SACRED RITES AND WORSHIP IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BIBLICAL?

Jesus said, "Give to Ceasar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" So what can we give to God what he wants from us? Our love and true worship. For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son. He loves the man he created that he wants to dwell with them that was the reason he gave them the Garden of Eden, paradise on earth, which was destroyed by sin, an unforgiven sin that was contracted by the generations after Adam and Eve.

It is this love for men his will to dwell with them that in Exodus God made his presence in midst of his chosen people the nation of Israel while it was yet to reach the promised land. Every day as they traveled in the desert for 40 years God did not leave them and has made his glory felt, lest the people will once again reject him even after they saw the awesome beyond belief miracles such as the parting of the sea. To make it possible for them to dwell with the people, he commanded them to make a dwelling tent for him with a Tabernacle. It is to be a meeting place between him and Moses administered by the Priests. In that Tabernacle called the dwelling tent and meeting tent, God instituted rites and worship due to him as their God. As it is written "Our fathers had the "tabernacle" of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed it according to the pattern which he had seen".- Acts 7:44.

So how was the first Tabernacle administered according to God's command and instruction? In Hebrew 9:1 it says "Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary" Hebrew is talking of regulated divine worship, something that is structured following the instruction of God himself and it is done in a sanctuary that is on earth. Continuing in Hebrew 9:2 "For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread, this is called the holy place"

Israel was first chosen not to the exclusion of all people but they are the first to be called, chosen as a priestly nation. A holy nation which will be the light of the world so that God will be known by others as one true and ever-living God.

Jesus said I did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, I come to fulfill them. His coming is the fulfillment of everything that was not perfected in old covenant to be perfected in the new covenant including the rites and worship in the old that is now perfected in the New Rites and Worship in the New Covenant that Jesus himself instituted, the tradition of the institution talked about by St. Paul which he has received and he is passing on the church. The church is the New Tabernacle of David that has been restored and made into new under the New Covenant. The promised building of the Tabernacle of David turned up to be the Church of Jesus Christ.

What happened in the Tabernacle of David?

The Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכַּן‎‎, Mishkan, "residence" or "dwelling place"), according to the Hebrew Bible, was the portable earthly dwelling place of God amongst the children of Israel from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. According to Talmudic sources, the tent sanctuary remained at Shiloh for 369 years until the Ark of the Covenant was taken into the battle camp at Eben-Ezer (1 Samuel 4:3–5) and captured by the Philistines at Aphek (probably Antipatris)

FROM HERE WE WILL LET THE BIBLE SPEAKS FROM HEBREWS

To fully appreciate the rites and worship in the true church of Jesus Christ, the Holy Catholic Church which is the fulfillment of the restoration and rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David, let us allow the Bible to speak and we will make notation and commentary to elucidate the function of the church of Jesus Christ as an institution of God.

God's will to have his dwelling in his chosen people:

We will go back to exodus when the chosen people of God, Israel was called by and instructed them to make a Dwelling place for him in their midst that he can be with them. This is explained by the Epistle to the Hebrews. The word for dwelling place in Hebrew is Tabernacle or Mishkan. It was the "residence" of God among the Israelites. It was the holiest place in their midst and the most regulated place. Nothing in there can be seen or touched by anyone unless he is authorized by God. Only the High Priest and the priests are ordained to administer God in his Tabernacle.

In those ancient time, the Tabernacle was portable and movable as the Israelites moved and wandered in the desert, they moved the Tabernacle as well and even such movement of carrying the Tabernacle from one place to another was also highly regulated carefully following every detail that God has instructed them how to. The Tabernacle was with them for as long as they were loyal to God alone but many of the Israelites became apostates and God punished them and left their tabernacle. Thus at Shiloh, after 369 years, the tabernacle fell and captured by the Philistines and brought with them the Ark of the Covenant.

The High Priest of a New Covenant

8 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.³ Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵ They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. ⁹ It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.¹² For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle

9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. ² A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

⁶ When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. ⁷ But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. ⁸ The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. ⁹ This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰ They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.


What is the meaning of this until the time of the new order? It means that in those time the food and drink in the worship was just food and a drink made sacred by the rites and worship but today in the Tabernacle of the new covenant, the food is the body of Jesus and the drink is his true blood no longer made sacred but it is by the change of substance and nature are really sacred. Under the perfected rites and worship instituted by Jesus Christ in the new Tabernacle which is the church.

The Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵ For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶ In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹ When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵ Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Melchizedek the Priest

7 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

⁴ Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! ⁵ Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. ⁶ This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷ And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. ⁸ In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. ⁹ One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰ because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.

Jesus Like Melchizedek Hebrew7

¹¹ If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. ¹³ He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. ¹⁵ And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 

¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” ²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. ²³ Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. 

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,  and of faith in God, ² instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And God permitting, we will do so. ⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age ⁶ and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. ⁷ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

⁹ Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. ¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[Note that the endless sacrifices of bulls and goats were an imperfect sacrifice. They were just done to remind the people in the old covenant of their sins. As an imperfect sacrifice, it was impossible to forgive sins. Hebrew reminds us that those sacrifices foreshadow the perfect sacrifice that is coming that will be done once for all]

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; ⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’” ⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 [The sacrifice of Jesus Christ only makes perfect those who are being made holy. Therefore its not an automatic forgiveness for all but that forgiveness is made available for those that will believe, which is the start of being made holy. That being made holy is a process, a journey towards becoming holy, verse 10 is clarified in verse 14]

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says: ¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” ¹⁷ Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” ¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have the confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

²⁶ If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² Remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. ³⁴ You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. ³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

³⁸ And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” ³⁹ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

IN CONCLUSION

The rites and worship due to God and God alone are preserved only in his church, the Catholic Church which the Protestants have called the worship of Idols which is very offensive to the Lord God. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit of which there is no forgiveness. They call as profane the rites and worship to the true God celebrated by the Catholic Church presided by the ordained Priests solely authorized to perform such rites and worship as in the days of the Levites in the Old Covenant and is now perfected to this day of the New Covenant by the only "actual" sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross done once and today is being duplicated in commemorative sacrifice of Bread and Wine which he has commanded for the church to do. It is a thanksgiving, a Eucharist to God for the forgiveness of sins. This to us is the mark of the true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church.

Therefore unless a believer enters the true church, he is not a true believer but a false one. No true believer is outside the Holy Catholic Church for there is just one body, one church, and one Lord Jesus Christ. He who said that unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you for my body is true food and my blood true drink. He who eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. The body and blood of Jesus Christ can only be available to us through the rites and worship instituted by the Lord and handed over to the Apostles who handed it over to us. Jus exactly as what St. Pual has said. "For I received from the Lord what I also handed over to you.

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By Bro. Manny OTFS Chief Apologist

Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholes (Acts 9:31)

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

PROTESTANT ERROR: STOP PRAYING TO MARY AND THE SAINTS

For 1600 years no one not even the Protestant reformer leaders like Luther and Calvin questioned the attributes of the Blessed Virgin Mary given to her by the Catholic Church and her role in the life of Christians. All Christians of the Catholic Church are united in praying to her and for her help and intercession in their needs. It is only the modern Protestants who have invented more black propaganda to entice Catholics to join them in their rebellion, errors, and false beliefs that have blasphemed, attacked and maligned the Blessed Virgin Mary taunting the Catholics who have devotion to her.

The problem of modern protestants is they have been so brainwashed and have lived in errors for too long they no longer see, hear, and believe that true Christianity is a Communion of all the people of God that includes foremost the first Christian and the mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the Apostles, all the Angels, all the Saints who have gone up to heaven, all the priests and bishops and the believers and faithful Catholics the only true Christians who are still living and are persevering in the only true church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church. This is the body of Christ the one church outside of which no one will be saved.

The church from the beginning is meant to be communal, united as one body so that we who are still in a journey in this life is united with those who have gone ahead of us in heaven. In Romans 12:4-8 St. Paul point to this very important unity in diversity of gifts from the Holy Spirit "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, (to provide for others) do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

Does the Blessed Virgin Mary have a role in the salvation works of Jesus Christ according to the will of the Father? The Protevangelium in Genesis 3:15 is the first announcement of the good news of salvation. The word Proevangelium is a compound word of two greek words "prot" means "first" and "Evangelium" means "good news". The significance of the Protoevangelium as the first Gospel is the decree of God and his first promise to send a savior to humans, the seed of the woman. And what does it say "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

The Catholic Church has always taught that the woman of Genesis 3:15 refers primarily to Mary while her seed refers to Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior. Therefore, the text in Genesis foreshadows the sign the Lord gives to King Achaz through Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Any theologian agrees that the woman and her seed spoken in Genesis 3:15 is Mary and Jesus since the same prophecy of Isaiah is spoken by the angel at the incarnation of the Son of God in Matthew 1:22-23 "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). What has been spoken of through the prophets are confirmed by the New Testament Gospel that the woman referred to in Genesis 3:15 is non-other but the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Since the Blessed Virgin Mary is the woman in the first Gospel, Jesus who is the fulfillment of the prophets and the laws in the Old Testament has always called her in his public ministry according to the scriptures as "woman". Jesus who according to the Gospel of Luke grew up in wisdom and was obedient to his mother Mary and foster father Joseph apparently only called her woman in public in reference to her role in the salvation plan and works of God as the "woman" who will be in opposition or enmity against satan who will be crushed by her son Jesus according to the decree of God saying "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed". It is clear the battle is not only waged against Satan by Jesus but also by his mother Mary. They are together in opposition to the devil and its seed. In truth, they were really together. 

In the New Testament, one will notice that the Blessed Virgin Mary was always there with Jesus in silence except in the "wedding at the Cana" where Jesus showed his miraculous power when he turned water into the best wine served to the wedding guests at the intercession of his mother Mary. Its the only scene in the Gospel where Jesus and his Mother Mary have a conversation. Let us revisit that scene in the bible John 2:1-5 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”, “Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Let's look closely and imagine the scene apparently mother and son are sitting beside each other and the mother notified her son Jesus the wedding celebration has run out of wine. "Woman, why does this CONCERN US?" Jesus did not say "why does this concern me" but he used "us" that included the mother. This incident shows how close Jesus and his mother Mary were to each other. At that point in time, only the mother knew the power of her son Jesus Christ which she may have seen in their private moments together as mother and son in their home in Nazareth. In fact Jesus even somehow protested with "My hour has not yet come" which we can interpret safely that a public display of awesome miraculous power will expose him to the public. Yet the mother Mary was insistent calling the servants and saying to them pointing to her Son Jesus, "Do whatever He tells you". The wedding at the Cana is a powerful biblical Testament, that the Blessed Virgin Mary can intercede for us to God since Jesus is God. If she can change the mind of the Lord on something that he believed did not concern them both, she can change his mind on many things especially on what concern Jesus most, the salvation of mankind. It is for this reason that even in the early days of the Church, Christians pray to Mary for intercession and help.

The only mediator between God and Man is Jesus 1 Timothy 2:5 so why make Mary a Co-Redemptrix. The co-redemptrix, mediatrix or similar title is not an official teaching of the Catholic Church. It is a pious belief by some Catholic theologians but it is not an official doctrine or dogma. Just because you hear and read it from Catholics it is to be considered a dogma or doctrine. You are therefore wrong. The Catholic doctrine is consistent with the biblical teaching, there is the only mediator between God and Man, Jesus Christ.

Mediatrix of all graces is a title that the Roman Catholic Church gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary; as the Mother of God, it includes the understanding that she mediates the Divine Grace. In addition to Mediatrix, other titles are given to her in the Church: Advocate, Helper, Benefactress.

Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholes (Acts 9:31)

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

PROTESTANT ERROR: IMAGES AND STATUES ARE IDOLS

Do not make idols and pray to idols Deuteronomy 5:7.

Idolatry is the worship of an idol or cult image, being a physical image, such as a statue, or a person in place of God. Let’s stress that point – IN PLACE OF GOD. In short, Idolatry is the worship of other gods and not the true God. Therefore idols are those that are worship as God but are not.

In Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism and Christianity, idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than God as if it were God – AS IF IT WERE GOD. So idolatry is making an image or treating a person or something (IDOLS) as God and give worship as to God. Thus the Bible clearly qualified idolatry as worshiping the statues and images as God. The keyword is worship. 

Therefore the mere making or presence of images and statues is not idolatry if they are not worshiped as God. Let us then first understand what worship means. 

God knows our hearts and minds and he knows if we are worshipping something as God. That is why God even ordered the Israelites to make an Ark of the Covenant with images of Cherubim. God even ordered the making of Saraph image put on the Pole to heal the Israelites. The Temple of Solomon had statues of Angels but again that is ok with God because they are not worshipped. The prohibition of God is well defined which is against worshipping them like God. But while they are not worshiped as God, they are called Holy Things and what is made Holy by God you shall not call profane. In the Old Testament, the Holy Things and Holy Objects of God used by the Priests in performing rites of worship to God in the Tabernacles were to be handled with care and no one can touch them except those that are designated to touch, carry, or hold them. Anyone who was unauthorized to hold or touch them died.

Saints are not idols because they are not worshiped by Catholics. Only the Protestants insist and claim such thing just because the statues adorned the Catholic Churches place of worship. Just like the Tabernacle in the Old Testament which God called a replica of God’s abode in heaven, likewise the Catholic Church place of worship is a replica of what we find in heaven according to the visions of John in Revelation and the Tabernacle in the Desert in Exodus. God surrounded by the saints, elders, and angels who worship and serve him as depicted in the Altar where Jesus on the Cross can be found and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints, the Elders (Bishops and Apostles), and Angels.

The Saints are real people who lived holy lives and now in heaven that include the Apostles. They continue to pray for us and they are like angels that they know what is happening on earth. They pray for us. Their statues are there in our churches not to worship them as God but as a visible reminder for us that one day we will join them in heaven. Their statues serve to inspire us and to help us focus our prayers on God. The memories of their saintly lives glorify God since their lives encourage others to follow and do the same.

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Advisory from the Author 1

Thank you for your visit. Ekklesia Katholes page is presently being reconstructed to make it handy and easy for you to use for information, articles, commentaries, e-books, and many other writings about the Catholic faith by the author, Bro. Manny Santos.

Many non-Catholics who do not know anything about the Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith have been fed with lies and black propaganda by other churches and religious organizations for the purpose of convincing the Catholic faithful to leave the true church founded by Jesus Christ himself and join them in their Protestant churches and other no-Christian religion and churches. For this reason, I have put up this page as a resource center for those who are maybe having doubts about the Catholic faith they have grown up with as a member of a Catholic family.

While the Catholic Church has all the scriptural foundation and references to defend the truth about its doctrines and dogmas, many of the writings are too complicated to read. Thus the author of the page tries to explain the doctrines and dogmas in plain English or Tagalog Language for the sake of those that don't have much understanding of doctrines and dogmas that are written using religious words and terms used in the past 2000 years.