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
+++
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. )
11th
Sunday after Pentecost – 4th August 2013 (Colour of Celebration – Green)
Intent: Discernment
O GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things
both in heaven and earth, grant that we
may unfold within ourselves such discernment, that we may avoid those things
that be hurtful to the soul and seek only those things that give us strength to
serve thee better; through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Church puts her hope in God from whom she receives her
help. Our Lord has healed the wounds of
mankind and has given us strength.
Infinite charity and mercy of God.
Commemoration
of the Saints, for the coming week
Sunday August 4th
St Dominic, Confessor
Dominic Guzman, born in Spain, opposed the errors of the Albigenses. He founded the Order of the Friars Preaches,
contributing to devotion to the Rosary, saving the Western Church from heresy
and anarchy. He died A.D. 1221.
Monday August 5th
The Dedication of the Church of St Mary of the Snows
This Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, called also St Mary
Major, was built on the Esquiline at Rome by St Liberius, Pope from 352 to
366. Popular tradition relates that the
site was traced out by a miraculous fall of snow on this date, which is that of
the Feast of the Church’s Dedication.
Tuesday August 6th
The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ
The Gospel of the Mass gives a full description of the
wonderful Transfiguration of Our Lord on Mount Thabor. Matthew, chapter 17, verses 1-9
Wednesday August 7th
St Cajetan,
Confessor
St Cajetan founded the Order of Theatines, who endeavoured
to imitate the Apostles in absolute poverty, trusting alone in the divine
Providence. The ”Hunter of souls” as he
was called, died A.D. 1547, after a life of extraordinary austerity and
mystical experiences.
Thursday August 8th
St John Mary Vianney, Confessor
The Cure d’Ars was born at Dardilly, near Lyons, in
1786. The sanctity of St John Vianney
gives to the obscure village Ars a universal fame. As parish priest he converted sinners and
directed souls, not only those of his own flock, but people of all nations and
conditions who came to consult this Spiritual Director. He died on August 4, A.D. 1859, and was
canonized A.D. 1925.
Friday August 9th
The Vigil of St Laurence, Martyr
St Laurence, Deacon, is one of the most famous Martyrs of
the innumerable Roman persecutions.
Uniquely among feasts of the second class he has a vigil Mass which
follows.
Saturday August 10th
St Laurence, Martyr
St Laurence was a deacon of St Sixtus II, Pope and
Martyr. When the prefect of Rome
arrested him, he distributed the possessions of the Church to the poor to save
them from confiscation. He was slowly
roasted to death on a gridiron A.D.258.
Announcements:
We are collecting members for Saint Titus, Ordinary
members, members who need baptism and confirmation, and candidate Priests, both
men and woman. We want to provide for
our members, all sorts of services that they may need, such as burial,
marriage, confession, and etc. We are
hoping to attract as many people as possible.
If you are interested, then please contact Fr. Franz devantierf@gmail.com
News:
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Newsletter
Sacred References:
Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 6 onwards
Luke, chapter 12, verse 54 onwards
Homily:
Today is all about the ability to
discern what is really happening to us on this Earth. Christ Jesus tried to give us some clues,
that were clothed in the level of understanding of the day. The Christ pointed out that when most of us
see a cloud rising out of the West, we are immediately able to say, that rain
is coming. You see we are able to read
the sign that is presented by the cloud and to interpret it correctly to say
that rain is expected in the near future.
Again another illustration out of nature, when we see the South wind
blowing we all immediately know that we are in for a hot period. The lessons are geared to working with and
understanding nature, because we ourselves are also part of nature. In fact we form the forth Kingdom of
nature. Mineral, vegetable, animal, and
human. We are truly the ultimate
creatures that currently walk this earth, all in harmony with the laws of
nature. Or we should be in harmony with
nature.
Shame on those individuals who on a
regular basis are introducing herbicides and pesticides into nature. Those individuals with nothing but profit as
the ultimate result who are poisoning our earth; killing our fauna and flora,
all for temporary financial gain. Those
individuals who are poisoning trees and killing trees, for no more reason than,
“I don’t like that tree”. God is love,
and we are called to love all of creation, which includes the four
kingdoms. A bit short sighted to say you
love your neighbour, yet you are killing trees, and introducing horrific
poisons into the ecology. You may as
well administer the poisons directly to your neighbour. That is why when you declare your love for your
neighbour, it has the hollow sound of shallowness, and insincerity. I speak here of lack of discernment. The lack of discernment displayed by so many
of us who are destroying our inheritance from God. Let me ask you this, when last did you spray
ant poison in your house to get rid of ants?
With a bit of research you may have found that you could have used
something like citrus essential oils to have a similar and less destructive
effect on Nature. In fact something that
smells strongly of orange peels, will chase the ants away.
We are supposed to be focussing on
Discernment and not the lack of it. The
Christ points out that when the signs of the times point to the fact that the
Kingdom of Heaven will soon be establishing itself on Earth, we are not able to
recognize it. In fact it has become so
confused, that almost every year; some religious fanatic will declare that on
new year’s day, the world will end. We
are in fact so tired of these predictions that never come true. What are we missing, why can’t we see what is
really happening?
You see Christ pointed out that we
should; “Rather seek ye the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
things shall be added unto you.” Again
that is something that we choose to see through the spectacles of lack of
discernment. What does it really mean to
seek the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Well it certainly has nothing to do with
listening to somebodies idea that the world will end on a certain date. You see when the Kingdom of Heaven
establishes itself on Earth, the Earth will have a renewed and healthy vitality. We will have renewed love for all of the
kingdoms. Mineral, vegetable, animal,
Human, God. Yes God will then be part of
the fifth kingdom, the kingdom of God on earth.
So what must we do, in order to seek
the Kingdom of God? I believe that this
is a very active process that needs to be followed. We need to start loving the four Kingdoms
that God has giving us. Loving the
minerals, and repairing the damage that we have allowed with soil erosion,
climate change etc. We need to fix these
things up. We need to love the mineral
world, and not because of the financial riches that can be gained from it, that
is lust. We need to love the vegetable
world. We need to do everything that we
can in order to make the lot of living plants better than they were
before. It is our duty to carry water
to plants on a hot day. It is our duty
to dig natural organic fertilizers into the ground, and not the damaging
synthetic and poisonous kinds. It is our
duty to give love to the animals around us.
Do something good for an animal everyday. If we can’t stop the extinction of the
Rhinos, then we are not ready for the Kingdom of heaven, we need to do far more
for the Rhinos, than we are currently doing.
We need to love the Rhinos, and all the creatures of God’s creation, it
is really that simple. No magical
mysteries here, it is just love. How do
we stop people from killing our beloved animals? How do we demonstrate to God that we are
ready for the Kingdom of God to descend to Earth. We need to love our human neighbours as we
love ourselves. This is seeking the
Kingdom of Heaven, simply by loving what God has already given us.
Then comes the righteousness of
God. Many of us just read over that one,
and either ignore it or simply explain, that it means that we must stop being
naughty boys and girls. You are wrong,
we are in for a surprise when we are faced with the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God refers to the power
of God. This power is not something that
you can measure in kilowatts or other measurement systems. This power is the power of purification, the
burning of us to reveal anything that is of some value within ourselves. For those of us with no intrinsic value, with
no Love, we will simply be burnt up. The
power of God is the power that created the Universe, and can destroy the
Universe again. The power of God, or the
righteousness of God will destroy everything that does not match up to
“Love”. Everything will be rebuilt
again, and we will be part of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of heaven on Earth. Are you ready for the Kingdom of God? If you are, you need to start actively
working towards it. All it needs is
love, you have to actively love God’s creation, that is all.
In the Epistle, we still see a
reference to Kingdom of God but in a more subtle way. In order to really understand what it is all
about, we need Wisdom, we need discernment, spiritual discernment. Now if you try to explain these things to the
people around you, it would be surprising if they understood. The mysteries of the coming Kingdom of God
are revealed to us through the Spirit of God.
You see we need to be baptized with water and with fire. The baptism with fire is the baptism with the
Holy Spirit. It is only after you have
been baptized with the Holy Spirit, that you can start receiving the Wisdom,
the understanding of what is really happening, from the Spirit of God. The understanding of what it really means to
seek the Kingdom of God. The
understanding of what it really means for the Kingdom of Heaven to establish
itself on Earth.
Once we have been through the
spiritual fires to become a member of the Kingdom of God on Earth, then there are
to be many amazing advantages. Firstly
your physical body will be much improved, and will last for many centuries if
not thousands of years, instead of the very short period it currently lasts
for. Disease will disappear, and this is
probably as much because of advanced technology revealed by the Holy Spirit, as
for any other reason. Carnivores and
Herbivores will play together. Now that
describes to me a tremendous breakthrough in animal psychology, that is not
just something that is going to magically happen. You see if we don’t really understand how
animals think, and what makes them do the things that they do, and how to
modify their behaviour, then do we really love them?
Spiritual man will be able to
understand these things of the coming Kingdom of God, because he has been
baptized with the Holy Spirit, and become a spiritual human. Natural man who does not have the advantage
of the Spirit of God within themselves to give them spiritual discernment, will
not be able to understand the things of the coming kingdom of God. Natural man will in fact reject these ideas
of the Kingdom of Heaven, because he does not have the Discernment that is
given by the Spirit of God. By man I
refer to the Sanskrit meaning, which equates mankind to that creature that is
able to creatively think. So there is in
fact no sex in the word man or mankind, I am in fact speaking of mankind on a
higher level, on a level that is more in line with the coming Kingdom of
God.
“Rather seek ye the Kingdom of God and
his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Love Father Franz.
Church History – Article 6:
A State Religion
The Christian faith had become
firmly established in the Roman Empire, by the time of the death of Emperor
Constantine in 337. In 313 Emperor
Constantine was converted to Christianity the previous year, and made
Christianity a recognized religion of the Empire, elevated to the same status
as all the other state religions of the Empire.
By 395 it was recognized that Christianity formed the majority of all
the other state religions, and Christianity became the only official state
religion.
You can also think of it like
this, in less than four centuries since the birth of Jesus, Apostolic
Christianity had taken on the mighty Roman Empire and conquered it. This step followed the leadership of Armenia
who some years earlier had adopted Christianity as its official religion. Also in parts of Africa and Western Asia, the
spread of Christianity had made significant progress. By the year 395, the new religion was on the
brink of significant known world victories.
However there was a down side to it all; As Christianity had swept
across the Greco-Roman world, Christianity had lost some of its original
simplicity and zeal.
Through aggressive evangelism
Christianity had won astounding victories, and had gone from persecution to the
official state religion. The preaching
of the Gospel to hundreds of thousands of people; the message of peace and hope
that the crucified and risen Christ Jesus brought them. Furthermore, early Christianity had already
attracted a wide range of intellectuals to the faith who were successfully able
to refute attacks on the new faith by Pagan intellectuals. Persecutions had instead of limiting the
growth of Christianity, been one of the reasons for its astounding growth.
Perhaps the greatest change in
the relationship between the Greco-Roman empire and Christianity took place in
the year 312, with the conversion of Constantine to Christianity.
The adoption of Christianity as
the official religion in 395, was also the reason for the serious damage to
spirituality under the banner of Christianity.
Christian leaders became the confidants of Roman Emperors, which tended
to detract from the spiritual zeal in the Christian leadership. The period after 395, also marks the
beginning of the fall of Christianity, from its Apostolic purity. From 395 onwards the emphasis started to
become more about the right relationship between church and state, instead of
the zeal, simplicity, and aggressive evangelism of the early church. For many of us the year 395 marked a very sad
day, in terms of spiritual development within the Christian faith. The role of any religion is supposed to be
first and foremost to aid its members towards spiritual development. Most of the world religions are not
completely successful with regards to aiding their members towards spiritual
development. From the year 395 onwards,
Christianity also started to be less effective in its role of spiritual
development for its members. The
persecution had stopped, but was the horrific cost, that the development of
Christianity suffered worth it? Was the
subsequent damaged development of the church worth it, in any way at all; the
tremendous price that Christianity paid in aligning itself to the Roman Empire
in 395?
An Anglican Catechism
– Article 6:
God the Son
=>
What do we mean when we say that Jesus is the only Son of God?
We
mean that Jesus is the only perfect image of the Father, and shows us the
nature of God.
=>
What is the nature of God revealed in Jesus?
God
is love.
=>
What do we mean when we say that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and
became incarnate from the Virgin Mary?
We
mean that by God’s own act, his divine Son received our human nature from the
Virgin Mary, his mother.
=>
Why did he take our human nature?
The
divine Son became human, so that in him human beings might be adopted as
children of God, and be made heirs of God’s Kingdom.
=>
What is the great importance of Jesus’ suffering and death?
By
his obedience, even to suffering and death, Jesus made the offering which we
could not make; in him we are freed from the power of sin and reconciled to
God.
=>
What is the significance of Jesus’ resurrection?
By
his resurrection, Jesus overcame death and opened for us the way of eternal
life.
=>
What do we mean when we say that he descended to the dead?
We
mean that he went to the departed and offered them also the benefits of
redemption.
=>
What do we mean when we say that he ascended into heaven and is seated at the
right hand of the Father?
We
mean that Jesus took our human nature into heaven where he now reigns with the
Father and intercedes for us.
=>
How can we share in his victory over sin, suffering and death?
We
share in his victory when we are baptized into the New Covenant and become
living members of Christ.
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.
A Meditation for all Humanity, The Great Invocation:
This meditation refers to the Kingdom of God, establishing
itself on Earth.
(In place of the word “Christ” below, you may be more
comfortable with the term “Lord Maitreya”, “the Imam Mahdi”, “the Bodhisattva”,
“the Messiah”, and etc.)
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let Light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ
return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
By using the Invocation and encouraging others to use it,
no particular group or organisation is sponsored. It belongs to all humanity.
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,
devantierf@gmail.com
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