True story: About three years ago, I stepped away from work to buy Christmas stamps at the nearby post office. When the receptionist saw me return a few minutes later with no stamps, I explained that they didn’t have the Madonna and Child stamps that I wanted. The young lady — an early twenty something — got a puzzled look on her face and said, “Wow…I didn’t know they made a stamp with Madonna and her new adopted baby.”

What are they teaching our young people in schools these days?

Today is the official release date for the new movie The 13th Day. Based on the memoirs of Sister Maria Lucia de Jesus, and thousands of independent eyewitness accounts, The 13th Day is a dramatic retelling of the supernatural experiences of three shepherd children nearly a century ago. The events depicted in the film transpired between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917 in the Cova da Iria (Cove of Irene) region of Fatima, Portugal. Learn more at Ignatius Press’ site (the North American distributor of the film) or at The13thDay.com.

When I’m not using my Bible study software, the actually-printed-with-ink-on-paper Bible that I most frequently use is the Ignatius Bible – the mercifully shortened name for Ignatius Press’ Revised Standard Version – Second Catholic Edition.

The cover features icons that most Catholics will recognize, since they also adorn the cover of the Book of Gospels used in the Catholic liturgy. However, many people, including some Catholics, might not understand what these icons represent.

The quick explanation is that the cover shows Christ the Teacher surrounded by the Four Evangelists (i.e., the writers of the four gospels). Here’s a more detailed explanation of what they represent:

• Christ the Teacher – the large icon in the center depicts Jesus blessing the viewer with his right hand and holding a Bible in his left. The Bible shows His words from John 8:12: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” This icon is commonly called “Christ the Teacher,” although it is also called “Christ Pantocrator” meaning “Christ, Ruler of All.” Also in the artwork are the abbreviated Greek words for Christ (abbreviations are indicated by the horizontal lines above the letters; Iota and Sigma (which look like IC) represent the first and last letter of the name Jesus in Greek; Chi Sigma (XC), the first and last letters of the title Christ).

Tradition has long associated the “four living creatures” mentioned in Rev. 4:7 with the four Gospels in the Bible:

• St. Matthew (upper left) – the winged “living creature with the face of a man” is the symbol for Matthew, since his Gospel narrative traces Jesus’ human genealogy.
• St. Mark (upper right) – the “living creature like a lion” is associated with Mark, whose Gospel begins with “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (Mark 1:3), suggesting the roar of a lion.
• St. Luke (lower left) – the “living creature like an ox” is the emblem of Luke, since his account of Christ’s life emphasizes the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
• St. John (lower right) – the “living creature like a flying eagle” symbolizes John, whose high-soaring narrative takes us to lofty heights in understanding Christ’s nature.

More interesting insight into the Four Evangelists can be found on Wikipedia and Catholic Resources.

Apparently, St. Paul is buried there, according to scientists and as reported by FoxNews.com. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the scientific team’s carbon dating, saying, “This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul.” Benedict announced the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican’s Pauline year, in honor of the apostle.

Many non-Catholics object to our use of the title “queen of heaven” in reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They do so because in the Old Testament, a false goddess – apparently Ishtar, the Assyro-Babylonian fertility goddess – was called the “queen of heaven” (see Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, and 44:25). Using the title when speaking of Mary, they reason, means that Catholics worship Mary as a pagan goddess. Obviously, this would be a wrong thing to do.

But take heart! The good news is that Catholics neither (a) consider Mary to be a goddess nor (b) worship her.

Catholics think that it is appropriate to call Mary the “queen of heaven” for two reasons:

• Her son is the King, making her the queen mother. More than just an honorary role, the queen mother was an office in the Davidic kingdom. As one Protestant encyclopedia explains, “The gebhirah, or queen mother, occupied a position of high social and political importance; she took rank almost with the king.”
• The Bible depicts her as “wearing a crown of twelve stars” in heaven (Revelation 12:1), which is appropriate given her role as the queen mother of Christ the King.

But does the title’s pagan usage make it inappropriate to apply in a Christian context? By all means no! Just because the title was applied to a false queen of heaven in the Old Testament does not mean that the title cannot be used for the true queen of heaven.

There is strong Biblical precedent for this in the title “king of kings”. In the Old Testament, two rulers who were no friend of God’s people were called “king of kings”:

• Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon – Daniel 2:37 and Ezekiel 26:7.
• Artaxerxes, king of Persia – Ezra 7:12

In spite of the pagan use of “king of kings”, we appropriately apply the title to Jesus Christ, our ultimate and true King of Kings, in 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14 and Revelation 19:16.

So we see from Scripture that it is certainly appropriate to call the Blessed Virgin Mary “Queen of Heaven.”

I ran across this inspiring quote today and thought I’d share it:

“The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life.” – St. Clement of Alexandria (from his work Exhortation to the Heathen)

Last Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five saints: Italian Blesseds Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348), Gertrude Comensoli (1847-1903) and Caterina Volpicelli (1839-1894), and the Portuguese Blessed Nuno de Santa Maria Alvares Pereira (1360-1431). The Vatican lists bios, but not all have been translated to English yet. I’ll try to post them as they are available.

*Update: April 29*
I promised links to their bios. Here are three that are in English so far:

• Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348)
• Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira (1360-1431)
• Geltrude Comensoli (1847-1903)

Looking for information about St. Nicholas, the 4th Century Bishop of Myra and original Santa Claus? Look no further than the St. Nicholas Center website. On top of the interesting historical information, there are several crafts for the kiddies: coloring, cards, and even instructions on how to turn chocolate Santas into the real St. Nicholas. Cute!

My family and I attend St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, so when I was in our local Catholic bookstore recently, I picked up a coin featuring an image of that saint. St. Catherine is the patron saint of several causes, including firefighters, nurses, sick people, and a few other things as well.

Based on the typo on the coin I bought (see the picture), I think we can adopt her as the patron saint of Toyota minivan drivers as well (Sienna, as opposed to Siena).

An online resource explains patron saints for us:

Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over areas of life. These areas can include occupations, illnesses, churches, countries, causes — anything that is important to us…

Recently, the popes have named patron saints but patrons can be chosen by other individuals or groups as well.

So I’m unofficially naming St. Catherine of “Sienna” as the patron saint of minivan drivers, especially of Toyota Sienna drivers. My family drives a Sienna, as do quite a few other parishioners and parents who bring their kids to our parish school. Every time we get behind the wheel, we can reflect on her life and ask her to pray for us!

In celebration of the feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch — student of St. John the Apostle — check out these awesome free mp3 audiobooks of his letters. Joe McClane from The Catholic Hack podcast recorded all seven of Ignatius’ letters, penned in A.D. 107 on his way to martyrdom. These are among the most powerful writings from the early church outside of the New Testament. The quotes I use in the “random quotes” part of this blog’s sidebar are lifted from Ignatius’ epistles.

These audio recordings are free, but Joe put a lot of work into them, so make a donation if you are able. Enjoy!