Ask a Catholic

[Teuthida]

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/nation...eps-Gods-tears

Not really related but reminded me of some questions I had regarding miracles and saints. Keep in mind I know very little of any aspect of Christianity as a whole.

What's the deal with miracles exactly? Need a certain amount to become a saint right? And then folks pray to saints? Isn't that pretty much polytheism with the saints acting as minor gods?

I guess then I'm also confused by what is considered a work of god compared to that of the devil. Say someone performs something that's seemingly magical. Why are they often accused of being in league with the devil over performing a miracle? And the miracle is what exactly? The work of God right? So why does the person get the credit?

And the trinity. Took a religion class once and I left more confused on this topic. If you could explain it as simply as possible that would be swell.

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/nation...eps-Gods-tears

Not really related but reminded me of some questions I had regarding miracles and saints. Keep in mind I know very little of any aspect of Christianity as a whole.

What's the deal with miracles exactly? Need a certain amount to become a saint right? And then folks pray to saints? Isn't that pretty much polytheism with the saints acting as minor gods?

I guess then I'm also confused by what is considered a work of god compared to that of the devil. Say someone performs something that's seemingly magical. Why are they often accused of being in league with the devil over performing a miracle? And the miracle is what exactly? The work of God right? So why does the person get the credit?

And the trinity. Took a religion class once and I left more confused on this topic. If you could explain it as simply as possible that would be swell.

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

Wow, lots of questions there. I'll do my best to answer them all. And a disclaimer that I probably should have put in the first post. While I am a practicing Catholic and I love to learn new things about my faith, there are still far more things I don't know or can't remember properly so I need to look them up. This takes time which I don't have much of. If it takes me a while to respond to any of your posts, please forgive me.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's dive in.

Your question about miracles specifically intrigues me. It's not something I've thought much about.

I'll start with the saints first however. No, the saints are in no way minor gods. While people do pray to saints and the Church encourages people to do so, do not confuse this with worship. Also, praying to the saints is not a substitute for a relationship with God.

In addition, this can be more accurately understood as praying through the saints. We are not asking the saints to answer our prayers. Rather, we are asking the saints to pray to God on our behalf. Since we believe that the saints are in heaven, we believe that they are the closest to God. This is no different than asking anyone else on earth to pray for you. Any miracle is the work of God. The saint doesn't "get the credit" per se. Rather, if a miracle is proven by the Church to be a result of the intercession of that saint, then that is seen as proof that that saint is in heaven (This is one of the criteria for canonization or sainthood.) In order for a saint to be canonized, two separate miracles must be directly attributed to that saint's intercession. Notice in that link that the Catholic Church has a rigorous process to determine if something is a miracle or not. It must be not have a scientific explanation. This means the weeping tree in the link you posted would likely not pass muster due to the fact that this behavior seems to be common for these types of trees.


On the subject of miracles, a miracle is a supernatural sign or wonder, brought about by God, signifying His glory and the salvation of mankind. Miracles cannot be performed by the devil. The work of the devil is to deceive mankind. If someone is in league with the devil, they cannot perform miracles! This is something I rarely hear though in Catholic circles. It is more often the realm of some Evangelical Protestant faiths to accuse someone of being in league with the devil. And also, a miracle exists to signify the glory of God. If someone is claiming to perform miracles for their own glory, it isn't a miracle!

The Trinity is a tough one. If you are looking for a simple explanation, you won't find it. The Church teaches that it is a mystery and thus cannot be fully understood by the human mind.

Basically, the Trinity is as follows. The Trinity is comprised of three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is distinct from one another and each is God, but there is only one God, not three. Confusing enough? This video actually does a pretty good job of explaining just how difficult it can be for our human minds to grasp and why it is a mystery.



In addition, Jesus is both fully human and fully God! Another mystery. We can go into that one more deeply at another time if you like.

Let me know if any of the above is confusing. I can try to be more clear.

I was not specifically hoping for controversial topics. Anything is fine, I was just trying to be interesting in my original post.

Contraception is something I'll have to address tonight. I have to leave for work and I don't have the time to flesh out a full response before I go, but I want to give you some response so you know I'm not ignoring you.

Suffice it to say that in order to understand the Catholic teaching on contraception, you must first understand the Catholic teaching on sex. I'll get into that in my next post.

Combine, thanks for your questions. I will respond to you soon.

[jeepnut]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Apologies if wanted more controversial questions. Well, hmmm...ok, so abortion I can sort of see the logic behind, but why reject contraception?

So I just spent the last hour or so typing up a response that I was very happy with and lost it all. This will be attempt number two.


So, contraception? How could the Church be against that? Do they just want us to keep having babies until we are no longer fertile?


First, in order to understand why the Church says no to contraception, we must first understand what the Church is not saying no to. The Church is not saying that you cannot plan your pregnancies. The Church understands that not everyone is capable (either financially or mentally) or desires to have 20 kids. We are allowed to plan our families. The Church simply says that we should not use artificial means to achieve this goal. Why not artificial means? Well, as I said previously, in order to understand this, we must understand the Church’s teaching on sex.


The Church teaches that sex is good and it is one of the gifts that God has given us. Through sex we are able to give of ourselves most completely to another person. No other activity in this existence matches this. When we have sex, we give of ourselves completely to our lover. Anything that prevents this full giving of ourselves misuses the gift of sex. It erects barriers between us and our lover and says I give myself to you, but I withhold this part of my humanity. Condoms and other barrier methods literally put a barrier between us and our lover. We say “I love you enough to share this most intimate experience between two human beings with you, but I want to keep this part of myself separate from you.”


Our humanity is good! God created us and everything that makes us human is good. This includes our fertility. Birth control methods which suppress our natural fertility suppress our humanity! We say to God, I reject this part of my body which you created for me. We use artificial methods to suppress natural functions of the body without a medical necessity simply so we can have sex without the consequence of pregnancy. This doesn’t even take into consideration that some methods of birth control (especially the so called “morning after pill”) can actually prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. If you know anything about Catholic teaching, you probably know that the Church teaches that life begins at conception and is to be respected until natural death. This goes contrary to that teaching.


The great Catholic writer/thinker G.K. Chesterton hated the term “birth control” as he hated all words that were meaningless. He felt that those that used birth control believed in neither birth nor control. Instead they wished for less birth and no control as relates to their sexual desires.


Earlier I mentioned that the Church is OK with natural means to avoid pregnancy. These methods are commonly referred to as Natural Family Planning or NFP and have been shown in various studies when practiced properly to be 95% effective or higher. Basically, a couple practicing NFP works with the woman’s natural cycle to avoid sex during the fertile periods of the cycle and practice sex only during those periods of infertility.

TL : DR version: Our humanity is good. Sex is good. Contraception suppresses our humanity and prevents the full union of husband and wife through sex.

Does that make sense?