Veritas

Veritas in Latin means truth. I am in constant pursuit of the truth. This is because God is Truth, and my heart longs for the living God. In my pursuit of the truth I have come to discover that the well of truth in the Catholic Church is deep and vast. And so I am continually delighted in my exploration of the Catholic Church.

Now the truth is a tricky thing because only those with ears to hear will hear it and only those with eyes to see will see it. "And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you." (John 14:16-17) But when you do receive the truth it is liberating unlike anything you have ever known before. "Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'" (John 8:31-32)

I love how the truths of the Catholic faith all make sense in the broader context of Scripture and the life of the Church.  Nothing is added, or omitted, or skimmed over to make the faith fit into some ideology. It is the life of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- made available to man. In the Church, we can enter into the life of God as fully as humanly possible. And so, in my desire to draw deeper into that life I enjoy discovering resources that help build up and confirm God's people in the faith.

Here are a couple of resources that I came across recently at the Catholics Come Home blog and the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church website.

The first is a great visual diagram of origin of churches throughout history. Now you may be saying. How do we know this is true? Don't other churches claim similar things? Well, lots of people claim lots of things, but many of them are built around sketchy facts and half truths. Go ahead, do the historical research. It will verify exactly what this chart shows. The early Church Fathers (early Christians carrying on the faith the Apostles shared) believed and practiced the same faith that the Catholic Church does today. And if after confirming these facts you still don't believe, then it is possible that you may never see it apart from the grace of God. But let me say that I stake my very life of the truth that the Catholic Church is the church established by Jesus Christ.

The second resource is a chronology of the Apostolic succession of every pope from the first one established by Jesus (Peter) to our current Pope Benedict XVI.

"Pilate said to him, 'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.' Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?'" (John 18:37-38)