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. )
17th
Sunday after Pentecost – 15th September 2013 (Colour of Celebration – Green)
Intent: Spiritual Progress
Almighty God and loving Father, of whose only gift it
cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; grant,
we pray thee, that we may so loyally serve thee in this life tht we may be
numbered among thy real and trusty soldiers in all lives to come; through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Liturgy reminds us today of the great commandment of
charity towards God and our neighbour.
“The precept is twofold,” declares St Augustine, “but charity is
one.” We love God above all and our
neighbour for his sake.
Commemoration
of the Saints, for the coming week
Sunday September 15th
The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
What words can ever describe the indescribable anguish that
rent the sacred heart of Mary as she looked upon her Divine Son hanging on the
cross! Every wound in Jesus’ body was
also a wound in the heart of Mary; every fibre, every nerve throbbing in
agony. Every pang He suffered re-echoed
in her heart. She endured by her compassion a share in all the anguish of His
Passion. Why did Mary suffer all
this? That she might be our Mother, the
Mother of mankind. She who brought forth
her Divine Son without a pang suffered many a piercing pang when from the cross
her dying Son commended to her the sinful sons of men. That was indeed a motherhood of sorrow she
suffered for our sins; for mine.
Commemoration of St Nicomedes, Martyr.
St Nicomedes, a priest of Rome, was scourged to death under
Domitian in the first century.
Monday September 16th
St Cornelius, Pope, Martyr.
St Cornelius, the successor of St fabian, Pope and Martyr,
was one of the greatest Popes of the third century. He was beheaded A.D. 253.
St Cyprian, Bishop, Martyr.
St Cyprian, a barrister, and later Bishop of Carthage and
Primate of Africa, wrote works which are among the most precious documents of
the Catholic Church. He suffered
martyrdom A.D. 258.
Tuesday September
17th
Commemoration of the Imprinting of the Holy Stigmata on the
Body of St Francis, Confessor.
Two years before his death, while at prayer on Mount
Alvernia, the Seraphic Patriach St Francis of Assisi, was rapt in
contemplation, and received in his own body the impression fo the sacred Wounds
of Christ. Pope Benedict XI ordered the
Feast of the Stigmata of St Francis to be observed on September 17th. Pope Paul V extended it to the whole Catholic
world.
Wednesday
September 18th
St Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor.
St Joseph, a humble Franciscan Friar of Cupertino in Italy,
who could acquire but little of book knowledge and needed divine help to
qualify for the priesthood, was favoured by his crucified God with a marvellous
grace of contemplation, and with the remarkable power of miracles. He died at Orsino A.D. 1663.
Thursday
September 19th
St Januarius, Bishop, Martyr, and his Companions, Martyrs.
St Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, was beheaded with his
Companions: Acutius, Eutychius,
Desiderius, Festus, Proculus and Socius, at Puteoli, in the persecution of
Diocletan A.D. 305. St Januarius is the
patron of Naples, where year by year the liquefaction of his blood, preserved
in a phial, takes place.
Friday September
20th
Commemoration of St Eustice and his Companions, Martyrs.
Eustace was commander-in-chief in the army of the Emperor
Trajan. Having refused to thank the gods
for a triumph, he was burned to death with his wife and two children, after
undergoing many cruel tortures. A.D. 120
Saturday
September 21st
St Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist.
St Matthew was at first a publican at the toll station at
Capernaum. The publicans on account of
their many acts of injustice and extortion, were looked upon as the greatest
sinners by many of the Jews. Matthew
himself by his humble confession gratefully acknowledged the gracious
condescension of the Lord to sinners. At
his Master’s invitation he promptly joined Him.
He wrote the first Gospel and preached the Good News in Palestine and in
Ethiopia, where he was attached and killed while saying Mass A.D. 60.
Announcements:
We are actively recruiting members for Saint Titus,
Ordinary members, members who need baptism and confirmation, and candidate
Priests. If you are interested, then
please contact Fr. Franz devantierf@gmail.com
Special Prayer Requests:
"We know
now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic
clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases", adding that this figure
was comparable with that of other groups and denominations.
Quoted from:
We
can no longer accept the heavy toll that the clergy is exacting on our beloved
and innocent souls who attend organized church’s. The church was supposed to be a place of
safety, not a platform for paedophile’s to operate from, hiding behind their
religious office.
=>
I urge you to pray daily that the sex-offenders in the church will be exposed
and publicly named, shamed, and removed from office; before being handed over
to the authorities.
=>
I urge you to pray daily that if the sex-offenders cannot be routed out of
specific church’s, because the church leadership protects them; that the church
leaders and organizations themselves will be publicly exposed, and the church’s
dissolved. If you know that a church
harbours sex-offenders, then immediately cut all support for that church or
organization. If you were making
financial contributions to such an organization, then channel those finances
towards another religious or charity organization that has a zero tolerance
towards sex-offenders.
=>
I urge you to pray daily that new church’s or religious structures will be
established, in which sex-offenders will not be able to operate. Pray for the establishment of religious organizations
and structures, that will provide safe sanctuaries for our beloved and innocent
souls, the children of the world.
News:
Join
the Saint Titus
Newsletter
Sacred References:
Timothy, Chapter 6, verse 6 onwards
Matthew, chapter 11, verse 7 onwards
Homily:
Let’s talk about spiritual progress
today.
In today’s scripture readings we see
three different types of spiritual progress.
In the Epistle our attention is drawn to a man who had made tremendous
spiritual progress under the old covenant.
In fact this man had made so much progress, that he had become one of
the very few who were able to make it into the kingdom of Heaven, without using
atonement for sin, or justification by faith.
John the Baptist had made it this far spiritually because of his
adherence to all of the laws in the Old Testament. We are looking at one man, from a possible
handful of people in the world in his day who had actually managed to make
it. A man who had persisted in keeping
the laws of God; despite strong opposition from every side.
John the Baptist had persisted through
his lonely existence in the desert, and had progressed to the point where he
was a prophet. Actually far more than
just a prophet, as Christ Jesus pointed out.
He had established himself as the voice in the desert preparing the way
for one who was greater than he. John
the Baptist was baptising people in the river, in order to purify them, and
prepare them to fully appreciate that which was about to come, that which was
about to happen. His whole life was
about others for that which was about to come.
In fact the purpose for the existence of this remarkable spiritual giant
was for that moment when he was standing in the river baptizing people. John looked up , and there in front of him
was the Messiah; the one of whom all the prophets had spoken about over and
over again. John was such an immense
spiritual giant that even Christ Jesus needed to be baptized by him, before
starting with hi mission. John the
Baptist was so spiritual, that he immediately realized what an imbalance this
was. By comparison to Christ Jesus,
although he himself was a spiritual giant, he was as nothing before him; and
yet it was his duty to baptize Christ Jesus.
From this point onwards John’s role becomes less, and Christ Jesus
starts to take all the attention, and we don’t hear much again, until that one
fateful night; when the dancing girl requested the head of John the Baptist on
a silver tray, for which King Herod complied.
Ok, so we nearly missed the lesson for
this first type of spiritual progress.
Keep in mind that although we may in fact walk a different path to
achieve spiritual progress in our own lives, some of the aspects of this type
of spiritual progress will always remain.
So we look at the lifestyle of this
spiritual Giant, this man who had achieved the almost impossible, to become one
of an extremely small number of people to obey all of the laws of the Old
Covenant, and to earn their place in Heaven.
John the Baptist, surely he must have lived like a King, because he was
more worthy than any of the Kings on this earth. You can imagine this spiritual giant eating
the best foods, and wearing the best clothes and living in the best
accommodation imaginable with hoards of servants seeing to his every desire.
Yet we instead find this spiritual
giant living the life of a homeless person in the desert. We find him wearing the skins of wild animals
for clothes, we find him eating locusts and wild honey, we find him basically
living by himself. We are to learn about
the way or the art of spiritual progress from this illustration of the life of
John the Baptist. The man whom Christ
Jesus said was indeed a prophet, but so much more than just a prophet, he was
in fact Elias. The bible says that this
was Elias in the body of John the Baptist.
Now I can explain this to you exactly, but you will probably condemn me
for explaining the truth of it, so I will rather put it onto you. Explain why the bible says that Christ Jesus
in fact said that John the Baptist was so much more than a prophet, he was in
fact Elias? Can you please explain that
to us? Yes we want the technical and the
spiritual explanation.
Now remember that we do not need to be
rich to miss getting into heaven, we can miss it just as easily if we are
poor. You don’t have to be poor to get
into heaven, many rich people have already booked their tickets into
heaven. The important thing here is the
lesson. It is all about focus. You need to focus on the eternal life, in
order to make progress down the spiritual path.
At the same time many of us, can’t just go and live in the streets, and
give up on life. We need to keep some
kind of job going, so that we can clothe ourselves and our families, and
provide them with food and shelter. So
at the end of the day the lesson is about balance and focus. You need to balance your life between the
spiritual and the physical in such a way that you are able to sufficiently
focus on the physical side of reality, that you can make a success of your
life. At the same time you need to be
able to focus on the spiritual side of your life, so that you can make
spiritual progress during life, and secure yourself a good place in
heaven. So the lesson is really all
about balance. We can look at the
spiritual Giants like John the Baptist and of course Christ Jesus, and learn
the lessons of balance from them, make sure that we focus on the right
things. We don’t have the luxury of
living off locusts and wild honey and wearing the skins of wild animals
anymore. You may have family responsibilities,
and a need to keep yourself sane; that will cause you to live a normal life, be
it focussing in a balanced way on the physical side of life, and the spiritual
side of life.
Anyway that is the first method of
spiritual progress that is explained or revealed in these scripture
readings. The third form of spiritual
progress is the kind that the Christ went through. Since it Is not necessary for us to undergo
such a spiritual path at this point in time, we will not dwell too heavily on
this form of spiritual progress. Christ
Jesus revealed or demonstrated this ultimate form of spiritual development, but
it is a path that is only for very special circumstances. For example Christ Jesus was in fact God, and
he came to earth to teach us about love, and to set in place the mechanism of
atonement for sin, or justification by faith.
This path that Christ Jesus walked, makes the spiritual progress path
possible, that the rest of us will walk.
You will always get those people who make spiritual progress by living a
spotless life, and so earning their place in heaven, without resorting to
atonement for sin. Of all the billions
of people currently alive on earth, there may or may not be a handful of people
who will make it through this path of spiritual progress. There was only one person Christ Jesus who we
are informed about who made it through the third method of spiritual progress,
dying on the cross for our sins, and rising again on the third day. For all the rest of us, we must pursue
spiritual progress, through firstly accepting our atonement for sin. Then we can continue on the spiritual path by
building up treasures for ourselves in heaven.
So you see we as ordinary human beings
are very limited in our choice of spiritual path. For almost everyone on earth right down to
almost the last one, our choice is to atone for our sins and build our
treasures in heaven. Many of us will
just atone for our sins, and just get into heaven. Many of us will not atone for our sins for
one of many millions of reasons. We have freedom of choice, and so we can
decide to progress spiritually and end up in Heaven, or not to progress and not
to end up in heaven. Powerful stuff this
free will. Which way have you decided to
go?
In a nutshell here is the formula to
get onto the path where we can start our true spiritual progress:
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.
Now you have started on the path of
spiritual progress that is available to us.
You see there are three possible paths, but in reality there is only one
path that we can realistically walk. Now
that you have started the journey on the path, or if you have been on the path
for many years, the question should still be:
How can I make spiritual progress on this path? And so I ask you this question; how can you
make spiritual progress on this path?
The answer is quite simple, you
remember that Christ Jesus brought the new Commandment with him. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and love your neighbour as yourself”.
That is the answer, the way that you can make spiritual progress. Christ Jesus made it possible for us to atone
for our sins and get into heaven through love.
We can make progress on the spiritual path through love. So ultimately it is all about love. Love is why we can, love is why we
progress. It’s all just love. You can sum up all the books of the law of
the old Covenant, and all the requirements, and comply with every single
stipulation, down to the smallest of them, with just one word: “LOVE”.
Love Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier IOCC.
Church History – Article 12:
Reform
The church was ripe for reform in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
However when the reform came knocking at the door, the church was not
ready to take the reform seriously, especially when it was presented by a mere
priest. Possibly if the 95 thesis had
been presented by a senior Bishop or a Cardinal, the Catholic church may have
taken more notice of it. One of the
things that the protestants lost was the disciplic succession, because this is
traditionally passed on by Bishops only.
Do you agree that it would be
good to bring back the disciplic succession in the protestant churches? If you do think that the disciplic succession
should be returned to the protestant churches, then how do you propose that they
should go about achieving this goal?
Just some notes on Priests and
Bishops. Although Martin Luther was only
a Priest, he held the academic rank of a doctor in theology. A Priest is your last Ordination, from there
to become a Bishop it is a consecration.
A Bishop is essentially still a Priest and always will be. Even the ranks of senior bishop and Cardinal
are not ordinations as such, but simply structural ranks that are
conferred. For example the Pope is frequently
referred to as the Bishop of Rome. So
even the Pope remains first and foremost a consecrated Bishop, and a Bishop is
really just a Priest who has been consecrated.
So I do believe that when Martin Luther led the Protestant movement as a
Priest he was fully qualified. However
sadly because of this, the Catholic Church was able to deny the Protestants the
Disciplic succession. A Bishop is not
consecrated as a Bishop of the Catholic Church, but as a Bishop of Christ. Up until now there has not appeared a Bishop
of Christ who went ahead and consecrated the leaders of the protestant churches
as Bishops of Christ. Hopefully in the
future this will happen, and the disciplic succession will be restored to the
Protestant churches.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was
born into this Christian world that was so ripe for reform. At the time, the institutional church did not
take Luther seriously enough, and as a direct result, the Protestant reformation
was established by 1517. Sadly not long
afterwards the Catholic church did get its house in order, but it was too late
to prevent the split that divided the church into Catholics and Protestants. Had the church authorities of the day taken
Martin Luther more seriously at the time, then we would all probably still be
Catholics.
On the positive side the rupture
that occurred in the sixteenth century in the Western Church brought with it
renewal and reform in the church.
However the reform came at the cost of the breakup of cultural and
religious unity of Western Europe. The
Protestants introduced a wide diversity of religious practices, which was a
major contributor to the growth of Christianity during this period. Also as we got closer to the present times, a
much higher degree of religious freedom and toleration was demanded. The Protestants provided this climate of
religious freedom and toleration.
Into the mix we add John Calvin
(1509 – 1564). Martin Luther provided
the leadership for first generation Protestants and John Calvin provided the
leadership for second generation Protestants.
Martin Luther had become the voice and the catalyst for the Protestant
reformation. Martin Luther also founded
the worldwide communion of Lutheran churches.
On the other hand John Calvin’s
work gave rise to the Presbyterian and reformed churches. The Puritan movements in England and America,
also owed their origin to John Calvin, as did the various assorted theological
clusters in many other Christian groups.
John Calvin’s Geneva headquarters were considered to be the “Protestant
Rome”, by many.
John Calvin wrote the
“Institution of the Christian Religion” which was published in 1559, which was
one of the most brilliant statements of Christian Theology ever formulated, at
the time. This work stands as a towering
landmark in Christian thought. When John
Calvin introduced this work, people started supporting it, and disagreeing with
it, but it was not something that could be ignored. This work provided theological stability and
personal assurance for generations of Calvinists and even semi-Calvinists. Against the backdrop of the “Institution of
the Christian religion”, Calvinists set out to preach the gospel of Christ to
the entire world. They believed that the
chosen or elect, would then be able to respond to the offer of God’s
grace. However not everything was going
well in the new Protestant movement.
There were many who were not happy with what had happened during the
reformation, and the direction that the Protestant movement was taking. In fact there started to emerge counter
suggestions which enjoyed support, for alternative directions that the Protestant
church should be taking.
(Next week we look at Restoration)
An Anglican Catechism
– Article 12:
The Ministry
=>
Who are the ministers of the Church?
The
ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
=>
What is the ministry of the laity?
The
ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness
to him wherever they may be; and according to the gifts given them, to carry on
Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the
life, worship, and governance of the Church.
=>
What is the ministry of a bishop?
The
ministry of a bishop is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as
apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and
discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the word of God; to act in Christ’s
name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and
to ordain others to continue Christ’s ministry.
=>
What is the ministry of a priest of presbyter?
The
ministry of a priest is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as
pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church;
to proclaim the gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and declare
pardon in the name of God.
=>
What is the ministry of a deacon?
The
ministry of a deacon is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant
of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the
gospel and the administration of the sacraments.
=>
What is the duty of all Christians?
The
duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for
corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the Kingdom of
God.
(The
Bishops of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa described the duty of
all Anglican Christians of our church like this:)
The
Father expects all his people to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the
power of the Holy Spirit to bring others to a knowledge of him.
The
Anglican Church in Southern Africa shares in this call, and every baptized and
confirmed member must share in God’s mission to the world.
To
this end your life-style as a Christian should include these responses to God’s
love for you:
-
Come to God in personal prayer every day.
-
Read the Bible daily.
-
Receive Holy Communion frequently and in expectant faith.
-
Follow the example of Jesus in daily life.
-
Speak about Jesus openly, as the Lord whom you know.
-
Work for justice and reconciliation
-
Uphold Christian standards in marriage
-
Bring up children to love and serve the Lord.
-
Give money for God’s work and to consider the claims of tithing.
-
Give personal service to the Church and to your neighbour.
-
Let your life be marked with self-denial and simplicity.
(Next
week we will look at Stewardship)
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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