Dear Readers,
My name is Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, Independent Old Catholic Church (IOCC) of Africa, operating in South Africa, and also creator of this blog. My background was that of a liberal Catholic Priest, and a Traditional Catholic Priest in South Africa, and then an independent Priest in the Catholic tradition. I was incardinated into the IOCC by Archbishop-Primate Emeritus Maurice McCormick founder of the IOCC of America.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
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Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa
In
nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen (In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
Ascension
Sunday – 5th May 2013 (Colour of Celebration – White)
Traditional
Catholics:
Forty days after the Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ,
attended by Angels, ascended into heaven, in the sight of His most holy Mother,
His Apostles, and disciples, to the great wonder of them all. St Paul declares that God “hath made us sit
together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus”. “There where the Head has gone, the Body is
called to follow!”
Liberal
Catholics:
O God, the King of glory, we pray thee that, as thine
alone-born Son our dear Lord Christ hath ascended into the heavens, we may also
in heart and mind thither ascend and with him continually dwell, who liveth and
reighneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, throughout all ages of
ages. Amen.
Roman Catholics: (Seventeenth Sunday of the Year)
God in his holy dwelling; he will give a home to the
lonely, he gives power and strength to his people.
God our Father and protector,
without you nothing is holy,
nothing has value.
Guide us to everlasting life
by helping us to use wisely
the blessings you have given to the world.
Commemoration
of the Saints, for the coming week
May 5th , St Pius V (Pope, Confessor)
-> St Pius V, of the Order of Preachers, was a Pope of
great sanctity. His pontificate was one
of the most glorious. He enforced
obedience to the decrees of the Council of Trent and revised the Missal and the
Breviary. He died A.D. 1572.
May 7th , St Stanislaus, (Bishop, Martyr)
-> St Stanislaus, patron of Poland, reproached king
Boleslaus the Cruel, for his dissolute life, and while saying Mass, was put to
death by him. A.D. 1079.
May 9th , St Gregory Nazianzen (Bishop,
Confessor, Doctor of the Church)
-> St Gregory was educated at Athens in all the sciences
with St Basil the Great. He became
bishop of Nazianzen and his profound knowledge earned for him the title of
Doctor and Theologian, titles confirmed by the Church. He died A.D. 389.
May 10th , St Antoninus, (Bishop, Confessor)
-> A Friar of the Dominican Order, St Antoninus became
Arch-Bishop of Florence. He was famous
for his austere life, charity and Episcopal zeal. He died A.D. 1459.
May 11th , SS. Philip and James (Apostles)
-> St Philip, like Peter and Andrew, was of
Bethsaida. He was crucified in Phrygia
where he preached the Gospel A.D.87. St
James the Less, was of Cana and a kinsman of Our Lord. He wrote one of the Epistles of the New
Testament. He was thrown from the
terrace of the temple A.D.93.
Announcements:
We are collecting names for submission as Marriage
officers, for promotion to lay-Pastors, and for training for the Priesthood, under
Saint Titus. If you are interested, then
please contact Fr. Franz devantierf@gmail.com
News:
…
Sacred References:
Acts, chapter 1, verses 1-11
Mark, chapter 16, verses 14-20
Genesis, chapter 18, verses 20-32
Colossians, chapter 2, verses 12-14
Luke, chapter 11, verses 1-13
Luke, chapter 24, verses 49 onwards
Homily:
John
the Baptist was a very Holy man. He
lived by himself in the desert eating locusts and wild honey. In fact John the Baptist had reached a level
that very few will ever reach by themselves.
When Jesus wanted to be baptized in the river, the chosen person to
baptize him was John the Baptist. Even
John when he saw Jesus was reluctant to baptize him, because he recognized in
Jesus that that was so different to anything else, that words would have failed
a proper explanation. However in the end
he agreed to baptize Jesus. And we see
this amazing connection with heaven as John performs the baptism ritual. The voice of God is heard from a cloud saying
“This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased”.
In the extra light that is suddenly present, a white dove is seen flying
down towards Jesus, and in a mystical way seems to transfer something to Jesus. Some sort of blessing from God you could
say. Baptism became so important in the
faith, that new converts were always baptized as one of the first steps. In fact if a man decided to follow Jesus, his
whole family, including the servants were converted and baptized.
After
his death and resurrection Jesus is standing and talking to his disciples. He speaks of baptism, and this is obviously a
very precious subject to them, when they think of their own baptism, the
baptism of Jesus the Christ, the baptism of those who were converted and would
be converted. A very precious
subject. But Jesus takes it to another
level. Jesus says, John baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, in some places it says,
you shall be baptized with fire. The
fire that Jesus the Christ was referring to, was not physical fire, but
spiritual fire.
This
baptism with the Holy Ghost, this baptism with fire, that he was speaking about
was indeed a very powerful experience.
Many years ago, in fact close to half a century ago, there was a little
church in South street in Hatfield. A
small Baptist congregation of a dozen families if that. They would have probably remained a small
church for the lifetime of the church, except that something happened
there. The members of the church as well
as their Pastor, you probably have heard of him, the beloved late Edmund
Raebert. Started wondering about this
getting baptized with fire, baptized with the Holy Ghost, and manifesting the
fruits of the spirit like for example speaking in other tongues and
prophesising etc. Well they eventually
got a small group together, and we are talking literally less than a handful of
people, and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. The rest is History. There are theological textbooks that point to
what is now known as the Hatfield Christian Church or Center, and ask students
to try to get to grips with what happened there. Because currently they are a church of many
thousands of people, and that is just one branch, because I believe that they
are all over the country, with hundreds of congregations.
Now
that is just a small example of what the power of the Holy Ghost can do, once
you have been baptized with fire. Now
Jesus wanted the disciples to be baptized with fire. He wanted them to have the power that would
be released once they were baptized with fire.
Jesus
the Christ knew exactly what the power of this baptism in fire could do. In fact he gave specific instructions, that
after they had received the power, that they would receive during the baptism
with fire, the baptism with the Holy Ghost, they were to channel this spiritual
power into a very specific direction.
Ye
shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and Samaria,
and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Now Jesus Christ knew that the power they would receive would be able to
do that. He knew that it would be so
powerful, that despite intense opposition through the last two thousand years,
that power would prevail and still does even today. That power would convert about one third of
the earths population to Christianity, literally billions of people.
In
fact that power was so great, that if you study comparative religion, you will
find that in almost every religion in the world, the followers of that religion
are taught about or know about Jesus.
The budhist’s will prayer directly to Jesus on occasion, the Muslims
acknowledge him as a Prophet. The Hindus
recognise him, even some of the earth religions like the Druids will claim that
Jesus was affiliated with them. Almost
every person on the face of the earth has heard the name of Jesus in some or
other form. It is like that one name, in
a way that is not easy to explain has touched the hearts of every living being
on the planet.
We
know where that power comes from. The
power comes from the baptism with the Holy Ghost, the baptism with fire. That spiritual power has proven itself, over
and over again, over thousands of years.
That power is there, it is available to anybody who wants it. It is still as powerful today as it was two
thousand years ago. You can do
impossible things with this power, but you can’t use it for selfish purposes,
you can only use it for spreading the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
Church History – Article 1:
We
start the story about 2000 years ago with a handful of hesitant followers in
the small and obscure Roman province of Judaea.
From this humble beginning Christianity has grown to become the faith of
about one third of the earth’s population.
It has spread more widely and is more deeply rooted than any other
religion in the history of mankind. Not
only that, but the Christian community has experienced a growth in maturity
that matches the outward expansions in numbers and the prestige that goes along
with Christianity.
If
it had grown so vigorously, in the absence of competition from other religions
and ideologies, then it would have been easy to understand. However there has been a sharp opposition to
the faith throughout history. Opposition
from large numbers of intellectuals and political leaders, which you would
think would have been enough to finish it off, but after two thousand years it
is still going strong. In the second
century the faith had to withstand the attacks of Celsus, and Lucian of
Samosata, to mention just two. All
through the years, almost without any respite, the attacks continued. Until we get right up to Voltaire in the
eighteenth century, followed by Carl Marx in the Nineteenth century. This was followed by the hostility of H.L.
Mencken, and Adolf Hitler in the twentieth century. How could it have survived such a consistent
attack for thousands of years?
Yet
Christianity did not only survive, it did not only just hold it’s own; but
continued to flourish and expand. In the
history of Christianity we should strive to understand the patterns and
characteristics of the growth. What does
this growth reveal about the nature of the Christian faith? Based on its track record from the past, and
the current level of technology and science, and information, that are freely
available to us currently; what are the possibilities for Christianity into the
future? So in a nutshell we will be
looking at where Christians came from, where they are today, and where they are
going in the future world that we are busy co-creating.
An Anglican Catechism – Article 1:
Human Nature
1.)
What are we by nature?
We
are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God.
2.)
What does it mean to be created in the image of God?
It
means that we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to
live in harmony with creation and with God.
3.)
Why then do we live apart from God and out of harmony with creation?
From
the beginning, human beings have misused their freedom and made wrong choices.
4.)
Why do we not use our freedom as we should?
Because
we rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God.
5.)
What help is there for us?
Our
help is in God.
6.)
How did God first help us?
God
first helped us by revealing himself and his will, through nature and history,
through many seers and saints, and especially through the prophets of Israel.
Prayer:
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name: Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
[Protestants
can optionally add: For Thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.]
Amen.
Benediction:
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Christ
our Lord; and the Blessing of God almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you
always. Amen.
Love,
Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,
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