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Christ is risen! On this day, and in this Easter season, the good news breaks through the clouds that the circumstances of each day bring into our lives. We are reminded that no matter what state we find ourselves in, we have the one thing that matters; or rather, the one person that matters has us. He has saved us, come to live with us and called us to bring him to others. The Great Commission is a natural consequence of Easter, for it is in our very nature to share the good that we have received with others. But as we look to share, we should consider how well we understand the Easter message, and our faith in general, so we can communicate it to others. St. John Henry Newman, in his sermon “Faith, the Title for Justification,” walks us through one of the most basic questions about the faith: Is faith all that is necessary for salvation? Besides giving us the Church’s answer, he teaches us how to read Scripture, how to reason and how to approach others. 

There are many passages in Scripture, Newman admits, that seem to indicate that faith is the only thing necessary for salvation. Jesus himself seems to imply it when He says that by faith the Gentiles would sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matt. 8:11). St. Paul confirms: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (Gal. 3:8). Despite appearances, Newman warns us against this simplistic approach to the Word of God: “It is unfair and dangerous to insist on certain texts to the exclusion of others; that true though it be, that some texts speak of faith and nothing else, still others speak of Church communion and nothing else, as being the way of salvation; and if so, both, both faith and Church communion, are necessary, and that one will not save without the other; that our duty is to come to Christ in faith, through the Church.”

Besides helping us approach Scripture properly, Newman also challenges us to engage our reason in thinking through these ideas. To say that faith is necessary is not to say that it is the ONLY necessary thing. Far from excluding communion with the Church as necessary, “it may be shown, that nothing can be more natural than this union of various distinct means, in order to gain some particular benefit, and that there is nothing forced in thus interpreting the one set of expressions in harmony with the other; and nothing in the impression conveyed by the one inconsistent with the impression conveyed by the other.”

Moreover, while faith is the “title to receive the gifts purchased for us by our Lord Jesus on the Cross,” this fact tells us nothing about how those gifts are possessed. Newman gives an example of the difference by asking us to imagine a person giving away a great treasure. While he may tell the beneficiary that they have the sole right to the treasure, it would not be inconsistent for the giver to tell the beneficiary to go to a certain location to obtain the money. “So in like manner Christ may say by Himself or His Apostles, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’ ‘Believe, and ye shall be saved,’ and yet may mean to enjoin upon us certain rules, and to appoint a certain treasure-house, for our gaining that gift to which our asking and our faith are sufficient to entitle us.”

And that’s precisely how it works in the stories of Scripture that describe conversion. For example, when Paul and Silas tell the Philippian jailor to believe in Christ and he would be saved, they then tell him to be baptized. After Baptism, “’he rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.’ He had believed before baptism, but he did not rejoice before baptism—he rejoiced after baptism. Men rejoice when they have found what they seek. Both the noble Ethiopian and the humble jailor rejoiced on their being baptized. Faith gave a title: baptism gave possession. Faith procured them what nothing else would procure, and baptism conveyed it.”

Newman says very plainly that we cannot be justified without being grafted into the Church. There are many, therefore, who have faith, but enjoy none of the privileges of being grafted into the Church. Because of their faith, they will one day obtain justification, but the promise remains at a distance. This fact should inspire us to pray not only for those who have not heard the Gospel and those who have heard but have rejected it, but also for our brothers and sisters in faith who have yet to taste what they have claimed by faith.

The joy we have today will make us bold witnesses to the miracle of God’s forgiveness, but love will spur us to learn more about the truth and to exhaust every means of becoming an effective evangelist (simply put, someone who brings the good news). With greater knowledge of the faith and a desire to continue learning, we will be prepared to explain to others the source of our joy so that it can become their own. He is risen indeed!

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Aim at ‘seeing the King in His beauty’.  All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

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About Cardinal John Henry Newman

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A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.

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(Antiphon, April 2023)

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Endorsement by Neyra Blanco (Amazon)
I bought this book for my son and he loved it, he wrote this review and urged my to submitted: “I think this book has a very beautiful message, because it shows how the young Newman was so determined to achieve his dream of becoming a priest, but even after his dream he continued to work in the church with passion until the day he died, it’s so admirable that even Newman so old and so weak still had that urge to continued his work of being a priest. And the book is well written with words not too complicated with very enjoyable texts and well illustrated pictures. I highly recommend this book for a 5th grader.  

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What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education? Why is it so important for the development of a person?

Fr. Juan R. Vélez answers these and more questions you might have about University Education in the 21st century. This book is aimed for parents, prospective University students, and educators. It will help you discern why adding Liberal Arts electives to your education will help it form it better, and help the student learn to reason, and not just learn.

He also explains how many Universities have changed the true meaning of Liberal Arts, and the subjects, and gives advise on how to choose College Campus, Subjects, and Teachers.

A wonderful book that every parent should also read way before your children are College bound. A Liberal Arts education can start earlier in life, even from home.

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Endorsement by Christopher Moellering (Goodreads, September 14, 2019)
In Passion for Truth Fr. Vélez gave us an outstanding biography of Cardinal Newman. In this work, he provides a concise overview of his thought and his devotion. This is a great work for someone who, perhaps hearing of Newman for the first time because of his beatification 13 October, 2019, wants to know more about this English saint.Vélez is a wonderful writer in his own right, and the frequent quotations from Newman round out the work nicely. I especially appreciated the frequent citing of Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, which show a different side of his spirituality than his more well-known works, Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent.

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Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman, endorsement by Illow M. Roque (Amazon, September 3, 2010)
“There is a time to put direct inquiry on hold and give ourselves to prayer and practical duties.” Sound advice from one of the earlier, thought-provoking reminders in this sparkling gem of a book: Take Five | Meditations with John Henry Newman, written by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Vélez and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This particular paragraph, referenced above, which begins with a direct quote from soon-to-be canonized priest, cardinal and poet, John Henry Newman: “Study is good, but it gets us only so far . . .” is actually the 15th in a series of 76 concise, logically organized meditations moving from the elementary to the sublime. Each meditation–one per page–is built upon the great man’s writings and remarkably rich spirituality. Whether taken whole in one reading or in part page-by-page over a course of weeks and months, these wonderfully insightful meditations will open up, even to the busiest reader in the midst of the world, a unique pathway into prayer and contemplation. My advice to spiritual inquirers at all levels, from the novice to the spiritually adept, is to follow the authors’ recommendation to use this book as a guide for daily prayer and meditation. The structure of the book itself is ideal: first, the authors introduce us to Cardinal Newman, the man, where we are given the opportunity to get to know him through a brief sketch of his life and spirituality at the beginning of the book. This is something readers will likely find themselves referring to again and again, prompting many, I suspect, to even wider explorations of this most gifted Christian leader. Then comes the meditations, consisting of a short summary of Newman’s thoughts on subjects taken, as the authors explain, from various salient points for which Newman is justly remembered: The pursuit of objective religious truth; Teaching on the Virtues; Defense of the Catholic Church; A devout spiritual and moral life; and Generosity and loyalty in his friendships, which sets the topic and tone for each meditation to follow. Each meditation consists of an excerpt taken from Newman’s thirty-plus volumes of writings and diaries. Next comes three brief and extremely useful sections entitled: “Think About It,” which establishes a prayerfully resonant tone throughout the book; “Just Imagine,” which provides a vivid, prayerful experience of the Scriptures that tie in, and finally, “Remember,” a pithy summation which the authors suggest may be used as a daily aspiration. Each meditation is given its own page, which makes it ideal for daily reflection for readers on the go. This book is a must have for every serious Catholic who wants to take their faith to the next level, which is to respond appropriately to the universal call to holiness and seek interior union with God.
Fr. Peter Conley

Aim at ‘seeing the King in His beauty’.  All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.

David Warren

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

Robert Kirkendall

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Fr. Juan Velez

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

Fr. Juan Velez

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

David Warren

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

Robert Kirkendall

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

Fr. Juan Velez

What does John Henry Newman mean by the words: "to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often?"

Fr. Juan Velez

Listening to God is done keeping in mind the normative value of the whole of Tradition and of the Church’s Teaching.