On this Faith Check we’re talking about Tradition!
For many Christians, Tradition can be a sort of dirty word. This is probably because of Jesus’ harsh words for the tradition of the Pharisees,1 who added unnecessary rituals and ignored the weightier matters of God’s Law.
But some traditions can be good and helpful in our spiritual journey. Things like putting up a Nativity scene, praying the rosary, or fasting. These are not doctrines, but customs that we do as Catholics to help draw us closer to God.
Catholics also speak of Sacred Tradition with a “capital T,” which is the very message of Christ that has been faithfully handed down to us from the apostles.2 For example, St. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to “stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.” Here Scripture itself teaches that the Word of God can come to us both through written Scripture and oral Tradition—either way, we are to receive it equally as God’s Word.
For a synopsis of the Sacred Tradition today, pick up a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
1 – Mk. 7:6-23, etc.
2 – cf. 1 Cor. 11:2, etc.
John Chrysostom born in 347, his father died soon after his birth, leaving his mother, Anthusa, a widow at the age of 20. She never married, sticking with the teachings of St. Paul to stay unmarried; she was a devout Christian and was very committed to her son; they loved and cared for each other very much. She would raise up a son who had a great love for Jesus Christ and who would become of the greatest preachers of all time (imagine him the Billy Graham of his day). He would become the Archbishop of Constantinople, and an important Early Church Father. His denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders would get him in big trouble, but it didn’t stop him. After his death (or, according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek surname chrysostomos, meaning “golden mouthed”, rendered in English as Chrysostom.
Many Christian Churches love and claim St. John Chrysostom. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches honor him as a saint and count him among the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus. He is recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church as a saint and Doctor of the Church. Churches of the Western tradition, including the Roman Catholic Church, some Anglican provinces, and parts of the Lutheran Church, commemorate him on 13 September. Some Lutheran and many Anglican provinces commemorate him on the traditional Eastern feast day of 27 January. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria recognizes John Chrysostom as a saint.
A reading from the homilies of St John Chrysostom (Hom 6 on Prayer)
“There is nothing more worthwhile than to pray to God and to converse with him, for prayer unites us with God as his companions. As our bodily eyes are illuminated by seeing the light, so in contemplating God our soul is illuminated by him. Of course the prayer I have in mind is no matter of routine, it is deliberate and earnest. It is not tied down to a fixed timetable; rather it is a state which endures by night and day.
Our soul should be directed in God, not merely when we suddenly think of prayer, but even when we are concerned with something else. If we are looking after the poor, if we are busy in some other way, or if we are doing any type of good work, we should season our actions with the desire and the remembrance of God. Through this salt of the love of God we can all become a sweet dish for the Lord. If we are generous in giving time to prayer, we will experience its benefits throughout our life.
Prayer is the light of the soul, giving us true knowledge of God. It is a link mediating between God and man. By prayer the soul is borne up to heaven and in a marvellous way embraces the Lord. This meeting is like that of an infant crying on its mother, and seeking the best of milk. The soul longs for its own needs and what it receives is better than anything to be seen in the world.
Prayer is a precious way of communicating with God, it gladdens the soul and gives repose to its affections. You should not think of prayer as being a matter of words. It is a desire for God, an indescribable devotion, not of human origin, but the gift of God’s grace. As Saint Paul says: we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
Anyone who receives from the Lord the gift of this type of prayer possesses a richness that is not to be taken from him, a heavenly food filling up the soul. Once he has tasted this food, he is set alight by an eternal desire for the Lord, the fiercest of fires lighting up his soul.
To set about this prayer, paint the house of your soul with modesty and lowliness and make it splendid with the light of justice. Adorn it with the beaten gold of good works and, for walls and stones, embellish it assiduously with faith and generosity. Above all, place prayer on top of this house as its roof so that the complete building may be ready for the Lord. Thus he will be received in a splendid royal house and by grace his image will already be settled in your soul.
The four statues of Doctors of the Church at the base of the Chair of St. Peter: St. Ambrose, St. Anthanasius (left); and St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine (right).The Altar of the Immaculate Conception at St. Peter’s in Rome Beneath the altar are the remains of St. John Chrysostom and relics of St. Francis and St. Anthony.
Stunning…simply stunning. I love “Mysteries of the Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady’s Graces”! A beautiful and lovingly assembled collection of and meditations on the 13 principal Marian mysteries celebrated by the Church. From the sound theological foundations for our devotion to Our Lady to the reflections and teachings of the saints, Fr. Peter John Cameron, founding editor-in-chief of the monthly worship aid Magnificat, has given us a wonderful resource to deepen our walk with the Blessed Mother of God.
Episode 5 -Listening For Truth– The Reality of Our Conscience. What it is and what it isn’t. The importance of proper formation…through the sacramental life, the Catechism of the Church and Sacred Scripture. “Follow the Truth” is the beginning of the conversation, not “follow your conscience” in order to make the sacred decision. Not to be passive but teachable is the goal. The Marian deposition is the the model for moral formation. Conscience is the judgement of the mind as it listens to the voice of Christ through the lives of the saints, the sacraments, the Catechism and Scripture in prayer.
Deacon James Keating, PhD., the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “Listening For Truth”.
Listening for Truth leads men and women in a search for a fuller experience of God that begins in prayer, grows in the rediscovery of our spiritual being, and grounds itself in the truth of Jesus Christ. A presentation of the Christian life as an engagement of the whole person — body, mind, and soul — in the challenge of daily living.
Many say that the Bible alone is all we need to know God’s Truth. But just look at all of the questions that divide Christians today because of differing views over what the Bible teaches: Should infants be baptized?, can I lose my salvation?, or what about the many moral issues that we face?
Our Lord said that a house divided cannot stand, and He never intended for His followers to interpret the Bible privately (2 Pet. 1:20). Jesus left us a visible Church whose leaders have authority to teach and govern God’s people.
In Matthew 18, Jesus said that insurmountable debates should be taken to the Church for resolution.1 For those that understand this and still refuse to listen to the Church, Jesus has a stern warning. Of course, to follow Jesus’ teaching on this necessarily requires a single Church that is organized and consistent.
For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been fulfilling this role in order that the Body of Christ might experience the harmony of being truly unified in heart and mind. Small wonder St. Augustine said, “I would not believe in the Gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not influence me to do so.” 2
1 – Mt. 18:15-18
2 – Against the letter of Mani, 5,6, 397 A.D.
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.
To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book byvisiting here
On this faith check let’s talk about the Holy Eucharist.
Catholics believe that the bread and wine are more than just symbolic reminders. By the power of God working through the priest they are transformed into Christ’s Body and Blood.
Our Lord taught, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you do not have life within you.”1 The Jews scoffed at this and asked, “How can He give us his flesh to eat.” Even His disciples said this was a hard saying and many stopped following Him.
Now when genuine misunderstandings occurred, Jesus corrected His listeners. But Jesus meant what He said, and did not back down: “[M]y flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed … He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
For 2,000 years the Eucharist has been the heart of the Catholic Faith. In fact, the early Christians said, “without the Eucharist we cannot live,” preferring to risk their lives rather than miss Mass. Today He invites each one of us to receive His very flesh and blood.
St. Gregory the Great…the tradition of the Church considers him one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church. Born in Rome, Italy, in AD 540, St. Gregory was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, and Silvia, who later became a saint. (Saints make saints after all…).
His youth was a troubled one. In his writings he chronicles the perpetual seiges that Rome endured at the hands of the barbarians. Those nasty Lombards! Pillaging, raping, massacring, they would plague the Church and the people of the land for 200 years, you name it..by any standard, they were bad!
Saint Gregory became the Prefect of Rome at the age of thirty, and the people loved him because he was able to keep them safe. A few years later, like his parents, he gave his wealth away. He became a Benedictine monk. But the pope of the time, recalled him to Rome to serve as a deacon and to help the city, which was again attacked by the Lombards.
On the third day of September in 590, after he had first been ordained a priest, Saint Gregory was consecrated Pope and Bishop of Rome, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. He was the first monk to become Pope. The Holy Spirit didn’t waste anytime moving him to service!
Through Saint Leander and his brother, Saint Isidore of Seville, as well as the martyr Saint Hermenegild, Saint Gregory recovered Spain from the Arians. Through Queen Theodelinda, the wife of the Lombard King Agilulf, he was able to begin the conversion of the Lombard nation and the tempering of their ferocious and cruel natures. He won France back and began conversions in England. Saint Gregory was, above all else, a vigilant guardian of the Church’s doctrine, always the mark of a holy Pope. He ordained, early in his pontificate that the first four Ecumenical Councils of the Church should be treated with the respect given to the four Gospels. He worked unceasingly to stamp out heresy. He ordered that at the beginning of Lent the blessed ashes should be placed on the foreheads of the faithful, instead of only the head of the Pope — as had been the custom up to that time — and that the priest should repeat to each one, “Remember man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return”. excerpted in part from an article by Sister Catherine Goddard Clark, M.I.C.M.
He is known for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. The “Gregorian Chant” is named in honor of Saint Gregory’s patient labor in restoring the ancient chant of the Church and in setting down the rules to be followed so that Church music might more perfectly fulfill its function.
Saint Gregory the Great died on the twelfth of March, 604, at the age of sixty-four. He was canonized immediately after his death. Later, because of the volume, the extraordinary insight and the profundity of his writings, the depth and extent of his learning, and the heroic holiness of his life, the Church gratefully placed him beside Jerome and Ambrose and Augustine. Saint Gregory the Great became the fourth of the Church’s four great Doctors of the West. –
What would today be like without a little Gregorian Chant in honor of our St. Gregory?
Episode 4 -Listening For Truth– Encountering fear in prayer. The necessity for spiritual direction! Purification as part of the process for spiritual growth. The virtue of Obedience.
Deacon James Keating, PhD, the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “Listening For Truth”.
Listening for Truth leads men and women in a search for a fuller experience of God that begins in prayer, grows in the rediscovery of our spiritual being, and grounds itself in the truth of Jesus Christ. A presentation of the Christian life as an engagement of the whole person — body, mind, and soul — in the challenge of daily living.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.
To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book byvisiting here
