Deciphering Catholic Codes

September 16, 2013

Recently we noted that A.D. signifies that we are living in the 2,013th “Year of our Lord.” Today we present the meanings behind other enigmatic Catholic acronyms & symbols.

INRI = “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”
At the crucifixion, Pilate ordered a sign to be written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin and placed atop Jesus’ cross to display the charge against him. The Latin read “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum,” from which INRI comes. Though the punishment of Jesus was unjust, this charge against him was true.

CCD = “Confraternity of Christian Doctrine”
In other words, a group in service of teaching the faith to children.

RCIA=“Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults”
The process, involving lessons and sacraments, by which adults and older youths are gradually introduced into full communion with the faith of Christ’s  Roman Catholic Church.

IHS = “Jesus”
In Greek, the name Jesus is ΙΗΣΟΥΣ. These first three letters were Latinized into “IHS,” forming a symbol for the Holy Name of Jesus.

☧ = “Christ”
In Greek, the title Christ, or “anointed one,” is ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. These first two letters, the Chi and Rho, were merged to form a symbol for   Christ known as the Chi-Rho.

Jesus Fish = “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”
The fish was an early Christian symbol containing a summary of the faith. The letters of the Greek word for fish, ΙΧΘΥΣ (or “ichthys,”) are an acronym for the phrase above.

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The Proof of the Apostles

September 10, 2013

By St. John Chrysostom

It was clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive, in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Their discourse was not of unimportant matters but of God and true religion, of the Gospel way of life and future judgment, yet it turned plain, uneducated men into philosophers. How the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and his weakness stronger than men!

In what way is it stronger? It made its way throughout the world and overcame all men; countless men sought to eradicate the very name of the Crucified, but that name flourished and grew ever mightier. Its enemies lost out and perished; the living who waged a war on a dead man proved helpless. Therefore, when a Greek tells me I am dead, he shows only that he is foolish indeed, for I, whom he thinks a fool, turn out to be wiser than those reputed wise. So too, in calling me weak, he but shows that he is weaker still. For the good deeds which tax-collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by God’s grace, the philosophers, the rulers, the countless multitudes cannot even imagine.

Paul had this in mind when he said: The weakness of God is stronger than men. That the preaching of these men was indeed divine is brought home to us in the same way. For how otherwise could twelve uneducated men, who lived on lakes and rivers and wastelands, get the idea for such an immense enterprise? How could men who perhaps had never been in a city or a public square think of setting out to do battle with the whole world? That they were fearful, timid men, the evangelist makes clear; he did not reject the fact or try to hide their weaknesses. Indeed he turned these into a proof of the truth. What did he say of them? That when Christ was arrested, the others fled, despite all the miracles they had seen, while he who was leader of the others denied him!

How then account for the fact that these men, who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world once Christ was dead – if, as you claim, Christ did not rise and speak to them and rouse their courage? Did they perhaps say to themselves: “What is this? He could not save himself but he will protect us? He did not help himself when he was alive, but now that he is dead he will extend a helping hand to us? In his lifetime he brought no nation under his banner, but by uttering his name we will win over the whole world?” Would it not be wholly irrational even to think such thoughts, much less to act upon them?

It is evident, then, that if they had not seen him risen and had proof of his power, they would not have risked so much.

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Three Common Catholic Confusions

September 10, 2013

What Does “A.D.” Mean?

A.D. does not stand for “After Death” but rather the Latin phrase “Anno Domini,” or “In the Year of the Lord.” Since Jesus is born as the King of Kings we count time according to the year of his reign.

Who is the Immaculate Conception?

Although Jesus was sinlessly and miraculously conceived within the womb of the Virgin Mary, the December 8th Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates Mary’s conception as one entirely free from the stain of Original Sin. Mary’s birthday is traditionally celebrated 9 months later on September 8th.

Can Divorcees Receive Communion?

Many Catholics believe that simply getting divorced bars one from the sacraments. The precise teaching is that those who divorce and then live as husband and wife with another person without obtaining an annulment of their prior marriage should not present themselves for communion. Legal divorce is not the issue but rather adultery. When marriages fail the Church can investigate whether something essential was missing from the very beginning which prevented the marriage from being an unbreakable sacramental bond. If so, that marriage can be “annulled,” freeing the couple to marry in the Church.

 

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The “In Brief” Catechism On “The Fall” (CCC #413-421)

September 9, 2013

● “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. . . It was through the devil’s envy that death entered the world.” (Wisdom 1:13, 2:24).

●  Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen angels who have freely refused to serve God and his plan. Their choice against God is definitive. They try to associate man in their revolt against God.

●  Although set by God in a state of rectitude man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very start of history. He lifted himself up against God, and sought to attain his goal apart from him.

●  By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings.

●  Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called “original sin.”

●  As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called “concupiscence.”)

●  “We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, “by propagation, not by imitation” and that it is. . . ‘proper to each.'” (Pope Paul VI)

●  The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Romans 5:20).

● Christians believe that the world has been established and kept in being by the Creator’s love; has fallen into slavery to sin but has been set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On “Man” (CCC #380-384)

September 8, 2013

● “Father,. . . you formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures” (Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV).

●  Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God’s Son made man, the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), so that Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters.

●  Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God.

●  “God did not create man a solitary being. From the beginning, “male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) This partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between persons.

●  Revelation makes known to us the state of original holiness and justice of man and woman before sin: from their friendship with God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On “Heaven & Earth” (CCC #350-354)

September 7, 2013

● Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing and who serve his saving plans for other creatures: “The angels work together for the benefit of us all.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)

●  The angels surround Christ their Lord. They serve him especially in the accomplishment of his saving mission to men.

●  The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being.

●  God willed the diversity of his creatures and their own particular goodness, their interdependence and their order. He destined all material creatures for the good of the human race. Man, and through him all creation, is destined for the glory of God.

●  Respect for laws inscribed in creation and the relations which derive from the nature of things is a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On God “The Creator” (CCC #315-324)

September 6, 2013

● In the creation of the world and of man, God gave the first and universal witness to his almighty love and his wisdom, the first proclamation of the plan of his loving goodness, which finds its goal in the new creation in Christ.

●  Though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally a truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one, indivisible principle of creation.

●  God alone created the universe, freely, directly and without any help.

●  No creature has the infinite power necessary to “create” in the proper sense of the word, that is, to produce and give being to that which had in no way possessed it to call into existence “out of nothing.”

●  God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty—this is the glory for which God created them.

●  God created the universe and keeps it in existence by his Word, the Son “upholding the universe by his word of power” (Hebrews 1:3), and by his Creator Spirit, the giver of life.

●  Divine providence consists of the dispositions by which God guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end.

●  Christ invites us to filial trust in the providence of our heavenly Father, and St. Peter the apostle repeats: “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (1st Peter 5:7)

●  Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings God grants the ability to co-operate freely with his plans.

●  The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On God “The Almighty” (CCC #275-278)

September 5, 2013

● With Job, the just man, we confess: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

●  Faithful to the witness of Scripture, the Church often addresses her prayer to the “almighty and eternal God,” believing firmly that “nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

●  God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. “God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness. . .” (Roman Missal, 26th Sunday, Opening Prayer).

●  If we do not believe that God’s love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us and the Holy Spirit sanctify us?

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The “In Brief” Catechism On “The Father” (CCC #261-267)

September 4, 2013

● The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

●  The Incarnation of God’s Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God.

●  The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son and by the Son from the Father, reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. “With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.” (Nicene Creed)

●  “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son.” (St. Augustine)

●  By the grace of Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light.

●  “Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son’s is another, the Holy Spirit’s another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.” (Athanasian Creed)

●  Inseparable in what they are, the divine persons are also inseparable in what they do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On “I Believe In God” (CCC #228-231)

September 3, 2013

● “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD…” (Mark 12:29) The supreme being must be unique, without equal. If God is not one, he is not God.

 

●  Faith in God leads us to turn to him alone as our first origin and our ultimate goal, and neither to prefer anything to him nor to substitute anything for him.

 

●  Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words: “If you understood him, it would not be God.” (St. Augustine)

 

●  The God of our faith has revealed himself as HE WHO IS; and he has made himself known as “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6) God’s very being is Truth and Love.

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The “In Brief” Catechism On Man’s Response to God (CCC #176-184)

September 2, 2013

●  Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words.

●  “To believe” has thus a twofold reference: to the person, and to the truth: to the truth, by trust in the person who bears witness to it.

●  We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

●  Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit.

●  “Believing” is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the human person.

●  “Believing” is an ecclesial act. the Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. the Church is the mother of all believers. “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.” (St. Cyprian)

●  We believe all “that which is contained in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed.” (Pope Paul VI)

●  Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)

●  “Faith is a foretaste of the knowledge that will make us blessed in the life to come.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)

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The “In Brief” Catechism On Sacred Scripture (CCC #134-141)

September 1, 2013

● “All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and that one book is Christ, because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ” (Hugh of St. Victor)

●  The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God.

●  God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth.

●  Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully understood except by the Spirit’s action.

●  The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.

●  The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.

●  The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and his Revelation. the Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.

●  The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord: both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

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The “In Brief” Catechism on the Transmission of Divine Revelation (CCC #96-100)

August 25, 2013

● What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to all generations, until Christ returns in glory.

● Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.

● The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.

● Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.

● The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.

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Falsely Accused

August 21, 2013

In his time, Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunk, a sinner, a madman, a blasphemer, an insurrectionist, a false prophet, & demon-possessed. (And these are just some of the slanders that were included in the Gospels. Imagine what was left out!) Jesus was not surprised by these hostile reactions; he understood human nature well.

In our time, terrible things are constantly said about the Church and her leaders. Remember when Pope Benedict was even accused of being a Nazi? Is there any “controversial” teaching for which the world does not condemn the Church as being hateful, hypocritical, or cruel? We will experience hostility personally as well for standing with Jesus’ Church, but this should not surprise us. The Body of Christ, the Church, will share the experiences of Jesus Christ, our Head.

As Jesus said, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. … If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. …In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

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Important Church Documents Revealed

August 20, 2013


● Encyclicals by the First Catholic Pope:

“Blessed be the God” (ευλογητος ο θεος – Eulogetos o Theos)
“As Everything to Us” (ως παντα ημιν – Hos Panta Amin)


● An Online Archive of Little-Known Documents from the 21st Ecumenical Council.

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