O Little Town of the Eucharist

Our Lord’s place of birth is quite significant. The town’s name has a Eucharistic connotation; “Bethlehem,” in Hebrew, literally means “house of bread” and Our Lord proclaimed himself as “the bread of life” (John 6:36). As you read in John 6, Jesus then explains to the crowd that “if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51).



 Another interesting point is that the Arabic name for this town is “Beit Lahm,” which means, “house of meat.” So, the town of Bethlehem is known as both the “house of bread” and the “house of meat.”

When Christ was born, he was laid in a manger, which was a feeding trough for animals. (Remember, Jesus was born in a stable where animals are kept.) The theological significance of this setting is that Jesus Christ is food for the world. During the Last Supper, Jesus took bread and said “take, eat; this is my body” (Matt 26:26). His own words, as found in John 6 and in the Last Supper accounts, testify to the fact that he is true food in a sacramental way. The eternal God not only humbled himself to became a man, but he humbled himself further to become our very food!

Only with the theological virtue of faith could one have seen the eternal God as a humble newborn child. Similarly, only with that very same virtue can one see our Lord under the humble appearances of bread and wine. Today, we still call Jesus Christ our Emmanuel, for God is truly "with us." Our Lord is with us in the Sacrament most holy, the Eucharist!

Halloween: Evening of the Holy Ones

Halloween basically means “Holy Evening.” Today in the West, the “holy evening” is celebrated on October 31st, the day before All Saints Day (All Hallows Day). The Solemnity of All Saints is a feast that honors all the saints in heaven. The origins of Halloween are certainly uncertain and horrifyingly horrifying! Just kidding.


The history of Halloween is not horrifying, but it is pretty uncertain. Nevertheless, Halloween is not a scary day, but a holy day that has been celebrated since the early Church.

The first mention of a feast of this kind comes from the East and dates back to the mid-4th century, but it was specific to martyrs only. This feast was not always celebrated on November 1st either. The Friday after Easter was used to commemorate martyrs, as well as the Sunday after Pentecost (this is the current observance day for Byzantine Catholics). Eventually, non-martyrs were also commemorated.

The West also celebrated the martyrs of the early Church but it’s not very clear how the holy day came to be celebrated on November 1st. Consequently, there is no scholarly consensus on the matter of how All Saints day came to be on November 1st. It may be linked to an anniversary of an oratory-dedication at St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Gregory in the mid 8th century. Some indicators show that it may have its roots in Germany during the late 8th century. It may also be the case that the November 1st date for All Saints Day was a response to the Druid festival of the dead, Samhain, which was celebrated in Ireland.

There is nothing wrong with the playfulness of Halloween (trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, decorating, etc.) Those who reject Halloween as a "devil's holiday" are dreadfully misguided, most likely because of bad research. There is nothing satanic, in principle or in origin, about carving pumpkins or dressing up as a chicken and going door-to-door to get some candy.

That being said, let's try not to loose sight of the real purpose of this great holiday: the celebration of those who lived and died in friendship with Christ. In fact, the entire month of November has been dedicated by the Church to remember the dead, especially those in Purgatory. Halloween can also remind us of our own mortality and that at the end of our lives, we will face God himself. Are we prepared?

More on Halloween here.

Purgatorial Fire: Biblical and Historical

Interestingly enough, only two paragraphs out of the 900-page Catechism of the Catholic Church are dedicated to the doctrine of Purgatory. The word “purgatory” is not found in the Bible, but neither is the word “trinity” or “incarnation” or even the word “bible” itself. Like the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, the doctrine of Purgatory is implicit, not explicit. The teaching that there is a purification process after death is both biblical and apostolic. Below is the Church's formal definition of Purgatory, one key passage from the Bible regarding it, and commentaries by Church Fathers.

From the Catechism

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1030-1031).

From the Bible

Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Cor 3:12-15).

From the Fathers

Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones; neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works (Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Jeremias, c. AD 244).

For although these words may be understood of the fire of tribulation, which men suffer in this world: yet if any will interpret them of the fire of Purgatory, which shall be in the next life: then must he carefully consider, that the Apostle said not that he may be saved by fire, that builds upon this foundation iron, brass, or lead, that is, the greater sort of sins, and therefore more hard, and consequently not remissible in that place: but wood, hay, stubble, that is, little and very light sins, which the fire does easily consume. Yet we have here further to consider, that none can be there purged, no, not for the least sins that be, unless in his lifetime he deserved by virtuous works to find such favor in that place (St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues 4:39, c. AD 590).

But also, when God will judge the just, it is likewise in fire that he will try them. At that time, they whose sins are uppermost, either because of their gravity or their number, will be drawn together by the fire and will be burned. Those, however, who have been imbued with full justice and maturity of virtue, will not feel that fire; for they have something of God in them which will repel and turn back the strength of the flame (St. Lactantius, Divine Institutes 7:21:6, c. AD 307).

The early Church never accepted the belief that, in each and every instance, a righteous one would immediately enjoy the beatific vision after death. This is evident by the common practices of offering good works and praying for the dead, as well as the witness of many early Church Fathers. Also, the Church does not teach that Purgatory is a literal fire. Fire is a symbolic image for purification. Pope Benedict once commented on Purgatory, stating that the purgatorial fire is simply an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Here is a cool video: Is the Fire of Purgatory Jesus Himself?

Why Would Abraham Sacrifice His Son?

Note: Abraham’s original name was Abram; God changed his name at a specific point in his life. For simplicity, I will use the name Abraham in this post.

The account in Genesis where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac baffles many people. One problem is that we approach this story with our own cultural bias, and therefore, the story confuses us. We are analyzing this story while wearing specific lenses. We are taking the things we know, such as the nature of God, the Ten Commandments (“thou shall not kill”), the revelation of Christ, and teachings of the Church, and refereeing the situation. Keep in mind, Abraham did not have any of these as a guide.

Abraham was not a Jew, he was a pagan from the city of Ur (ancient Mesopotamia; modern-day Iraq). For much of his life, he worshiped false gods. Human sacrifice was a common religious practice in ancient times throughout various cultures; the ancient people of Ur were no exception. Abraham lived within a culture that viewed human sacrifice as a common religious ritual. Sometimes, the victim would even volunteer! For Abraham, a normal, everyday response in order to please a god was to offer sacrifices to that god. This could include a human sacrifice.

Good Catholic Gone Less Than Good: Martin Luther

Martin Luther was once an Augustinian friar who later broke away from the Church. He had some radical things to say about the priesthood, papacy, purgatory (I’m on a “P” roll) and other distinctively Catholic teachings. However, Luther did not reject all things Catholic. Here are 4 distinctively Catholic things that Martin Luther regarded as biblical and had an affectionate reverence for.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

Martin Luther had a great love for the Blessed Mother. In one sermon, Luther recognized two Catholic dogmas: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary and Mother of God (Theotokos). In another, he recognized the Immaculate Conception.

Hobby Lobby and the Supreme Court Ruling

Hobby Lobby does not have any moral objections to contraception, in fact, they already provide various contraceptives in their health plan, even before the mandate was put in place. They object to certain contraceptives that are potentially abortifacient, like Plan B and others (4 in total). Back in 1993, a law was passed called Religious Freedom Restoration Act which passed 435-0 in the House and 97-3 in the Senate and declared: "governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification." If there is a compelling justification to burden a religious exercise, then the government must "demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest." That is exactly what happened in the Supreme Court's ruling: 

"Under RFRA, a Government action that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise must serve a compelling government interest, and we assume that the HHS regulations satisfy this requirement. But in order for the HHS mandate to be sustained, it must also constitute the least restrictive means of serving that interest, and the mandate plainly fails that test. There are other ways in which Congress of HHS could equally ensure that every woman has cost-free access to the particular contraceptives at issue here and, indeed, to all FDA-approved contraceptives."

For a good summary, click here.

Pope Francis and the Korean Catholic Church

Pope Francis is going to South Korea in August where he will beatify 124 Korean martyrs. These Koreans "founded the Catholic Church with their blood." What's unique about the formation of the Catholic Church in Korea is that there were no missionaries that brought Catholicism to the country. Rather, it started with Yi Seung-Hun, a member of the ruling class, who learned about Catholicism in China and returned home with many books on the faith and evangelized his countrymen. He was also the first martyr in Korea.