Biblical Proof of Purgatory

To the untrained reader of Scriptures, rejecting the doctrine of Purgatory is the easiest thing to do.  However, in the 16^th century in response to the Protestant rebellion against the Church, the Council of Trent has infallibly declared that “there is a purgatory” (Sess. VI, cap. XXX; Sess. XXII cap.ii, iii), which makes this doctrine an article of faith that cannot be denied, altered or revoked. This, of course, does not mean that those of us who are seeking to understand the doctrine and further investigating its veracity are automatically excommunicated and must not partake of the Eucharist. Rather, it means that we must fervently seek and exhaust all possible venues from whence we might ascertain the truth.  After having done all that, when possibilities diverge each according to personal interpretation of Scriptures, we must then yield to the Magiesterium (the Pope in communion with the rest of the bishops around the world) whose authority far surpasses any one single person who feels his personal interpretation is any better than anyone else’s version.

Keeping this mind, let us look at the doctrine in the Scriptures and what basis it has in the Deposit of Faith that is handed down to us by the Apostles. 

1-God is Fire

The nature of God is fire. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews instructs us to “worship” the Lord in “reverence” and “awe” because “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). This is a direct quote from the Book of Deuteronomy when Moses was exhorting the Israelites to obey the Lord, again, because “the Lord God is a consuming Fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24).  The same imagery is also used to describe Our Lord Jesus being a Just and Righteous Judge of mankind.  St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that “Our Lord Jesus” will be “revealed from heaven in blazing fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:7). Also, Our Lord says, “I’ve come to bring fire on earth” (Luke 12:49). These are only a few of endless Scriptural indications where God is portrayed as fire.  There are many other passages that clearly indicate the nature of God being fire including His appearance to Moses in the bush among many others.  

2-The Effect of this Fire

On this earth, there are two extremes, two polar ends of a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, there are those who are so holy and docile to the Holy Spirit that they have conformed their own will to that of God to an extent that they are constantly rejoicing in His presence. This state is what we know as Heaven. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who are so depraved of any light and truth that they have completely rejected God in their lives, a condition which we know as Hell.  Most of us are somewhere in between these two extremes, travelling on a journey whose end is Christ the Saviour. At times, when we falter (and which one of us does not falter?), we resort to the Sacraments to rise up again and “fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12). We are repentant yet still bearing weaknesses, God-loving yet still contending against sin.  We are still being cleansed, purged, and purified. This is the condition that we label as Purgatory, a state of being whereby a human soul is still being purified and undergoing a process of purgation from any self-love remaining and any temporal effects of sins already committed to render God’s fire as a complete source of joy and splendour rather than punitive flames that devour the wicked. The Divine fire has a threefold effect on mankind. Depending on where it fits between the two extremes, the human soul will react differently to God’s presence.  God’s threefold effect on human souls is as follows:

i.    Divine Fire Makes the Holy Saints Shine.

God is a constant and steady source of joy for those who have reached a high level of holiness by practicing the Sacraments faithfully. The Divine fire makes these holy ones shine. “The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:41-42).  Take special note of how the “sun,” the “moon,” and each of the “stars” shine differently. They are not all the same. Some shine more glowingly than others. The “sun” shines more than the “stars.” While some “stars” shine more brilliantly than others. Each saint shines at a different level, depending on the soul’s level of holiness. This is indeed Heaven, rejoicing in God constantly and at all times. The danger is to think that it is only in the afterlife, after the resurrection, that we can rejoice in God. This is not true at all. Heaven begins here on earth for the “Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). God’s fire makes the holy saints shine in splendour.

ii.   The Divine Fire Torments the Unrepentant Sinners.

To the unrepentant sinner, God is a torment. “At the time of your appearing you will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the Lord will swallow them up and his fire will consume them” (Psalms 21:8-9). This, of course, is nothing other than Hell. God’s burning fire is hell for those who refuse to repent and re-orient their lives according to God. "For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," (Malachi 4:1).  Suffice it to say, that for those who are stubborn and whose heart has hardened, God is definitely not a source of joy, but rather He is a font of wrath and judgment.

iii.  The Divine Fire Purifies the Repentant Sinner.

God, in His endless love and mercy understands our weaknesses.  While his desire is that “all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), it is still written that “nothing unclean will enter heaven” (Revelations 21:27). This concept is not an alien one to the Scriptures, “I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities (Isaiah 1:25). “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire…He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver (Malachi 3:2,3).  God’s fiery blazes purify those who have repented while making every possible attempt not to fall into sin. The adjectives used to describe God are “refiner” and “purifier,” someone who affects a transformation on a dirty object to make it cleaner, purer and more wholesome.  The biggest objection one may raise is that this process of purgation only lasts for as long as we are alive on this earth.  This is partly true because there are some of us who undergo enough purification on this earth that we no longer need to go through Purgatory.  Canonized Saints are among these people. The suffering and pain these Saints go through purges them of any self-love and further satisfies the temporal effect of sins committed prior to their conversion. However, for the majority of us who practice the Sacraments faithfully and resort to Confession every time we fall into Mortal Sin with the honest resolve of not repeating our mistakes again, we end up going through this afterlife purgation.  Further reference is made by St. Paul:

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.  (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

Our works will be judged after death. They will be “revealed” or tested “by fire.” Some works will be “burned up,” while the person will still be “saved.”  The original Greek word for “only as” is ‘houtos,’ which means ‘just as’ or ‘in the same manner as’. The comparison in the simile is between a man who will “suffer loss” yet still be “saved” and a man who goes “through flames.” The common ground these two men share is that they both go through fire. This state cannot be heaven, since there will be no “mourning and pain” in heaven (Revelation 21:4); nor can this state be hell since no man in hell can be saved. This can only refer to a purgative state that a man goes through after death where there will be an expiation of some sins (Venial Sins).

Some objections are constantly being touted and paraded almost in every non-Catholic circle about this doctrine. The truth is that Christians have held this doctrine since the Apostolic years; this doctrine was also known in the Jewish faith previously. The historical testimonies are endless, but we will limit ourselves to three quotes from the earliest centuries of Christianity.

"And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again receives her. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: Mother, thou shaft have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she may pray concerning me, and that I may be transferred to the place of the just." Acts of Paul and Thecla (A.D. 160).

"Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, viz., to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more--not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions. The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God's righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of the completion of the expiation and purification of each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness." Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 6:14 (post A.D. 202).

"During the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man's death and the final resurrection, the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on earth." Augustine, Enchiridion, 1099 (A.D. 421).

Note the geographical territories to which each of these works attests. Acts of Paul and Thecla is known to have originated in Asia Minor. St. Clement of Alexandria gives an Alexandrian testimony, while St. Augustine offers a western witness to the doctrine of Purgatory. Also, note how there is always an emphasis on prayers for the dead. In fact, the Scriptures give us an account of Judas, a Jewish warrior, who offered sacrifice for the “sins of those who were slain” (2 Maccabbees 12:43). Then, it is written, “It is holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sin” (2 Maccabbees 12:46).  Why is there prayer being offered for the dead? If there is no Purgatory, but only heaven and hell exist, then praying for the dead would be useless. If the soul is in Hell, then there is no prayer in the world that can bring it out of there. If the soul is in Heaven, it does not need our prayers. Only souls in Purgatory can make use of our prayers.

Common Objections and Myths

1-Purgatory is a place between Heaven and Hell.

Purgatory is not a place that is a little less tormenting than Hell, nor is it a place a little less joyous than Heaven.  It is a state of being. Those who reach this state are already saved. They need further cleansing of the temporal effects of their sins to see the holy face of God. As for the time spent in this state, it is unknown how time is defined in the afterlife. We have a linear conception of time. However, souls that have departed this life do not know time as seconds, minutes or hours. The cleansing will continue until the soul is completely purged of the effects of sin it had committed during its lifetime. 

2-Purgatory contradicts God’s justice.

Some complain that since God’s justice was fulfilled by Christ’s blood when it was shed for us, there is no need for further cleansing in the afterlife. If this complaint had any value, why does God punish David even after He forgave him? Sin is a chain reaction that affects everything around it, including the sinner. It has a temporal effect on human soul, which must be undone for the soul to see the face of God. After David commits murder and adultery, Prophet Nathan informs David of God’s plan to punish him for his misdeed. David repents and confesses his sin, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replies, “the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die” (2 Samuel 12:13, 14).  Although David repents, he is still suffers the consequences of his sins. In this passage, it is clear that there is a temporal effect of sin even after the sinner repents and offers sacrifice, which refers to Christ.  It is this effect of sin on our soul that must be purged and cleansed.  Christ’s blood is lacking when it comes to the effects of sin. The Bible says so, “I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s affliction” (Colossians 1:24). God punishing David even after a sacrifice is offered to appease God’s justice shows that it is part of God’s justice to further purify the sinner before entering Heaven. The idea of Purgatory is not contradicting to God’s justice. Rather, it is part of his loving plan to complete our salvation through purification of fire.

3-If Purgatory Exists, then I’ll Just Continue Sinning

On the contrary, the existence of Purgatory is a further incentive for us to live a holier life. Catechism teaches that it is only those souls who “die in God’s grace and friendship” will make it to Purgatory (CCC 1030). This means that a person cannot be living in Mortal Sin. If a Mortal Sin is committed, then we must repent and have recourse to the Sacrament of Confession.

4-What About the Thief on the Right Side?

Our Lord says to the thief who repents on the cross, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  A common misconception with this verse is that Christ transfers this man to Heaven immediately after his death.  This is not true because Our Lord was resurrected on the third day, and the gates of heaven were not open prior to the resurrection. The word “today” does not mean a time span of 24 hours. It refers to an unknown period of time since “with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8). While the thief is saved immediately after Christ pronounces his words, he will enter heaven, “today” does not mean that he will forego Purgatory.

Finally, as the Scriptures say, “it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.” It is important that we always remember our loved ones who have passed on with constant and fervent prayers, knowing that one day, we too will need prayers even after our journey in this earth is expired.

What do you do if you are young, pretty, and intelligent? You consecrate your life to Jesus!

That is certainly what this young lady has done.  Mary Anne Marks is a graduate from Harvard.  She finished her undergrad in English and Latin Literature. She was chosen to give the Latin Salutary at the 2010 Harvard Ceremony (video below). After graduating from Harvard, she joined the Ann Arbor Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, the “Oprah Sisters.”  Currently, she is going into her second year of novitiate. The Ann Arbor Dominican order is growing massively due to its observance of orthodox Catholic teaching.  In fact, this seems to be the pattern of recent times whereby young people are seeking religious communities that are faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium. (You can watch a full interview with Mary Anne here).

During the past few decades, there has been a great confusion around Catholic and non-Catholic circles alike, about the importance and degree of honour attributed to the Consecrated life.  Many people believe that marriage is the only rational and realistic choice in life. This is definitely not true.  Since the time of the Apostles, there have always been people who have devoted their lives to Christ, starting with the Apostle of the Gentiles who openly declared, “I wish that all men were even as I am” and “to the unmarried and the widows: it is good for them to remain [unmarried] as I am” (1 Corinthian 7:7,8).  Of course, this calling is not for everyone.  Those who “cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn in passion” (1 Corinthians 7:9).  “He who marries does well, and he who does not marry does better” (1 Corinthians 7:38).  

Biblical Proof of Mary’s Immaculate Conception II

As promised in my previous post, this blog entry is dedicated to offer further Biblical evidence of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception.

Previously, it was made clear from the typology that exists between Eve and Mary that the latter was the Second Eve, whom God protected from the stain of Original Sin.  Another typology in the Bible that cannot be ignored is the Ark of the Covenant foreshadowing the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The chest-like object in the OT was made of incorruptible acacia wood that was covered with pure gold.  The spiritual meaning of these two elements when the Ark is seen as a reference to Mary is that Mary is also incorruptible.  She is empty of any sin that would render her corrupt.  Now, let us look at the evidence from the Scriptures.

The Ark of the Old Covenant contained the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written (Exodus 25:16). The Ten Commandments are the word of God.  Likewise, Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant contained the “Son of God,” the “Word made flesh” inside her womb (Luke 1:35, John 1:14).  The Ark of the Old Covenant had the Rod of Aaron, which represents priesthood (Hebrews 9:4); Mary bore inside her womb “Jesus our great High Priest” (Hebrews 4:14).  “Inside the Ark, was a golden jar containing manna,” which the Israelites in the OT “ate” and yet they “died” (Hebrews 9:4; John 6:58)).  The Blessed Virgin carried inside her womb the “true bread from heaven” on which whoever feeds “will live forever” (John 6:32,58).  

If all this is not enough for my reader to be convinced that God intended the Ark of Covenant to foreshadow the person of Mary, let us delve deeper into Scriptures and see what the word of God tells us.  Using plain language commonly known to OT writers, Luke indicates the significance of the Ark in the OT by comparing it to Mary during the Annunciation and the Visitation.

In the OT, the Ark represented the physical presence of God among the Israelites.  When it was brought into the “tabernacle,” it became “overshadowed” by the Spirit of the Lord and “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:21, 34).  The same word is used to describe the Spirit’s presence over Mary when Gabriel gave her the good news, “The power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35).  Immediately after the Annunciation, Mary takes a trip that is reminiscent of another trip taken by the Ark in the OT.  King David wanted to transport the Ark to Jerusalem, a city in Judea.  He brought “the Ark of God” to “the house of Obed-Edom, which was on the hill” country of Judea (2 Samuel 6:2,3).  In like manner, Mary “arose and went into the hill country, to a city in Judah” (Luke 1:39).  The house of Obed-Edom was “blessed” by the presence of the Ark (2 Samuel 6:11).  The word “blessed” is used three times in reference to Mary being in Elizabeth’s house (Luke 1:39-45).  David “danced with all his might” in front of the Ark while he “was wearing a linen ephod,” a priestly garment (2 Samuel 6:14). John the Baptist, a priest’s son, who himself was destined to be a priest, “leaped” with joy in Elizabeth’s “womb” at the presence of Mary (Luke 1:41).  David and his company greeted the Ark with loud “shouts of joy” (2 Samuel 6:15).  Elizabeth also “shouted with a loud voice and said to Mary, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb’” (Luke 1:42).  David said, “how is it the Ark of the Lord should come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9).  Elizabeth asks the same question about Mary, “How is it the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).  The Ark of the Lord “remained for three months in the house of Obed-Edom” (2 Samuel 6:11).  Conversely, Mary “remained” in the house of Elizabeth “for three months” (Luke 1:56).  After “three months,” the Ark was brought into Jerusalem to its resting place in the Temple where the “glory of God filled the house of the Lord” (2 Samuel 6:12, 1 Kings 8:9-11).  Mary also went back to her house “after three months” and eventually “took Jesus” to the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 1:56, 2:22). 

Finally, our last piece of evidence brings us back to John the Apostle, to whom Mary was entrusted as a “mother” by Our Lord Jesus (John 19:27).  St. John writes in his Book of Revelation “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple” (Revelation 11:19).  This is the last verse in chapter 11. In the next verse, he writes “Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1).   Keep in mind that the chapter divisions were only introduced during the medieval times.  Prior to that, the chapters were one big chunk of text, unbroken and undivided, pronouncing more clearly the relation between the Ark and the woman.  They are one.  The “Ark” of the New Covenant is the “Woman” who appears in heaven.  Later on in the chapter, this “woman” gives birth to a “son, a male child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Revelation 12:5).  Who would this child be other than the “seed” of the “woman,” which was destined to “crush” the “head” of the Serpent? (Genesis 3:15).  If this child is none other than Jesus, then the “woman” is none other than “the mother of Jesus” Our Holy Mother Mary (John 2:3).

No serious reader of the Bible can deny these truths that are inspired by the Holy Spirit.  No serious scholar of the Scriptures can deny the clear indications that demonstrate the undeniable similarities between the Ark of the Old Covenant and Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant.  This brings us to a conclusion, which if denied, can be a great stumbling block in our path for salvation.  The same reverence and veneration that were offered to the Ark of the Old Covenant must likewise be also given to the Ark of the New Covenant.  In fact, when Uzza touched the Ark of the Old Covenant undeservingly, the Lord “struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:7).  What would happen if anyone disrespects our Holy Mother in any way?  What would happen if anyone attributes any sinfulness to her?  Those who do, stand on a very dangerous ground.  Finally, if God wanted to create a woman and protect her from the stain of original sin, would it be possible for Him?  Could He do it if He wanted to?  The answer is of course He can. God can do anything He wants, including designing a woman from scratch who will bear His Son in her womb.  Those who deny Mary’s Immaculate Conception are denying God’s power and majesty.  May our Holy Mother shower us with her maternal love and bring us closer to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Biblical Proof of Mary’s Immaculate Conception I

The doctrine of Immaculate Conception in the Catholic faith states that God preserved Mary from the stain of original sin from the moment of her conception.  The Blessed Virgin was born without a sin according to God’s will.  God the Father handed this gift to her, so that she may fulfill her role as the “Mother of the Lord” in the plan of salvation (Luke 1:43).  Like many other foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, such as Trinity, there is no one verse in the Bible that states the doctrine of Immaculate Conception.  Instead, an in-depth analysis of certain Biblical passages is required for a reader to discern this truth from the Sacred Scriptures.

It is important that we understand typology in the Bible before we say anything about Mary.  Typology is when a person, an object or an action in the Old Testament refers to a person, an object, or an action in the New Testament. The Bible is full of those. Lord Jesus says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mathew 12:40).  In this passage, Our Lord is teaching us how to read the Scriptures, by identifying types in the OT with figures in the NT.  In this case, Jonah is a type of Jesus, and the three days inside the whale correspond to the three days Our Lord’s body remained inside the grave.  Adam in the OT is another type of Jesus. St. Paul says, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come [Jesus].” So, Jesus is the New Adam, the Adam of the New Testament.

The fact that a New Adam exists means that God is recreating the human race after its miserable fall. We turn to St. John’s Gospel to see the evidence for this. St. John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Note the similarity between this verse and Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1 repeatedly uses the words, “there was night and there was morn, and the --- day” to denote the passage of time (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). In his creation account, St. John does something very similar. He uses the words, “the next day” successively to denote the passage of time (John 1:29, 35, 43).  In Genesis, the seventh day was a day of rest, a feast day. Likewise, in John’s gospel, there is a feast, a wedding taking place in Cana (John says this took place “on the third day,” after the first four days that had passed according to John 1:29, 35, 43).  All this is to say that in John’s gospel, there is another creation story where God is recreating the universe. However, there is a contrast between the two creation stories. In the first creation account, everything is physical, including human beings’ birth, “Eve became the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).  In the second creation story, the birth is not a physical one, but a spiritual one: “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again” of “SPIRIT and water” (John 3:3, 5).  In Genesis, mankind’s habitat is earth, a physical environment.  In John’s gospel, the kingdom of God is a spiritual realm: “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).  In Genesis, the first man to be created was Adam. In John’s Gospel, the first man to be “begotten” is Jesus (John 3:16).  If there is a first Adam and a first Eve in Genesis; and we have our New Adam in the NT, then where is the second Eve, the New Eve who will, along with our New Adam, Lord Jesus, usher in the new creation that is taking place in the NT?

The New Eve appears at the wedding of Cana on the seventh day in the same way the First Eve appeared on the seventh day in Genesis 2.  Note that the Blessed Virgin appears next to Jesus in wedding at Cana in a similar manner as Eve appeared next to Adam in the Garden of Eden.  There are some differences.  Eve eats from the forbidden fruit and thereby dooming mankind through her disobedience.  Mary, on the other hand, in a complete act of obedience, surrenders her will to God so that mankind can be saved: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  Eve encourages Adam to eat of the fruit and bring death into the world; “Jesus’ mother” encourages him to perform his “first miracle,” thereby beginning his life-giving mission of salvation (John 2:3, 11). Eve encourages God’s servant, Adam to disobey God; Mary encourages “the servants” to obey God and “do as he says” (John 2:5).  Eve was standing with Adam next to the Tree of Knowledge; Mary “stood” next to Jesus under the wood of the cross, which is also called a “tree” (John 19:25; Acts 5:30). Eve cooperated with Adam to bring “death into the world” (Romans 5:12); Mary cooperated with the Lord to “give life” (John 10:10). Eve was the physical mother of all humanity, “the mother of all living”; Mary is the spiritual mother of all “her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 12:17). Eve was called a “woman” prior to her disobedience (Genesis 2:23); Jesus calls Mary “woman” throughout the gospel of John, beginning with Christ’s mission until its end when he was hung on the cross (John 2:4; 19:26). We must pause here for a second.

This point particularly has a great deal of significance for a proper understanding of the Scriptures.  When Our Lord calls his mother “Woman,” his intention was not to disrespect or rebuke her; otherwise, he would be guilty of breaking the fourth commandment, “Thou Shall Honour your Father and Mother” (Exodus 20:12). Our Lord’s intention was to reveal to mankind that she is the New Woman, the New Eve, the “woman” who was also prophesied about in Genesis 3:15 when God said to the Serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the WOMAN, between your seed and her seed; He will crush your head and you will bruise his heal.” Also note that Eve’s name does not change from “woman” to “Eve” until she committed her first sinful act of disobedience (Genesis 3:20).  The Blessed Virgin on the other hand, manages to retain the title of “Woman” from the beginning of the gospel all the way to its end, signifying that she did not commit any act of disobedience, not even once.  Prior to her fall, while she was called “woman,” God created Eve without a sin; by keeping the title of Woman throughout the gospel, God is telling humanity that the New Eve is also created without a blemish or stain of sin.  The first woman of the “old” creation in the OT was created without original sin; likewise, the first woman of the “new creation” in the NT, Mary, is also without original sin (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The imagery of a woman alongside a man, both working together to accomplish a single mission is a recurring theme that runs throughout the Bible.  We will look further into this when I discuss Mariology in other posts.  For the time being, it is sufficient to demonstrate the similarities between Eve in the OT before falling into sin and Mary in the NT.  Any serious Biblical student must acknowledge these truths that are unequivocally revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Sacred Scriptures.  This completes the first part of the twofold scriptural proof of Mary’s Immaculate Conception.  In my next post, I will show another typology in the Bible where the Ark of the Covenant is a clear foreshadowing of the Blessed Virgin.  May Our Holy Mother, the New Eve, intercede on our behalf in front of the King to help us feel her motherly love and protection and bring us closer to Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ. 

On Babies and Tampons

Retail sales have sunk to a new low in the United Kingdom. I imagine storeowners are rushing to put together an advertisement campaign to boost the consumers’ confidence and encourage them to spend their money.  Campaigners in the U.K. are doing just that, except their target demographics are not just any consumers.  They are targeting females with impregnated wombs. 

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK has given the green light for private abortion providers to air television advertisements and promote their services.  I would like to understand this situation a little better, as I imagine my esteemed reader would like as well.  The best way to go about analyzing this development would be through a Comparison.  Hearken back, gentle reader, to your grade 9 English lessons on Comparisons.  To compare two objects or concepts with each other means to find the similarities they share with one another. Here, the two objects we would like to compare are babies and tampons, more specifically aborted babies and dirty tampons.

Bear with me for a minute.

Now, I ask my reader.  After reading through this comparative chart, are you grossed out? Are you repelled? Are you disgusted, appalled and sickened at my veracious, candid and blunt comparison? Then you should know, that is the magnitude of the debauchery currently taking place in England re the abortion business.  This is the depravity to which life in, Europe in general and UK in particular, has been reduced. 

If you can find any more similarities between these two objects, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

The Utter, Utter Failure of Postmodernism

Almost two weeks have gone by after the riots in Vancouver, city officials, along with provincial administrators are still bewildered with the disturbances that took place in Vancouver city on June 15, after a championship game of hockey ended with the Canucks losing the Stanley Cup to Boston Bruins.   Premier Christy Clark has ordered an investigation, as well as an “independent review,” to analyze the possible causes of this behaviour.  Psychiatrists also weighed in to see the driving force behind the disruptive conduct of the rioters that day. 

Meanwhile, this photo has been floating around the World Wide Web comparing the riots in Vancouver with those in Somalia, Libya and Egypt.  The satirical theme behind this comparison is obvious.  While all four countries witnessed deadly demonstrations, the reasons behind these demonstrations varied drastically.  Somalia, Libya and Egypt were fighting for freedom, while Vancouverites were just plain old silly.

No nation on the face of the planet wakes up one morning and suddenly finds itself looting, stabbing, and setting cars on fire because of a silly hockey game.  This is a result of a wrong turn that was made earlier.  Somewhere down the road, Canadians have lost touch with the meaningful, and instead, chose to attach their lives to the meaningless.  This, in a nutshell, describes the postmodern condition.

For 17 centuries, there existed a large narrative that governed the lives of the majority of today’s highly developed nations.  This narrative was none other than God, as revealed through Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Based on this narrative, people would choose their path in life and make important decisions; based on this narrative, a man would choose the type of woman with whom he would want to spend the rest of his life.  According to the norms set by God, the majority of people in the western nations carried out their daily routines, whether at home, work or on the streets.  The majority of the western populations subscribed to this narrative and surrendered their lives to this unequivocal Truth.

Today, however, this grand narrative known as God, has been replaced with countless small narratives, and instead of God governing our lives, it has become gods who are in charge of us now.  Rather than the foundational Truth that draws the dividing line between right and wrong, anti-foundational truths have taken the helms of our lives, steering us in which ever direction our unbridled desires wish to take us.  These smaller narratives include our area of specialization (our job), or sports; they could also be an illicit sexual relation, or perhaps drinking, smoking cigarettes and even drugs.  Today, some people attach their lives to their area of study or their job so strongly that it becomes the guiding principle and the ultimate arbitrator of right and wrong in their lives; others, find in sports the pleasure that keeps them occupied throughout their day; still others, devote their lives to finding a relationship in which they can be gratified and fulfilled.   All I wrote so far is nothing new.  Jean-Francois Lyotard wrote about it in his essay entitled “The Postmodern Condition.”    

Note that every small narrative mentioned above has to do with the means and not the end, the path but not the destination. So long as the means consist of some temporary pleasure, the end is irrelevant.  Consequently, anything becomes acceptable so long as it produces a transient moment of satisfaction.  This summarizes the utter, utter failure of the postmodern condition, once God goes out the door, everything is permitted.  Even though the effect of this condition has proliferated every aspect of human life in the western world, it will suffice to look at three areas where the detrimental outcome of postmodernism has clearly manifested itself.

1-Family

Due to the removal of the foundational Truth, or the grand narrative labeled above as God, a broader definition has been ascribed to the term ‘family’.  As a result, no one can really understand what this term means anymore.  Is it two human beings who share residence and resources with each other? Or does it consist of a man and a woman, who live together under a state license that grants them the status of ‘marriage’?  Of course, at times the term ‘marriage’ needs a qualifier such as ‘same-sex,’ or ‘gay.’  If the term can be so radically redefined as to include same-sex couples, then why stop there? Why not make this term so inclusive that any group of people, whether it is three men and two women, or five men and one woman, or any number of any of the sexes who live and share resources together also be labeled as ‘family’?  This endless confusion is not a random result of human evolution, nor is it some free libertarianism that attempts to free humanity of its “mind-forged manacles,” to put it in Blakean terms. Instead, it is a direct result of human beings abandoning the source of all order, the grand narrative, the author of all Truth, God.  Redefining family has had a devastating effect on today’s society.  The population of some countries can no longer sustain itself because of the abortive measures employed by the postmodern ‘family.’ Life is no longer a sacred gift, but rather has been reduced to a “choice.” Parental roles are being exchanged in an attempt to paint a false image of equality.  Females are even encouraged to be leaders of the household, and any talk of submission to the husband is immediately dismissed as misogynistic or inequitable. All this confusion in the make-up and role-definition of family unit has caused so much turmoil, that currently there are only a few households left, whose members are not suffering from some sort of domestic breakdown or relational trauma.

2-Antidepressant Population

The most prescribed of all drugs today are antidepressants.  People are just not happy.  The confusion of postmodernism has made us embark on an endless search for happiness.  Some people attempt to find this happiness in sports; others remain content with sporadic and temporary pleasures by gratifying their fleshly desires; still others try to find a meaning in their lives through their area of specialization, as noted above.  When all this proves futile and incapable of producing a lifelong happiness, people turn to drugs.  This phenomenon is mostly prevalent in the most secularized societies in the west.  In 2008, the United Kingdom, issued 36 million prescriptions for antidepressant drugs, which is “nearly one for every adult in the population.”   In Sweden, nearly 9% of the entire population is diagnosed with depression.  Over the last decade, “the use of antidepressant drugs has skyrocketed” in the United States.  In 2005 alone, 113 million prescriptions were given out.  These statistics are very telling re the nature of effect postmodernism has had on the western world. 

3-Morality

Once the author and source of morality has been removed, everything becomes permissible.  Dostoyevsky articulated this same notion in his Brothers Karamazov.  If there is no defining Truth that acts as a measuring stick to the rules, which govern our lives, human beings begin to construct their own sense of morality.  As a result, the dismemberment and skull cracking of babies who sleep peacefully in their mothers’ wombs is a “choice” that belongs to the individual rather than an objective evil.  Human definition of right and wrong has gone so astray, that anyone who defiantly opposes the foundational Truth, is not only accepted, but also praised and exalted.  Patrick Madrid recognizes this in his book, The Godless Delusion. He notes the striking similarity between the eugenic practices of the Nazi regime and current leaders of the bioethics represented by Peter Singer, a world-renowned atheist bio-ethicist.

“In the Nazi Doctors, Robert J. Lifton quotes a 1973 interview in which the father of Baby Knauer [the first victim of Nazi infanticide] recalled the reasons Brandt and Hitler agreed to the killing of his son:

He [Brandt] explained to me that the Fuhrer had personally sent him, and that my son’s case interested him very much. The Fuhrer wanted to explore the problem of people who had no future – whose [lives were] worthless. From then on, we wouldn’t have to suffer from this terrible misfortune, because the Fuhrer had granted us the mercy killing of our son. Later, we could have other children, handsome and healthy, of whom the Reich could be proud” (http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/who-is-a-jew-38).

In his book, Practical Ethics, Singer writes:

“When the death of a disabled infant will lead the birth of another infant with better prospects for a healthy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed. The loss of a happy life for the first infant is outweighed by the gain of a happier life for the second [even if not yet born].  Therefore, if killing the hemophiliac infant has no adverse effect on others, according to the total view, it would be right to kill him” (The Godless Delusion, 95-96). 

Note the similarity of the two views expressed by the Nazi regime and Peter Singer.  Brandt was hung during the Nuremberg trials.  Today, on the other hand, Peter Singer holds a very prestigious tenured chair at Princeton University. If there is no ultimate Truth to which we must measure everything in our lives, then no one can blame anyone for committing the most depraved acts of violence and wickedness.  The perpetrators of these acts are simply acting based on their own sense of right and wrong.

The Postmodern condition has done a great damage to the fabric of the western society.  Premier Christy Clark and all the psychiatrists in the world do not need to be analyzing the situation any further.  The cause of all this insanity in Canada and the rest of the western societies is not some psychological defect or some hidden deficiency that needs to be brought to light through the use of human intellect and resources.  Rather, it is the postmodern condition.  It is the determination to forsake and completely abandon God, the author of all Truth, the giver of all morality and order.  Once God departs from our lives, all sorts of sicknesses begin to creep in.  

Homosexualist Indoctrination of Children

Dan Savage, an outspoken homosexual activist, has been quite vociferous re the reaction of Penny Nance from Concerned Women of America to a homosexualist advertisement promoting the gay lifestyle.  Fox aired the advertisement during American Idol, a show that has been rated family-friendly by Parents Television Council.   

Savage begins his response with naming the group, Concerned Women of America, as an “officially-designated hate group.” Then, he moves on to offer three thoughts on Nance’s response.  First, he expresses surprise at the prospect of a fourth grader who does not know about “heterosexual sex,” and compares this fourth grader to an animal who is raised in a “skinner box.”  This is a homosexual activist’s idea of raising a healthy child; any fourth grader who knows not about sex is basically an animal that is trapped in a box, namely a mouse because mice are usually trapped in a “skinner box.” Later on in life, when this ‘sexually-enlightened’ child grows up to be a pedophiliac priest, Savage will be the first to weep crocodile tears over the victims and whine about the ‘wickedness’ of the Church and her ‘utter failures.’ 

Savage’s second thought is too obscene and filthy to be mentioned here in my blog.

The third thought is what I would like to make the object of my post here.  It is not empty of obscenity.  However, let’s try to navigate our way through it carefully, discarding the filth and focusing on the argument. 

It turns out that Savage’s campaign is targeting a specific audience. This audience “needs to know more than most” that not the entire world consists of “hateful s_ _ _ s.”  One might stop here and wonder, what exactly does Savage mean by the qualitative adjective, “hateful,” which serves as a modifier to the following noun, “s_ _ _ s.”  It becomes clear when the reader finds out that Savage’s targeted audience consists of “kids with parents like Nance,” or kids whose parents are religious.  Undoubtedly, for Savage, all religious people, just “like Nance,” are “hateful s_ _ _ s.”  They are “hateful s_ _ _s” precisely because they disapprove of homosexual lifestyle, and Savage feels that it is his ordained duty to encourage kids, 4^th graders, to accept homosexual lifestyle. It does not take a genius to figure out that Savage’s attempt to preach his debauchery to young children really has nothing to do with bullying, but everything to do with converting or proselytizing; the filthy language that he deploys is demonstrative of his perverted mindset.  It gets better, indeed.  Savage tells the 4^th grader that not the “entire world is populated with hateful s_ _ _ s,” but rather many people are “rooting” for him including “trans porn stars.” How many parents encourage their 4^th grader to become a “porn star,” let alone a “trans” one?  I cannot imagine any parent, anywhere, religious or non-religious, Christian or non-Christian, who would encourage his/her 4^th grader to become a “porn star.”  Of course, the only reason Savage feels this is acceptable is because he is not a part of a TRUE marriage, which is only between a man and a woman.  He does not have a son of his own. He has not experienced the blessings of a true fatherhood, whereby a father offers his life happily as a selfless sacrifice for the good of his child.  Savage scorns, despises, and even derides the concept of family precisely because he does not have the gift of fatherhood. 

I do not think that it will ever get better for Savage, nor for anyone else who subscribes to his contempt for family to find peace in this life, unless they discontinue promoting this lifestyle, and take up a true marriage.  I included a link for Penny Nance’s letter to Fox Channel.  I encourage you to sign it.