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[evolvedcatholic]

Genesis 3:19 (NABRE): By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

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[evolvedcatholic]

Me, before I found Catholicism.

[evolvedcatholic]

I truly enjoy praying the rosary, sincerely!

For someone like me, each time I pray the rosary it allows me to think deeply into the Bible study on beads it truly is, while walking with Jesus in spirit and mind.

Each mystery a thought provoking journey from Old Testament to New.

One of those is the Hail Mary itself, a simple prayer that many, if not most, pray as quickly as possible without reflection; which is heart breaking once one knows the depths this simple contemplative prayer has.

Let's start at the beginning:

"Hail Mary full of Grace"

The beginning prayer comes from the Gospel of Luke,

Luke 1:28 (NABRE): And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

The "Grace" part is important, as that is what is missing from humans in original sin.

κεχαριτωμένη (in English pronouncements kecharitōmenē) is the key to this verse.

As the Catechism reads,

404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam “as one body of one man.” By this “unity of the human race” all men are implicated in Adam’s sin, as all are implicated in Christ’s justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed”—a state and not an act.

So as you can see, we lack original holiness or Grace.

This is precisely what the Angel said Mary was full of, and why this is so significant, which is why this proclamation stands out. 

The next part of the verse is also quite important, "the Lord is with you".  So she was walking with the Lord not unlike David, her ancestor.

The next part,  "Holy Mary, blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus".

The first is the rest of the verse from the Gospel of Luke, the second is very important scripturally, as St. John explained,

1 John 4:2–3 (NABRE): This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, 3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.

It is intrinsic to the Faith to acknowledge that Jesus is God and was born in the flesh. One of the key reasons this prayer is vitally important. If you don't acknowledge this then the spirit of antichrist may be able to dwell within you.

The following part of the prayer is a request to Mary to pray for us.

At this point many protestants (non catholic) argue that we are not to pray to other gods or the dead. Well, there's a few issues with this statement, as this is misconstrued. What did God actually command, and what do you mean by dead?

First, God said:  Exodus 20:2–6 (NABRE): I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall not have other gods beside me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 5 you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; 6 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Paul went deeper and told us what the basis of these beings were: 1 Corinthians 10:20–21 (NABRE): No, I mean that what they sacrifice, [they sacrifice] to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.

Now let's be clear, he's not talking about people participating literally with demons, but rather that the foreign gods people are worshiping are demons that are parading as these gods.

I say all this to clarify that God is commanding that you do not worship other gods; protestant people often mistake the idea of prayer and worship and combine the two. Prayer is making a request, human or spirit.

If I ask you to say a prayer for me,  etymologically I have prayed to you to pray for me.

Confusing?

Let's clear this up a bit more.

I have requested to you, as a human, to make a request for me before the spirit of life, God almighty.

Not unlike when a child asks their brother or sister to go ask their parent for a cookie, hoping that if the parent receives more requests they may allow more cookies.

So prayer is not worship. Worship is worship. Prayer is making a request, whether human or spirit. This is why if you go back to proper English terminology you have such phrases as "I pray you" and "Praytel" among many others; these phrases all relate to using the term pray as a request from normally a human in standard language and discourse.

Why is this important? Because of the next part of the prayer:

"Holy Mary, mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. "

We already addressed the Holy and mother of God part, why are we asking Mary to pray for us?

Believe it or not, because it's in the Bible.

If we go to the book of Revelation, chapter 12, we have "the woman".

Look at her description,

Revelation 12:1–2 (NABRE): A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.

Well, we know the child is Jesus, so the woman is most definitely Mary. Can there be more meanings to this? Yes, anyone familiar with ancient Semitic writings knows there often more then one kind of reading, however we'll focus on the first level mean.

So if we embrace this idea, which if we acknowledge Jesus to be this child the we have little choice then to do so, that brings us later in the chapter to the following verse,

Revelation 12:17 (NABRE): Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.

Notice it refers to her as the mother of all those that keep God's commandments and witness to Jesus? those are Christians.

We know those on the other side assist us, both human and angelic; scripture is clear on this, as not only does Moses and Elijah help Jesus on the mount of transfiguration,  but again in the book of Revelation we read,

Revelation 5:8 (NABRE): When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.

And

Revelation 8:3–4 (NABRE): Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.

So our prayers are delivered through the hands of the angels and the human elders.

So we have humans and angels helping us on both sides of the veil, material and spirit. 

So we can walk away knowing that yes, Mary is the mother of Christians. This isn't so hard for us to believe, as Jesus is called our brother in scripture.

She is only creature, and never to be worshiped, however still there to help us on our journey.

Mary will always guide us to Jesus.

[evolvedcatholic]

The human condition of original sin makes the heart deceitful, even to itself. This is why reason must be coupled with human thoughts and intuition, as those (the aforementioned thoughts and intuition) are riddled with the woes that beset humans in their frailties and shortcomings; being, as it were, inclined to self preservation over the need for solidarity.

This is why tribalism exists within this world; because in our human failing we cling to those that preserve that want of values that we hold dear, rather then what is best for all others of our species.

Reason values wisdom, both divine and within the constructs of logic formed through philosophical ideology.

Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV-CE): The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

KruJuice 🙏

[evolvedcatholic]

#podcast #bible #beer #Christian #Catholic #wine #alcohol #Cleveland #Ohio #evangelical #church #history #popculture #geekculture #happythanksgivng #buylocal #craftbeer #religion #martialarts #microbrew @anchorfm https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtTQM1pCPv/?utm_medium=tumblr

[evolvedcatholic]

I was having the most pleasant conversation with a very nice lady on my recent trip to be a groomsman in my brother's wedding.

She had lamented the fact her priest insisted on the persistent presence of guilt. She said that joy was what she thought she was supposed to experience with the celebration of the Eucharist. She had gotten to the point where she was attending a Protestant Bible study just for a little more of this kind of encounter.

I am not certain why her priest insisted on this melancholy approach when the Catechism itself proclaims:

1328 The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: (2637; 1082; 1359)

Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein and eulogein recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim—especially during a meal—God’s works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.

1329 The Lord’s Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.

That certainly seems like something we should take rich appreciation of.

I am not going to suppose what this priest meant, as he may have just cause, I'm sure he knows his flock better than I.

He may have had them going through a time of moral reflection or contemplation.

I am not going to judge, I have no right nor insight.

I will say this however, there are three stages to reflect on each day, week, month and year:

1. Guilt

2. Kenosis

3. Theosis

Guilt, because we must continually acknowledge how we fail throughout all of our lives if we are to become better.

Kenosis, because once we have gone through confession and we rid ourselves of that guilt, we empty ourselves through penance; which is much misunderstood in both the catholic and protestant laity.

Penance isn't meant to pay God back for the wrong you've done, but to realign our spirits through these reflections, as we've torn ourselves from his nature. We must empty ourselves from our self centric ideas, so that we can again proceed to being Christ like.

Jesus even gave us a similar, albeit innocent, version of this,

Philippians 2:6–8 (NABRE): Who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

7 Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness;

and found human in appearance,

8 he humbled himself,

becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross.

Theosis, because as we empty ourselves we then fill ourselves through participation in the divine nature that God has given us.

Peter actually gave us this example when he said,

2 Peter 1:3–4 (NABRE): 3 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. 4 Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

So we have three levels at play, which include guilt, because our nature knows when we pull away from the nature of God; Kenosis, as we empty ourselves from our self centric ideas, even when they have the best intentions; and Theosis, realigning our nature to that of God, our mind and spirit working through the power of the holy Spirit.

Godspeed🙏

[evolvedcatholic]

"Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary."

-Pope Benedict XVI

[evolvedcatholic]

If one brother speaks ill of another in your presence, see that you do not turn [the slandered brother] away saying: “Yes, it is so.” But either keep silent or say to him: “Brother, I myself am being condemned and cannot judge another.” Thus you are saving both yourself and the other person.

Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers

[evolvedcatholic]

"From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others" - #SaintJohnPaulII

📷 Eucharistic Elevation / © wideonet / #GettyImages. #Catholic_Priest #CatholicPriestMedia

[evolvedcatholic]

TikTok 8/9/21

In this TikTok I explained that the Liturgy is hinted at in scripture, which is found in Acts,

Acts 13:2 (NABRE): While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

You see the Greek word here, λειτουργούντων, which in English is leitourgountōn, and is translated as "Liturgy", λειτουργούντων being the direct Greek word for this.

This is both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic word for the life of its believers and often refers to the celebration of the Mass.

I referenced Justin Martyr, who said,

“And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.”

This is important as he is a second century Christian, very close to the source material from the apostles.

I also referenced Ignatius of Antioch, in His mention of the real presence to which he said,

"Consider how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead."

"Letter to the Smyrnaeans", paragraph 6. circa 80-110 A.D.

This is an important reference as Saint Ignatius was discipled under Saint John the Apostle.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR12hWVT/

[evolvedcatholic]

So many protestants hate the rosary, calling it "redundant and meaningless prayer"; of course they are also the ones that can't stick to a workout program and make excuses for their bad food choices, so it's not saying much😎

[evolvedcatholic]

In 1 Corinthians 11:2, Paul tells his readers, “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.” He tells the Thessalonians, “Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:15). And he says, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6). Some today don’t like the concept of Tradition, and some modern Bible translations—especially in the Protestant community—try to obscure the fact that the New Testament speaks positively of tradition when it is passed down from Christ and the apostles. They do this by using the word tradition when Jesus criticizes the Pharisees but substituting another word—such as teaching, ordinance, instruction, or truth—when the New Testament praises Christian Tradition. This creates the false impression that tradition is a negative concept for the New Testament writers, but the underlying word in Greek (paradosis) is the same in all these passages. Protestant translations that substitute another word for tradition in some or all the pro-tradition verses include the King James Version, the New International Version, the Good News Bible, the New Living Translation, and Young’s Literal Translation. However, stopping to think for a moment about the fact that Christianity was preached for years before the New Testament underscores the importance of Tradition for the Christian faith.

Jimmy Akin, The Bible is a Catholic book

[evolvedcatholic]

[evolvedcatholic]

"To this something further must be added. I just said how, gradually, in confronting its pagan environment and its own heart, the people of Israel experienced what “creation” was. Implicit here is the fact that the classic creation account is not the only creation text of sacred Scripture. Immediately after it there follows another one, composed earlier and containing other imagery. In the Psalms there are still others, and there the movement to clarify the faith concerning creation is carried further: In its confrontation with Hellenistic civilization, Wisdom literature reworks the theme without sticking to the old images such as the seven days. Thus we can see how the Bible itself constantly readapts its images to a continually developing way of thinking, how it changes time and again in order to bear witness, time and again, to the one thing that has come to it, in truth, from God’s Word, which is the message of his creating act. In the Bible itself the images are free and they correct themselves ongoingly. In this way they show, by means of a gradual and interactive process, that they are only images, which reveal something deeper and greater."

JOSEPH RATZINGER (POPE EMERITUS)

[evolvedcatholic]

“Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy - then we need an hour.” - #SaintFrancisdeSales . 📷 A Woman holding Rosary with a Large Crucifix / © IOFOTO via Canva Pro and #CatholicPriestMedia #Catholic_Priest #SacredArtandImages https://www.instagram.com/p/B2gapf6F53Q/?igshid=1gh2z29jek1vv

[evolvedcatholic]

Marian Apparitions

My journey into the Catholic faith has been long and drenched with soul searching and scripture diving.

I will be covering much of that coming up, however one thing that has been a pleasant surprise has been the miracles that never ceased.

Unlike the Protestant war of "Cessationist" thought, where people argue about whether or not miracles continue, this has not been the case in the most ancient of the Christian faiths.

They have never denied that God is Almighty, and will not be restricted by man's thoughts or whims.

I've always sought the deeper truths in life, which most forget in their petty concerns over the temporal conditions of our current society or the subjectivity of this cultures viewpoints.

People get caught up in "LGBT" vs whoever or whether or not the latest pop star meets the criteria to be who they claim.

It's petty in the most ancient endeavors of seeking the deeper truths.

Remove your electric devices, your MTV and your social media feed and what is left?

Soul searching. What happens if I die today? Are other dimensions a reality? Do we live alongside beings that watch and perhaps interact with us? Where did my mommy and daddy go when they died?

Deep soul searching.

One of the comforts going into this journey is knowing that the miraculous is not only real, but documented! 

The Vatican only backs those miracles which are verified, protecting not just the church, but people against snake oil salesmen.

This brings us to one of the most miraculous centuries spanning phenomena: 

Marian Apparitions. 

The Mother of God has been coming to mankind since the beginning, her first appearance happening before she even died,  around 40 AD; showing she is one of the Saints with bilocation. *1 

She has been appearing ever since, the messenger to us, the literal Mother of God on Earth.

There have been almost 300 submissions of the proof of her appearances, of which the Vatican have only approved 16; the others still pending approval.

The guidelines are fairly stringent, and to be approved the bishop has a lot to follow: 

1. The facts in the case are free of error.

2. The person(s) receiving the messages is/are psychologically balanced, honest, moral, sincere and respectful of church authority.

3. Doctrinal errors are not attributed to God, Our Lady or to a saint.

4. Theological and spiritual doctrines presented are free of error.

5. Moneymaking is not a motive involved in the events.

6. Healthy religious devotion and spiritual fruits result, with no evidence of collective hysteria. *2

These must be submitted to the Vatican, and if these investigative processes are followed, and they all pass, then they are approved. Although in other situations further studies and investigations may be necessary. 

These studies are not only done by the Vatican, but normally fully secular laboratories and medical institutions are involved (I'll touch on these in later posts, as we explore them). 

So while other branches of the church claim to believe in miracles, and others don't, it is really just an exercise in futility in the modern discombobulation that is denominational confusion.

You take your modern misgivings of each other's ideas of what should and shouldn't be; us traditional believers can simply follow those that came before us, as they still teach us, from beyond the veil.

Godspeed, Kru Juice.

https://aleteia.org/2017/10/12/did-you-know-the-1st-apparition-of-the-blessed-mother-was-an-act-of-bilocation/ 

https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/apparitions-approval-process.php