Why don't some quoted Psalms match the ones in my Bible?

Question

I have seen some of your Catholic books that have quoted the Psalms. When I go to look them up in my Bible they don't say anything close to what you said they did.

Answer

Different Bibles number the Psalms in different ways. Some split Psalm 9 in two, making it 9 and 10. These same versions also combine Psalms 146 and 147, so the total number of Psalms remains 150. The practical upshot of this is that between psalms 8 and 148 the number may be off by one, depending on what version you’re looking at. Therefore, if you look up a Psalm reference and it doesn’t seem to fit what is being talked about, try looking one psalm earlier or later, and you’ll probably find the right place.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Were the first Bible translations in English filled with errors?

Question

A Catholic writer said many of the first English Bibles were in terrible error. Isn't this a manifestation of Catholic prejudice against the Bible? The Bible is inerrant.

Answer

The Catholic Church affirms the inerrancy of Scripture, but that doesn’t mean each edition of each translation is free from error. There have been many vernacular editions of the Bible that can only be described as embarrassing. Some were filled with printer’s errors, others with translator’s errors.

In one Bible one of the commandments was printed without the word not. This Bible became known as "the blasphemous Bible" because it said, "Thou shalt take the Lord’s name in vain." Sometimes translations were odd to the point of misrepresentation. In one, Adam and Eve are described as wearing "breeches" made from fig leaves, but breeches are a fairly modern type of clothing.

Inerrancy does not mean printers and translators are protected from error. (Any writer can tell you that, and he’ll throw in editors too!)

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

What does the expression "ex opere operato" mean?

Question

What does the expression ex opere operato mean? Doesn't it have something to do with the sacraments?

Answer

Ex opere operato is a Latin expression meaning "by the work worked." It refers to the fact that the sacraments confer grace when the sign is validly effected -- not as the result of activity on the part of the recipent but by the power and promise of God.

Now, to receive the fruits of the sacraments, you should be properly disposed. At least in adults, there must be a predispositional receptivity to receive the grace that is always available in a validly effected sacrament. This means reception of grace via the sacraments is not automatic. But the ex opere operato nature of the sacraments reminds us that, while a proper disposition is necessary to receive grace in the sacraments, it isn't the cause of that grace. 

Answered by:  Karl Keating

In the sacrament of penance, whom does the priest represent?

Question

In the sacrament of penance, whom does the priest represent?

Answer

In the sacrament of penance, also referred to as reconciliation or confession, the priest represents Christ and the Church. “In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church” (CCC 1444).

Answered by: Jan Wakelin

If a sinner goes to hell for one unrepented mortal sin, does God purge his love? Love cannot exist in hell.

Question

In Luke 16:19–31 about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, I've read that the rich man, when he called to Abraham, was in purgatory, not hell. The reason given is that the rich man demonstrates love and concern for his brothers and requests Abraham to help them by sending Lazarus to teach them the error of their ways. Since love and concern for others cannot exist in hell, the rich man must be in another place. My question is that if one unrepented mortal sin, such as adultery, will cause someone to go to hell, what happens to the love that such a person had for his children, friends, and spouse? Does God purge this love from this person before he is put in hell?

Answer

To say that the rich man must have been in purgatory because love cannot exist in hell is a conclusion based on an unsupportable premise. The Church does not teach that those in hell are bereft of all kinds of love. It is true that supernatural love of God cannot exist in hell, but a disordered love is involved in every mortal sin, and this perverse loving will remain.

What may appear as the rich man’s love and concern for his brothers may in fact be nothing more than self-interest. Thomas Aquinas asserted that the rich man knew that if his kin were damned his own suffering would increase. “[The damned’s] punishment would be greater if all their kindred were damned, and others saved, than if some of their kindred were saved. For this reason the rich man prayed that his brethren might be warded from damnation: for he knew that some are guarded therefrom” (ST Supp.–III:98:4 ad 1).

Also according to Aquinas, the damned are consumed with envy for those who attain glory, even for their own kin, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

God does not purge people of all types of love before they enter hell, but in hell the separation from God and his divine love is accomplished forever, making supernatural love, or charity, impossible. Love of evil, however, remains.

Answered by: Jan Wakelin

Does God promise us happiness?

Question

I have a friend that says God does not promise us happiness. But I have read in Psalm 41:1–4 that God makes us happy when we are concerned for the poor. Can we claim this as a promise if we take care of the poor?

Answer

There are a couple of things to be said here. First, Psalm 41:1-4 expresses in general terms how God deals with those who care for the poor. It does not translate into a specific promise to a specific individual.

For example, verse 4 says that God will sustain them on their sickbed and heal them of their illnesses. This may be how God operates in general, but it does not mean that an individual who has cared for the poor has a specific promise that he in particular will be healed of a particular illness. After all, we all die sometime, and if we had an automatic guarantee of healing in exchange for giving to the poor, medical science and human life spans would be quite different than they are.

Second, broadly speaking, we might speak of two general sorts of happiness—material and spiritual. Material happiness is what we receive from material good fortune—health, prosperity, etc. Spiritual happiness is what we receive from spiritual good fortune—grace and forgiveness, performing works of mercy, and in the next life attaining the beatific vision of God.

When people say that God has not promised us happiness, they usually mean that God has not promised us material happiness in this life. In this life we may have to undergo suffering, even great suffering. But God has promised spiritual happiness, especially in the next life, to all who follow him.

It would seem that when your friend said that God does not promise us happiness, he was referring to the material happiness. And in that regard he is right. God has, however, promised you spiritual happiness for doing this since it is a corporal work of mercy when done out of love for God. While you can’t translate Psalm 41:1–4 into a promise of material happiness to you personally, you can know that in general God does increase the material happiness of those who care for the needs of the poor.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Where does the Church's authority to change canon law come from?

Question

I understand the Code of Canon Law is a list of 2,000-plus laws of the Church. Are these laws subject to change over time? If so, where does the Church get the authority to change them?

Answer

The current Code of Canon Law (1983 ed.), released by Pope John Paul II, has 1,752 canons. The former canon (1917) was the one with over 2,000 canons (2,414, to be precise). These canons are rules related to the governance of the Church, and they are now divided into seven headings: general norms, the people of God, teaching mission of the Church, sanctifying mission of the Church, temporal goods of the Church, penal law, and procedural law.

Many of these laws are subject to change over time as the Church sees fit, while others are not. For example, the discipline of women wearing a veil at Mass was not retained in the newer code, and so the practice is not required. However, others things in the code, such as the doctrine expressed in canon 900 §1 (1983), cannot be changed over time. This canon states the doctrine that only a validly ordained priest can confect the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Like any other social and visible structure, the Church has norms to order the functions that have been entrusted to it. Just as the citizens of the state are to obey the speed limit, and a son is to listen to his mother’s rules, canon law is to be observed by members of the Church—which is both the kingdom and the family of God.

The Church gets her authority from Jesus to make these laws. He told the leaders of his Church, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19, 18:18).

This language of “binding and loosing” was a Jewish phrase that was that meant forbidding and permitting. This pertained to the ability of scribes and Pharisees to establish rules of conduct for the faith community, and the good Jew was called by Christ to obey them (Matt. 23:3).

Since Jesus gave this authority to the leaders of his Church, they have authority to do such things as establish feast days and lay down laws for the good of the community.

Answered by:  Jason Evert

How can you say the Watch Tower Society is a false religion for changing its doctrines if the Catholic Church has also done so?

Question

Catholics claim that the Jehovah's Witnesses are following a false religion because of changes the Watch Tower Society has made in its doctrines. Such refinements are nothing more than the Society moving closer to a proper understanding of Bible prophecies, as Proverbs 4:18 states. Besides, the Catholic Church itself has changed doctrines, but you would not label it a false religion, would you?

Answer

Let’s be quite clear on a few matters. First, the Catholic Church has never changed any defined doctrine or anything else that is part of the deposit of faith. Disciplinary matters—such as priestly celibacy and abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent—can and do change, but these items are not part of the deposit of faith. The Church may change or dispense with these matters as it sees fit.

For changes in Catholic teaching to be grounds for accusations of false religion, those changes necessarily would have to involve a contradiction between two infallibly defined propositions. This simply has not happened in the Church’s entire history, just as Christ promised (Mt 16:18).

Now, in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation Bible, Proverbs 4:18 reads, “But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.”

A close look at the preceding verses shows that the passage is contrasting righteous people with wicked people. The “path” in this context refers to their respective lifestyles or life situations, not to the development of doctrine as the Watch Tower Society (WTS) would have us believe.

The “bright light” represents the righteous person becoming increasingly obedient to God’s commands and living a virtuous life. There is no warrant whatsoever for claiming this passage deals with an increased understanding of Bible prophecies.

Second, what the WTS calls “refinements” or “adjustments” are in actuality instances of it having made false predictions or having taught false interpretations of Bible passages. When this fact comes to light (no pun intended), the WTS scrambles to disguise these blunders, alleging that its understanding was not fully developed and thus needed an “increase of light.”

In other words, when the WTS changes a doctrine (by reversal, flip-flop, or outright elimination) or when it wants to slough off a false prophecy, it asserts that “new light” has been received and has enabled it to better “understand” a teaching or prophecy. The former teaching (“old light”) is then discarded, and the “new light,” which is called a “refinement,” supposedly brings the WTS to a fuller understanding of the prophecy or teaching in question.

In the case of the WTS, however, we do see current teachings contradicting earlier teachings and doctrines going back and forth between opposite interpretations. This is not maturation but mutation.

How do we refute those who say only the Bible's authority is infallible?

Question

Catholic apologists are doing a fine job refuting those who have a “no authority but the Bible” understanding of sola scriptura. But I am encountering people who say, “I admit the Church and the early Fathers have real authority, but not infallible authority, which is something only the Bible has.” This understanding sounds more formidable. If we argue against just the first understanding then we look like we are attacking a straw man. What do you recommend?

Answer

Let's call the first view sola-1 and the second sola-2. I don’t know how others handle this, but whenever I discuss sola scriptura, I try to throw in a qualifying adjective like decisive or binding to cover the “sola-2” view. Thus, I’ll say that sola scriptura is the view that “nothing besides Scripture has binding or decisive authority.” This makes it clear that it is the sola-2 view I’m talking about and avoids the charge of attacking a straw man.

Frankly, though, there is little difference between the arguments that succeed against sola-1 and sola-2. Advocates of sola-2 may sound at first like they have a more formidable view, and they often claim that they have a more “historic” view, but on the level of argument, all that is just packaging.

This becomes clear when one asks what kind of authority the church or the Fathers are supposed to have. It clearly isn’t binding or decisive authority. At most, in the Protestant view the teachings of Protestant churches and the Fathers could suggest beliefs and interpretations to one, but never bind one to believe them. Only the Bible can do that. Some Protestants might even go so far as to say that we owe church leaders, confessions, and Fathers some kind of deferential preferment, but they ultimately cannot tell one what to believe.

As long as that is the case, sola-2 is in agreement with sola-1 in placing church leaders, confessions, and Fathers on the same plane as commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and other study tools. They are things that can suggest but not require belief. The writings of Augustine may (or may not) be considered more prestigious as study tools than Unger’s Bible Handbook, but that’s all they are for Protestants: study tools. You are still left to make up your own mind on every point of theology.

As a result, the same arguments that work against sola-1 generally disprove sola-2 as well. Some Protestant apologists may try to dress up their sola scriptura in new clothes so they can boast of being more “historic” and start throwing around charges of straw men. But ultimately it’s the same thing, and the same arguments work against it.

What exactly does amen mean?

Question

What exactly does amen mean?

Answer

Amen is a word that came to English from Latin, which got it from Greek, which got it from Aramaic, which got it from Hebrew (technically, Aramaic may have had it anyway, before it became the standard language of the Jewish people a few centuries before the time of Christ).

It is difficult to translate this word directly, which is often a reason that words are borrowed from other languages (i.e., if there’s no direct way to translate this foreign word, just borrow it).

The specific Hebrew word amen (’amen ) appears to be derived from a related verb--’aman , which means "he confirmed, supported, or upheld." This verb is also associated with the Hebrew word for truth (’emet ), which carries the idea of certainty or dependability (i.e., that which is true is that which is certain or dependable).

’Amen itself is an interjection used to agree with, affirm, approve, or emphasize something else that has been said. Thus when Jesus begins certain sayings by declaring "Amen, amen, I say to you . . . " various Bible translations often render the "amen, amen" different ways. Because of the word’s association with the Hebrew terms for truth, the double amen is sometimes rendered "truly, truly" or "verily, verily." Because of its association with the Hebrew terms for confirmation or dependability, one might also translate it "certainly, certainly" or "most assuredly."

When one says "amen" in response to a prayer, it serves as an affirmation of agreement with the content of the prayer (cf. 1 Cor 14:16)—in which case it is sometimes translated "So be it" (cf. CCC 2856)—or as an expression of faith that God will hear and act on the prayer.

Bottom line: Amen is an interjection associated with the Hebrew words for truth and dependability, it conveys the idea of agreement or emphasis, and its meaning can be translated different ways depending on the context.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

What is a tabernacle?

Question

One of my students asks why they keep the Eucharist in the tabernacle. What is the tabernacle?

Answer

The tabernacle is a liturgical furnishing used to house the Eucharist outside of Mass. This provides a location where the Eucharist can be kept for the adoration of the faithful and for later use (e.g., distribution to the sick).

It also helps prevent the profanation of the Eucharist. Thus the law requires, "The tabernacle in which the Eucharist is regularly reserved is to be immovable, made of solid or opaque material, and locked so that the danger of profanation may be entirely avoided" (CIC 938 §3).

The word tabernacle means "dwelling place." Any place someone dwells is a tabernacle. The term is also sometimes used for a temporary dwelling place. Thus the tent-like sanctuary that the Jews used before the Temple was built was called the Tabernacle, because God dwelt there. Similarly, for the feast of Sukkot the Hebrews erected temporary shelters to live in for the festival, which is often called "the feast of tabernacles" or "the feast of booths" as a result.

The tabernacle in Church is so named because it is a place where Christ dwells in the Eucharist.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

As a Catholic, may I witness my grandson's Lutheran first communion?

Question

My husband and I are Catholic; our daughter and her family are Lutheran. Her son is now going to make his first holy communion but at a Lutheran church. Is this acceptable, and are we as grandparents and Catholics allowed to attend his first communion at a Lutheran church?

Answer

We could not recommend that you attend such an event since Lutheran churches do not have a valid priesthood and thus do not have a sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. While Lutherans who take communion in their churches in good faith may be blessed by God for their attempts to please him, in fact their community rejected the priesthood at the time they broke away from the Catholic Church, and so their ministers do not have the power validly to celebrate the Eucharist.

As a result, your attendance at the event in question would seem to imply that you recognize or endorse the idea that your grandson is actually receiving further Christian initiation by receiving the Eucharist (one of the sacraments of initiation). That is a message you must not send as it would constitute a form of false witness to your family and to your grandson.

Matters would be different if the sacrament were valid—for example, if he were being baptized or married in the Lutheran church (those two sacraments being valid among Lutherans) or if he were receiving Communion in a church that has a valid Eucharist (such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox churches).

But to attend a non-Catholic ceremony that one knows to be invalid—whether it be a baptismal ceremony, a marriage ceremony, or a first communion ceremony—would be to send the wrong message. It would be better, if more painful, to say, "We know that this is event is meaningful to you, but we cannot attend."

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

If Jesus was a Jew, why are we Catholic?

Question

If Jesus was a Jew, why are we Catholic?

Answer

The term Jew is used in at least two senses in Scripture: to refer to those who are ethnically Jews and to those who are religiously Jews. Jesus was a Jew in both senses. In fact, he completed the Jewish religion by serving as the Messiah (Christ) whom the prophets had long foretold.

The completed form of the Jewish religion is known as Christianity, and its adherents are Christians or "followers of the Christ." Unfortunately, many people who were ethnically Jewish did not recognize Jesus’ role as Messiah and so did not accept Christianity, the completed form of Judaism. Instead, they stayed with a partial, incomplete form of Judaism. Other Jews (the apostles and their followers) did recognize that Jesus was the Messiah and embraced the new, completed form of Judaism.

Shortly thereafter it was recognized that one could be a follower of Christ even if one did not ethnically join the Jewish people. Thus the apostles began to make many Gentile converts to the Christian faith. It is thus possible for a person to be a Jew religiously (because he has accepted Christianity, the completed form of the Jewish faith) but not be a Jew ethnically. This is the case with most Christians today.

It is this difference between being a Jew ethnically and religiously that lies behind Paul’s statement in Romans 2:28-29: "For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal."

Christians are those who Paul refers to as being inwardly (religiously) Jewish, while non-Christian Jews are those who he refers to as being outwardly (ethnically) Jewish. The former condition, he stresses, is the more important.

Unfortunately, over the course of time some Christians broke away from the Church that Jesus founded, and so a name was needed to distinguish this Church from the ones that broke off from it. Because all the breakaways were particular, local groups, it was decided to call the Church Jesus founded the "universal" (Greek, kataholos = "according to the whole") Church, and thus the name Catholic was applied to it.

That is why Jesus was a Jew and we are Catholics: Jesus came to complete the Jewish religion by creating a Church that would serve as its fulfillment and be open to people of all races, not just ethnic Jews. As Catholics, we are those who have accepted the fulfillment of the Jewish faith by joining the Church that Jesus founded.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Must a crucifix be present at the altar for the Mass to be valid?

Question

I would like to know if it is necessary for a crucifix to be present at the altar in order for the Mass to be valid.

Answer

Masses are not valid or invalid, they are licit (in conformity with the law) or illicit (not in conformity with the law). It is the consecration of the Eucharist within the Mass that can be valid or invalid.

Whether a crucifix is present at the altar has no bearing on whether the Eucharist is valid or invalid (the absence of a crucifix will not cause the Eucharist to be invalid), but it does have a bearing on whether the Mass is licit or illicit.

The law requires that "There is to be a cross, clearly visible to the congregation, either on the altar or near it" (General Instruction of the Roman Missal [GIRM] 270). The revised General Instruction—which has not yet gone into effect—clarifies that the cross in question should have a corpus (representation of Christ’s body), meaning that it should be a crucifix rather than a bare cross.

If there were no cross by on or near the altar (or, once the new GIRM goes into effect, no crucifix) then the Mass would be illicit, or not celebrated in accord with the requirements of the law.

However, a Mass celebrated in this manner would still have a valid consecration of the Eucharist. Furthermore, it would still fulfill one’s Sunday obligation.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Can angels be male or female?

Question

Could you please answer the question for me whether angels can be he or she? I thought they were neither.

Answer

You are correct. Angels are pure intellects that do not have physical forms and do not reproduce sexually. Indeed, angels do not reproduce at all; God created each of them out of nothing at the dawn of creation. They are numerous, immaterial, and immortal, so they don’t need to reproduce.

Sexual reproduction is something God designed many earthly creatures to do. Others he designed to reproduce asexually (for example, by mitosis). But since he designed angels not to reproduce, he didn’t design them to be male or female.

Angels may appear to have gender in visions or in artwork, but that is just symbolism that makes it easier for us to think about them. If we were being strictly literal they couldn’t be seen in visions or depicted in artwork because, according to their immaterial nature, they have no visible or physical forms at all.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

If St. Paul says long hair is unnatural for men, why do our portraits of Jesus show him with it?

Question

In 1 Corinthians 11:14 Paul tells us long hair is degrading to and unnatural for a man. All the pictures of Jesus show him with long hair, so they must be false images.

Answer

The pictures we have of Christ do not derive from any physical description we have of him in the Bible, because there is none. The basic image comes from a long artistic and iconographic tradition—influenced, among other things, by the Shroud of Turin. However, this tradition does not contradict the Bible.

Part of the problem in discussing hair length is how long is long? We know from archeological materials such as Middle Eastern carvings and Egyptian tomb paintings that Jews wore what we would consider today as long hair and beards. Hair reached down to the shoulders on men. Women wore hair down to the waist.

Paul was telling Corinthian men that wearing hair down to the waist as women did would be effeminate and contrary to what natural law would suggest, especially considering the physical demands of many first-century male occupations. It is easy for us today to assume the length and cut of a Jewish man’s hair in the first century to be as it is for most men today, but that’s a misconception that can result in our misreading Paul.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Why does the Church allow funerals for lapsed Catholics?

Question

I've been at funerals where the person had not been a practicing Catholic. Some of these people had never been to Church in all the years I knew them. Why does the Church bury these lapsed Catholics?

Answer

Often it is not clear why a lapsed Catholic has lapsed. The Church wants to fulfill the wish of Christ that all be saved. It is not proper for us to pass judgment on the spiritual state of others, particularly if we have not been with them during their last minutes of life.

Remember that at the last moment the good thief had a change of heart and Christ welcomed him into paradise. The parish priest or hospital chaplain will look for any indication that the individual wished to die on good terms with the Lord. Given that indication, the priest will not withhold any of the spiritual benefits that can be given the deceased and those close to him by a funeral Mass.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Why are we supposed to name our children after saints?

Question

I'm not a Catholic, but my wife is. We've decided to have our two children baptized and brought up as Catholics. We've been getting instructions from the parish. We were advised to pick a saint's name for each of the children. Why is that done?

Answer

The Apostles' Creed says that we believe in the communion of saints. This means we are spiritually united with those who have died and are now in heaven. They can act as intercessors—they have the ability to assist us and pray for us.

By choosing a saint’s name you acknowledge this fact and ask a particular saint to assist you in bringing up the child; the saint becomes the child’s patron and a role model for the child.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff

Why is the rosary referred to as the "poor man's psalter"?

Question

I recently heard a priest refer to the rosary as a "poor man's salter." What did he mean?

Answer

A psalter—not salter—is a book that contains the 150 Psalms. Before printing was invented, books were fabulously expensive. Most of the world was illiterate and poor, and poor men did not own books. Often only monastic communities and churches had books. The book of the Psalms was used for the daily recitation of prayers (something that continues today).

The common folk wanted to pray daily like the monks but had no books to read the psalms from. Not up to memorizing all 150 Psalms, they recited an Our Father or Hail Mary in the place of each psalm.

They strung 150 beads together, one for each psalm, so they could keep count. Other prayers and meditations were added to this beaded string of 15 decades, until we arrived at the rosary we have today.

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff