Hosts, Host, and Sabaoth: A Guide to Confusing Catholic Terms

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres' The Virgin of the Host

The English word "host" possesses a variety of meanings. The word is used frequently in the liturgy and in translations and so it's important to understand the different nuances.

Three Meanings of Host

1) "Host" can refer to a military host of soldiers. This is applied to God as the Lord of hosts, that is, the Lord of the armies of Heaven. This meaning comes from hostis, meaning "army, war-like expedition."

2) "Host" can refer to the Holy Eucharist as in "Father McGillicuddy placed the host on her tongue." This meaning comes from the Latin hostia meaning "sacrificial victim." Christ is the saving victim of God the Father. For example, the beginning of the hymn O Salutaris Hostia means O Saving Victim.

3) "Host" can also refer to someone who provides a party. For example, "Mr. Miller is the host of the party." Related to this definition is an organism that has a parasite. This meaning comes from the same Latin word hostia from (2) above. The reason for this is that the "host" of a party is the sacrificial victim - he or she pays for everything so that others can enjoy it. A sacrificial victim likewise "pays the price" so that others can benefit.

Liturgical Meaning of Host

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we say, "Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts." Here we are not referring to the round little hosts in the ciborium or on the paten. No, we are referring here to God as Captain of the celestial army of spiritual warfare. Here we invoke God as the Lord of Judgment who arrives with myriads of angels and saints:

And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of Hosts (צְבָא֑וֹת), all the earth is full of his glory (Isaiah 6:3, D-R).

In the Hebrew, God is here called "Lord God of צְבָא֑וֹת" or "Lord God of Sabaoth." Saboath means "army hosts." This is also confusing since the word sounds like the word "Sabbath." Sabaoth means "army hosts," but sabbath means "seventh day rest." Two complete different words.

At other times we refer to the "host" as the Holy Eucharist. Christ is the sacrificial victim of the Catholic Church. He paid everything so that the gates of Heaven might be open to us. Christ a "host" in that He provides the Supper of the Lamb as the "host" of the celebration, and Christ is the sacrificial victim or hostia who is immolated for our redemption.

Quick Review:
Hosts = either "army hosts" or "Eucharist" (English word)
Hostia = "sacrificial victim (Latin word)
Hostis = "army hosts" (Latin word)
Sabaoth = "army hosts" (Hebrew word)
Sabbath = "seventh day of rest" (Hebrew word)

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A Winter Saint That You Should Know: Saint Blaise

Saint Blaise of Sebaste

February is often a time marked by colds, throat infections, and respiratory illness. The patron saint of throat cures is Saint Blaise. Today, many Catholics don't know of him, but in the medieval era he was arguably one of the most popular saints of Christendom. By the eleventh century, there were 35 churches in Rome dedicated to Saint Blaise! In thirteenth century England, February 3 (the feast of Saint Blaise) was a national holiday on which all work was banned.

My wife and I named our most recent child "Blaise" after Saint Blaise. We often get comments because people think that we named him "Blaze," as in a burning fire. So I'm on a crusade to promote Saint Blaise. Here's his biography:

Saint Blaise was an Armenian physician who as elected as bishop of Sebaste (modern day Sivas, Turkey). He refused to deny Christ and so he was beaten, scraped with iron carding combs, and finally beheaded in AD 317. He is celebrated as a martyr and bishop on February 3 every year.

Saint Blaise is often depicted with the instruments of his martyrdom, steel combs. He thereby gained the patronage of wool combers and became very popular among English wool traders. Saint Blaise also cured a boy who was dying of a fish-bone stuck in his throat. Blaise is therefore the patron of throats, as well. Traditionally, priests bless the throats of Catholics on his feast day after Holy Mass (Father Simon is doing so today at the College of Saint Thomas More. If you are in Fort Worth, Texas, please join us). 

Also, in my new novel about Saint George Kill This Dragon, Saint Blaise plays an important role (but I won't give it away yet).

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What Does Mary's Pierced Heart Reveal About Your Heart?

In today's (Feb 2) Gospel for the feast of the Presentation of Christ and the Purification of the Virgin (Candlemas), we read:

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed." (Luke 2:34-35)

The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed because a "sword" will pierce Mary's soul. I take this to mean that the interior life of the believer is made known as he or she is able to appreciate the sorrows of Mary.

The heart of a president is made known when he visits the sorrowful mother of a dead veteran. The heart of a murderer is made known when he visits the sorrowful mother of his victim.

My suspicion is that hostility toward the Virgin Mary reveals an inability to appreciate the Gospel of Christ. The Blessed Mother's heart was pierced as she watched her Son's sinless body pierced upon the cross. Our response to this reality reveals the thoughts of our hearts.

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Who Wrote the Oldest Gospel? Hint: The One Apostle Who Owned Ink and Parchment

Saint Matthew, the first Evangelist

All the early Church Fathers and all the Saints have held that the Gospels were written in the order they are listed in the Sacred Scriptures:

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John

I hold that Saint Matthew likely wrote his Gospel in Aramaic in about AD 38 (if not earlier) in Aramaic. This is overwhelming evidence that the original version of Matthew's Gospel was in Aramaic. It was assumed from the second century and thereafter

Now then, most "experts" today will tell you that Mark's Gospel was written first by the primitive Christian community. They say this because Mark's Gospel is short, lacks the teaching episodes of Christ, and appears to be missing an extensive resurrection account.

Then, the "experts" introduced an unnamed and lost document sourced denoted as "Q" (short for the German Quelle, meaning Source). This Q document was a collection of sayings of Christ. Next, Matthew and Luke took Mark and then took Q and combined them to form their Gospels which share much of Mark but differ some from one another. Hence, these "experts" believe in Markan priority - or that Mark was written first.

This is incorrect for at least four reasons:

1. Every early Christian document that discusses Gospels assumes St Matthew's Gospel is first. These authors were more proximate witnesses to the Apostolic Tradition than we are.
2. Every early Christian document that discusses this topic assumes that the original Gospel of St Matthew was written in Aramaic, the language of Jews - and not in Greek, the language of Gentiles. Why then would a Gospel be written in Aramaic late in the game after a Greek Gospel? Why would Gentiles even care about an Aramaic Gospel. Rather, Matthew was written in Aramaic because it was the first Gospel written by a Jew for Jews.
3. Of the four Gospels, St Matthew's Gospel has the most Aramaisms. That is, Matthew has Jewish grammar arrangement and even Aramaic references. Matthew 16:18 (the "You are Peter") section is perhaps the most obvious.
4. Who was Saint Matthew? He was the tax collector. What do tax collectors specialize in? Tax collectors specialize in employing pens, ink, and parchment to keep records. So if Christ had twelve apostles consisting of fishermen and one tax collector, who might keep the records or notes for the group. Is it even reasonable that not one of his Apostles never wrote anything down during the three years that he followed Christ who was performing miracles?

I believe that Saint Matthew the first Gospel because he had already begun it during the ministry of Christ our Lord. When the Apostles spread out into the world about AD 38, no doubt they wanted a little booklet that they could share and from which they could preach. St Epiphanius records that St Matthew wrote his "Hebrew Gospel" in about AD 38 (Haeres, 51).

Matthew probably prepared this document for them in their native tongue...Aramaic. Later, when the Catholic Church grew more expansive, there was a need for Greek version. St Peter commissioned St Mark's Gospel. St Athanasius says that Matthew wrote the Hebrew Gospel in Jerusalem and that it was translated by St James of Jerusalem into Greek: “Matthew’s Gospel was written by Matthew in the Hebrew dialect, published at Jerusalem, and a translation made by James, the Lord’s brother” (Synopsis of the Gospel).

By the way, Saint Jerome had access to the Hebrew Matthew and he noted to Pope Damasus that the Hebrew Matthew differed from the Greek Matthew in that the Hebrew quoted the Hebrew OT and the Greek quoted the LXX.

The exciting thing about the Gospels isn't Mark and Q. Rather it's Aramaic Matthew and Greek Matthew. Maybe one day we'll discover a version of Aramaic Matthew.

ad Jesum per Mariam,

Taylor

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Rosary Campaign for Catholic Bishops

On January 20, 2012, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama administration would uphold a mandate that would force Catholic institutions to subsidize--through their health care plans--contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion. This is a serious encroachment on religious freedom, which forces Catholic employers not only to consent to, but also directly engage in practices that are morally incompatible with the Catholic Faith and are gravely sinful.

The Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States have unanimously agreed to fight this mandate relentlessly. We should also do our part in the public square, making our voices heard to our respective Senators and Representatives.

So, beginning on February 1, please join us in an 18 day Rosary Novena for the overturning of this mandate and for the conversion of the politicians who are trying to impose this upon us. Please pray a daily Rosary for 18 days for the following intentions

Day 1-9=For the overturning of the HHS mandate that would require Catholic institutions to provide health insurance plans to their employees, subsidizing contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs. And for the conversion of our politicians

Day 10-18=In thanksgiving for our prayers being answered.

"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will."--Mark 11:23-24

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Did St Paul Say: All Have Sinned...Except for Jesus and Mary?

Those who have been raised Catholic may not be aware of the common objections that Protestants stack up against Catholics. One of the most potent is the argument that the Blessed Virgin Mary cannot be without sin because Saint Paul the Apostle wrote:

“For all have sinned and do need the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, D-R)

Doesn't Saint Paul here say that all humans are guilty of sin? Why then do Catholics seem contradict Sacred Scripture and claim that Mary is exempted from Saint Paul's inerrant and inspired words?

A good Benedictine monk recently wrote to me with the following:

Not having been Protestant, I never heard about St. Paul's "all had sinned" as an argument against the Immaculate Conception. Hence, I wonder, how does one reconcile the two. I believe firmly in the Immaculate Conception, but I had never been directed to a Scripture quote that seems to refute it. I hate to ask so much of your time, but could you solve the dilemma for me? Thanks so very much!

That's a great question that both Catholics and Protestants might be asking. Let's begin by looking at the context. In the first half of his epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul is constructing an argument that Jews are not de facto saved by being Jewish. By the time Paul gets to chapter three of Romans, he has established that both Jews and Gentiles need Christ for salvation. Paul's arguments are always leading toward Christ. Paul's intent is to establish the universal need for Christ. Jews sin. Gentiles sin. Both groups need the Messiah in order to be saved. 

Now the question regarding Romans 3:23 requires us to ask to whom does the "all" refer in "all have sinned." All of humanity?

I cannot mean "all of humanity" since clearly Christ did not sin. Although Christ is a Divine person, he did have a human will and His human will did not sin.

So then, does Romans 3:23 refer to "all humans excepting Christ"? Not even this solution works because while infants are conceived with original sin, they do not commit personal sins until they reach the age of reason. Here Paul is not referring to original sin, but to the committal of personal sins.

So far, Paul's statement proves to be conditional - it would exclude both Christ (of original sin and actual sin) and children (of only of personal sins). So then, since there are exceptions to the statement of Romans 3:23, we can assume another exception - the Blessed Virgin Mary would be excepted of both original sin and personal sins (and for that matter Jeremias, St John the Baptist, and St Joseph of personal sins, as well - but I've discussed that elsewhere).

Moreover, since the Apostle Paul makes the argument of Christ as the "New Adam" in Romans 5, we might assume that such an argument in Romans would presume the "New Eve" of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Paul does not address Mary here because his argument intends to convince Jews and Gentiles to live alongside each other in one Catholic Church in Rome - not two distinct "churches."

So that's the Catholic way of reconciling Romans 3:23 regarding the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

ad Jesum per Mariam,

Taylor

PS: You may have wondered why Saint Paul seems to say so little about the Blessed Virgin Mary. I examine this apparent silence (I say apparent) and I also describe Paul's Mariology in my book: The Catholic Perspective on Paul. I think that it may contain the only contemporary Catholic presentation of Paul's Mariology in the English language.

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Why You Should Wear the Miraculous Medal

When I was still Protestant, I remember reading St Ephrem the Syrian. I was amazed by how often he spoke of the Mother of Christ and how much he praised her in his poetic hymnody. Ephrem was a Syrian Christian living from AD 306 – 373. He is early and he undoubtedly teaches that Mary was without stain, unlike other humans. He is probably the earliest and most explicit Patristic witness to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

As a Protestant, I got it. I was never really bothered by the fact that Mary would be sinless. In fact, it made sense to me. I was suspect of the doctrine simply because Paul said that "all had sinned" but I could see how the doctrine could be preserved and read in context.

I also learned about the Miraculous Medal - which is a small medal that commentaries the Immaculate Conception. It's really called the Medal of Immaculate Conception, but so many miracles have been worked through it that it is now simply called the Miraculous Medal. Wearing it is a sign that you are particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Mother and Enemy of Satan. 

Here's the story about the medal and why you should wear it:

On July 18, 1830, Saint Catherine Labouré awoke hearing a voice of a child calling her to the chapel located in the Rue du Bac, Paris. The Blessed Virgin Mary said to her, "God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world."

Catherine reported that the Blessed Mother returned during evening meditations. She displayed herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe, wearing many rings of different colors, most of which shone rays of light over the globe. Around the margin of the frame appeared the French words Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous (O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee). 

As Catherine watched, the frame seemed to rotate, showing a circle of twelve stars, a large letter M surmounted by a cross, and the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Asked why some of her rings did not shed light, Mary reportedly replied, "Those are the graces for which people forget to ask." Catherine then heard Mary ask her to take these images to her father confessor, telling him that they should be put on medallions, and saying "All who wear them will receive great graces."

One of the most remarkable facts recorded in connection with the Miraculous Medal is the conversion of a Jew, Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne of Strasburg, who had resisted the appeals of a friend to enter the Church. Alphonse Ratisbonne consented, somewhat reluctantly, to wear the medal, and being in Rome, he entered, by chance, the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte and beheld in a vision the Blessed Virgin Mary exactly as she is represented on the medal; his conversion speedily followed.

If you're still not convinced, listen to this powerful sermon on the Miraculous Medal and share it with your friends: On the Miraculous Medal (mp3). On a scale from one to ten, I give this sermon a ten. Please listen to it.

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Guide to Cornelius a Lapide's Great Commentary

Here is a guide with helpful notation so that you can find what you need in Fr Lapide's Great Commentary.

Godspeed,

Taylor

Tomo I (Genesis & Exodus)

Tomo II (Leviticus, Number, Deuteronomy)

Tomo III (Joshua to 3 Kings)

Tomo IV (4 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 & 2 Maccabees)

Tomo V (Proverbs 1-8)

Tomo VI (Proverbs 9-31)

Tomo VII (Ecclesiastes & Canticle 1-3)

Tomo VIII (Canticle 4-8 & Wisdom)

Tomo IX (Siarch 1-25)

Tomo X (Sirach 26-51)

Tomo XI (Isaias)

Tomo XII (Jeremias & Ezekiel)

Tomo XIII (Daniel & Hosea to Amos)

Tomo XIV (Obadiah to Malachi)

Tomo XV (Matthew and Mark)

Tomo XVI (Luke and John)

Tomo XVII (Acts of the Apostles)

Tomo XVIII (Romans to Ephesians)

Tomo XIX (Philippians to Hebrews)

Tomo XX (Catholic Epistles)

Tomo XXI (Apocalypse)

Tomo XXII (Job)

Tomo XXIII (Hebraic Psalms 1-76)

Tomo XXIV (Hebraic Psalms 77-150)

Tomo XXV (Index A-L)

Tomo XXVI (Index M-Z)

How to Argue with a Madman (from GK Chesterton)

After blogging for a few years, I have learned to ignore the trolls who drop spiteful comments or who surf the Catholic web looking for a fight. About once or twice per year, however, I will encounter someone who is brilliant but crazy. The first sign is that such a person is usually well spoken and well planned. They are usually well read. However, the rapidity of the argument goes so quickly and is so scattered that you cannot keep up with him. Sometimes these madmen are Protestant. Sometimes they are Catholic. Often times they are sedevacantists.

I was recently reminded of this excellent advice from GK Chesterton regarding "how to argue with a madman." This passage is quintessentially Cherstertonian - witty, concise, and precise:

If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment. He is not hampered by a sense of humor or by charity, or by the dumb certainties of experience. He is the more logical for losing sane affections. Indeed, the common phrase for insanity is in this respect a misleading one. The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason. 

The madman’s explanation of a thing is always complete, and often in a purely rational sense, satisfactory. Or, to speak more strictly, the insane explanation, if not conclusive, is at least unanswerable; this may be observed specially in the two or three commonest kinds of madness. 

If a man says (for instance) that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it except by saying that all the men deny that they are conspirators; which is exactly what conspirators would do. His explanation covers the facts as much as yours. Or if a man says that he is the rightful King of England, it is no complete answer to say that the existing authorities call him mad; for if he were King of England that be the wisest thing for the existing authorities to do. Or if a man says that he is Jesus Christ, it is no answer to tell him that the world denies his divinity; for the world denied Christ’s...

...his mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle. A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle; but, though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large...The lunatic’s theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way... 

...If we could express our deepest feelings of protest and appeal against this obsession, I suppose we should say something like this: “Oh, I admit that you have your case and have it by heart, and that many things do fit into other things as you say. I admit that your explanation explains a great deal; but what a great deal it leaves out! Are there no other stories in the world except yours; and are all men busy with your business? Suppose we grant the details; perhaps when the man in the street did not seem to see you it was only his cunning; perhaps when the policeman asked you your name it was only because he knew it already. But how much happier you would be if you only knew that these people cared nothing about you! How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it; if you could really look at other men with common curiosity and pleasure; if you could see them walking as they are in their sunny selfishness and their virile indifference! You would begin to be interested in them, because they were not interested in you. You would break out of this tiny and tawdry theatre in which your own little plot is always being played and you would find yourself under a freer sky, in a street full of splendid strangers.” 

Curing a madman is not arguing with a philosopher; it is casting out a devil.  

- GK Chesterton's Orthodoxy, pp. 25-27.

In sum, with the madman, you can not convince him to entere into the real world. You must enter is tilted universe and expose it as a fraud. It's pretty dangerous, but so are exorcisms. Pray, fast, and proceed with caution with the internet crazies. I simply try to avoid them.

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Tebowing: Catholics Did It Before It Was Mainstream...

I got a kick out of this.

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