©2023 Victor R. Claveau, MJ
A couple of days ago, I was visited by a building contractor as I was considering adding a room addition to accommodate my library. About 20% of my books are on military history and the rest are on religious subjects. I have bookcases in four of the rooms in my house, 27 in all, and I have always wanted a library room.
My visitor, who I will refer to as “John”, is a very strong Christian. After discussing the plans for the construction, John and I began a discussion on the subject of Catholicism. He was basically ignorant of Catholic beliefs and had many misconceptions. He was convinced that Catholics never read the Bible. I explained the Church recommend daily Bible study and that Sunday Masses use a three-year cycle of readings. The Sunday and weekday Lectionaries contain: 13.5 percent of the Old Testament (not counting the Psalms); 54.9 percent of the non-Gospel New Testament; 89.8 percent of the Gospels; and 71.5 percent of the entire New Testament. When a Catholic celebrates Mass, he/she hears readings from the OT, Psalms, Epistles and the Gospels. I also explained that the readings have a theme running through them and that the priest expounds on the theme of the readings and how they should apply to us in our daily sanctification. The average Catholic is far more familiar with the Scriptures that the average Protestant, whose pastor could preach on one of Paul’s Epistles for six months, should he desire to do so.
Whenever I dialogue with a non-Catholic Christian, I endeavor to bring up two very important subjects: authority and the Real Presence.
It is important for them to consider that Jesus established a Church and Scripture attests that this Church had a visible authority established by Jesus and the Apostles (Bishops, priests, and deacons). I asked, “By what authority does your pastor teach?” John could not answer.
John attends Calvary Chapel church. I explained that Calvary Chapel was established by Chuck Smith. Smith was ordained as a pastor for the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, which was founded in 1927 by Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), a controversial female evangelist. McPherson was an outright celebrity, participating in publicity events such as Sunday parades through the streets of Los Angeles, along with the mayor and movie stars, directly to her church called the Angelus Temple. Never ordained and thrice divorced, she died of an overdose of prescription barbiturates in 1944. My point became obvious… his pastor lacked apostolic authority.
John believed that when he received “communion” he was receiving the body and blood of Jesus. Essentially, his belief patterned Martin Luther’s. Luther taught that became the Eucharist if you believed it to be so. In other words, the cracker and grape juice he was receiving was Jesus simply because he believed it to be so. I asked what the pastor did with the leftovers. Did they not get put on the shelf until the next time they wanted to parody the Last Supper? I further explained that we Catholics place the Eucharist in a tabernacle and adore Him.
I quoted from Isaiah “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). As God, whatever came from the mouth of Jesus would also come to pass. When He said, “This is my Body…” He was holding himself in his own hands.
Finally, I quoted from John’s Gospel: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God’” (John 6:45). “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 6:53-56). I gave John a copy of the Navarre Commentary on John’s Gospel in the hope that he would further study.
My final statement was “What if I’m right about this? How can you deny these words of Jesus? There is an avalanche of historical evidence to support Catholic belief. If you truly love Him, why would you not want to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood. You now know this reality, what are you going to do about it?