.”

By conjugal faith it is provided that there should be no carnal intercourse outside the marriage bond with another man or woman; with regard to offspring, that children should be begotten of love, tenderly cared for and educated in a religious atmosphere; finally, in its sacramental aspect that the marriage bond should not be broken and that a husband or wife, if separated, should not be joined to another even for the sake of offspring. This we regard as the law of marriage” (para. 10)

Conjugal faith, called by St. Augustine, “faith of chastity” blooms more freely, beautifully and nobly when it is rooted in the soil of the love of husband and wife, which pervades all the duties of married life and holds pride of place in Christian marriage.

There should be a mutual molding of husband and wife, this determined effort to perfect each other, can in a very real sense, be said to be the chief reason and purpose of matrimony (not restricting it to the conception and education of children), but more widely as a blessing of life as a whole & the mutual interchange and sharing thereof (para. 24).

St. Augustine refers to “the order of love.”  This order includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which St. Paul puts in these words, “Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church” (Ephesians 5: 23-24).

This does not imply domination, but rather self-donation because we remember that Christ gave His very life for love of us.  St. Pope John Paul II emphasizes in his great work on Theology of the Body, that St. Paul does not intend to say that the husband is the “master” of the wife and that the interpersonal covenant proper to marriage is a contract of domination by the husband over the wife. (TOB 89:3, p. 473).  St. Paul underscored the challenging role of the husband noting: 

​Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word . . . (Ephesians 5:25-26)

Husband and wife are in fact, “subject to one another,” mutually subordinated to one another.  The source of this reciprocal submission lies in Christian pietas (fear of God) and its expression is love.  (TOB 89:3, p. 473, Waldstein translation). 

“If the husband is the head of the domestic body, then the wife is the heart; and as the first holds the primacy of authority, so the second can and ought to claim the primacy of love” (Pope Pius XI in Casti Connubi, para. 27 [On Christian Marriage]).  

St. Augustine calls Christian marriage the sacrament by which is denoted the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing of the contract by Christ himself, whereby He made it an efficacious sign of grace” (para. 31)

Both husband and wife possess a guarantee of the endurance of this stability in marriage [indissolubility], seen in the generous yielding of their person & the intimate fellowship of their hearts since true love never falls away.  A strong bulwark is in defense of a loyal chastity against incitements to infidelity, should any be encountered from within or without (such as illness or adversity of old age, etc.)

Importantly, he noted: "Since matrimonial consent among the faithful was constituted by Christ as a sign of grace, the sacramental nature is so intimately bound up with Christian wedlock that there can be no true marriage between baptized persons “without it being by that very fact a sacrament.” (para. 39).

Moreover, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.“ (CCC 1603)

However, men and women do not reap the full fruit of the Sacrament unless they cooperate with grace; otherwise the grace of matrimony will remain for the most part an unused talent hidden in the field unless they develop the seeds of grace they have received (para 41).  

Our culture glorifies sex [not genuine love] and thereby tramples upon the beauty and virtues of married love, which can be extra-ordinarily grace-filled.  The sanctity of marriage is trampled upon and derided; divorce, adultery, all the basest vices either are extolled or are at least depicted in such colors as they appear to be free of all reproach and infamy.  Sinful ideas are coated with the veneer of science in books claiming to emancipate modern society from the old-fashioned and immature “opinions” of the ancients, relegating Christian marriage to garbage heap.

Armed with these false ideas, sinners concoct new forms of union from temporary or experimental marriage, to more modern sins such as same-sex marriage (legalized by the Supreme Court in the U.S.), reducing us to standards held by pagans in ancient times (para. 52). As the Catechism notes: "Homosexual unions contradict nature. They imitate but they do not complement and that is key. The same sex inclination is objectively disordered" (CCC #2358). 

That does not mean that persons with a homosexual orientation cannot be outstanding citizens or saintly persons. Every human being regardless of orientation is called to live a life of personal holiness. While the inclination is disordered, only the activity itself is sinful.

“The conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural power and purpose sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious” (para54).

St. Augustine wrote, “Intercourse even with one’s legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of the offspring is prevented.”  Remember Onan being struck dead by God--see Genesis 38?

The Catholic Church, by the grace of God, is “standing erect in the midst of moral ruin which surrounds her,” upholds God’s moral law with regard to marriage.  God forbids all acts which are intrinsically evil.  God’s laws with regard to marriage should be kept.  But remember, “God does not ask the impossible, but by His commands, instructs you to do what you are able, to pray for what you are not able that He may help you” (para. 61).

​Frequent the Sacraments and pray constantly for God’s graces to help you overcome sinful tendencies and temptations!  You will find much more richness and truth in this encyclical online if you desire to read it,  Click Here

May the Lord richly bless you.  The answers are respectively John Calvin, John Wesley, and Martin Luther

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80) from her childhood felt called by God to virginity and an austere life.  She practiced great austerities even as the youngest of 25 children and consecrated her virginity to Christ as a child.  Even her own family did not understand her and persecuted her because of the visions she saw.  She vowed to give her life to God when she was only seven years old. Her family gave her the nickname Euphrosyne, which means "joy" in Greek.  At the age of eighteen years old she became a Dominican sister and spent the next three years in seclusion drawing near to God with prayer and fasting.

​She epitomizes the age because of her love for the sick and the poor in this period of great suffering in Europe with the plagues.  She frequently had terrible physical pain and lived for long periods on no food except for the Blessed Sacrament. In 1370 she had visions of the souls suffering in Purgatory, Hell and Heaven.  It was at that time God told her she must leave her cell and enter into public life.

She naturally gathered disciples around her in spiritual fellowship for the love of God. "To the servant of God, every place is the right place, and every time is the right time." (Letter T328) She displayed "superhuman heroism" during the plague year 1374 and won a devoted following. She travelled in northern and central Italy, advocating reform of the clergy and repentance for all, along with her followers. In 375 she used her influence to dissuade the cities of Pisa and Lucca away from the anti-papal league.

​She was a mystic, who received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ in her own flesh) in 1375.  This sharing in the suffering of Christ is given to some great Saints.  For more information on this mystery go to:  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14294b.htm  However, because of her humility, she asked that there not be visible marks on her body and God answered this prayer.  She suffered greatly from these wounds but people could not comment on them or make a fuss over her because they were not visible.

Following instructions she received from Jesus, she appealed to Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome in 1376 at a time when the papacy was under the thumb of the French King at Avignon, going there in person to meet with him.  In her correspondence she asked the Pope to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States. Since she was known as a prophetess, the Pope did as she advised.  He reentered Rome in January 1377.  She was also a peacemaker and was sent to Florence which was at war with the Papal States at the time.  She was almost martyred for her efforts.
 
When the Great Schism broke out in 1377 she was called to Rome by Pope Urban VI, whose cause she espoused against several anti-popes during the last two years of her life.  She served the poor and the destitute in Rome after being called there. She was canonized in 1461.
 
One of her greatest works was “Dialogues”, a deeply powerful, mystical and Christ centered treatise on divine Providence. It treats the whole of the spiritual life of man in a series of colloquies between the eternal Father and the soul of Catherine herself.  She wrote, “Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing."

In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church for works like: “The Book of the Divine Doctrine” and “Dialogues.”  She was clearly raised up by God for this period of struggle in the Church. She epitomizes what God was doing to try to save the Church.  She had incredible gifts but perhaps her greatest was that she retained her humility and modeled her sanctity. She was declared a co-patroness of Italy along with St. Francis of Assisi.
 
 

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard was born into a family of the highest nobility, the third of seven children, in Burgundy, France in 1090 A.D. He was sent to a renowned school at Chatillion-sur-Seine and excelled in his studies.  He wanted to become proficient in literature so that he could take up the study of Sacred Scripture, which became his life-long love.  From an early age he had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, Mary.  He had the temptation of youth, but it was said his virtues triumphed over them.

When his pious mother Aleth died his bonds to the world were broken and he sought a monastic life. His father, sister and five brothers all tried to talk him out of a religious life, but his description of the life of a disciple living for Christ was so moving that four of his brothers, his uncle and many of his friends joined him in entering the Citeaux.
Probably the most famous Cistercian foundation was in the valley of Clairvaux (meaning valley of light), founded by St. Bernard.  He became a monk and three years later so many men had joined him that he was sent by the Abbot, St. Stephen, to found the daughter abbey of Clairvaux, where he remained abbot until his death in 1153. The name Clairvaux became inseparable from his own.  Even his aged father, Teslcelin, came to join the monastery.

Bernard of Clarivaux was a mystic, an eloquent preacher, a gifted writer and he contributed greatly to the life of the Cistercian order.  In a speech he gave to the general chapter of the order in 1119 he spoke of the need for regularity and fervor in the monastery.  This helped the chapter to give form to the constitutions of the order and the regulations of the “Charter of Charity,” which were approved by Pope Callistus II at the end of that year. One of his first works were his Homilies in Praise of Mary, which were published in 1120. His zeal resulted in many conversions and the restoration of discipline in the monasteries.

When at the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130 a schism threatened with the election of two popes, Innocent II and Anacletus II, the much respected Abbot of Clairvaux was called upon by the bishops to decide between them. He chose Innocent II and accompanied him into Italy (Anacletus had forced him to leave Rome) causing the great powers to recognize the true pope after years of peace making on Bernard’s part.  Anacletus died still in schism in 1138. 

Historian Fr. John Laux says that since the days of the early Church there was no greater miracle worker!  The sick were brought to Clairvaux from all over and were healed by his touch and prayers.  One of his early miracles was in healing a suffering child of Clairvaux whose arm was paralyzed and his hand withering. St. Bernard blessed the child with the sign of the cross and prayed over him, then, giving him back to his mother completely restored. In another case a rich man named Humbert, who was suffering from epilepsy falling into fits multiple times each day, was cured by Saint, who held him in particular affection.  Humbert subsequently became a friar himself and eventually, the Abbot of the monastery of Igny.  One of his miracles took place after the dedication of a new church for a monastery in the diocese of Leon.  The holy service was disturbed by the buzzing and harassment of a great number of flies. St. Bernard, perhaps in frustration, cried "Excommunicabe  eas.”  The next day the dead flies blackened the church floor and had to be taken out with shovels. This miracle was so “this miracle was so well known, and so celebrated, that the curse of the flies of Foigny passed into a proverb among the people around, who had come from all parts to assist at the dedication of that church.” 

Still another, occurred after a number of knights on their way to a tournament asked for lodging at Clairvaux. He asked them to concede a truce until after the days of holy Lent, but they refused.  They left for the tournament but ended up returning in shame after hearing St. Bernard's prayers, and ended by taking off their knightly armor and becoming monks.  Henceforth, they resolved their warfare would be spiritual and in the service of the children of God.

In less than 40 years seventy other monasteries all over Europe branched off from it.  Before his death at age 63, he founded 143 monasteries in Europe.  He was also a peace maker (e.g., settled long standing dispute between Pisa and Genoa) in world politics and a preacher of the second crusade.  So he had tremendous influence in many areas.  He was the most influential supporter of Pope Innocent II (1130-1143) in his long struggle against two anti-popes, persuading one to release his claims after the death of the other.

As a monk Bernard had a tremendous Marian devotion and hymns and was noted for his monastic spirituality and type of writing. One of Bernard’s greatest works was his commentary on the Song of Songs which is full of deep spiritual reflections.  It is important though to see that Bernard was a great preacher and spiritual writer, considered by some historians as the last of the Fathers of the Church. Pope Pius VIII gave him the title “Doctor of the Church.”

In His work, On Loving God, he wrote:

Those who admit the truth of what I have said know, I am sure, why we are bound to love God. But if unbelievers will not grant it, their ingratitude is at once confounded by His innumerable benefits, lavished on our race, and plainly discerned by the senses. Who is it that gives food to all flesh, light to every eye, air to all that breathe? It would be foolish to begin a catalogue, since I have just called them innumerable: but I name, as notable instances, food, sunlight and air; not because they are God’s best gifts, but because they are essential to bodily life. Man must seek in his own higher nature for the highest gifts; and these are dignity, wisdom and virtue. By dignity I mean free-will, whereby he not only excels all other earthly creatures, but has dominion over them. Wisdom is the power whereby he recognizes this dignity, and perceives also that it is no accomplishment of his own. And virtue impels man to seek eagerly for Him who is man’s Source, and to lay fast hold on Him when He has been found.

We pray with St. Bernard in his words:

Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, thou Light of men, From the best bliss that earth imparts We turn unfilled to Thee again. We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread, And long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill. O Jesus, ever with us stay, Make all our moments calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away, Shed o'er the world Thy holy light. -

​St. Bernard of Clairvaux pray for us!
 
 

​1. Human Reason is Demonstrably Insufficient regarding the Divine.
 
Human reason is a wonderful thing.  It has helped us to engineer life-saving medicines and powerful vehicles, but human reason itself—as opposed to true, perfect reason, which includes a total knowledge of God and the universe—has its limitations.  It is magnificent for taking measurements of the stars in the heavens, it is inadequate to teach us about Heaven.  Reason is grounded; it is solid earth upon which to stand, which makes it sound and secure, and it is very good and useful in that way.  Imagine, if you will, that human reason is an earth-bound vehicle.  It is an amazing vehicle that can do great things, and carry us to places we never thought possible.  It can traverse treacherous gorges, and climb to the highest heights, but it cannot fly.  It can come as near to the stars as the tallest mountain, but it can reach no further.  To take flight, reason needs faith.  Faith gives reason wings.  Faith can soar upon the winds, for it is not grounded the way reason is.  That does not, however, make faith irrational, but it does need to be understood within the (rational) context of the faith-reason balance.  To explore both earth and Heaven we need reason and faith working together, for neither one is sufficient on its own.  Robert Sokolowski writes in his book, “The God of Faith and Reason”:
 
“It is natural for human reason… to come up against the world and its necessities as simply there, as the extreme margin of what can be thought.  To think or believe beyond the setting of the world and its necessities should be recognized for the unusual movement that it is… it is not simply one more pace in the march of reason, or one more refinement in human self-understanding.  It is a movement of a very different kind.”
 
Reason answers the questions of “what” and faith answers the “who.”  Human reason alone is insufficient to answer the question of who God is, and therefore what we ought to believe, and how we ought to act.  Even if we had a total understanding of the universe, we could still be in the dark about God, because, while study of creation gives us some clues about the Creator, it is simply insufficient to relate to Him in a substantial way (which is what He calls us to).  We need both reason and faith working hand-in-hand to have a full understanding of God and the universe.   
 
 
2. We need Divine Revelation
 
Thomas Aquinas taught that reason and faith are two ways of knowing.  Stated simply, reason is informed through experience and logic, but faith (through divine revelation) is required to know the things of God.  Every belief system, besides Catholicism, has at its most fundamental level an assumption that logical deductions can be trusted to draw accurate conclusions about the world.  Whether it be “pure reason,” as Kant called it, or trust in “Scripture and plain reason” as Luther insisted, or reliance on deduced truths from any other thought system or holy book, all of them have at their core a faith in the sufficiency of human reason.  But unless we are informed by divine revelation, there is always the possibility of information out there that has the potential to change our understanding of everything.  Catholicism, being the only belief system that recognizes this, is set apart as the only truly rational belief system, because it is the only one that properly balances faith and reason. 
 
3. Scripture Alone is Not Enough
 
God gave us the Bible as divine revelation, isn’t that enough?  No, and here’s why: human reason is prone to error in interpretation of Scripture just as much as it is prone to error in understanding anything else.  Just because something “makes sense” (via human reason) that does not make it true.  Regardless of how holy a book may be, it is still subject to human interpretation, and that is always fallible.
 
Sacred Scripture itself teaches that the Church is “the pillar and foundation of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) and Christ tells His disciples, well before the New Testament was written, “He who listens to you listens to me” (Luke 10: 16). For a more detailed analysis,
 
I recommend Robert Sungenis’ book, Not by Scripture Alone in which he, along with other leading Catholic apologists, expertly makes the case that Luther’s doctrine of “Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone as the sole authority)” is unscriptural and lacks a rational basis. In discussing the difference between material and formal sufficiency, he points out that the Catholic faith “also teaches that since the meaning of Scripture is not always clear and that sometimes a doctrine is implied rather than explicit, other things besides Scripture have been handed on to us from the apostles: things like Sacred Tradition (which is the mortar that holds the bricks together in the right order and position) and the Magisterium (which is the trowel in the hand of the Master Builder). Taken together, these three things--Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium.”
 
 
 
4. We need Infallible Interpretation
 
We not only need divine revelation, we need a source of interpretation of that revelation that we can trust absolutely.  It must be infallible, for we cannot trust our own interpretation of God’s messages to us; without this, we cannot have sufficient understanding about who God is.  Knowing this, the Church was instituted by Christ in Matthew 16, in which Peter made an infallible statement, Jesus appointed him to an office (referencing Isaiah 22:20 and following), and declared this to be the foundation of the Church.  Divine revelation is seriously compromised, and subject to corruption without infallible interpretation. 
                                                                       
5. Only the Catholic Church
 
Not only is the Catholic Church the only institution on earth that delivers God’s truth, uncorrupted, to humankind, it is the only one that even makes the claim.   It is the only Church founded by Jesus Christ.  This is evident in Sacred Scripture, when Christ founds the Church on St. Peter (Matthew 16: 17-19). Only the Catholic Church goes back to the time of our Savior.  It was the natural successor to Judaism and its early history is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. It’s history, documents and traditions all go back to the Apostles whom Christ charged with spreading the Church throughout the world.  All other Christian Churches were in some sense derived from the Catholic Church.
 
6.  It’s either the Catholic Church, Pluralism or Skepticism
 
All religions of the world depend upon human reason alone to interpret holy books, or doctrines, and are therefore ultimately irrational and untrue.  Atheism does the same.  For this reason, there are only two alternatives to Catholicism: pluralism and radical skepticism. Catholicism employs human reason within the Magisterium or teaching authority of the Church, which Christ promised the Holy Spirit would guide (John 14:16, 26). As Jesus promised, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you [the Apostles] into all truth . ..” (John 16: 13) and the “gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16: 18). Jesus went onto assure His disciples, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matthew 16: 19). St. Paul instructed the Church at Ephesus, “Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin, just as there is but one hope given all of you by your call. There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all” (Ephesians 4: 2-4).
 
 
7. Pluralism and Radical Skepticism are also Irrational
 
Pluralism is self-defeating, for it violates the law of non-contradiction.  If many conflicting truths can all be true, then how can Pluralism be true above Catholicism?  One cannot make the case.  Also Christ himself prayed that His Church be one in his great priestly prayer in the Gospel of John (see John 17: 11). This leaves us with only Catholicism and skepticism as rational approaches to understanding God (and therefore the world). Nor can radical skepticism—“one cannot know anything of God”—cannot claim any truth, and is therefore indefensible, and belief in it is also irrational. 
 
Conclusion: Catholicism is the only rational system of ascertaining divine truth; any other belief system lacks both a rational basis and Scriptural support. That is, Scripture, which was written by the Church and for the Church, does not argue against itself.  As the Second Vatican Council stated:
 
This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity. (Lumen gentium, 8).

Saint Charles Borromeo and the Plague

St. Charles Borromeo was elevated to Cardinal at the age of 22 years old and was not prepared. He was not yet a priest. It was he as papal secretary of state, who did the lion’s share of the work in bringing the final sessions of the Council of Trent into session again in 1562. His older brother Federigo died during the Council and it caused him to devote himself to the religious life.  He resisted all efforts for him to give up his office and marry for the interests of his family and instead was secretly ordained a priest in 1563.

After the Council he devoted himself to three monumental projects, the Catechism that incorporated the teaching of the Council of Trent and the revision of the Missal and the Breviary. He also worked on the commission for the reform of church music. 

He then undertook the monumental task of reforming the Archdiocese of Milan in accordance with the decrees of Trent. He did not return to his Archdiocese in Milan until 1565 and was met with great rejoicing as the first resident archbishop in eighty years. 

He gave up much of his property to the poor and lived with great mortification, all the while reforming the clergy, founding schools and the Confraternity of Christian doctrine for the children (Sunday school).  He showed himself to be dedicated to a profound reformation in the interior life of the Church. He encouraged priests and religious to believe in the power of prayer and penance as a means of becoming holy.  He preached to them that “souls are won on one’s knees.
In 1569 he survived an assassination attempt by member of the Order of Humilati (“a doctrinally suspect religious order”), some of whom decided they could not live with the reforms he imposed on them.  It was considered a miracle that the bullet, from an arquebus, did not penetrate his vestments.    

He helped to bring about a great re-conversion to the Church in Switzerland, risking his life at a time when Calvin’s version of Christianity was strong, visiting all of the Catholic cantons. When famine followed by plague struck Milan in 1576, he risked his life continually visiting the sick and the dying and his example finally led others of his clergy to follow his example.
He visited hospitals, organized penitential processions in the streets because he believed the plague was a “scourge sent by heaven” to bring the people to a spiritual reckoning so that more souls might be saved.  He was convinced that the great mercy of God was evident in this crisis in which 6000 people died in two months.

In periods of plague or famine, processions, usually carrying the relics of the Blessed Virgin or a Saint, have been held and praying for relief from the calamity. One example was that of Pope Gregory the Great in 590, who organized a procession from all seven areas of Rome to come together at the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, praying for forgiveness of sins and an end to the plague. At the tomb of the former Emperor Hadrian, Pope Gregory saw a vision of St. Michael the Archangel sheathing his sword, which indicated the plague was over. 

When the magistrates in Milan tried to get the Cardinal Archbishop, St. Charles, to end the processions, he was able to remind them of the effectiveness of a similar procession by Pope St. Gregory the Great.  He even got the governor of the province, who had fled, to return to the city.
Later, when the people were too afraid to come out on the streets, St. Charles closed all the Churches and built altars outside them so that the faithful would have the opportunity to attend Mass even from the windows of their homes. He also initiated the practice of the forty hours devotion, displaying the Blessed Sacrament outside the Church for a period of forty hours. He asked for volunteers to help the people in the most need and donated Church tapestries to their relief.  Led by St. Charles the Church he tried to feed 60,000 to 70,000 people each day, going into debt after expending his own funds to do so.

He died November 3, 1884 at the age of 46, after a lifetime of courageous good works. During his lifetime popes and sovereigns all over Europe sought his advice. Cardinal Baronius called him “a second [Saint] Ambrose, whose early death, lamented by all men, inflicted great loss on the Church.”
​
St. Charles pray for us, especially now during this crisis of the coronavirus.
 

Saint Faustina Kowalska
 
Maria Faustina Kowalska was born on August 25, 1905 in Glogowiez, Poland.  She grew up in a poor, but religious family.  Her father was a carpenter.  She mserved as housekeeper in several cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925, where she was assigned duties as a cook, gardener and porter. 
 
Despite her humble background it was soon evident that she had a rich interior life as a mystic.  She regularly saw and received messages from Jesus himself.  Although she confided these to her confessor Father Michał Sopoćko, who supported her, she struggled at times to know if God was really calling her to establish the new devotion of divine mercy.  This was because of her profound humility and to be sure she was not being deceived by Satan. In time Jesus helped her to understand her mission and carry it out. 
 
She recorded in her diary: “Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God.”
 
For more on St. Faustina go to: 
 
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/stfaustina/bio
 
Saint Faustina followed the instructions she received from Jesus to have a picture of Jesus painted that reflected what she saw of him in her visions. This is the Divine Mercy image shown below:
 

​St. Thérèse of Lisieux was born in 1873 at Alençon, France to Louis and Zelie Martin, who lived a model Christian life that led to five of their daughters, including Thérèse, joining religious orders.  

Thérèse wanted to join two older sisters and join the convent at Lisieux so badly that she actually approached Pope Leo XIII by herself on a family trip to Rome and asked his permission to join when she was only fifteen years old.  He deferred to the superior of the convent, however, who had told her she was not yet old enough.

She experienced what she called her “complete conversion” after nine years of childhood grieving over the loss of her mother which was compounded when her older sisters entered the Carmelite monastery (Pauline had been like a second mother to her). She finally halted her grieving and self-pity for the sake of her father and others. Writing about this ten years later she said: 
 
In an instant Jesus, content with my good will, accomplished the work I had not been able to do in ten years." After nine sad years she had "recovered the strength of soul she had  lost when her mother died and, she said, she was to retain it forever". 

Her little way underscores the truth that we can rely upon the mercy of Jesus if we place our trust wholeheartedly in Him. In the face of her littleness she trusted in God to be her sanctity.  Not having “the facility to perform great ones” she performed little virtues. Thérèse admitted that she was not attracted to the great acts of mortification of the Saints and never made acts of penance because of her “cowardliness.”  

St. Thérèse returned over and over to the theme of littleness, referring to herself as a grain of sand, an image she borrowed from Pauline...'Always littler, lighter, in order to be lifted more easily by the breeze of love.'  She wanted to go to heaven by an entirely new little way. "I wanted to find an elevator that would raise me to Jesus". The elevator, she wrote, would be the arms of Jesus lifting her in all her littleness.  

St. Thérèse’s little sacrifices included spending time with another religious sister who annoyed her in almost everything and being kind to her. She wrote:

“Not wishing to give in to the natural antipathy I was experiencing I told myself to doing for this Sister what I would do for the person I loved the most.”

Once when someone took her lamp at night by mistake after night prayers, she remained in the dark without complaining, observing that by virtue of the exterior darkness, “I was interiorly illumined!” 

When unjustly blamed for something that was not her fault, she decided not to defend herself and accept the verbal correction without making any excuses consoling herself that everything would be revealed at the Last Judgment. 

She thought her assignment of kitchen duty was a good way of “putting my self-love in its proper place, i.e., under my feet.”  She gives countless examples of this sort from refraining from chatting to not complaining when dirty laundry water was splashed on her and not asking questions she was curious about novices while training them.  All of these and many more she offered to the Lord.  These humble submissions and small sacrifices were the stuff of the “Little Way.”

But she did not get overconfident and expected daily to discover other imperfections in herself to work on.  She saw her own weakness not something to be depressed about, but rather as an opportunity to receive more of the treasury of God’s mercy. This she believed would be a sign that He wanted to “live more deeply in her” (Martin, The Fulfillment of all Desires, p. 149). 

She was also a realist and knew she was not perfect. If a situation arose which she thought exceeded her level of virtue, she tried to avoid the situation so as not to fail in charity.  She wrote, “My last means of being defeated in combats is desertion.”  

One of the weaknesses she considered most embarrassing, was falling asleep during prayer times, but she was confident that the Lord was mindful of our littleness and that she was forgiven.

During the course of her novitiate, contemplation of the Holy Face had nourished her inner life. This is an image representing the disfigured face of Jesus during His Passion. And she meditated on certain passages from the prophet Isaiah (Chapter 53). Six weeks before her death she remarked to Pauline, "The words in Isaiah: 'no stateliness here, no majesty, no beauty,...one despised, left out of all human reckoning; How should we take any account of him, a man so despised (Is 53:2-3) --these words were the basis of my whole worship of the Holy Face. I, too, wanted to be without comeliness and beauty...unknown to all creatures."[75] 

St. Thérèse admitted that she had spoken of dryness as her daily bread, yet she was a very happy creature confident in God’s love. For Thérèse sanctity was “a disposition of the heart which makes us humble and small in the arms of God, conscious of our weakness, and confident to the point of audacity in the goodness of our Father” (Fr. Jean C.J. D’Elbee, I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Therese de Lisieux).

She worked at abandoning herself to Jesus by submitting to everything within the limits of the possible and reasonable, in order to obey God, to humbly live in conformity with the will of God, which gradually becomes our will.  

St. Thérèse’s confidence in God’s mercy even in the midst of her suffering from the tuberculosis that would take her life is extraordinary.  She wrote to Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart on her littleness:
 
Oh, Jesus, how much I could say to all little souls about how ineffable Your  condescension is . . . I feel that if (though this would be impossible) [If] You were to find a soul more weak and little than mine, You would be pleased to shower upon it even greater favors, if it abandoned itself to You with complete confidence in Your infinite mercy.”

When St. Thérèse was dying and too sick to receive the Eucharist, it was she who consoled the other sisters saying, “No doubt, it is a great grace to receive the sacraments.  When God does not permit it, it is good too! Everything is a grace!” She, of course, still had the consolation of her spiritual communions.  

She was convinced she too was dying of love, as our Lord did on the Cross in anguish.  She was dying of suffocation from tuberculosis in her lungs, only one of which was functioning at that point. In the Infirmary where she was staying she pinned to her curtains pictures of the Holy Face of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and Blessed Théophane Vénard, a young Fr. priest martyred in Vietnam.  She expressed her desire to spend her heaven in God’s service to others and indeed, she has been one of the most popular saints of the modern era.

Just before she died with all of her sisters present, she gazed at the crucifix and exclaimed, “Oh!  I love Him!” and finally, “My God, I love you!”  Just before she died she seemed to be in ecstasy with a mysterious smile upon her face.  She is beautiful and her “little way” is something to be emulated by us all.  

St. Therese pray for us!

The writings of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was employed by the Romans to write The Jewish War and was also the author of the work entitled, The Antiquities of the Jews, support the account of the life of Christ on a number of important points.  All the extant manuscripts of the Josephus work on the Antiquities of the Jews contain a passage which discusses the life, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Though Josephus was not a Christian he shows Jesus to be something more than a man.  For example in this passage translated by the noted scholar of Josephus, H. St. John Thackeray, he writes:

     Now about this time arises Jesus, a wise man.  If indeed he should be called a man. For he was a doer of marvellous deeds, a teacher of men who receives the truth with pleasure: and won over to himself many Jews and many of the Greeks (nation).  He was the Christ.  And when, on the indictment of the principal men among us, Pilate had sentenced him to the cross, those who had loved (or perhaps rather 'been content with') him at the first did not cease:  for he appeared to them on the third day alive again, the divine prophets having (fore)told these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.  And even now the tribe of Christians, named after him, is not extinct.

This passage is found only in the Slavonic  or Old Russian translation that was first edited and published in 1906.  Jewish scholar Robert Eisler presents a strong case, despite his anti-Christian animus and uncalled for theorizing that the Slavonic version was translated from an early version of the work, The Jewish War.  

There are other important passage referring to Jesus in The Jewish War, including this one:

It was at this time that a man appeared--if "man" is the right word--who had all the attributes of a man but seemed to be something greater.  His actions, certainly, were superhuman, for he worked such wonderful and amazing miracles that I for one cannot regard him as a man; yet in view of his likeness to ourselves I cannot regard him as an angel either.  Everything that some hidden power enabled him to do he did by an authoritative word. Some people said that their first Lawgiver had risen from the dead and had effected many miraculous cures; others thought he was a messenger from heaven. However, in many ways he broke the Law--for instance, he did not observe the Sabbath in the traditional manner.  At the same time his conduct was above reproach.  He did not need to use his hands:  a word sufficed to fulfill his every purpose.

Josephus continues:

Many of the common people flocked after him and followed his teaching. There was a wave of excited expectation that he would enable the Jewish tribes to throw off the Roman yoke. As a rule he was to be found opposite the City [Jerusalem] on the Mount of Olives, where also he healed the sick.  He gathered around him 150 assistants and masses of followers.  When they saw his ability to do whatever he wished by a word, they told him they wanted him to enter the City, destroy the Roman troops, and make himself king, but he took no notice . . . . When the crowds grew bigger than ever, he earned by his actions an incomparable reputation. The exponents of the Law were mad with jealousy, and gave Pilate 30 talents to have him executed [sic].  Accepting the bribe, he gave them permission to carry out their wishes themselves.  So they seized him and crucified him in defiance of all Jewish tradition . . . .

In the days of our pious fathers this curtain [of the Temple] was intact, but in our own generation it was a sorry sight, for it had been suddenly rent from top to bottom at the time when by bribery  they had secured the execution of the benefactor of men--the one who by his actions proved that he was no mere man. Many other inspiring "signs" happened at the same moment.  It is also stated that after his execution and entombment he disappeared entirely.  Some people actually assert that he had risen; others retort that his friends stole him away.  I for one cannot decide where the truth lies.  A dead man cannot arise by his own power; but he might rise if aided by the prayer of another righteous man. Again, if an angel or other heavenly being, or God himself, takes human form to fulfill his purpose, and after living among men dies and is buried, he can rise again at will. Moreover, it is stated that he could not have been stolen away, as guards were posted around his tomb, 30 Romans and 1000 Jews. 

​While Josephus obviously got some of the details wrong, this historical testimony is a valuable addition to the Gospels themselves and the writings of the Early Church Fathers.  These quotations can be found in Thackeray's book Josephus on pages 129-131, 141-142 and 144-146.  A good discussion of these passages and their significance may be found in Warren H. Carrol's A History of Christendom, volume 1, The Founding of Christendom, pp. 296-297.  Carrol concludes, "In light of these considerations, the Christian need not hesitate to proclaim the Incarnation a fact of history, as well attested as any other historic fact in ancient times, indeed better documented than most. 

Carrol adds, "Some may doubt or deny the historical reality of the Incarnation, just as all human testimony, no matter how truthful or well substantiated, may be doubted or denied by members of a fallen [sinful] race.  But by all normal standards of historical judgment on sources and evidence the Incarnation is a fact, and would unquestionably be almost universally recognized as such if existing testimony and evidence referred o any morally and spiritually neutral even reported for this period." 

​St. Antony of the Desert and African and Eastern Monasticism
 
            The Ascetic movement produced a new icon of ideal Christian life, the monk or ascetic.  This movement began earlier as various Christians lived ascetical lives in a severe way, with much self-denial and mortification.  The founder of Western monasticism is St. Anthony (Antony) of Egypt (250-356), the first Christian hermit.  As a young man he was converted to a radical following of Christ.  He gave up his family wealth and eventually (age 35 yrs.) went to live in an old fort in the desert.  He is often referred to as St. Antony of the Desert as a result.
 
He felt he had to escape the sin of the city.  He had already led an ascetical life and studied other ascetics.  By 305 A.D. curiosity seekers went out to find him and found he was aglow with spiritual joy, leading many to follow his way (but he only agreed to be their spiritual guide after years of this).  He is the father of eremitical monasticism. He was 54 years old at the time he founded his monastery with scattered cells.  
 
His Life by St. Athanasius says that Satan tortured him with temptations including boredom, laziness and the phantoms of women, but he overcame these with intense prayer.  The devil harassed him with images of demons in the form of wild beasts who inflicted blows on him.  He lived for 20 years in an old Roman fort in the desert and kind people fed him by throwing food over the wall.  He refused to see anyone, but a colony of ascetics formed around him on the mountain, who wanted him to be their spiritual guide. He spent 5 or 6 years instructing them and organizing them before withdrawing to the solitary desert again.
 
On only two occasions he went to Alexandria, once to strengthen Christian martyrs in the persecution of 311 at the age of 60 years old (expecting to be martyred himself) and once to preach against the Arians near the end of his life when he was 88 years old (d. 356).  He died at the age of 105 years old in 356 or 357 according to St. Jerome.  In his humility after living 45 years in the desert, he requested his grave be kept secret so that people would not come out to it and reverence him.  To this day, his rule for monks, which may have been written up by one of his monks, is followed in Syria and Armenia. 
 
The word monk comes from the Gr. monos, which means literally, one or alone.  Later another Egyptian, St. Pachomius, founded communal monasticism (substituting the cenobitical or communal life for the eremitical one).  He was born in 286 and had an ascetic master, Palemon, and about 320 A.D., he founded a community of ascetics near Tabenna (Tabennisi) and attracted many followers (eventually 7000 who spend time alone in prayer but gathered in community for meals, liturgy, and sometimes for special celebrations).  He refused the priesthood when St. Athanasius offered it to him. He died about 348 having brought together 7000 monks.
 
Monasticism became so popular that the population of the monasteries rivaled that of secular towns.  One book was the Desert of Cities. The title reflects the exodus of people wanting to live in the desert. People wanted to live a radical expression of their faith (white martyrdom vs. former red martyrdom of blood).  They devoted themselves to prayer and penance, spawning the religious life models that followed. These ascetics were celibates and they made celibacy an ideal in the religious mind—following the example of Christ.  Later this became the norm for priests in the West and for bishops in the East. In his book, The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy, Fr. Christian Cochini argues that this emphasis on celibacy was not a new departure but rather a harkening back to the apostolic example. He cites, for example, canons of the Councils of Elvira (Spain) and Arles (314), which specifically prohibit marital relations of married clergy after ordination on penalty of being “deposed from the honor of the clergy” (p. 161).
The ascetic movement was also a great new source of evangelization and spirituality for the Church.  It spawned a witness to Christ and heightened spirituality