Sacred Scripture Herald

The Catholic Church is Christ's instrument for salvation. He is the Head, and we the living stones, are the body. Christ gave us seven sacraments of grace to sanctify and nourish His body, and every stone is given a part to play in the life of the body. The Church is 2,000 years old but is ever renewing itself.
The next generation to hear the gospel is in the wombs of their mothers as we speak. But it will be the same Holy Spirit that was present at creation, the annunciation, and Pentecost that will be present to guide the teaching of the next generation. St. John Paul said, "Be not afraid." The Church has withstood many heresies in the past, and she is being tested again, but remember Christ's words, "The gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church."

Be transformed to Christ! St. Ignatius of Antioch gives us a great example of being transformed to Christ by the example of his martyrdom.
St. Ignatius' love for Christ and the Eucharist gave him the grace for his sacrifice to be in union with the once for all time sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
St. Ignatius was a Catholic bishop, a successor to the Apostles, and he laid down his life for Christ just as they had. The Eucharist is the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and has the ability to transform us all to the will of God like St. Ignatius.
Not only in martyrdom, but also in corporeal and spiritual works of mercy. The feeding of the poor, tending to the sick, welcoming a stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting prisoners are all things Christ the King demanded as recorded in(Matt 25:31-46).
Through the reception of the Body of Christ, we become Christ
Body, and through the Holy Spirit we receive wisdom and courage.
Through Baptism, we are all called to the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life. Christ gave us the order to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood as recorded in John Chapter 6.
He made His sacrifice starting at the Last Supper, and culminating on the cross forever present in the sacrifice of the Mass. Christ never misses Mass. He hasn't since the first Mass at the Last Supper. In order to perpetuate the sacrifice of Calvary, Christ ordered a new priesthood of the New covenant in His Body and Blood. Christ created the office of Peter to show the unity of one throughout he world of the Church Christ created. Christ gave authority to Peter and Peter's successors alone to provide the Eucharist to the Church Christ founded (John 21:15-21).
The Eucharist is the source of unity for the Church this very second and will always be until He returns in Glory.

In the quest for faith and morals, we need to look to Sacred Scripture. Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. (Mathew 5:48) Jesus said these words to remind us in whose image and likeness we are made. From whatever starting point we deploy, whether Gentile or Jew, Slave or Free, our goal in life is to be perfect as the Father is perfect. Our visible means of attaining this goal is His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ came to dwell among us to show the Father's perfection is possible. He showed mercy and justice. He lived out perfectly the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. He lived out perfectly the Evangelical Councels of poverty, obedience, and chastity. He lived out perfectly what He said about how we would be judged in Matthew 25:31-46. He fed the poor, greeted the stranger, and cured the sick. He lived the Law of Moses. He also gave us the Beatitudes. But in order to live the life of Christ, He gave us the Eucharist. He gave us none other than Himself in the New Covenant of His Body and Blood. Through reception of the most precious Body of our Lord, we receive the grace to live a more perfect life, and even better, an Eternal Life.

From knowledge comes wisdom. Knowledge of God brings wisdom. Sacred scripture is thousands of years old, but the word of God's Truth has not changed. The Church in her wisdom of God in the Liturgy of the Hours, pray the ancient Psalms of David daily. In them you hear Truth that never fades. You hear Truth that is as relevant in the 21st century as it was when it was written. They will still be as relevant 21 centuries from now as they are now. The Psalms are guides on how to shape our lives and on the ways we are to worship and glorify God. The daily recitation of the Psalms keep us firmly rooted in the traditions God has made for us. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever. Amen

The letter of St. Clement to the Corinthians in the late 90's of the first century A.D. is as relevant today as when he wrote it almost 2,000 years ago. St. Clement is the 4th Pope, 3rd in succession to St. Peter. He wrote a letter to the Corinthian Church chastizing them for the laity interfering with the Bishop and Presbyters of the Church in Corinth. He was a companion of St. Paul, and he reminds the Corinthians that Paul already had to deal with them for being unruly, and now Pope Clement is having to do it again. One thing I find striking in the text is the mention of the Sanctus. This is important because he tells about the multitude of people who gather as one to sing the Holy, Holy, Holy. This same multitude gathers today as one body to sing the Holy, Holy, Holy at Mass every day. This multitude is in communion with the 266th successor to Peter. So as time moves on, the Truth of the Catholic Church remains the same. We are to follow our Bishops and Priests and not cause disruption. This is not the command of the Church, it is the command of Christ who told the Apostles, those who obey you obey me, and those who do not obey do not believe in me or the one who sent me. Christ's prayer to the Father was that the world would come to believe through the Apostle's word which comes to us through the Church. So let us strive to be one body, and each do our part to find the Bishop in our diocese. There can be one found all around the world. Listen to him and do the will of Christ.

The Cross of Christ is His seat of power. Christ said when I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. (John 3:14, Numbers 21:7-9) The separation of His Body and Blood, which He prophesied at the synagogue in Capernaum in the Bread of Life Discourses in (John 6:25-77, Mark 14: 12-24, CCC 1365) and again at the Last Supper, was brought to fruition on the Cross at Calvary. The separation of His Body and Blood on the Cross meant that Christ truly died because nobody whose blood is separated from their body lives. He truly died for our sin as the perfect sacrifice, the body of God made man. It is through this same sacrifice we die to sin. We receive the power from the Eucharist, the same Body and Blood that was sacrificed on the Cross. We have faith in Christ and hope in Christ because in the Eucharist, we receive love Himself. The greatest of these is Love, which is Christ. The Father gave us His love in the form of Jesus Christ, His son, so we could participate in the love of the Blessed Trinity. All three Persons participated in the sacrifice at Calvary and consequently at every Mass , so the Truth of the Gospel moves forward daily in the Mass. Christ said it is better that I go so I can send you the Spirit of Truth. (John 16: 7-15) This Holy Spirit makes it possible then for Christ to be present in His Church on every altar everyday throughout the whole world. Christ's power from the Cross is brighter now than ever. Roe v. Wade's reversal also proves this fact.

Blessed be the Mother of God Mary most holy. Though her sinless body came the savior of the world. Hail Mary!

Oh, Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the monstrance for me to see. Hidden from the world for only the faithful to see. An hour with Thee makes the week fly by.
Sacred Heart of Jesus under the species of bread protect me from evil and dread. Save my life through your consecration in Truth, so that we can receive the Truth for eternal life.
Eternal life is not possible without your most Sacred Heart, but you make it available to those who seek it.
The journey to Truth may be short or long, but when you finally get there, you will be in the Heart of Christ!

We read in John chapter 6 that Christ commands us to eat His flesh and to drink His blood. Jesus also stated that He would not raise you on the last day if you didn't follow this command.
The command of Christ to receive the Eucharist is echoed in Catechism of the Catholic Church. Paragraph 1324 in the Catechism states, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It is the source because it is Christ himself. It is the summit because He is God the Son founder and Head of the Church which is His body.
It is through the Christ's Catholic Church that the ordinary means salvation is obtained. Christ gave this mandate to Peter after Jesus's resurrection. Feed and tend the flock was the charge Christ gave Peter. Christ also instituted the seven sacraments so the Church could provide the members of the Body of Christ with all the means of salvation. So come to the Church Christ founded. Happy are those called to the Supper of the Lamb! God Bless!

Have a very holy Christ Mass. The word became flesh and still dwells in among us. Remember Christ is the only person to never miss a Mass.

Mary can never supersede Christ. Many claim that Catholics worship Mary. The truth of the matter is if you don't have a deep relationship with Christ you can never have one with His mother. A relationship with Mary only comes through an absolute faith in Christ as God and what he taught.
A person who doesn't have a relationship with the Blessed Mother probably has an incomplete understanding of Christ. Through the centuries men have sought to substitute the true teachings of Christ given to His apostles and handed down to us today through Christ's Church. They seek to water down the Truth with concepts that require neither a priest or a sacrifice.
The truth is upon leaving the Church Christ founded these men gave up their ability to perform the very act that Christ commanded all the priests in His Church to perform. That act takes place at every Mass, by a priest who is in communion with the Pope the successor of Peter whom Christ gave exclusive authority to feed Christ's sheep in the Church.
This act is called the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where through the words of Christ, and the action of the Holy Spirit, Christ truly becomes present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity on the altar.
When we receive this body and blood we take on the body of Christ thus becoming other Christ's. After we receive the Body and Blood for the first time Christ says to the disciple he loves. Behold your mother.
Mary is our mother through her Blessed Sons sacrifice. He gave us His body and blood at the Last Supper which culminated with His death on the cross.
People who don't have a relationship with Mary also don't believe or understand the importance Christ placed on receiving the true food, and true drink that is His body and blood. They question the ability of God the Holy Spirit to affect the change of simple bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
We have to believe like little children to see Christ truly present on the altar, but little children also need a mother to make the family complete.
That is why the Apostle John didn't receive Mary as a mother until he had first received the body and blood of Christ at the Last Supper. We also don't receive Mary as our mother until we participate in that once for all time sacrifice that John the apostle participated in the first Mass at the last Supper. Love never fails. Christ has been present at every Mass since the Last Supper. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. Thanks Mother Mary for saying yes to God and bringing the Fathers only Son into the world for the salvation of our souls.

We continue the exploration of Sacred Scripture to find the inspiration for meditation in the Rosary. The third Joyful Mystery is the Nativity or The Birth of our Lord. There is an abundance of Sacred Scripture to use for meditation on this subject. Luke 2:1-20 tells us of the trip to Bethlehem, the home of David.
Scripture also teaches us of the humility of Joseph and the Mother of Jesus. There was no room for them in the inn. John 1:11 says Jesus came to what was His own, but His own people did not accept Him. Thus the creator of the universe was born in a cave. There is great symbolism of the Eucharist here. Christ, being the Bread of Life, is born in Bethlehem, which means Beth: House and lehem: bread. So Christ was born in the House of Bread and laid in a manger, which is normally used to feed livestock. But this manger contained the Lamb of God, who would feed all the faithful of the Church.
The only two people who came to see Jesus were the wise and the humble. The three Wise Men, who were astronomers, followed the star and as royalty acknowledged Christ as King of the universe when they knelt before Him and brought the gifts. The shepherds represented the humble among men. They were told by the angels where to find Him, and they went. David, if you remember, was a shepherd himself. I haven't mentioned everything that can be meditated on, but a study of the scripture yourself will undoubtedly bear much fruit. Mary, Pray for us.

The second Joyful Mystery of the most Holy Rosary is the Visitation of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. (Luke 1:39-55) The angel told Mary that Elizabeth, who was barren, was now with child, and that she was in her sixth month of pregnancy. The angel, talking to the soon to be pregnant virgin, said that nothing is impossible with God.
Mary traveled to the house of Zachariah, where after Mary's greeting, Elizabeth declared Mary the mother of her Lord. She said, "How does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me." (Luke 1:43) She acknowledges to the world that Mary is carrying God in her womb because that is what the word Lord means. John the Baptist leaps for joy in his mother's womb in the presence of Jesus. He received the Holy Spirit and leapt for joy just as David did before the Ark of the Covenant. (2 Samuel 6:14)
Mary proceeds to tell Elizabeth all the things Christ had done for her. First, she calls Christ her Savior too. All generations of Christians would call her blessed. She told of the contradiction of the cross, where Christ would put down the mighty and lift up the lowly. Since Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, she carried Christ in her womb, who would give His blood as the New Covenant. She remained in the hill country for 3 months, just as the Old Ark. (2 Samuel 6:11) Mary, pray for us.

The first Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Annunciation. In order to pray the Rosary effectively, we have to be familiar with the subject we are praying. So in order to pray and meditate on the Annunciation, we have to know something about it. It is at this moment when we go to Sacred Scripture for the knowledge.
We find the story of the Annunciation in Luke 1:26 - 38. It tells the story of a virgin who receives the message from an angel, that if she says yes, she is going to become the Mother of God made man. We learn she is without sin because scripture tells us Mary is full of Grace. It also tells us she was a virgin because she knew not a man. The angel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth, who was supposed to be barren, was also with child. So a virgin and a barren woman both become pregnant with child in the same story. That is how this part of the story ends.
All things are possible with God, but great faith is required. Mary is our highest example of the Christian life. She surrendered her whole self to God, a total gift of self. That is what we are all called to do. Mary set the traditional standard for Christians, and it can be found in Sacred Scripture. Mary, pray for us.

Sacred Scripture Herald was started to bring the relationship between Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition into a closer union. It is meant to bring the Traditions and traditions of the Church to light through Sacred Scripture because the one can't stand without the other. Sacred Scripture needs the support of Sacred Tradition, and Sacred Tradition needs the support of Sacred Scripture.
The book we call the Bible is truly a work of the Holy Spirit working through human authors. The Catholic Church's role in the production of the Bible was that of a publisher. Every book needs a publisher, and so did the Bible. It was edited, organized, and packaged by the Church around 400 A.D. St. Jerome played a major role in its release, as well as Saint Augustine. The Bishops of the Church in Sacred Tradition, "The Successors to the Apostles," were the ones who discerned the books after Pope Damasus decreed which books would be included in 382 A.D. The Latin Vulgate was released by the Catholic Church by Pope Innocent. Latin was the common language of the Roman empire so it only made sense that the first Bible be in Latin, the common language of the time.

Jesus Christ became man to atone for the sin of Adam. (Romans 5:12-21) Jesus Christ took on flesh in order to offer His sinless body to God as a suitable sacrifice. (Hebrews 10:1-10) Matthew 1:1 starts with the human generation of Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Both of them are mentioned because Christ fulfills a promise God gave to each of them.
Abraham was a priest and a prophet and was given the promise of being the father of many more numerous than the stars. (Genesis 22:1-18) David, who was a prophet and a king but not a priest, had his promise fulfilled. God promised David that someone from his line would be a king, and that kingdom will never end. (2 Samuel 7:1-17)
The Church fathers make reference to the verse talking about the generation of Christ so that comparisons can be made between the generation of old Adam in Genesis and the generation of the new Adam, which is Christ. The list of genealogy in Luke lists Adam as also the Son of God. So Christ coming in the flesh is for the redemption of our sins.
We acquired our sinful nature from our first parents. Original sin is hereditary and except Christ and the Blessed Mother who were born full of grace without the stain of sin. The tendency for us to fall back into sin even after Baptism is called concupiscence, which stays with us even though we are forgiven. It is a life long affliction of our body. (Romans 7:23-25) That is why we need the Blood of Christ to be redeemed from the old Adam. (Hebrews 10:19-39)

Jesus is the center of the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, just as He is the center of Sacred Scripture. Both Sacred Scripture and the Rosary bring light about the life of Christ. Mary, the mother of Christ, is a central figure in Christianity. Christ took His humanity from Mary. Unlike any other person born of a woman, Jesus did not have a human father.
In Genesis 3:15, called the Protoevangelium, God tells the devil that He will put enmity between His seed and the woman's seed. The only woman ever to have a child withouot a human father is Mary, and that child can be none other than Jesus. Christ came in the flesh through Mary and the most Holy Rosary, which is about Jesus. The Rosary also came to Saint Dominic through Mary.
The Rosary is steeped in Sacred Scripture. The Rosary in turn hinges on the person saying it having a deep understanding of Sacred Scripture. The more knowledge you have of Sacred Scripture, the more efficacious the Rosary becomes. The Rosary depends entirely on a deep understanding of Sacred Scripture contrary to what many people believe.
The Hail Mary Prayer itself is derived from Luke 1:26-45. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. The Rosary is all about Jesus.

When we look to Sacred Scripture, what do we see, a collection of books? Yes, the word Bible does mean exactly that. The collection of Sacred Scripture was given that name in the early fifth century. The Bible is a collection of books from the Old and New Testaments of Sacred Scripture. But as we have discussed before, what makes one old and one new? What makes one part of the Bible old and the other new, has nothing to do with the book itself. It has to do with the person the old prophesied, and the life the new made record of, Jesus Christ.
There are 73 books, but just one Word, Jesus, the Fathers only Word. (John 1:14) He gave us His Flesh and Blood as the new and eternal covenant. (Luke 22:20)(Hebrews 13:20) That is what divides the New from the Old, the coming of the second person of the Trinity in the Flesh. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. He opened the gates of Heaven to mankind who cannot be redeemed without Christ. The Old Testament told of His coming in prophecy, and the New records the fulfillment of God's plan. So when you look to scripture, Jesus is who you should see.

Sacred Scripture is the soul of Theology. Sacred Scripture is the point of reference for Sacred Tradition. Sacred Scripture is about a person, that person is Jesus Christ. From the beginning of Genesis to the last line in Revelation, Jesus is the center of the literature. To understand one book, you must understand them all. In order to study the new, you must know the old.
If your Theology does not conform to Sacred Scripture and forces you to abandon books or cause critical criticism, maybe your Theology needs more study of Sacred Scripture. Sacred Scripture is the inerrant word of God. It has stood the test of time. Objective truth is a sign of supernatural origin. What applies to us today is so universal that we don't consider it applied to the inhabitants of Rome almost 20 centuries ago or to the people of South America and Asia long before we in the U.S. became a country. Sacred Scripture is what we swear oaths on. It is not a product of man-made origin, but many man-made organizations use it to compel honesty and loyalty, whether on a witness stand or an initiation. Yet, these very entities that use it didn't produce it nor could they.
The source of Sacred Scripture is the same as creation itself. Christ Himself said of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, He will guide you to all Truth. Christ said the Holy Spirit will take from what is Christ's and give it to you. (John 16:12-15) The Bible or Sacred Scripture is a source of the Truth of Christ.