By The Grace of God

Awhile back, I read a blog entry from a Catholic man, who was not happy with converts to Catholicism. He felt that we are overzealous, far too eager to discuss our faith, and even far too eager to share it. He more or less said that he did not need any convert to tell him how to be Catholic and that we need to realize that we don't know everything about Catholicism.

Being a convert myself, I was, to be honest, somewhat hurt, and yes, offended that this man felt that the best thing any convert can do, is to just shut our mouths and not speak unless spoken to. I began to wonder why this man felt this way, and I wondered if maybe he was right and that we all go overboard in our discussing and sharing our faith.

Maybe this man felt he knows everything he needs or wants to know about Catholicism and he does not want or need some neophyte telling him about it. Then again, he could possibly be intimidated if a convert has spoken of something that he did not know.

I became very aware of my own discussions and sharing of the faith and found that many times my discussions were occurring more often with non-Catholics as opposed to “cradle Catholics”. I was avoiding discussing the faith with other Catholics unless like me, they were also converts. To be honest, I found more openness and receptivity among the neophytes like myself, and yes, even among the non-Catholics with whom I spoke and shared the faith. Many (not a majority though) of the life long Catholics did not want to discuss the faith, did not know anything about a particular subject, or said they only discuss the faith with their priest or spiritual adviser.

Now, I will be the first one to tell you that I do not know everything about the Catholic faith nor have I ever claimed to. I try to have these discussions, and this sharing with other Catholics so that I may learn, and so that I may grow in the faith. Sometimes, many times in fact, some of those “cradle Catholics” have gone away having learned something themselves.

The truth is, no matter if we are converts or “cradle Catholics”, we all have something to learn. God gives us reason and understanding through the Power of the Holy Spirit, as we are able to grasp it. No matter whom we are, no matter what our station in life, if we think or imagine that we have learned all that there is to know about Jesus Christ and His one true Church, then we are mistaken. There is always something new to learn, always something new revealed to us by the Grace of God. If we begin to think, if we become so arrogant to think we know all there is to know, and that we can learn no more, then we shortchange our selves, and we have rejected the Power of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

So please try to be patient with those of us who are converts to the faith, who are learning, who love what we are learning, and love Christ and His Church. Think of how Christ Himself said:

MATTHEW 18:2-5: And Jesus calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me.

Yes, we are like little children. Those of you who have little children, those who remember when your own children were little, or when you see your own little grandchildren now, think of those times and their excitement when they have discovered, or will discover something new. Think of those times when something or someone they loved or love now excites them. That is what we converts are today. We are like little children, who have found something new, that we love and that excites us. We are like little children who just have to share something new. That excitement, that love, is the love we have for Christ and His Church. Do not belittle us for it; do not think that we are overzealous, or overbearing. That is not what we mean to convey. Understand that we are striving to learn, we are striving to grow, and like little children, we need you to help us, and enrich our growth.

When you look at the history of the Church, from the time of its founding until the present day, many, many illustrious converts helped to build up and grow the Church. I don't know about you, but I think we converts are in some good company. I came into the Church five years ago, and I still have that hunger to know all that I can, and that excitement that still urges me to share. I only pray that what we do here, helps the building up.

Copyright © 2009 Steve Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Religion
Church
Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
Catholic Church
Catholic Converts
Catholic Blogs

World's Oldest Bible Now Online

A 1,600 year old manuscript of the Bible has for at least the last 150 years, been in four separate locations around the world. It is known as “The Codex Sinaiticus”, named after the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt. The name 'Codex Sinaiticus' means 'the Sinai Book'. Leaves and fragments of the Codex were taken on three occasions, in 1844, in 1853 and in 1859, so that they could be published. The largest surviving portion of the Codex, comprised of 347 leaves, was purchased from the Soviet government in 1933, and is now held by the British Library. An additional 43 leaves are held at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, and parts of six leaves are held at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. Twelve leaves and forty fragments remain at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, where they were recovered by monks in 1975.

The Codex Sinaiticus was hand-written in Greek by three (possibly four) scribes in the mid-fourth century, around the time of Constantine the Great. The Codex was originally around 1,400 pages long, is now a collection of 800 pages and fragments. The text, written on vellum (high quality parchment made from calfskin, kidskin, or lambskin) and the pages that have survived include the entire New Testament and the earliest surviving copy of the Gospels, written after Christ’s death by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Half of a copy of the Old Testament is also among the pages that remain. The rest has been lost over time.

The Greek Septuagint in the Codex includes books not found in the Hebrew Bible and regarded by Protestants as apocryphal, such as 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach. The two other early Christian texts are an Epistle by an unknown writer claiming to be the Apostle Barnabas, and 'The Shepherd', written by the early second-century Roman writer, Hermas. The number of the books in the New Testament is the same as that in modern Bibles in the West, but the order is different. The Letter to the Hebrews is placed after Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians, and the Acts of the Apostles between the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles.

Only one other manuscript of the Christian Bible, the Codex Vaticanus (kept in the Vatican Library in Rome) is of a similarly early date.

In March of 2005, the British Library, the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg, and the Holy Monastery of Sinai signed a Partnership Agreement “for the conservation, photography, transcription and publication of all surviving pages and fragments of Codex Sinaiticus”.

The organizations from Great Britain, Germany, Russia and Egypt who each owned parts of the 1,600-year-old manuscript, have worked together to publish research into the history of the Codex. During a four-year period, they have transcribed over 650,000 words.

To see this manuscript yourself, and read about the work being done for this great project, go to:

http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/





Catholic
Religion
Church
Roman Catholic
Catholic Church
Catholic Blogs
Codex Sinaiticus

The Right to Free Speech

It’s Not Free Anymore

Many of our readers may be familiar with the faith-based website, Catholic Answers. Catholic Answers provides a plethora of information regarding the Catholic faith to both Catholics and non-Catholics alike. During the 2004 election, Mr. Karl Keating, President of Catholic Answers in one of his E-Letters stated that because of Senator John Kerry’s unchanging position on the issue of abortion, he should be denied Holy Communion. The Internal Revenue Service says he should not have said it.

Continued on "Church Under Attack" section.



Catholic
Religion
Church
Roman Catholic
Catholic Church
Catholic Blogs
Catholic Answers