Mass with 2 Protestants and 1 Crucifix

SOURCE:  http://www.catholicconvert.com/blog/2014/05/08/mass-with-2-protestants-and-a-crucifix/

A while ago we went to Mass with two Protestants. As we walked in the door — there it was, as big as life — a CRUCIFIX with the Body of Our Lord hanging over the altar. 

I knew what the Protestants were thinking — I used to think the same – ”CATHOLICS ARE WRONG, JESUS IS NO LONGER ON THE CROSS, HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND IS IN HEAVEN.” Of course they think Catholics are wrong to keep Jesus on the cross as though he had not risen and ascended into heaven. 

Are they right? Well, YES and NO. Jesus DID rise and ascend into heaven and He IS glorified at the right hand of the Father and we are mystically seated there with him (1 Pet 3:22, Eph 2:6). 

 BUT the Catholic Church is ALSO correct to show Jesus on the Cross — not only to remind us of His suffering and death and to show what happens during the Mass — but because in a mystical way He IS STILL on the Cross.
God the Father sits on His throne in heaven. And what does God see from his throne every time he “opens his eyes”? He sees Jesus on the Cross! Really? Yeah, really!

Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). In the Old Testament the lambs were slain on Passover to save the Israelites from death. The lamb was held over the altar, his neck was slashed with a knife and the blood was drained onto the altar. 
This is why we have an altar in the Catholic Church! The altar represents the Cross (among other things). An Altar is where a Sacrifice takes place! Jesus was slain as our Passover Lamb to save us from eternal death and to appease the wrath of God. That sacrifice is re-presented at the Mass (see my talk Defending the Eucharist!).

Take a look at Revelation 5:5 and ask yourself — what John is telling us? It reads,

Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain . . .“

Who IS the slain Lamb that is still standing? Jesus is the Lamb! Standing on a altar before the throne of God the Father is a Lamb still bearing the wounds of slaugher. Jesus is that Lamb and he still bears the wounds of His sacrifice. That is what God sees when He “opens his eyes” – Jesus the sacrifice — Jesus on the altar — Jesus on the Cross.

Charles Wesley, the great Methodist minister and hymn writer agrees. In his hymn “Arise, My Soul, Arise” in which he says the very same thing in very poetic terms.

“Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears; The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears, Before the throne my surety stands, My name is written on His hands. He ever lives above, for me to intercede; His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead: His blood atoned for all our race, And sprinkles now the throne of grace.”

But wasn’t Jesus crucified once and for all, never to sacrificed for sins again? Yes, of course! In space and time Jesus was crucified once and for all in AD 30.

In God’s eyes — in eternity which is not limited by space and time — Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the world (see endnote 1) and in ”eternity future” He is still seen by the Father as a slain lamb on the alter in heaven, as the crucified Lord on the Cross. All salvation past, present and future is based on this one historical event.

In the Mass, Jesus is NOT re-crucified, but we partake in a mystical way in the re-presentation of the ONE ETERNAL SACRIFICE which is ever before the eyes of the Father (see Endnote 3).

I used to say “Jesus WAS our sacrifice. He cannot be crucified again on Catholic altars, so Catholics are wrong!” But the Bible says, Yes, he WAS our sacrifice, but he also IS our Sacrifice. Look at what John says in his first epistle:

“[Jesus] is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (RSV-Catholic Edition). The Protestant NIV renders this “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

The Greek word for IS (eimi) is in the present tense. Today, right now He IS our propitiation, our sacrifice. After His resurrection with His new spiritual body Jesus still has the wounds of his crucifixion (Jn 20:27). He has a body in heaven and still bears the wounds of the Sacrifice. He is presented before God as slain sacrifice — yet now alive.

So, what does God see when He “opens his eyes”? He sees Jesus on the Cross! If this is what God sees in heaven, then it is certainly proper for us to show Jesus on a Cross to remind us what he did for us — and to see what God sees every day and has from eternity. So Catholic are right after all. Suprise! Surprise!

By the way, once a Baptist said to me, “You are wrong, Jesus is no longer on the cross, He is in heaven.” It happend to be Christmas and I noticed they had a Manger Scene (creche) on their table. I said, “Why do you have Jesus in the manger? He is no longer in the manger — he is in heaven.
“And oh,” I said, “isn’t that a cute statue of Mary! I thought you Protestants considered statues to be idols? Why do you have a statue of Mary in your house?”
****************************
Endnote 1: There are two ways to translate this verse, but either way it comes out making the point. The best Protestant translations of Revelation 13:8 read: “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (NIV – New International Version). “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (NKJV – New King James Version).

Endnote 3: Catechism paragraph 1367: ”The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ ‘And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory’.”

Wipe Away Every Tear

Jesus is our shepherd

SOURCE: https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/Perspectives/Article/TabId/726/ArtMID/13630/ArticleID/14611/Opening-the-Word-Jesus-is-our-shepherd.aspx

The depiction of God as a shepherd goes back to Genesis. When Jacob (or Israel) was on his deathbed, he blessed two of his sons in the name of “the God in whose presence my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day” (Gn 48:15).

In his final testament, Jacob described God as “the shepherd, the rock of Israel” (Gn 49:24). The prophets also referred to God as a shepherd, as when Isaiah declared, “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, leading the ewes with care” (Is 40:11).

Psalm 23, written by King David, is the best-known depiction in the Jewish scriptures of God as the shepherd who provides physical nourishment, spiritual refreshment and continual guidance and protection, concluding: “And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days” (Ps 23:6).

All of these references form the background to today’s Gospel, which recounts Christ’s “good shepherd” discourse, given shortly after he had healed the blind man (cf. Jn 9). That miracle had further escalated tensions between Jesus and the Pharisees (cf. Jn 8:59; 10:31-39).

May 11, 2014

Fourth Sunday of Easter

ACTS 2:14a, 36-41

PS 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

1 PT 2:20b-25

JN 10:1-10

Thus, Jesus’ words about shepherding were uttered in the middle of deadly discord. They are, in a real way, an expansion on Psalm 23 and David’s statement: “Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side.” What is the source of conflict? The very person and mission of Jesus, as St. John points out in his prologue: “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (Jn 1:11). The religious leaders recognized that Jesus had been making exclusive, astonishing claims, as when he said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am” (Jn 8:58).

In using the imagery of the sheep and shepherd, Jesus continued to assert his uniqueness, not only by describing himself as the “good shepherd” (Jn 10:11) and thus highlighting the bad shepherding of the Pharisees and scribes, but also by declaring, “I am the gate for the sheep. ... Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” There is little doubt that Jesus had in mind the scathing rebuke uttered by the prophet Ezekiel against the bad and corrupt shepherds of Israel (Ez 34).

Jesus is the only way to salvation, the Lord of life. “I am the way and the truth and the life,” he stated at the Last Supper, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). And the way to the Father is through the cross; it comes through humility, suffering and even death. The head apostle, Peter, learned that lesson the hard way, and then he proclaimed it with fearless conviction on Pentecost: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).

Just as Jesus warned of thieves and robbers, Peter warned, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Along similar lines, the first pope, in his first epistle, reminded his readers that they had once “gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Pt 2:25). Peter knew what it was like to go astray; he also knew of the salvation and restoration offered by the shepherd (cf. Jn 21:15-19).

Carl E. Olson is the editor of Catholic World Report.

What Are We to Do?

SOURCE: http://www.salvationhistory.com/blog/what_are_we_to_do_scott_hahn_reflects_on_the_fourth_sunday_of_easter#When:13:46:18Z

Easter’s empty tomb is a call to conversion.

By this tomb, we should know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Messiah, as Peter preaches in today’s First Reading.

He is the “Lord,” the divine Son that David foresaw at God’s right hand (see Psalms 110:1,3; 132:10-11; Acts 2:34). And He is the Messiah that God had promised to shepherd the scattered flock of the house of Israel (see Ezekiel 34:11-14, 23; 37:24).

As we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus is that Good Shepherd, sent to a people who were like sheep without a shepherd (see Mark 6:34; Numbers 27:16-17). He calls not only to the children of Israel, but to all those far off from Him - to whomever the Lord wishes to hear His voice.

The call of the Good Shepherd leads to the restful waters of Baptism, to the anointing oil of Confirmation, and to the table and overflowing cup of the Eucharist, as we sing in today’s Psalm.

Again on this Sunday in Easter, we hear His voice calling us His own. He should awaken in us the response of those who heard Peter’s preaching. “What are we to do?” they cried.

We have been baptized. But each of us goes astray like sheep, as we hear in today’s Epistle. We still need daily to repent, to seek forgiveness of our sins, to separate ourselves further from this corrupt generation.

We are called to follow in the footsteps of the Shepherd of our souls. By His suffering He bore our sins in His body to free us from sin. But His suffering is also an example for us. From Him we should learn patience in our afflictions, to hand ourselves over to the will of God.

Jesus has gone ahead, driven us through the dark valley of evil and death. His Cross has become the narrow gate through which we must pass to reach His empty tomb - the verdant pastures of life abundant.