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
+++
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. )
13th
Sunday after Pentecost – 18th August 2013 (Colour of Celebration – Green)
Intent: Good Works
Grant us, O Lord, to hold fast within our hearts thy love,
which doth always prevent and follow us; that so, loving thee above all things,
we may continually be given to all good works; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Liturgy shows us that by faith we put all our hope in
Jesus, for He is our refuge; and we ask for the virtue of charity, which
renders us lovers of the divine law, and practisers of it. Let us pray for an increase of Faith, Hope,
and Charity.
Commemoration
of the Saints, for the coming week
Sunday August 18th
Commemoration of St Agapitus, Martyr
St Agapitus, when only fifteen years old, endured many
cruel tortures, and was beheaded at Praeneste in Italy A.D. 275
Monday August 19th
St John Eudes, Confessor
St John Eudes, born in Normandy, was educated by the
Jesuits. Ordained Priest, he founded the
Congregation of the Priests of Jesus and Mary, called Eudists, and the
Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. As preacher, writer and founder he promoted
public devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He died A.D 1680.
Tuesday August 20th
St Bernard, Abbot, Doctor of the Church
St Bernard, born of noble Burgundian parents, was a monk of
the Cistercian Order, a branch of the Benedictine Order. He became Abbot of the famous monastery of
Clairvaux, which he himself had founded.
The writings, sermons and letters of this great Doctor rendered
invaluable services to the Church. He
also preached the second crusade, and died at Clairvaux A.D. 1153.
Wednesday August 21st
St Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal, Widow
Born at Dijon, Jane Frances was a bright example as
daughter, spouse, mother and widow. She
founded the Order of the Visitation, guided by Saint Francis de Sales. She died at Moulins A.D. 1641.
Thursday August 22nd
The feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin
Mary
Mary began her journey along the road to perfection at a
height to which other Saints arrived only at the end of a long life of
saintliness. In all other children of
Adam original sin prevented the divine generosity from having a free
course. But Mary was created immaculate,
and therefore the grace of God streamed into her soul without check or
hindrance. Her sinlessness, her heavenly
purity, directed every action, every movement to God. Her Heart was the pattern and model of all
virtues, of all purity! “Blessed are the
pure in heart!”.
Friday August 23rd
St Philip Benizi, Confessor
St Philip was born at Florence of the noble family of Benizi. He entered the Order of the Servites as a lay
brother. Ordained a Priest, he was made
General of his Order.
Saturday August 24th
St Bartholomew, Apostle
St Bartholomew the Apostle, whose name means: son of
Tholomy, is believed to be the same as the Nathanael whom the Master praised as
the Israelite in whom was no guile. He
preached the faith in India and Armenia.
He was flayed alive and beheaded A.D. 71.
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:
Join
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Newsletter
Sacred References:
Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 1 onwards
Matthew, chapter 7, verse 16 onwards
Homily:
The material for this week brings up
the old argument about whether or not it is possible to get into Heaven by
means of Good works. Well the answer is,
yes it is possible, and the scriptures hold examples of those people who did
make it. For example we look at Abraham,
Moses, the Prophets, and many others in the bible; these are all examples of
both men and woman who managed to make their way into the Kingdom of Heaven by
means of good works.
Now many people will tell you that
there is no way, that you will ever get into Heaven through good works. You know that they are right. The few examples of righteous men and woman
who successful applied the lessons in the scriptures of the Old testament, and
made it all the way into the Kingdom of heaven as a result, as compared to the
billions of people alive today for example.
Now if you compare a possible few hundred who made it into heaven with
good works, against the billions of people on Earth, who will not make it into
heaven through good works, then you can say with confidence that you will not
make it into Heaven through Good works.
So why are Good works and Charity
emphasized so heavily then, if they will not get you into Heaven? We have to get things into perspective here,
to properly understand how all these things fit together, and taken in context
are not only relevant but true for all of us.
Christ Jesus came down to this Earth, so that he could die on the cross,
and rise again after three days, and go back to Heaven to be with his Father in
heaven. By doing this the billions of
people alive today have a chance of getting into the Kingdom of heaven. The process is Atonement for sin, or as
Martin Luther coined it “Justification by faith”. Atonement and Justification are the same
concept, described in different ways; actually a very good example of
semantics, how by describing the same thing in a different way, you are able to
differentiate it, and make it appealing to a group of people, who may not have
appreciated the original concept for whatever reason. So we find that for nearly two thousand years
of Christian history we have Atonement for Sin, and then with the advent of the
Protestants (protestors), we find the same thing being promoted as
Justification by Faith.
So Christ Jesus enables anybody on
Earth to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, instead of just a few hundred, who
manage to crack the code of good works, and keeping the commandments of
God. Good to point out here, that Christ
Jesus did not come just for the Jews or the Gentiles, but for all the nations
of the world. Now typically you will
find that different nations or races tend to have different religions. Christ Jesus came for everyone. Christianity was supposed to be for everyone,
of every Race, Culture, Religion, and Creed. Christ Jesus came for all the people on this
earth. That is why the early church was
named the Catholic or Universal church.
Somewhere during the last two thousand years; Christianity seems to have
become more and more just for Christians.
Now especially the more fundamentalist brands of Christianity will
claim, that their specific community, is the only one that is going to go to
Heaven. They will tell you that everyone
who is not a Christian is going to hell when they die. I spoke to a friend at the “Hatfield
Christian Church” in South Africa. He
told me that all the other churches were going to Hell, except the Hatfield
Christian church people. The Catholics
were going to burn in fire and brimstone together with all the other religions
of the world. I managed to get him to
agree that the traditional Baptists would not be going to Hell, and then our
time ran out. This is the Fundamentalist
point of view, and we need to enlighten such fundamentalists.
Instead of standing and condemning
everybody else, we should be telling them the Good news that Christ Jesus came
to save all of us on this Earth. It does
not matter your Race, Religion or Creed, Christ Jesus loves you, and came to
make it possible for you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
All of us whatever our religion
worship God. The step that we need to
make is to recognize that all the different religions are worshipping one and
the same God, because there is only One God in the end. Now this same one God, God the Father sent
his only begotten Son Christ Jesus, to die for us and rise again on the third
day, and ascend into heaven. Then we
need to recognize that Christ Jesus came for everybody on earth, and not just a
select few, as we have been mistakenly taught.
So Christ Jesus is returning for the
Jews, and the Gentiles, the Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Budhists,
Taosts, and all the others. Now here is
the shocker; Not everyone who calls upon my name will enter into the kingdom of
heaven. There will be those who have
cast out demons in the name of the Lord, but will not be entering into the
Kingdom of Heaven. Why is this, do you
know?
Now here is the clincher, in order to
get into heaven, you must hear the Will of God and do the Will of God. Let’s expand that concept in a way that it
never gets expanded. The Will of god is
revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, which could be the Holy Scriptures of
any of the Major religions for example.
Having read that scripture, you have become aware of what the Will of
God is. You must then do the Will of
God. If the Will of God is to Love your
Neighbour, then you need to actively go out and love your neighbour, because
this is the Will of God. So from
whatever religion you are, you become aware of the Will of God, and you put it
into practice, and go out and do it. If
you become aware that the Will of God is to Love your God with all your heart,
then that is what you need to do. So
regardless of which Holy scriptures you are reading, you need to establish what
the Will of God is for you, and you need to do it. This is how you get into Heaven.
So you interrogate the Holy
Scriptures, discover the Will of God, and do it. You do the Good Works, making sure that you
remain within the Will of God. You see
the Good Works are not getting you into Heaven, but they are improving your
position in heaven, if you already have your tickets to get past the gates of
Heaven. Now let’s look at that soul who
called out “Lord, Lord, I have even cast out demons in your name”, yet he did
not have the tickets to go through the Gates of Heaven. Casting the Demons out is a Good example of
Good works, but he had not remained or aligned himself with the Will of God, so
the Good works were of no use to him. In
actual fact he had not started off by establishing what the Will of God was,
and doing whatever was required. If he
had, then he would have had the pass to get into heaven. Casting out Demons in the name of the Lord,
would have been part of building a special house for himself in the kingdom of
Heaven.
Doing the Will of God is like building
your house on the rocks, so that when the storm comes the house, which is
symbolically your Good works, can withstand whatever the storms of life, and
even of death have to offer. The house
stands, and symbolically your soul has its ticket to get past the gates of
heaven. Note, you must not read the Will
of God in the King James Version of the bible, or the revised standard version
in order to succeed, but any translation that you are comfortable with will do
it. You need to listen to the word of
God. So you need to read the Holy
Scriptures that are available to you, find out what the Will of God is and do
it. Maybe somebody reads it to you, or
in a time of quite or prayer or meditation, it becomes clear to you what the
Will of God is. Once you know what the
Will of God is, you have to do it. When
you do the Good Works, you need to first do what is Gods Will, and then you can
do the good Works. Otherwise you do the
Good Works in vain. Otherwise you are
building your house on the sand.
Now let’s look at the man who builds
his house on the sand. He does everything
that the man who built his house on the Rocks does. The building of the house can be compared to
the doing of the Will of God, and doing the Good works. The beauty of the house can be compared to
the Good works. The foundation of the
house is that it should have been built on the Will of God. If the foundation is not right, then we will
have a disaster. Symbolically a man
arrives at the gates of heaven, and presents this beautiful house as his ticket
to get past the gates of Heaven. But
there is no foundation, and so the ticket is not valid. This beautiful structure of Good works comes
toppling down, because it is Good works, without the foundation of doing the
Will of God. So the man is turned from
the gates of Heaven, even although he has built this beautiful mansion to live
in. By contrast a man arrives at the gates
of heaven with a small humble house, that is built on the rocks. This house is built on obedience to the Will
of God. The foundation is the ticket,
and the house stands. The man enters the
Kingdom of heaven, and has this house that he has built with good works, as an
abode for himself in Heaven. Not nearly
as impressive as the house that was built on the foundation of sand or not the
Will of God. But then that house is
lying in pieces on the sand, it has no value, and cannot be a mansion in the
Kingdom of Heaven.
So if you want to check the status of
your spiritual house, ask yourself this.
Are the foundations built on the Will
of God? If you are not one hundred
percent sure, then go over the reasons why you believed this to be the Will of
God. It may even help to take a piece of
paper and write things down. Did you get
this from Holy Scriptures? If so, then
fetch the holy book, open the Holy Scriptures, and verify that you have
properly understood what the Will of God is.
Move the house carefully off, onto the sand. Rebuild your foundations by doing the Will of
God. You are rebuilding your foundations
on the rocks. Rededicate the good works, the building and make sure that it is
all within the Will of God. If there are
parts that don’t comply, then remove them, and place what is left on the solid
foundation. Now your house is built on
the rocks, and your ticket into heaven is valid again. You have created beautiful structures
composed of your Good works.
If you are not sure on how to go about
this, then you can pray the Believers prayer.
It is the Will of God to pray the believer’s prayer. All you need is the short version (which is
very powerful), although a slightly longer version is also good. You can pray the believer’s prayer every day,
until it sinks into your heart. The
Believers prayer is building your foundations on the rocks. After this you can build your heavenly
mansion with good Works.
Some Bible References
The believer’s prayer is based on;
John, chapter 3, verse 16.
“For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
Luke, chapter 15, verse 21
“And the Son said unto him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am nomore worthy to be called
thy son.”
James, chapter 4, verse 7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Colossians, chapter 1, verses 12 to 14
“12 Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”
The Believers Prayer - short
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying
on the cross for my sins.
Please forgive my sins and give me the
gift of eternal life.
I ask you into my life and heart to be
my Lord and Saviour.
Amen.
The Believers Prayer – Long
God, I
know that I am a sinner.
I am sorry
for my sins, and I ask you to forgive me.
I believe
you gave Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die in my place, for my sins, on the cross.
I believe
you have forgiven me, and I accept Your Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Lord
Jesus, I choose to turn from sinning again and to live for you for the rest of
my life.
I choose you
to be the Lord and Master of my life.
I will be
who you want me to be.
I will do
what you want me to do.
I will go
where you want me to go.
Thank you,
God, for hearing my prayer and forgiving me of all my sins.
Amen.
Love Father Franz.
Church History – Article 8:
Collapse
After the fourth and fifth
centuries, the next few centuries, saw the whole of Western civilization
including the Christian Church in retreat.
The Barbarian invaders swarmed
over the once proud Roman Empire in the west.
A strange thing was happening, the Christian church which was once
persecuted by the Roman Empire, was now the only institutional link with the
Roman past. The church took advantage of
this situation, and built upon the foundations of the long lost glories of
Rome. The Church was able to leverage
itself into the position of the dominant institution of the Middle Ages.
In the East, there were a number
of national churches emerging. Gradually
these national churches merged together under the leadership of the Patriarch
of Constantinople. Sadly the great
Church of North Africa was lost in the year 707, under the onslaught of a new
and dynamic religious movement. The
religion of Islam. Islam officially made
its appearance in the Middle East, with the flight of Muhammad from Mecca in
the year 622. From its starting point in
central Arabia, the Muslim faith spread rapidly throughout the Middle East,
Central Asia, and North Africa. By the
year 732, Islam had progressed as far as Tours in south central France. It was finally checked here by the Frankish
warrior-chieftain Charles Martel.
Charles Martel was the Grandfather of the Emperor Charlemagne (742 -
814). You can already begin to see the
great philosophical divide that was starting to build up between the Christian
Church and Islam.
As a result Christianity was left
with two major centres, following the collapse of the Western Empire, that were
developing in the early Middle Ages. One
centre was established in Rome, under the leadership of the Pope, the other
centre was established in Constantinople, under the leadership of the
Patriarch. The Patriarch was more
powerful than the Pope, because he ruled over the richer and more viable part
of the Roman Empire in the East, also known as the Byzantium Empire. In time the Patriarch was forced to become
subservient to the Eastern Emperors. The
Eastern Emperors ran both the state and the Church, so the Patriarch ended up
with very little power.
In the West, the Pope had to
struggle with many temporal rulers for centuries. However the Pope started to emerge as the
most powerful religious as well as political figure, when compared to the
Patriarch of Constantinople.
Most of the early medieval
society in the west was focussed on just surviving, for nearly five hundred
years, during the early Middlel Ages.
This was a turbulent period of history.
The Church had more or less stagnated for nearly five hundred years
during this period. However despite the
difficulties, regions of central and Western Europe were evangelized by
missionary monks. Monks who came from
the vigorous Christian background of Celtic Ireland. Monks such as Columba (521 - 597), Columbanus (543 - 615). From England came the great Boniface (680 -
754). Boniface served under both the
Papacy, and the Frankish Rulers, and helped to unite Christian Europe.
During the Early Middle Ages the
Christian communities in the West were struggling to stem the tide of the
Muslims. They were struggling with the
great temporal lords, like Charlemagne for control of the institutional
church. Continuous interference in Church
affairs by Temporal leaders, led to the attempt to give the papacy additional
powers, to help prevent such intrusions.
As a result successive Popes spent their energy in keeping the Temporal
powers from interfering in Church matters.
More important spiritual matters were neglected by the Papacy. By the tenth century, the papacy and Western
Christianity had reached a low point in terms of spiritual power.
(Next week we look at “Renewal through
monasticism”)
An Anglican Catechism
– Article 8:
The Creeds
=>
What are the Creeds?
The
creeds are basic statements of our basic beliefs about God.
=>
How many creeds does this church use it its worship?
This
church uses two creeds: The Apostles’
Creed and the Nicene Creed.
=>
What is the Apostles’ Creed?
The
Apostles’ Creed is the ancient creed of baptism; it is used in the church’s
daily worship to recall our baptismal covenant.
=>
Recite the Apostles’ Creed.
I
believe in God, the Father almighty
creator
of heaven and earth.
I
believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He
was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and
born of the Virgin Mary.
He
suffered under Pontius Pilate
Was
crucified, died, and was buried.
He
descended to the dead.
On
the third day he rose again.
He
ascended into heaven
and
is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He
will come to judge the living and the dead.
I
believe in the Holy Spirit
the
holy catholic Church
the
communion of saints
the
forgiveness of sins
the
resurrection of the body
and
the life everlasting. Amen.
=>
What is the Nicene Creed?
The
Nicene Creed is the creed of the universal Church and is used at the Eucharist.
=>
What, then, is the Athanasian Creed?
The
Athanasian Creed is an ancient document proclaiming the nature of the
Incarnation and of God as Trinity.
=>
What do we mean by speaking of God as Trinity?
We
mean that we believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
three Persons and yet one God.
(Next
week we will look at “God the Holy Spirit”)
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 or prayer 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”, or 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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