learning something new

Here I've been a proest for four years and today I learned something that I had never known. It always bothered me that Nathanael is the name given to Batholomew in the Gospel of John for his feast day reading, which we heard at Mass today. I never understood why we celebrate St Bartholomew by calling him Nathanael in this gospel, but as I was preparing for my homily today, I found that this tradition goes back to the Fathers, and they,also recognizing the difference, reconciled it by looking at the two names. Nathanael is his first name and Bartholomew would be his father's name, (son of Tholomei) (similar to Bartimeaus, which means son of Timeaus and Simon Barjonah, which means son of John). It makes more sense when looked at this was. In any event, as we celebrate another feast of an apostle, it gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are an apostolic church, and our bishops are the successors of these apostles. Let us pray for our bishops that they will have the courage to preach the truth of our Catholic faith in season and out of season. We must please God, not men.

The Blessed Mother

Mary, ever Virgin. Forever will all generations call me blessed. With these words in the Gospel of Luke, we begin the moment when our Blessed Mother, visiting her cousin Elizabeth, brings her Son to a world in darkness. She carries her Son in her in her Immaculate womb, the holy of holies, the tabernacle of life where the true Bread from heaven is nourished by the very blood of His mother, Mary. The Blessed Mother has been given many privileges, and this is only right, for she is the Mother of God, she is the woman who has crushed the head of the serpent, she is the woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet.

Mary is also the refuge of sinners, for her motherly heart, her Immaculate Heart, desires that all people come to know her Son, Jesus Christ. As she sits at the right hand of Jesus, taking her rightful place as Queen of Heaven, she intercedes for all her children. We need her prayers more than ever in this world. Women are worth more than what we are doing as a society. Abortion is never an answer, for it kills not only the unborn child in her womb, but it also harms her soul and her body. And the sexualization of the female body in all areas of our "entertainment" does not bring women freedom, but makes them slaves of the male libido that sees women as objects. Yes, let us pray to our Blessed mother that there be an increase in modesty, chastity and purity and an increase in men who see women as daughters of God.