Martin Luther: Anal Warrior

As a high school history teacher it is often very difficult to get the true thrust of the Reformation across to my students, simply because it is difficult for them to imagine living in a world where secularism basically didn't exist and in which Christianity and daily life were so intertwined that secular rulers willingly knelt before religious ones (i.e. the popes). And it is a very curious byproduct of the Reformation, that students today have difficulty grasping its historical context. The Reformers and those who ran with the "reforms" thereafter are responsible for the rise of secularism. And, in a culture which has outright animosity toward Christianity and that elevates secularism as its religion, it is I suppose a victory for Catholics that the textbooks used in most high school history classes at least posit this one true cause/effect relationship: The Reformation caused the rise of secularism. The Church was, for over 1500 years the guardian of a truly Christian culture and world - Christendom.

Obviously Martin Luther played a part. And, obviously, he had no idea that his ideas would tear the European world asunder. He entered the monastery to escape his abusive parents. They both often beat him severely. He never expressed a particularly "religious" calling - he simply needed a safe place to go. Only one of his parents was Christian - his mother. His father was an occultist who believed in dark witches, hobgoblins, and demons. These beliefs produced haunting imaginings in Luther who expressed that he had visions. During these experiences, which he categorized as actual physical occurrences, he and the devil would hurl "shit" at each other. And, as the modern reader begs for a Freudian interpretation, he describes himself as challenging the devil to "lick" his posterior. He pondered the best tactic and wanted to "throw him into my anus, where he belongs" (quoted in Thompson, Humanists and Reformers, pp. 403-404). Historian William Manchester refers to Luther as "the most anal of theologians" (A World Lit only by Fire, p. 104). In fact, and maybe close to home for many, Luther - like LBJ - conducted much of his business on the john. "Faith alone" came like the crash of a thunderbolt, in his own words as, "knowledge the Holy Spirit gave me on the privy in the tower" (Manchester 139). Then he wrote another famous maxim, "Be a sinner and sin on bravely, but have stronger faith and rejoice in Christ, who is the victor of sin, death, and the world. Do not for a moment imagine that this life is the abiding place of justice; sin must be committed. To you it ought to be sufficient that you acknowledge the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world, the sin that cannot tear you away from him, even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders" (quoted in The Catholic Encyclopedia, entry for Luther).

His journey from brutal, offensive Catholic to repugnant, uncivil, repellent Protestant was a slow one. In fact, after becoming a doctor of theology he was so sweepingly in favor of the papacy that he expressed his desire to be "the most brutal murderer" on the pope's behalf and "to kill all who even by syllable refused submission to the pope" (quoted in The Catholic Encyclopedia, entry for Martin Luther). He was prone to panic attacks, which were induced in one way - to give an example - by looking upon a crucifix. He disregarded the advice of his confessor, broke the rules of his monastery, practiced absurd and excessive forms of penance - much outside traditional Catholic teaching - and refused to believe his sins forgiven. He avoided saying Mass, and being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Really, his life was one continuous torment (Crocker, Triumph, p. 237).

By 1520, his reformist tracts openly declared "that the true Antichrist is sitting in the temple of God and is reigning in Rome....There will be no remedy left except that the emperors, kings, and princes, girt about with force of arms, should attack these pests of the world, and settle the matter no longer by words but by the sword....Why do we not attack in arms these masters of perdition, these cardinals, the popes, and all this sink of the Roman Sodom which has without end corrupted the Church of God, and wash our hands in their blood" (emphasis mine, quoted in Durant, The Reformation, p. 349)? He continued, "No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody" (Hughes, A History of the Church, p 520). Luther did not interpret literally the biblical condemnation of lying and also availed himself of it declaring publicly that it was acceptable to "tell a good thumping lie" if it benefited Christianity (The Catholic Encyclopedia, entry for Martin Luther).

He did interpret the Bible literally sometimes, though, as during the controversy surrounding Henry VIII of England and his divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Luther, drawing lessons from the Old Testament advised that bigamy was preferable to divorce. He also told a lusty German prince that, given the example of the patriarchs in the Old Testament, bigamy was acceptable for a Christian. He also told the prince to keep his advice quiet (Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, pp. 17-18). Will Durant records that Luther also advised, in writing, that contrary to Catholic teaching marriage was not a sacrament and that an impotent man could by rights allow another man to sleep with his wife (The Reformation, p. 355). He translated the Bible into German while also changing passages such as Romans 3:28(he added the word "alone" after "faith") in 1521, while in hiding in Wartburg, Germany. Crocker says his daily prayers were unique, quoting Luther, he writes, "I am unable to pray without at the same time cursing. If I am prompted to say: 'hallowed be thy name,' I must also add: 'cursed, damned, outraged be the name of the papists.' If I am prompted to say: 'Thy Kingdom come,' I must perforce add: 'cursed, damned, destroyed be the papacy'"(The Catholic Encyclopedia). Luther's curses incited peasant rebellion, and bloodshed. Seeing the lengths his words had pushed some, he commanded the German nobility to counterattack saying, "brandish their swords, to free, save, help and pity the poor people forced to join the peasants - but the wicked, smite, stab, and slay all you can." He said a prince can, "win heaven more easily by bloodshed than by prayer", and noted that one "cannot meet a rebel with reason: your best answer is to punch him in the face until he has a bloody nose" (Johnson, A History of Christianity, p. 283). The peasants' ears, he says, "must be unbuttoned with bullets, till their heads jump off their shoulders....He who will not hear God's Word when it is spoken with kindness must listen to the headsman when he comes with his axe" (Durant, p. 393).

As death closed in on Luther he believed that the whole of the world was going down the crapper. It had been 20 years since the peasant revolt in Germany and as he saw it, blame rested solely on the papists, the Jews, his evangelical enemies(the Zwinglians, for one), and the rising tide of German irreligion (Crocker, Triumph, p. 250).

Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine ON the Church

Here is the link to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's most recent promulgation. It seeks to explain some of Vatican II's teachings, particularly from "Lumen Gentium", regarding the doctrine of the Church and its relation with other "Christian churches".

Doctrine of the Church

Long Time Coming...

Hello estranged readers! I have been away for quite some time, and I apologize to both of you. I wanted to post in full the poem and song Mark made comments about, both written by Hillaire Belloc, "Heretics All" and "The Pelagian Drinking Song, respectively.


Heretics All

Heretics all, whoever you may be,
In Tarbes or Nimes, or over the sea.
You never shall have good words from me.
Caritas non conturbat me.

But Catholic men that live upon wine
Are deep in the water, and frank and fine;
Wherever I travel I find it so,
Benedicamus Domino.

On Childing women that are forelorn,
And men that sweat in nothing but scorn:
That is on all that ever were born,
Miserere Domine.

To my poor self on my death bed,
And all my dear companions dead,
Because of the love that I bore them,
Dona Eis Requiem


The Pelagian Drinking Song

Pelagius lived at Kardenoel
And taught a doctrine there
How, whether you went to heaven or hell
It was your own affair.
It had nothing to do with the Church, my boy,
But was your own affair.

No, he didn't believe
In Adam and Eve
He put no faith therein!
His doubts began
with the Fall of Man
and he laughed at Original Sin.
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow

He laughed at Original Sin.
Then came the bishop of old Auxerre
Germanus was his name
He tore great handfuls out of his hair
And he called Pelagius shame.
And with his stout Episcopal staff
So thoroughly whacked and banged
The heretics all, both short and tall --
They rather had been hanged.

Oh he whacked them hard, and he banged them long
Upon each and all occasions
Till they bellowed in chorus, loud and strong
Their orthodox persuasions.
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
Their orthodox persuasions.

Now the faith is old and the Devil bold
Exceedingly bold indeed.
And the masses of doubt that are floating about
Would smother a mortal creed.
But we that sit in a sturdy youth
And still can drink strong ale
Let us put it away to infallible truth
That always shall prevail.

And thank the Lord
For the temporal sword
And howling heretics too.
And all good things
Our Christendom brings
But especially barley brew!
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
Especially barley brew!

- Hilaire Belloc

I love these. They are so thoroughly Catholic!

Satisfaction and Windows

I am currently about 3/5 of the way through this very interesting and strange book entitled, The Path to Rome by the famed Catholic Englishman author Hilaire Belloc. The friend of mine whom I borrowed it from received this book as a gift from his Grandmother. She has a wonderful practice of reading books then writing a couple of words or phrases inside the front cover describing her reaction to the book in its entirety. For instance, when she finished The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by St. Bonaventure (which I also borrowed from my friend at some point), she wrote, "Inspiring. Extreme/Devoted. Taxing at the end." Cool, huh? To maybe elucidate how strange Belloc's greatest work is, she quietly penned a single word on its empty first page, "Different".

There are at least 3 parts of the book thus far that have made a particulary meaningful impression on me, and I wanted to share two of the three. I will quote them for you.

In talking about why you are satisfied when you've started the day with Mass, he lists 4 reasons, the 4th of which is here. "...you are doing what the human race has done for thousands upon thousands of years. This is a matter of such moment that I am astonished people hear of it so little. Whatever is buried right into our blood from immemorial habit that we must be certain to do if we are to be fairly happy (of course no grown man or woman can really be very happy for long - but I mean reasonably happy), and, what is more important, decent and secure of our souls. Thus one should from time to time hunt animals, or at the very least shoot at a mark; one should always drink some kind of fermented liquor with one's food - and especially deeply upon great feast-days; one should go on the water from time to time; and one should dance on occasions; and one should sing in chorus. For all these things man has done since God put him into a garden and his eyes first became troubled with a soul....Now in the morning Mass you do all that the race needs to do and has done for all these ages where religion was concerned; there you have the sacred and separate Enclosure, the Altar, the Priest in his Vestments, the set ritual, the ancient and heirarchic tongue, and all that your nature cries out for in the matter of worship" (48-49).

Secondly, answering a challenge he responds, "Never ridicule windows. It is out of windows that many fall to their death. By windows love often enters. Through a window went the bolt that killed King Richard. King William's father spied Arlette from a window (I have looked through it myself; but not a soul did I see washing below). When a mob would rule England, it breaks windows, and when a patriot would save her, he taxes them. Out of windows we walk on to lawns in summer and meet men and women, and in winter windows are drums for the splendid music of storms that makes us feel so masterly round our fires. The windows of the great cathedrals are all their meaning. But for windows we should have to go out-of-doors to see daylight. After the sun, which they serve, I know of nothing so beneficient as windows. Fie upon the ungrateful man who has no window-god in his house, and thinks himself too great a philosopher to bow down to windows! May he live in a place without windows for a while to teach him the value of windows. As for me, I will keep up the high worship of windows till I come to the windowless grave. Talk to me of windows" (136-37)!

A hearty "Requiem in Pace" to anyone who dares challenge Belloc on his love for an early daily Mass and windows!

what's in a name?

For no less than 1850 years Christians have been referring to themselves as catholic (notice the lack of capitalization). In fact the word "catholic" to describe a body of Christian believers is first used, according to surviving documents, around the year 110 by St. Ignatius of Antioch. Traditionally, the Apostle St. John is thought to have died in Ephesus sometime around the year 100. After the death of the last apostle, the leaders of the Christian community still addressed letters to the faithful in what we call epistles. St. Ignatius was one of these leaders, and his use of "catholic" to describe Christians came in his letter to the Smyrnaeans. "Let no one do anything of concern to the Church wihtout the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist (consecrated bread and wine) which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains. Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church."

Church historian, and protestant, J.N.D. Kelly describes the use of the word "catholic" thus, "...in the latter half of the 2nd Century at latest, we find it conveying the suggestion that the Catholic is the true Church as distinct from heretical congregations...What these early Fathers were envisaging was almost always the empirical, visible society; they had little or no inkling of the distinction which was later to become important between a visible and an invisible Church" (Early Christian Doctrines 190-1). In fact, you can see what many of the early Church Fathers said about the word "catholic" by visiting this website.

Ah, how beautiful it truly is! To explore the depths of this one sentence spoken by a disciple of St. Peter himself. In fact, Christian history tells us with a certain amount of certainty that Peter himself ordained and elevated Ignatius to be Bishop of Antioch.

Can we not all agree that the prayer of Christ is perfectly efficacious? If so, then Christ's prayer - aptly called the High Priestly Prayer in John 17 - for Christian unity would be answered by the Father for the Church for as long as the Church exists. Beginning in verse 21 Our Lord prays, "...that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us...". Continuing in verse 23, "I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me..."

Preface

Greetings and peace!

With profound trepidation I begin my first ever blog. I was wasting time and checking my friends' profiles on Facebook, when I stumbled across the blogs of some of my old college buddies. My interest was piqued when I discovered that certain of my friends were using their blogs to discuss matters of Christian spirituality. Immediately, I began to mull over in my head the idea of serving the Church in some small way by writing a blog of my own. As my life has been caught up into service to Christ and His Church, so every entry whether explicitly or implicitly spiritual in nature will hopefully in some way show forth the "light of life".

I have entitled my blog "The Barque", because of its deep meaning, its place in Christian history, and its rich Catholic imagery. This imagery alludes to the story of Jesus protecting the disciples in the boat on the stormy Sea of Galilea, and it is also a type of the Church found in the Ark of Noah (1 Peter 3: 20-21). What is a 'type' you ask? A 'type' in biblical theology is a figure, representation, event, or symbol in the Bible which is beleived to be a prefigurement designed by God to foreshadow things to come. An archtype is the thing which is foreshadowed since it perfectly fulfills and completes the "message" that God was giving in the type. The terms are used particularly to refer to types in the Old Testament that have their archtypes in the New Testament (Wikipedia definition). So, in summary, the type would be Noah's Ark guiding Noah and his companions to safety through the Flood, and the archtype is the Church guiding those people who have been incorporated into the Church of Jesus Christ through the stormy waters of this life.

The theology of type does not seek to cancel out the original and obvious meaning of the "types" in the Old Testament, but to recognize that God in his infinite and incomprehensible Wisdom has guided His chosen people through the events of history with the purpose of fulfillment and reconciliation in His Son. Therefore, events, symbols, etc. from the Old Testament hold their original meaning and primary purpose but also point to the ultimate coming of God in flesh. Noah's Ark, has also been traditionally referred to as a type for baptism, which we as Catholics believe to be the Sacrament of Initiation into the Church (1 Peter 3: 20-21)..."in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water". Correspondsing to that baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ"(emphasis mine). The cross was a dangerous symbol for the early Christian to use publicly, and so St. Clement of Alexandria, sometime early in the 3rd century, gave his approval to the substitution of less obvious symbols such as the dove, fish, marine anchor, or the ship.

Primarily the barque or ship symbolizes a means of conveyance and safe travel from this world to the next. In Christian tradition, in which this life is seen as a pilgrimage, the barque of the Church serves to transport us from our earthly home to the heavenly home. Deeply laden and implicit in this imagery is the presupposition of one ship and the need to be on the ship to survive the stormy and tempestuous world. More on that later, I'm sure. Also (and more on this later as well), the ship is most often referred to as the Barque of St. Peter. To close out this first entry I would like to leave you an excerpt from the famous vision that was received from God by St. John Bosco in the 1860's.

"In the midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky. One is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin, at whose feat a large inscription reads Auxilium Christianorum (Help of Christians). The other, far loftier and sturdier supports a Host (consecrated bread) of proportionate size, and bears beneath it the inscription Salus credentium (Salvation of believers).

The flagship commander - The Roman Pontiff (pope) - standing at the helm, strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns, from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains. The entire enemny fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have....

Breaking through all the resistance, the new Pope steers his ship safely between the two columns; first to the one surmounted by the Host, and then the other, topped by the statue of the Virgin....