Ave Maria and the Eternal Dance

Even as a Seventh-day Adventist, the music that made my spirit soar in a delicate, yet piercing, yearning for my Lord was Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria. I felt such an uncomfortable spirituality in it. Yet, in defiance of even my own conscience, I sang it for my senior vocal recital at an Adventist University and promised the Lord it really was for Him. Since only a few family members showed up, it didn’t cause scandal although the song was censored for a while in the SDA church I attended. 

I hummed it for years without the “idolatrous words” or in Latin so I couldn’t understand what I was saying. Happily, I discovered a version with Protestant lyrics I sang at church  but it left my heart empty.

For decades, I wondered WHAT was wrong with me? I wept at almost all Ave Maria’s-- Totus Tuus, Shubert, Caccini, Biebl. It seemed blasphemous that the sweetest, most exquisite sounds ever dreamed were about Mary and not Jesus. I would grab my chest in agony and apologize to Him.

Then one morning, with Haley Westerna singing Ave Maria in the background, in an ascending, sublime prayer I broke out into sobs, torn between the ethereal ecstasy of the music and guilt, when He spoke.

“Fear not. You are hearing my voice, Teresa.” 

Dearest, dearest... can you be speaking? Is that Your voice to sooth my anguish?

He continued, “When you hear Ave Maria, you are hearing My love song to my mother. You are witnessing the voice of God, the voice of the creator of the universe honoring through the archangel Gabrielle, the little Jewish girl, His mother.” 

He told me that I am privileged to listen to the greatest love song of all eternity. As once long ago, a young woman led the world into disaster with her disobedience, so now in these words, “Hail, full of Grace,” Jesus honors a young woman chosen of all women who have breathed upon the earth, to bear the Savior and be the instrument of salvation to all the world with her obedience.

This Ave Maria moment was the beginning of the Mystery kept hidden from the foundations of the world. We, finally, could see the genesis of the New Covenant of grace, a new beginning for mankind. The fullness of God’s infinite love for us begun with  Mary would culminate in the cross and the resurrection of Christ. What sorrow was begun with Eve was comforted, healed and redeemed with Mary. 

“You love her so much, don’t you, Jesus?” Knowing the tender affection reserved only for my own mother, I felt somewhat left out and crestfallen at my presumptuousness that  I could enter that kind of intimate Love that Jesus had for His mother. 

He quietly explained that I can yet not handle the Love I see between Mary and Himself, but He wants us to ponder it nonetheless because in these scenes of tenderest love there is the promise of what we shall have in heaven. We will join in this love story that surpasses all shadows we play out here on earth.

We cannot experience but a mere taste of celestial love here, because of our human nature. Mary was perfect and a soul without sin has no boundaries for experience. While our physical nature simply collapses under too much stimuli either good or bad, Mary’s can withstand the power of God’s love unfiltered. What we would find unendurable, killing us, Mary’s infinite capacity for love can receive. 

God’s love of Mary, we who have accepted His love, will one day be shared by us when we have a limitless spirit. As we look upon this immortal dance of the Groom and His Bride, as we ponder it in our hearts, we learn that one day our obedience will lead to a crown being placed upon our heads, that we will share in the glorious eternal dance with our Father. Then we will hear His voice singing to us... “Hail, full of grace.”

Predicting the End of the Word by Father Frank Pavone

http://youtu.be/JaQjYxMGFOE



I grew up in a sect called Seventh-day Adventists whose entire church was based upon a failed prophecy of the end of the world on October 22, 1844. This particular group of Millerite followers began to believe that the Millerite prediction had been misunderstood, just like Camping is saying now, that instead of the end of the world a judgment had come--just like Camping now! Weird to see first-hand how history repeats itself. Only this time the tragedy was contained. William Miller's 1844 prediction caused the Great Disappointment that ended up with death (both murder and suicide) and insanity as well as starvation for those farmers who didn't reap their harvest because they believed the Lord was coming. For newspaper scans of the Millerite Great Disappointment go to my other website:

www.arthurandteresabeem@blogspot.com

An Evangelical Meets Catholic Seminarians

I ran into this post an another blog and thought I would share it here:

http://pietrosquared.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/a-visit-to-heaven/#

A Visit to Heaven

My brother is a Roman Catholic seminarian, and I visited him at Mount Saint Marys Seminary the last couple days to see him installed in his second-to-last office (acolyte) before hopefully being ordained a priest (in about two years). I’ve been hoping to visit John for a long time, and finally got the opportunity.
My Evangelical brothers and sisters typically misunderstand and mischaracterize the Catholic Church, its leaders and theology and practices, so I felt compelled to write this to them, an “open letter” if you will.


First off, much of what Evangelicals believe about Catholicism, what they believe and who they are, is flat out incorrect. I will not dedicate any space here to that, except to say that people don’t listen to each other all that well in the 21st century, even though it’s easier than ever, technologically, to do. We should all try harder.


So let me tell you what I found among the more than 150 seminarians I spent a couple days with.


I found men who love Jesus with a passion and wholeness that I find rare among Christians of any stripe in these days.
I found men who struggle with the same kinds of things that we all do, regular guys who are dealing with what we all deal with… with the amazing support of Christ, of their brothers, and of the church.
I found men who can chuck a frisbee way farther than I ever will be able to.

I found a place where worship is very deep, even sublime, and regular and intentional and heartfelt… and amazing, and where prayer is an intentionally regular and essential and practiced part of every day. I found that Jesus was palpably present in every room and hallway.


I ate one of the tastiest meals I’ve had in forever.
I found generosity that is inspiring.
I found guys that, when it’s time to have fun… have some serious fun.
I found real intelligence, insight and wisdom being leveraged for the kingdom of Heaven. Almost any of these guys could probably lead, and lead well, in any secular company and probably make a lot of money.


I found the presence of Christ in community that I was, frankly, a little envious of.


I found a love of Christ’s body on earth that you don’t find very often anywhere.
I found that not everybody will make it, but if they don’t, it is handled with grace and love. I didn’t find any ambition, though, really.
I didn’t actually really hear anybody say anything that wasn’t uplifting and encouraging.


I met leaders and instructors who care for those under their charge with passion and charity.


I found the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit elevated and exalted and magnified in every single thing. I found some things that are not my particular practices, but even those things did nothing but lift up and exalt our Lord.


Men, what a blessing you were to me! I have news for you. Heaven will be just like this!


If these men are any indication of the kinds of people who will emerge as the priests and leaders of the Catholic Church in this new century, there are great days ahead for them, and more and more people are going to experience the Gospel in real, tangible ways.
Note: In the past few days, this post has become almost all of my internet traffic for the entire year, receiving thousands of hits. Thanks for sharing my joy in people who are passionately in love with Jesus and His Church.


But… I have received some comments (VERY few) I am not allowing to be posted here that were, in my opinion, inflammatory or negative. Sorry. It’s my blog… You’re welcome to start your own… but divisiveness among those who love and follow Jesus, especially divisiveness built on prejudice and ignorance and even past hurts, is not something I can stand any more at this stage in my life. My life’s background has included mainline and evangelical Christianity as well as Roman Catholocism (which I grew up in). I know what I speak of, and many of you that are saying the things you are saying are flat out incorrect, and I’m sorry for your hurts or feelings, but they have no place here. Blessings

What Do ALL These People Have in Common?

What do Tony Blair and Tony Snow as well as Bob Hope and “Bob” Robert Bork have in common besides a first name?

What do Doc Holiday,  Buffalo Bill and Kit Carson have in common besides the wild, wild west?

What do entertainers Gary Cooper, Faye Dunaway, Susan Hayward, Jim Nabors, Patricia Neal, Vincent Price, Jane Wyman and Sir Alex and Lady Guiness,  and Cherry Boone (daughter of Pat) all share in common? 

As well as royalty such as Charles II of England, Queen Christina of Sweden, King Henry the IV of France?

What about social activists Dorothy Day, Clare Booth Luce?

Besides being writers what do J R R Tolkien, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway,  G. K. Chesterton,  and Malcom Muggeridge all share?

Or artists Peter Paul Rubens, Jacques Offenbach?

What do politicians Sam Brownback, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich and those who comment about politics --Robert Novak, Laura Ingraham, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Brent Bozell all get together to celebrate besides political wins?

Or what about famous abortionist turn pro-life advocate Dr. Bernard Nathanson, and  Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff better known as “Jane Roe” in the Roe vs. Wade landmark court case who also is now a pro-life activist?

What about Thomas Merton and John Henry Newman....?

Do you know what unites all these people in each individual questions together and ALL of them have in common?

They ALL Converted to Catholicism when they were adults. Not that it really matters, but it is interesting....

Conversation between Protestant and Catholic

P: Do you believe homosexuality to be a sin?

C: Yes, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

P: But is that what you, personally believe?

C: I’m a Catholic, so I believe what the Church teaches.

P: So, you just give your mind over to the Catholics to make moral decisions for you?

C: Did you personally discover the law of thermodynamics or that smoking cigarettes is bad for you? Did you invent the alphabet? Since you didn’t why did you just give your mind over to your teachers who taught you this? 

P: That’s stupid. I’m talking about moral opinions. Those things you referred to are facts, they are provable. 

C: Spiritual truths are provable just like scientific laws. They have to be tested and retested and stand the scrutiny of time without changing--that what makes it a law instead of a theory. For 2000 years, the Catholic church has done that. 

P: I don’t know what you are talking about.... what “testing’ have they done?”

C: Not testing like in a lab, but observing that God’s laws really do have study-able results. Lying, cheating, adultery, disrespect of parents do have bad consequences on one’s life.

P: So what if I don’t trust the Catholic Church’s “scientific” views. The Holy Spirit uses my own brain and scripture to figure out truths for myself? 

C: I didn’t look inside my heart to discover how to read, nor to discover E=MC² or to believe men actually stepped upon the moon. When I am sick I do not diagnose, prescribe and treat my own illnesses. Like you, I believed the experts who taught me. 


So, when it comes to spiritual truths, I listen to the hundreds of brilliant theological experts within the 2000 years of Catholic history that had incredibly spiritual insights. Why shouldn’t I draw from them the treasure of their spiritual illumination? And, like them, defer my opinion to the Church?

P: Sounds very dangerously gullible. 

C: No more gullible than believing smoking hurts our lungs because the experts say so. My understanding, my interpretation, even my conscience is fallible. So, I look to experts outside of myself and the Bible to find truth. You also do it as a Protestant when you go to church and listen to your preacher and when you read inspirational books--like Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, the Left Behind Series, anything by Billy Graham or Joel Osteen.

I think it is just as dangerously gullible to believe that you can come to truth without any outside teaching.

P: But that isn't Biblical.... We get truth from the Spirit.... John 16:13...

C: Then you don't need the Bible at all, do you? Or church, or other books or anyone but yourself--that is not Biblical!  I Timothy 3:15.

Shameless Popery: Cardinal George Suspends Renegade Father Michael P...

Shameless Popery: Cardinal George Suspends Renegade Father Michael P...: "Cardinal Francis George has done the right thing and suspended Fr. Michael Pfleger again . It's regrettable, but long overdue. Father Pfle..."

The Spirit, Truth and St. John’s Gospel (Ch. 14-16)

Over fifty years ago, he had walked closely with the Lord. Now as the only living Apostle,  John reverently took up pen to add to the memoirs of the Messiah. 

The Spirit brought to John’s mind the evening Jesus led His eleven disciples towards Gethsemane and assured them:

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”

Now, through the Holy Spirit, John had become able to bear these things--the deepest spiritual mysteries the Apostles were unable to comprehend until after the Resurrection.  With this in mind, John related all that his master had taught, probing the depths of its meaning. Toward the end of his story in chapter fourteen, John recalled the profound, heartfelt instructions of Jesus even as the the Cross was overshadowing the evening. 

At Gethsemane, as one disciple was at that very moment betraying him and the rest were about to scatter, Jesus thought not of his own spiritual battle but encouraged his Apostle’s with these words:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me....I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--the Spirit of truth. ...But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 

Jesus continues in the following two chapters: 

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. 

Guiding Us Into All Truth

There are two ways that believers have interpreted these words of Christ. 

• Many assume Jesus’ promise was universal, that the Holy Spirit directly deposits truth into all true believers’ minds and hearts. 

• The traditional view is that Jesus is speaking of the church that He was establishing. The promise was spoken to the Apostles as the leaders of this church, not to all individual Christians. John was not writing this to let everyone know they were going to personally know all truth, but He was telling the readers that the church established by Christ would be given the Holy Spirit--as an entire body--so that they could be assured that the church would not lead them astray.

This is why I believe the second interpretation is correct. 

Jesus made that statement to those Apostles who were there--specific to them because they had heard what He had said throughout His ministry. Jesus knew there would be false prophets and shepherds who had heard Him who would twist His message. He knew there would come a day when things would become chaotic with everyone claiming they knew what Jesus had said and each vying for authority on His words. The Spirit would come to those God had placed in charge of the church so that insecurities wouldn’t arise, they could be utterly confident in their memories and their authority as His representatives.

As His appointed, anointed leaders who were to go out and spread the gospel, they would need miraculous help to remember all that he had told them personally. If you notice the context, Jesus says that the Counselor will remind them of what He has said and how to testify, as they had been with Him from the beginning. (Christians today cannot be reminded of what He said for we never heard Him say it while on earth--we were not there, nor were we with Him from the beginning.)

If Jesus meant that the Holy Spirit would bring all Christians into the fullness of truth directly, why warn against false teachers and prophets? If absolute, infallible truth is implanted into the individual Christian heart and mind, then there would be no need for a church with teachers, apostles and certainly no need for Scripture.

Sola Scriptura

Without realizing it, many Christians today place into the text the idea that the Holy Spirit will come into the individual’s mind to interpret the Bible. If you will read the context of what Jesus was saying to the Apostles, nowhere is scripture mentioned nor implied. It is a promise to bring us into the fullness of truth--through the Spirit--not through scripture. If we are going to take the text at face value, then none of us will ever need the Bible. This puts those who believe in sola scriptura in a dilemma.

Perhaps the text is not meaning that God will bring us as individuals into complete truth. Perhaps what John is writing is that Christ’s Apostles, as leaders of His church, will be given the fullness of truth so that when they speak as a group--not individuals--His Spirit will be there reminding them of all Christ had taught them. Then all truth can be passed down from within the Church. The church and its appointed leaders can be trusted and we can be at peace knowing when we listen to God’s appointed leaders, they have all truth and will not deceived us.

Obedience in the Darkness, Part IV by Teresa Beem

(The first three parts can be found at www.arthurandteresabeem@blogspot.com) 

“Sweet Jesus, Precious Lord, 

More than anything, I desire to know You 

know You at all cost, know You at any sacrifice,

Though You slay me, yet will I serve You.” 

Little did I know that daily plea would lead me down a shocking path of darkness, of theological terror and confusion that would culminate in the sweetest spiritual euphoria--far beyond being saved, beyond being a Christian, beyond feelings and faith, doctrine and dogma. He, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, awoke me with the gentlest whisper, and I found myself inside the Kingdom of Heaven.

To relate my journey and try to map out how I arrived there is impossible--only God knows. However, I will do the best I can to plot the points. 

  ******

Having explored America’s diversity of Christian worship, from sea to shining sea, there were those who were concerned that we had not yet found a spiritual “home.” I was enraptured to experience Christians in diverse places and in diverse manners worshipping God! (Even if the theology was desolate and left me in a spiritual angst.) To me, there was no hurry, I had eternity to learn of my Savior.

Yet, my story was building.... Ruminating around were several revelations all slowly culminating into one huge “ahah!” almost exploding my brain. I was researching the Ante-Nicene Fathers’ writings, taking several religion classes about Christian history and the canonization of the Bible as well as spending time daily discussing theology with friends on my online ecumenical group.

For me, this passion for understanding Christ through theology wasn’t about salvation or being right, or knowing more than others. Since childhood I felt safe and secure knowing that my Lord had died for my sins. Bible study and prayer had always been a part of my daily routine. And faith? I didn’t know anything but righteousness by faith through God’s grace. My father had so thickly polished my soul with with faith, that all those years at sea with Seventh-day Adventist legalism never penetrated my hull.

He was my best friend, my beloved, my Savior. Why wouldn’t I be zealous to know every tiny bit about Him possible? So when I heard my love knocking “Open up my sister, my beloved” (Songs 5:2) I sought Him... and some of it was in study....

The Holy Written Word of God

I was born on November 10.... proud and delighted to share my birthday with the preeminent Christian since St. Augustine-- the Blessed Martin Luther! But the more I studied his writings, I realized that he was instrumental in the dismantling of God’s holy written Word. For sixteen hundred years the scriptures contained books Protestants no longer read. Luther and the other reformers judged them as uninspired, not God-breathed. How they concluded they had the permission to condense scripture, I will never understand.  I thought it hypocritical that the reformers’ battle cry was “Sola Scriptura” when they literally tore out books they disproved of (ironically, the ones that backed up Catholic doctrines). In the end, the reformers cry was really more  o sola mia than sola scriptura. Instead of the scriptures being their final authority, they made themselves the final authority over scripture. 

The Ante-Nicene Fathers’ Writings

These first and second century bishops (taught, ordained and commissioned by the Apostles to lead the churches that they started) taught Catholicism! They believed in the sacramental real presence in the communion bread. They believed in true and false teachers as well as the abomination of any schisms. They believed in immersion and in sprinkling baptism and in baptismal regeneration; they believed Sunday to be a holy day commemorating the resurrection of Christ; they believed in an immortal soul, respect for Mary, relics, .... uh oh. They were Catholic and catholic.... both. 

Catholic Beliefs

All the while our online discussion group was becoming heated because of me. These tricky papist apologists were winning all the theological battles--using scripture! How dare they! I didn’t believe for one minute that what they were writings was truly what Catholics believed. That wasn’t what I was taught Catholics believed. The were trying to use deceptive watered-down and Protestant-ed up strategies. I threw genuine-southern-belle-all-out-true-blue-hissy-fits on the world wide web. Stamping my feet and blubbering like Glenn Beck giving a patriotic soliloquy,  I swore I would expose those Catholic demons! So I bought a catechism, a Catholic encyclopedia and doctrinal history book. Scouring through them I found out just the opposite of what I intended. They hadn’t misrepresented Catholicism. Their doctrine was biblical.... maybe I had never thought of it like they had, but it wasn’t a matter of throwing away the Bible--the Catholics interpreted it differently. (Gulp.) 

In fact their entire language and worldview was different. Misunderstandings were bound to happen. Indeed, they do not believe that we earned salvation. They didn’t even view salvation like we did. Salvation to a Catholic isn’t eternal life, it is seeing Christ face to face (the Beatific vision), living in total surrender to Him in His presence. The eternal living part was secondary--after all--if our souls are immortal we are already assured of eternal life, the question is not if, but where we will spend eternity. The church, the Beloved Bride is the Kingdom of Heaven and you are baptized (covenanted) into it--not through a sterile law but as adopted children. Though the kingdom will be consummated when Christ literally returns again to celebrate the cosmic wedding feast, we are now living inside it as Christians today.

“No..... no... no... no.. no.. No... NO.. NO! NO!  NO! .... NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Please God, pleeeeeease. I don’t want to become a Catholic. They cannot be right. There is no way I can accept this. No way. 

Yet, the more I studied Christian history from atheists, Protestant and Catholic sources, the more my stomach sunk. I had finally gone bonkers, all this study had, had.... brainwashed me. So I took a while off and had some wine, read a couple novels, went to the beach. But I still prayed my prayer from the top of this post--and I still meant it. 

After a few months, I experienced a reoccurrence of a particularly painful condition I have. It was around five o’clock in the afternoon and I was in excruciating agony. My medications began to kick in and I felt a need to be in God’s presence in a special way and beg Him to take away this chronic physical burden. So I thought I would go to my church and just sit in the sanctuary (I have done this a lot in my life when I went through troubles). Because of the time, my churches I regularly attended were not open. I knew the Catholic church would be, so I drove there and knelt and prayed--no begged--the Lord to take away the pain. I was so desperate, I promised that if He took it away, I would at least look into joining the RCIA (the Catholic adult educational classes). When I got up to leave, I was pain free and I have never had a reoccurrence of that magnitude again. (It hasn’t been totally healed yet though.) 

What I found out was that the new RCIA classes at that parish didn’t begin for months. So, with a deep sigh of relief,  I kinda put joining the classes aside. As if that miracle wasn’t enough, I remember praying to God one morning for another sign--a HUGE sign that he wanted me to pursue the Catholic faith (this had to be unmistakeable because, come on, the Catholic Church--the Roman Catholic Church?). 

My son’s high school was right down the road, so I got in the car as usual and began driving down our city streets, quietly repeating my prayer for a sign. “A big sign.... a big, big sign! Please Lord. Immediately after praying that I saw a brand new billboard. A huge billboard on the right side of the road with a blue emblazoned word “POPE” on it. I shook my head and blinked my eyes. What? As I drove closer, I saw written in little letters “vote for” so-and-so Pope. It was the last name for a candidate in an upcoming local election. That sign had been put up the day before. You have to admit, it was literally a huge sign. 

Several more miracles occurred to assure and reassure me that God would protect my apprehensive heart, as my mind was becoming more and more convinced through research, prayer and Bible study that God wanted me in the Catholic Church. 

The fall of 2007, Arthur and I tip-toed into the RCIA room of the Catholic Church, Bereans--with Bible in hand--a large chip on our shoulders and with narrowed, suspicious eyes. The priest was shocking, the nuns were liberals, the RCIA director, cool and mediocre, but as the weeks flowed by, we became smitten by the love of the doctrines--the real presence in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory, devotion to Mary, the rites and rituals, the holy water, the crucifix. All had layer upon layer of extraordinary meaning and spiritual depth. Oh, it was scriptural--I just had never fully opened my eyes and ears.

It was like a flash of heavenly fire burned up all my doubts, the years of confusion, the pleas to be near the ever-burning flame of His love. Here was God--eternal, merciful, majestic, loving. Here was truth, absolute truth. 

It is impossible to believe in Protestant America, but Catholic theology is more biblical than any other--by far--I had studied. There is no way I can condense just how deep, amazing and fabulous Catholic doctrine is in this little testimonial. This isn’t an apologetic post but an experiential one.

Our thoroughly Protestant book “It’s okay Not to be a Seventh-day Adventist” debuted  in July of 2008, a few weeks after we were confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church that Easter. It was bittersweet, for as glorious as it was to enter the Kingdom, I knew my Protestant family and friends would not understand. But my prayer was answered and my darkness had turned into the light shining from the face of Christ. 

All the dull, confused rocky conglomeration of relativistic theology, now turned to sparkling gemstones. The lights of heaven had been turned on, and now I could see. Oh I know, the Catholic Church is full of wonderful and pretty rotten people who, like Judas, have betrayed Christ. But just as Christ had given me eye to see myself as He sees me, so He gave me eyes to see His Beloved Bride as He sees her, beautiful, spotless, virginal, perfect. For He sees us both through the cleansing water of His Word. 

There it is, my story. And now I am home. If you want to discuss the theology I would love to give to you what was freely given to me. But this story wasn’t a debate about Protestant versus Catholic interpretation of Scripture. It was my love story. How Jesus came and answered my little prayer, my little plea in the darkness. And I return His love with the words of the Beloved:

Set me like a seal on your heart, 

like a seal on your arm. 

For love is strong as Death,

Passion as relentless as Sheol.

The flash of it is a flash of fire,

A flame of Yahweh Himself. 

Love no flood can quench,

No torrent drown.... 

(From the Song of Songs.)