How do Catholics observe the Lord’s Day?
They should sanctify Sunday by assisting at Mass, by prayer, and by abstaining from unnecessary servile works.
Christian Living
119 articles from the existing collection.
The Lord’s Prayer shows that God Himself hears our prayers.
Correct. And He hears the prayers we address to the Saints, and their prayers also on our behalf. And those prayers, added to our own, give us additional claims to be heard by God in a favorable way.
Is there any Scripture warrant for fasting?
Yes. When the Pharisees complained to Christ that His disciples did not fast, He replied that they did not whilst He was with them, but that they would when He had gone from them. Mk. II., 18. Now the Catholic Church, ordered by Christ to teach all nations whatsoever Christ had said to her, tells us that at certain times we must…
Who said that every man will go to hell if he eats meat on Friday?
No one. The Catholic Church says that it is a mortal sin for a Catholic to eat meat on Friday knowingly and wilfully, without a sufficiently grave and excusing reason. Then that Church says that if a man dies in unrepented mortal sin, he will go to hell.
You urge these privileges granted to Mary as the foundation of your devotion to her, yet Christ said, “Rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”
Would you presume to say that Mary, whom the angel addressed as full of grace, did not hear the Word of God and keep it? You have missed the sense of the passage to which you allude. In Luke XI, 27, a woman praised the one who had the honor to be the mother of Christ. Christ did not for a moment deny it, as you would like to bel…
Christ did not institute marriage. It existed long before His advent to this world.
Prior to Christ it existed as a matrimonial contract, but Christ elevated it to the dignity of a Sacrament of the New Law. Christ therefore instituted matrimony as a Sacrament. He blessed marriage by His presence at Cana, and declared its indissolubility when He said, “What God has joined, let not man put asunder.” Henceforth, w…
What is your Romish reply to the challenge of Art. XXII. in the Book of Common Prayer?
That Article of the Church of England says that the Romish doctrine of purgatory is grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but is rather repugnant to the Word of God. The reply is that the Article is quite erroneous, and that many Anglicans realize the fact. Thus an Anglican clergyman unsays that Article definitely in his book …
You claim to legislate in purely spiritual things, yet order fast and abstinence on certain days. There is nothing spiritual in forbidding people to eat meat.
I have never said that the Church legislates only in spiritual matters. Men are not purely spiritual beings, and in our composite nature, spiritual legislation must in some way affect our material being. The laws of the Church cover material things in so far as they affect our spiritual welfare. There is nothing spiritual about …
Rave not political intrigues sapped the Catholic Church of all spirituality and holiness?
No. Some Catholic individuals have lost their own spirituality through political ambition, but this does not affect the Church. Christ promised that His Church would never go wrong, not that individuals in the Church would never go wrong. You cannot argue from bad fish in a net to the rottenness of the net. A very good net can h…
There is no need to talk of future balancing of the scales. Virtue is its own reward in this life, even as the wicked endure remorse.
That will not do. Consciousness of virtue is not much good to a man about to be wrongfully hanged and who cannot live to enjoy it. Nor does vice always bring proportionate remorse. Many are too hardened to experience deep remorse. There will be a levelling-up some day, after this life, and by God.
The Catholic Church is described in I Tim. IV., 1-3. In the latter times some shall depart from the faith—teaching doctrines of devils-speaking lies in hypocrisy-—forbidding to marry—commanding to abstain from meats. Where is her infallibility?
I am afraid this is a case of mistaken identity. The Catholic Church is not involved in this description. All through the ages men have departed from the faith in departing from the Catholic Church. Thus in the 16th century the Protestants departed from the original faith, and have been departing from each other ever since, goin…
How would he win people if he did not mix a few good works with his errors?
He mixes no good works with his errors. He permits some good to continue side by side with the evil he inspires. And that is the secret of the continued existence of Protestantism. It speaks much of belief in Christ, of broadminded tolerance, of being good to one’s fellow men, of owing no man anything. But it shuts its eyes to S…
Homage of our reason! Blind unreasoning obedience would be a better phrase.
It is wideawake reasonable obedience. Instead of being blind, a man must know that God has spoken. He must prove this by examining the evidence. Once he knows that God has spoken, reason demands the obedient acceptance of God’s teaching, even though it be as mysterious as radium, instead of pitting fallible human guesswork again…
Does not God forbid gambling of any kind?
Nowhere does the law of God forbid gambling, provided no fraud, deceit, or injustice enters into it. If all is conducted fairly, and an investor keeps within his means, a man is free to purchase a proportionate chance of winning a bet or a lottery without offending God’s laws in any way. But if a law of the state forbids gamblin…
Why not preach charity, instead of speaking always with self-satisfaction of your “only right dogmas”?
With so many conflicting Churches in existence, it is a vital matter to find the truth. If the Catholic Church were self-satisfied, she would be content to have the truth herself and not bother about those without it. As for charity, it is better to exercise charity than talk about it, and there can be no greater charity than to…
It is dishonest to wish to get $5,000 for $1 in a lottery.
If it be dishonest to invest $1 in order to secure a chance of winning $5,000, which may or may not be obtained, then it is equally dishonest to invest one’s railway fare in order to secure a chance of discovering a possible nugget of gold, which may or may not exist, on some distant gold field. Every investment on the Stock Exc…
Holiness demands humility, and thai forbids such arrogance as the Pope’s claim to be the Vice-regent of God.
The Pope’s claim is not arrogant, even as Gladstone’s claim was not arrogant The Pope merely claims to be the occupant of a constitutional office established and endowed with certain privileges by Christ.
Has not the Church always hindered the progress of science by her moral prohibitions?
No. The Catholic Church has ever conserved knowledge and encouraged true science. Her doctrine is that Catholic truth is of God, and that scientific truth is also of God. There cannot be a conflict therefore between Catholic truth rightly understood and demonstrated scientific truths. But the scientific truth must be demonstrate…
Does not Christian Science rely upon prayer through belief in Christ’s words, “Whatever you ask in My name, it shall be granted”?
I am afraid that it requires more belief in Mrs. Eddy than in Christ It relies also far more upon auto-suggestion and self-persuasion than upon prayer. After all, favors must be asked in the Name of Christ, and therefore in conformity with the Will of God. But God expects us to use the natural means He has put at our disposal. H…
Can you call a man a Christian who hoards up useless cash whilst another man starves?
No. And the Catholic Church says that a man who has superfluous goods, knows that some given man is starving, and lets him starve, commits a mortal sin in God’s sight, the fruit of which will be hell for all eternity, unless he receives a singular grace of repentance for such evil conduct before he dies.
There is no evidence of the holiness of your Church in the lives of the Catholic people. Catholics do not practice what they preach.
You may know of some individual Catholics who do not. Unfortunately, so do I. But would you say that all Englishmen are dishonest because you know of some individual dishonest Englishmen? Be sure that a Catholic can be evil only by breaking the laws of his Church, and you cannot blame the Church for the conduct of members who ca…
But your Church scatters curses, interdicts, and excommunications! Where is “Love your enemies” in this?
The Church condemns evil doctrine, and says that her condemnation falls upon such as knowingly and deliberately identify themselves with the condemned doctrine. The gentle Christ said, “If a man will not hear the Church, let him be as the heathen.” St. Paul says, “If any man preach any other doctrine, let him be accursed.” Gal. …
The Bible says that Anti-Christ will bid men abstain from meats. 1 Tim. IV., 3.
The reference is to men who teach that meat is evil in itself and who declare that it is wicked to eat it under any circumstances. But Catholics do not believe or teach this. Almost any butcher will tell you that he supplies many Catholic customers regularly with meat.