There’s Too Much Confusion, Said the Joker to the Thief

Did You Know? Charles Taze Russell published the first issue of the Jehovah’s Witness magazine The Watchtower on July 1,1879. Back then it was called “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.” The first edition ran 6,000 copies. Today the public (as opposed to study) edition runs 42,000,000 copies, giving it the largest magazine circulation in the world. LEARN MORE.

Why Are There Unicorns in the Bible?

If you read some older English translations of the Bible, like the Catholic Douay-Rheims (pub. 1609) or the Protestant King James (pub. 1611) you come across some passages that seem a bit mysterious. For example in the Douay-Rheims, in Psalms 91:11 we read:

But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn.

In the equivalent verse in the King James (Ps. 92:10) we read:

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn.

In reading such passages, you might think, what on earth does that mean? In these cases, the horn is being used as a symbol of strength or vigor. The Psalmist is saying that thanks to God, I’m going to be given a lot of strength and vigor, so praise God.

Fine, but what’s this stuff about unicorns? I, mean does this mean unicorns are real?

In this video we go to the heart of the matter and reveals the startling truth about what the Bible might be referring to in these passages.

We also look at how the word “unicorn” got into these passages in the first place and what ancient but real creature the translators may have been referring to. (Unless you’ve heard this before, it can come as a real surprise.

Here’s the video!

If you’re reading this by email, click here to view the video.

By the way, if you haven’t joined the Secret Information Club, there’s lots of cool stuff waiting for you for FREE. You should click here to learn more or use this form to sign up:

If you have any difficulty, just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com.

I’ve also got a transcript of the unicorn episode that you can read:

And you can listen to or download the audio podcast version. (Just click the “Play” icon to listen.)

The Church Year: June 30, 2012

NOTE: The Church Year is moving to its own web site, which will enable it to grow an audience that is specifically interested in the kind of information it presents. The new website is www.LiturgicalDay.com. Visit there for the full story and to sign up to receive it by email every day starting July 1!

Today is Saturday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost, and the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 30, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate the First martyrs of the Holy Roman Church. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Paul, apostle. It is a Class III day.

In the Extraordinary Form, we also celebrate St. Peter, apostle. This celebration is a commemoration.

If you’d like to learn more about the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Paul, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Peter, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

176. The Christological titles associated with the Redeemer are particularly associated with the mystery of the Blood of Christ: Christ has redeemed us from an ancient slavery by his most precious and innocent Blood (cf. 1 Pt 1, 19) and “purifies us of sin” (1 John 1, 17);High Priest “of all blessings to come” since Christ “has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us”; faithful Witness vindicating the blood of the martyrs (cf Ap 6, 10) “who were slain on account of the word of God, for witnessing to it” (cf. Aps 6, 9); of King, who as God, “reigns from the wood of the Cross”, which is adorned with the purple of his own Blood; Spouse and Lamb of God in whose Blood the members of the Church -the Bride- have washed their garments (cf. Ap 7, 14; Eph 5, 25-27).

Isn’t That Special . . .

Did You Know? Albert Einstein published four amazing papers in 1905, the year known as his “Annus Mirabilis” (Latin, “Miraculous Year”). The third was received for publication on June 30. In it he proposed his special theory of relativity. Despite this being much more important than his work on the photoelectric effect, it was too controversial, and he won the Nobel Prize for the latter rather than special relativity. LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: June 29, 2012

NOTE: The Church Year is going to be moving to its own web site, which will enable it to grow an audience that is specifically interested in the kind of information it presents. The new website is www.LiturgicalDay.com. Visit there for the full story and to sign up to receive it by email every day starting July 1!

Today is Friday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is red.

In some parts of the world (like England and Wales but not the United States or Canada), this is a holy day of obligation (St.s Peter and Paul, Apostles). If you live in a place where it is a holy day of obligation, be sure to go to Mass if you didn’t go yesterday evening.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 29, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Peter and Paul, apostles. In the Ordinary Form, it is a solemnity, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class I day.

If you’d like to learn more about St.s Peter and Paul, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

We will now begin a brief series looking at devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

The Most Precious Blood of Christ

175. Biblical revelation, both in its figurative stage in the Old Testament and in its perfect and fulfilled stage in the New Testament, connects blood very closely with life, and authentically with death, exodus and the Pasch, with the priesthood and sacrificial worship, with redemption and the covenant.

The Old Testament figures associated with blood and its redemptive significance are fulfilled perfectly in Christ, especially in his Passion, Death and Resurrection. Thus the mystery of the Blood of Christ is to be found at the very centre of the faith and of our salvation.

The mystery of the Saving Blood of Christ recalls and refers to:

  • the Incarnation of the Word (cf. John 1, 14) and Christ’s becoming a member of the people of the Old Testament through circumcision (Lk 2,21);
  • the Biblical image of the Lamb abounds with implication: “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1,29), in which Isaiah’s Suffering Servant image (Is 53) is also to be found, carries upon himself the sins of mankind (cf Is 53, 4-5); the “Paschal Lamb”, symbol of Israel’s redemption (cf. At 8, 31-35; 1 Cor 5, 7; 1 Pet 1, 18-20);
  • the “chalice of the passion” of which Jesus spoke in allusion to his imminent redemptive death, when he asked the sons of Zebede: “Can you drink this chalice that I must drink?” (Mt 20, 22; cf Mk 10, 38) and the chalice of the agony in the garden of olives (cf Lk 22, 42-43) which was accompanied by th Lord’s sweating blood (cf. Lk 22, 44);
  • the Eucharistic chalice, under the form of wine, contains the Blood of the New Covenant poured out for the remission of sins; is a memorial of the Lord’s Pasch (1 Cor 11, 25); and the drink of salvation according to the Lord’s own words: “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have life eternal and I shall raise him up on the last day” (John 6, 54);
  • the event of the Lord’s death, since by pouring out his Blood on the Cross, Christ reconciled heaven and earth (cf Col 1, 20);
  • the lance which transfixed the immolated Lamb, from whose open side flowed blood and water (cf John 19, 34), a sign of the redemption that had been achieved, and of the sacramental life of the Church -blood and water, Baptism and Eucharist-, symbol of the Church born from the side of Christ dying on the Cross.

What Can St. Catherine Teach Us About Purgatory?

As someone who came to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism, one of the doctrines that I had to deal with was purgatory.

Upon starting work as an apologist, I had to dig even deeper into the subject, and I discovered that over the course of time it has been understood in different ways.

One of my early helps in understanding the doctrine was the thought of St. Catherine of Genoa, whose thought on the subject as presented in the Treatise on Purgatory and the Dialogues Between the Body and the Soul have proved increasingly influential over time. In particular, elements of it have played a role in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger (back before he was pope) and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I was therefore delighted when I read Pope Benedict’s general audience on St. Catherine of Genoa, in which he touches on her contribution to this subject.

He begins by noting that, although she did have a profound mystical experience connected with her conversion, she did not have revelations about the souls in purgatory. He states:

It is important to note that Catherine, in her mystical experience, never received specific revelations on purgatory or on the souls being purified there. Yet, in the writings inspired by our Saint, purgatory is a central element and the description of it has characteristics that were original in her time [General Audience, Jan. 12, 2011].

One of the original things about St. Catherine’s thought on purgatory concerned the way it tended to be envisioned as a place:

The first original passage concerns the “place” of the purification of souls. In her day it was depicted mainly using images linked to space: a certain space was conceived of in which purgatory was supposed to be located.

Catherine, however, did not see purgatory as a scene in the bowels of the earth: for her it is not an exterior but rather an interior fire. This is purgatory: an inner fire.

She also understood the fire of purgatory differently than some other:

The Saint speaks of the Soul’s journey of purification on the way to full communion with God, starting from her own experience of profound sorrow for the sins committed, in comparison with God’s infinite love (cf. Vita Mirabile, 171v).

We heard of the moment of conversion when Catherine suddenly became aware of God’s goodness, of the infinite distance of her own life from this goodness and of a burning fire within her. And this is the fire that purifies, the interior fire of purgatory. Here too is an original feature in comparison with the thought of her time.

Furthermore:

In fact, she does not start with the afterlife in order to recount the torments of purgatory — as was the custom in her time and perhaps still is today — and then to point out the way to purification or conversion. Rather our Saint begins with the inner experience of her own life on the way to Eternity.

“The soul”, Catherine says, “presents itself to God still bound to the desires and suffering that derive from sin and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the beatific vision of God”. Catherine asserts that God is so pure and holy that a soul stained by sin cannot be in the presence of the divine majesty (cf. Vita Mirabile, 177r).

Pope Benedict then makes an observation that goes straight to the heart:

We too feel how distant we are, how full we are of so many things that we cannot see God. The soul is aware of the immense love and perfect justice of God and consequently suffers for having failed to respond in a correct and perfect way to this love; and love for God itself becomes a flame, love itself cleanses it from the residue of sin.

Pope Benedict has more to say about St. Catherine’s teaching on purgatory, and on her life in general, but I’ll let you read that for yourself.

In summary, he says:

With her life St Catherine teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimacy with him in prayer the more he makes himself known to us, setting our hearts on fire with his love.

I’ve been working on a special mailing for the Secret Information Club where I “interview” John Paul II on the subject of purgatory. In the interview, I pose questions, and the answers are taken from his writing. Current Secret Club members will get it automatically.

Purgatory is a controversial subject that Catholics are often attacked over, so if you’d like to receive the special interview with John Paul II on purgatory, just sign up for the Secret Information Club by the end of Friday, June 29th, and you’ll have it in your inbox on Saturday morning.

You should sign up using this handy sign up form:

If you have any difficulty, just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com.

The Church Year: June 28, 2012

Today is Thursday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is red.

Note: In some parts of the world (like England and Wales but not the United States or Canada), tomorrow is a holyday of obligation (St.s Peter and Paul, Apostles). If you live in one of those places, be sure to go to Mass either this evening or tomorrow.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost, and the liturgical color for today is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 28, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Irenaeus, bishop and martyr. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate the Vigil of St.s Peter and Paul, apostles. It is a vigil.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Irenaeus, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about the Vigil of St.s Peter and Paul, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation:

28. Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such feelings for the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience, when the moral condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations.

That does not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures.

It should, however, be remembered that habitual union with God, namely that attitude of interior vigilance and appeal to the divine assistance which in the New Testament is called “continuous prayer,”34 is not necessarily interrupted when one devotes oneself also, according to the will of God, to work and to the care of one’s neighbor. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” the Apostle tells us (1 Cor 10:31). In fact, genuine prayer, as the great spiritual masters teach, stirs up in the person who prays an ardent charity which moves him to collaborate in the mission of the Church and to serve his brothers for the greater glory of God.35

And Speaking of Pinball . . .

Did You Know? Despite its association with the culture of the 1950s, pinball was actually invented much earlier. Precursors of pinball were in production as early as the 1600s. The pinball machine pictured here dates from around 1760 and, in addition to having a spring mechanism to propel the ball, it has two slide out trays to hold candles to keep the board lighted! Cool! LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: June 27, 2012

Today is Wednesday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 27, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and doctor of the Church. It is an optional memorial.

There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Cyril, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation:

27. Eastern Christian meditation32 has valued psychophysical symbolism, often absent in western forms of prayer. It can range from a specific bodily posture to the basic life functions, such as breathing or the beating of the heart. The exercise of the “Jesus Prayer,” for example, which adapts itself to the natural rhythm of breathing can, at least for a certain time, be of real help to many people.33 On the other hand, the eastern masters themselves have also noted that not everyone is equally suited to making use of this symbolism, since not everybody is able to pass from the material sign to the spiritual reality that is being sought. Understood in an inadequate and incorrect way, the symbolism can even become an idol and thus an obstacle to the raising up of the spirit to God. To live out in one’s prayer the full awareness of one’s body as a symbol is even more difficult: it can degenerate into a cult of the body and can lead surreptitiously to considering all bodily sensations as spiritual experiences.