Joshua Charles 🔗:

St. Augustine: You cannot have God as Father without the Catholic Church as Mother
A brilliant exposition of timeless Christian belief by St. Augustine. Since Christ and His Bride, the Catholic Church, have become One Body, they can never be separated. There can be no later claims or justification of “divorce”, because they are forever one. “What God has joined, let no man tear asunder” (Matt. 19:6).

Here are St. Augustine’s words:

“Let us love our Lord God, let us love His Church: Him as a Father, Her as a Mother; Him as a Lord, Her as His Handmaid, as we are ourselves the Handmaid’s sons. But this marriage is held together by a bond of great love. No man offends the one, and wins favor of the other.

Let no man say, ‘I go indeed to the idols, I consult possessed ones and fortune tellers, yet I abandon not God’s Church, I am a Catholic’. While you hold to your Mother, you have offended your Father.

Another says, ‘Far be it from me; I consult no sorcerer, I seek out no possessed one, I never ask advice by sacrilegious divination, I go not to worship idols, I bow not before stones, though I am in the party of Donatus [heresy/schism]’.

What does it profit you not to have offended your Father, if he avenges your offended Mother? What does it serve you, if you acknowledge the Lord, honor God, preach His name, acknowledge His Son, confess that He sits by His right hand, while you blaspheme His Church? Does not the analogy of human marriages convince you? […]

Hold then, most beloved, hold all with one mind to God the Father, and the Church our Mother. Celebrate with temperance the birthdays of the Saints, that we may imitate those who have gone before us, and that they who pray for you may rejoice over you, that ‘the blessing of the Lord may abide on you forevermore’. Amen and Amen”.
St. Augustine, “Exposition of Psalm 89”

The girl is OK, she had undiagnosed type 1 diabetes and went into hypoglycaemic shock, paramedics correctly figured out what happened and rescued her. God is good all praise and glory be His. St Luke, pray for doctors.

Praying to Saints and Mary – What Does the Bible Say?

Many Christians question whether praying to Mary and the saints is biblical. Some even claim it’s idolatry. But what does Scripture actually tell us?

1. The Communion of Saints

The Bible shows that those in heaven are alive and aware of what happens on earth. In Revelation 5:8, we see the saints in heaven offering prayers to God:

“The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

If the saints in heaven present our prayers to God, that means they are aware of our needs and can intercede for us, just as we ask fellow Christians to pray for us on earth.

2. Intercessory Prayer is Biblical

When we ask saints or Mary to pray for us, we’re not worshipping them. We’re asking for their intercession—just as Paul asked others to pray for him in 1 Timothy 2:1:

“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.”

If asking others to pray for us is acceptable, why would it be wrong to ask the saints in heaven, who are closer to God?

3. Mary’s Special Role

At the wedding at Cana, Mary interceded for the people, leading Jesus to perform His first miracle (John 2:1-11). Jesus listened to her request then, and He still hears her prayers now.

In Luke 1:48, Mary herself prophesied:

“For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

Honoring Mary and asking for her prayers is part of fulfilling this prophecy.

Debunking Common Objections
• “Jesus is the only mediator!”
1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
This means Jesus is the one who reconciles us to God. But just as pastors, friends, and family can pray for us without replacing Jesus, so can the saints.
• “The Bible says not to contact the dead!”
Verses like Deuteronomy 18:10-12 forbid necromancy, which is summoning spirits to gain hidden knowledge. Praying to saints is different—we are asking them to pray for us, not to reveal secrets or replace God’s guidance.
• “Prayer is worship!”
Prayer means “to ask.” Worship involves sacrifice and adoration, which we give only to God. We pray to saints the same way we ask friends to pray for us.

Conclusion

Praying to Mary and the saints is biblical and part of Christian tradition. They don’t replace Jesus but intercede for us, just as the righteous have always prayed for one another.

16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say "Amen" to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?
17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
1 Corinthians 14:16, ESV

(So sorry TLM idolaters)

In Iran, if they arrest a person whose family was not Christian, especially if their family was even superficially (not in faith) Muslim, they put a lot of pressure on him, saying, "Hey, if you want your punishment to be reduced, go find different people who have just become Christians on the internet or in person, befriend them, and give us their information so we can arrest them!" For example, go and form a house church (a house church means that a group of people gather in a house and pray for Christ), and after you have formed one, expose the people there! In our country, there are people who send free Bibles to people who want them. The government, however, sometimes monitors who got the free Bibles? They tell them that they are Christians. That Christian person also firmly says, "Yes, I believe in Christ! You cannot turn me away from my faith!" But they treat him so harshly and badly that they ask him, "If you want us to punish you less, go and befriend as many people as you can who have just become Christians, and give us their information!" I remember when I was not a Christian, someone made a few channels about Christianity and defending Christianity, now I see that he made a channel criticizing Christianity. Some said that the government had taken him and forced him to sell his Christian friends. I cannot trust any Iranian who says he is a Christian in cyberspace and the Internet in Iran to be friends with him and talk to him. I can only communicate without giving his name, information, or picture.

Reports from Iran

I wish the British government was this based

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains;
so a man’s filth remains in his thoughts.

Sirach 27:4

(Never goon)

St. John Vianney and the Protestant

The Cure of Ars once gave a medal to a Protestant who visited him, who exclaimed: "Dear sir, you have given a medal to one who is a heretic, at least I am a heretic from your point of view. But although we are not of the same religion, I hope we shall both one day be in Heaven." The holy priest took the gentleman's hand in his own, and giving him a look which seemed to reach his very soul, answered him, "Alas! my friend, we cannot be together in Heaven, unless we have begun to live so in this world. Death makes no change in that. As the tree falls so shall it lie. Jesus Christ has said, 'He that does not hear the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican.' And He said again, 'There shall be one fold and one shepherd,' and He made St. Peter the chief shepherd of His flock." Then, in a voice full of sweetness, he added, "My dear friend, there are not two ways of serving Jesus Christ; there is only one good way, and that is to serve Him as He Himself wishes to be served." Saying this, the priest left him. But these words sank deeply into the good man's heart, and led him to renounce the errors in which he had been brought up, and he became a fervent Catholic.

I’m about to make a long post nobody will read (hehe)